sertraline withdrawal

[KK77]

I've been on Sertraline for almost 3 weeks, was feeling down since being made redundant, only 50mg a day, I am seeing my Dr next monday, and I want to come off the tablets, as I don't want to be on them for many months or years. I'm wondering how he will go about reducing the dosage, if at all, and what effects i will feel and for how long?

This is a bit of an old thread now but 3 weeks isn't long enough for the medication to work fully. I've been on sertraline for nearly a year now and although I still have my blips I think it's helped a great deal - although it took a few months to really kick in. Have a chat with your doc anyway and see what he suggests. If you do come off them it's wise to gradually taper (ie 25mg for a couple of weeks then 12.5 etc).

[onceagain]

I'm just over a month off sertraline, I'm actually getting my head together and trying to piece the jigsaw together from the aftermath... you will get there.. x

[petram]

gp reckons a good month !! im on week 2 n a hlf ,still get twitchy legs , like some1 s walked over ya grave feeling like shudders , headaches, anxiety n pure o still present but much better since being off ...... what stuff do u peeps get or got ? xx

[petram]

how u getting on sharon??? im a month off seem to have a good ..ish day then a bloody bad day............ the bad days seem so much worse after a reasonally good day dont they !? xx

[waccoe]

Hi

I came off sertraline 10 days ago after decreasing to 50mg for 2 weeks, I was on 100mg for approx 3 months, having severe side effects, "brain zaps", "brain shocks", "brain shivers", "head shocks", feel sick and dizzy, also a bit short tempered, my mood / anxiety / depression feels fine....so i guess there is a small positive.

Anyone else suffered with the electric shock head zaps? If so how long do they last.

I went to my GP today and he said he has never heard of this...yet i look on wikipedia .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_di...ation_syndrome and hey presto it says they are a side effect!!

I was worried it was something non related, good old GP !!

Hope someone can help with how long i have to cope with what feels like been tazered every 5 minutes!!

Thanks Mark

[R123]

Hello everyone, I was on sertraline for 8 years, 150mg a day and have and still am having a hard time coming off it. My GP isn't very understanding, he thinks what I see as withdrawal is just the real me, e.g, very quick to anger, depression. I was hoping it isn't me, as I don't like feeling angry all the time, over tiny things, I can't remember what I was like before I started taking it now!
Another things is, I feel completely wiped out. I am exhausted when I get up it feels like a mild hangover every day. I haven't taken any for about 5 days now, though at times it is tempting to just take one to get rid of the dizziness and low mood. I am trying not to or I will never get off it.

It is frightening to me, to not know who I really am any more. The drug has changed my personality for 8 years, made me less reactionary, more numb. I don't know whether I want to be the real me.

Thanks for listening

---------- Post added at 11:16 ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 ----------

Hi

I came off sertraline 10 days ago after decreasing to 50mg for 2 weeks, I was on 100mg for approx 3 months, having severe side effects, "brain zaps", "brain shocks", "brain shivers", "head shocks", feel sick and dizzy, also a bit short tempered, my mood / anxiety / depression feels fine....so i guess there is a small positive.

Anyone else suffered with the electric shock head zaps? If so how long do they last.

I went to my GP today and he said he has never heard of this...yet i look on wikipedia .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_di...ation_syndrome and hey presto it says they are a side effect!!

I was worried it was something non related, good old GP !!

Hope someone can help with how long i have to cope with what feels like been tazered every 5 minutes!!

Thanks Mark

YES!!! Get them frequently, even when I just used to miss a couple of tablets. It is so hard to explain to people unless you've experienced it. My GP also doesn't believe in them, which is ridiculous!

I also got tingling in the tongue. They seem to be getting less frequent now I have been off the tablets a few days in a row, after tapering dosage.

[waccoe]

Hi

Well it's been 4 weeks now, although I'm still getting zapped its not as bad and often, but it's still there, my GP still thinks I'm making it up!!

Think it's going to take a little while longer to be symptom free, struggle to sleep a bit too now which really helps!! And headache from hell !

Other than that coming off sertraline has been a doddle lol

[R123]

I also had frequent headaches that did seem to be relieved by sertraline (when i gave in after trying to get off it and just took one)..my doctor thinks a lot of what I deem as physical symptoms are psychological or psychological in their roots. I think it's simply the sertraline leaving my brain..sometimes I wish I never began with it...do you?

[brighteyes]

I've been taking Sertraline 50mg for the past six months. I came off it cold turkey 2 weeks ago. I felt absolutely fine the first week, and a bit needy and lonely beginning of week two. Today (day 14) I'm feeling worse than I have done in months. I'm crying and depressed and I don't know if it's withdrawal (seems unlikely, at this stage) or what. I've always suffered with a bit of insomnia, but it's been terrible for the last 3 days. Obviously this will have some affect on my mood, but not to this extent! I've also had a couple of mild panic attacks this morning.

Has anyone else had these symptoms, or know of anyone else who has? I don't know what to do about it and I don't want to go back on the tablets!

Reassurance and friendly words to someone in a delicate state would be appreciated.

[adam.h]

My wife has been prescribed SSRI's for a good few years now. She was on a high dose of citalopram until about 8 months ago when she started to feel constant 'electric shocks' down one side of her body as well as feeling very sick which was an indication that she was about to pass out.
After seeing the doctors and neurologists she had several scans and test done - MRI, CT and two EEG tests as well as blood tests which all came back fine with no one knowing what the cause could be.
One day we noticed that when she missed taking the citalopram the shocks and fainting got progressively worse, and after some research which we presented to the doctor about SSRI discontinuation she was moved from the citalopram to sertraline. She has slowly been reducing this amount from 50 mg - which we are told is the smallest dose they have, to now only taking roughly 6 mg after cutting the tablets up. Going from half to half to half, cutting them further would just be powder.

The problem is that even with this very low dose after a day or two of not taking anything the pain from the shocks and the passing out is so intense that she has to resume taking them again. The shocks then calm down after a day or 2 and the fainting stops as well. She constantly has the shocks every evening.



There seems to be very little knowledge about these side affects which they say are very rare. Google says otherwise as once you know what the problem is you realise just how many other people have it as well! We have no idea how we are going to get her off the last bit and the damn tablets are making things worse for her as they cause so much pain and discomfort.