Teenager tapering off sertraline - experiences

[Rainbows12]

My son has been on 25mg sertraline for 15 months for anxiety. He has had intensive therapy and is feeling much better. It’s time to kick the meds but I have started reading about the potential nightmare to get off even low dose ssri’s. We will taper very slowly in small increments (not what go suggested! - reduce by half fir two weeks then stop). We have reduced by half to 12.5mg. 10 days have passed and he seems ok but I have an appt with doc to request liquid sertraline which will allow a 10% reduction to be made accurately every few weeks.

Has anyone any successful experience of withdrawing sertraline slowly without horrendous side effects?

I did that thing I shouldn’t have done and googled. All I came across was awful stories of withdrawal or discontinuation syndrome. Whilst I appreciate if people have no issues they are unlikely to post about it, it would be reassuring to hear if some success????

I used to take 100mg of sertaline and stopped taking it immediately once I found out I was pregnant as I was worried it would harm the baby. Not recommended at all but I had no side effects that I was aware of. What horrendous side effects does it say?

Maybe start by reducing it to once every second day for a week?

Thanks for your reply. I am pleased to hear you came off sertraline without issue. The side-effects I have read about sound awful and can go on for weeks or months after discontinuation: insomnia, vertigo, tinnitus, tearfulness, agitation, brain zaps....the list goes on and on. It’s my own fault for ‘googling’. Now I am worried about ds managing to come if the med. Anyway, no choice....it’s got to be done. But atleast I have one positive stopping story! Thank you.

Well if the side effects happen, then at least you know what it is? For me, the worst thing would be to develop symptoms like that and think I'm losing my mind/hearing etc rather than it be side effects.

Did he suffer from side effects when starting to take it? (I felt very jittery). Have you both spoken to the doctor about coming off? Also, he needs to monitor his moods after stopping as he may find he was feeling better because of taking the meds. He's on a pretty low dose though so hopefully will be fine.

Gp recommended initial taper. After doing some research and essentially working myself into an anxious frenzy about worst case scenarios, I have made an appt with the prescribing physician. We see them later today and I hope to have some of my concerns alleviated and pick up sound and safe advice about discontinuing. My son seems absolutely fine after the first drop so I do hope this will be the pattern. He had a few mild side effects going on to the meds. Headache, jittery but only intermittent and lasted a few days at most. This particular doctor we are seeing is also an advocate of naturopathic approaches to mental and physical health rather than just medical. I am hoping he will guide us through coming off these meds and adopting lifestyle changes to continue managing mental health.

I would say if he’s gone down to 12.5 without too much worry then he should be ok going forward. No harm at all in continuing to taper it in liquid form but make sure you’re not getting him too worried about it too! Is he feeling ready to come off it? I’ve been on 200mg sertraline for 10 yrs and tried lowering dose a couple of times very unsuccessfully, but am now in the process of coming off it and am absolutely fine because I think I’m ready too. If he’s managed to not have too many side effects in taking it he shouldn’t hopefully have too many withdrawals coming off it. Well done to both of you for getting here :)

My DD has stopped taking Sertraline twice ( helps her cope with bad episodes of anxiety; has GAD) and did so v easily w no side effects.

I went off 150mg cold turkey. No effects

It's way easier than coming off Venlafaxine, that's for sure!

DS was on 12.5mg until last Friday. I suggested he drop the dose to 6.25mg for 2-4 weeks but he just wanted to stop. Day 3 without sertraline and all seems fine. I am trying to stay very quiet and not ask him how he’s feeling as I am worrying about him entering withdrawal but don’t want to put that on him. I gave him the information about possible withdrawal effects and have asked him to tell me if he feels anything. And now I’m on here desperately seeking something that does not exist. Time to stop worry. If it’s going to happen, it will. I’ll keep you posted.

@MMMMMaria @polkadotpixie thank you. It’s great to get some positive and reassuring replies. I hope our experiences mirror yours!

All good, sounds like it’s over seeing that it is day 3 and he was on a v low dosage. Well done for getting him the support he needed.