I wanted to post about my experience of coming off sertraline because when I was googling about it there wasn’t a huge amount of information, especially from those who had completed withdrawal. Although I was only on 50mg hopefully sharing my experience will help someone
I won’t go into details but the background is that following an anxious episode I went on 20mg of fluoxetine, ended up feeling suicidal in a&e after 6 weeks, got put on 50mg of sertraline. I was on that for 6 weeks and could feel the same suicidal thoughts resurfacing so decided to stop all meds. I’d also been experincing daily headaches which became migraines during my period. Both meds reduced appetite, fluoxetine within a week of starting and sertraline after about 6 weeks.
Day 1 reduced from 50mg to 25mg. No headache, eating became easier
Day 2 25mg low levels of anxiety. No headache from then on.
Day 3 25mg old issues resurfaced Fortunately I’ve had lots of therapy and learned to self soothe. Felt scared and tearful. Later in the day became more steady.
Day 4 25mg felt steadier, no fear or anxiety. Appetite mostly returned. Had the feeling I didn’t need anymore pills but didn’t quite trust myself
Day 5 25mg pretty unsteady, worse days for a few days. Confirmed to me it was the meds so stopped them.
Days 6-8 felt like me again!
Days 9-10 notice brain and body ‘zaps’. Body zaps passed pretty quickly but brain zaps lasted about 6 weeks. Every time I moved my eyes quickly I got a zap and it was like I could hear my eyes moving. Finally, after 6 weeks they have ceased and while I’m up and down I’m much better off without the meds. Learning all about self care!
I’m sure for those who are on a higher dose or have been on them longer will need a longer withdrawal period but I hope sharing my experience is helpful.