Weaning off Sertraline??

[TheJourney22]

Anyone done it from 100mg & how long did it take?

Am hoping anyone can share their experience?

Thank you :)

I started the process two weeks ago. Cut down from 100mg to 75mg and will stay on that dose for at least another 6 weeks I think before cutting down further. No noticeable withdrawal symptoms as yet and keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way.

Interested to hear what other people's experiences have been like and if they had any withdrawal symptoms.

Honestly I just stopped taking it (on the advice of my psychiatrist) and it was fine, no side effects!

If I miss a few couple of days I get like electric shock sounds in my ears - don't know how long they would last for!

Out of interest, how do you know you're ready to come off it?

I agreed with my psychiatrist to start cutting the tablets, so instead of 100mg you go down to 75mg. Do that for a bout 4 weeks, them go to 50mg for 4 weeks, then 25mg. Right now I'm on 25mg every other day, which is actually going ok.

Intention is to come off it entirely in a few weeks.

A lot of people get nasty side effects if they come off it abruptly, so I really would wean gradually if you can.

Blimey you're all weaning off very slowly, mind you I was only on 100mg for about a month. I cut down to 50mg straight away for about 1 week, then 25mg for a week. Am now taking 25mg every other day for a few days, then 12.5mg every other day for a week. Then I should be off completely. I haven't had any problems so far, I feel completely normal.

I've just had to increase myself again as I tapered down too quickly. I'm not very organised either and I am not keeping a very good log of what I'm taking and when .

I went to 50mg every day for a week or two, then 50 every other day for a week or so, then 25 every other day. I was getting withdrawal symptoms (head shocks, terrible pmt-like rage, sleeplessness and tearfulness), so I take 1/3 of a tab every day. Feel much better. I want to try St. John's Wort as I am fed up with taking ADs which have little effect. I've been taking ADs for years and years.

I wouldn't recommend anyone following my tapering regime, I must stress!

I want to come off them as:

Don't feel any real benefits
Feel like I'm on speed
No sex drive
Feel toxic
Insomnia & HORRIFIC dreams
Nausea
Friends have noticed negative more than positive on these AD's
Feel I'm manic & unbalanced
Was on them due to PND / PTSD & I do feel now more confident, less stressed etc ...

I've got a 2 month tapering program so will see how it goes

Thanks for all your experiences

Interesting you mention about sleeplessness DontForget as the last few nights I've been waking up loads, despite after working long shifts when I normally sleep like the dead. I've just started feeling teary as well but assumed that was down to the decreased dose. My cutting down regime seems really quick but my GP wants me off them as soon as possible as it's affecting my blood.

Pandora, what do mean 'affecting my blood'? You're scaring me now.

Sorry, didn't mean to scare you temporary. I came up with loads of bruises on my legs so my GP tested my blood and apparently I've got slightly abnormal clotting levels. He's liaised with the pharmacy at my local hospital and they sent a huge response saying there have been trials done that show sertraline and other SSRIs can cause clotting problems and others that haven't proved it conclusively either way. So they don't know for sure that it's the sertraline but it probably is. I'm only just outside the normal range so I would have been happy to carry on but I think my GP is quite cautious and thinks it isn't a good idea to continue, which is fair enough. I looked in the BNF the other day actually and I couldn't even see bruising listed as a side effect but the information the pharmacy gave me said it could effect 1 in 10,000 people or something ridiculous. It's very unusual anyway, so don't panic.

Ah, I see. Sorry for my alarm! I think it is good your GP is being cautious, you could ask him whether there is anything you can learn from this re. other drugs you need to be careful with, or post operative care or whatever. Hope you find something more suited to you.

Thanks. The pharmacy have suggested I go on mirtazapine, but I'm scared about the potential weight gain and drowsiness as they're the most common side effects but I'll see how I get on with it. I will definitely ask him about that, he said if my bruising continues once I've been off the sertraline a while then he's going to talk to a haematologist.

It's actually 1 in 1,000 people who get bruising not 1 in 10,000, I misread it. Still very uncommon though.

Few days in now of 75mg .... feel ok.

Had some shit news last few days as well, so I'm trying not to dwell & fight on through.

Did have bad nausea today thou.

I went cold turkey. Not advised - I got a bizarre experience of brain zaps - like electric shocks when I moved my head too quickly, blinked etc. I also got strange buzzing in my ears. a gradual process to be advised!!! :-)

Thanks! I've got a 2 month tapering plan so fingers crossed it's long enough :)