Sertraline withdrawal is real. I feel awful!

[Winterishere19]

I’ve been taking sertraline 100mg for a couple of years now and before that I took Citalopram. I have had these symptoms before when the GP messed up my prescription request and I couldn’t get any more tablets so I started suffering with these symptoms, eventually when the emergency doctor gave me a prescription literally the next day after taking a tablet I felt better.

So I had recently decided to come off my sertraline and very gradually I cut down. I kept a diary, over a 4 month period I reduced from 1 every day to 1 every 2 days to 1 every 3 days to none. Literally a few days later the symptoms started. It started with me becoming very depressed all of a sudden and crying in the middle the of the shopping centre, heart palpitations and struggling to catch my breath. Then it’s been every day for the past 2 weeks: vertigo, nausea, dizziness, headaches, lightheaded and very low mood. Feelings of despair and hopelessness. I have not been to work since thurs 28th nov because I feel so dreadful. I can’t eat much because the thought is making me feel sick but im constantly starving, I haven’t touched a tea or a coffee since. I just cannot face it.
I went to the gp and asked him when this will stop and he said he doesn’t know.... from what I’ve read online people say between 3-4 weeks.

I am eating plain pasta and I attempted to walk to the shop earlier and thought I was going to faint. I basically feel like im getting over the flu but without the runny nose/sore throat.

I know if I take my sertraline the symptoms will stop... but then all this effort to get off them will have been for nothing.

Im genuinely shocked at how strong these are that my body is giving me withdrawal symptoms like this!!! I was never told this when they prescribed them to me years ago... does anyone know if and when il stop feeling like this? Im getting so bored sitting at home I feel like I want to try to go back to work, but I feel so ill...

I'm really sorry to hear that you're suffering like this.
I believe it may be better to reduce your daily dose gradually rather than skipping days, just in case you do decide to go back on them. I think you can get it in liquid form so you can do a really slow taper that way.
I hope you feel a lot better soon.

I’m sorry to hear this. Different meds, but after a slow withdrawal from citalapram I had weeks of awful, truly alarming nightmares. About 6 weeks on from my last tablet I seem to be ok now (touch wood). And for balance, I think the 4 years on the pills saved my life.

Thank you guys, for the lovely comments

Hi this worries me as i take these. Do you mind telling me what mg you were on please xx

I came off sertraline and didn’t sleep for 3 solid days :/ I was sent home from work as I was a wreck!

I was advised just to shave off a tiny amount per day and just keep taking the smallest amount so cut down to nothing over a month. It took a good few weeks to feel ok when starting so I would expect the same when coming off

You're going too fast. You need to reduce your daily amount very gradually not skip days and do it slowly over months not weeks. You shouldn't have symptoms, if you do then you need to slow down.

I think I realise now how hard it can be to come off them... I think I should have spoken with the GP before I did it.

Will these symptoms stop? Like the nausea and dizziness etc? Has anyone experienced this before ?

Thx
X

Eventually but you're better to just up the dose again until they stop then try again more slowly. Remember, they change your brain chemistry to help your depression. By stopping them suddenly you are basically sending your brain into shock.

So do you think I will need to basically be on them for life? If it’s due to chemical imbalance then surely that won’t ever improve

No but you have to manage the withdrawal slowly. Ease off them a little bit at a time so that your brain gets used to that little bit less help. Chemical and hormone levels fluctuate all the time. For example people don't stay on HRT for life. Just until things level out. All you need to avoid is a sudden drop.

Every time I decreased it took me a couple of weeks to adjust. The wooziness lasted a few months, but over that time it decreased to about once or twice a day.

I needed lots of sleep. Have a look at 'waves and windows' it describes the withdrawal symptoms. Also this thread here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/feeling_depressed/3606257-coming-off-setraline?pg=3

You will be okay xx

I was on 100mg of sertraline for 5 years and when I came off them I had absolutely no withdrawal symptoms, I came off them incredibly slowly. It took months. I asked my doctor to start prescribing 50mg and so I took them every day for the next few months, then when I was really ready I started to skip a day every single week for the next month, then skip 2 days for a whole month, then skip 3 days for a whole month and so on until I got to skipping 5 days then my body got used to not depending on them anymore because I'd reduced them for so long

Hi @Winterishere19
Just wondering how you're doing? How long did it take you to feel more normal again? Did you end up increasing your dose again or did you go cold turkey?
I have taken myself off of my 100mg Sertraline as we would like to TTC but I feel awful too. I thought I weaned myself off very gradually but from what others have said here, maybe not gradually enough. I'm crying everyday, experiencing light-headedness, shortness of breath, and extreme mood swings. Yesterday I was so full of anger it was unbelievable. Today I don't want to go on - the world is looking like a very bleak place.
I want to get this out of my system as quickly as I can. I never had anything like this when I came off Citalopram.

I was on 50mg. Worst thing was halving it to 25mg! Felt like flu.

Took 2 weeks to adjust. Then decided to alternate days of 25mg and 12.5mg, for 2 weeks then went to 12.5mg for 2 weeks then stopped.

You have 2 choices, go back on it and reduce slower or ride it out for 2 weeks through the worst of it. I had waves of wooziness for 6 weeks after stopping.

On the offchance you see this...how long did it take for it to improve? I'm on day 7 and I know there's improvement but it's still quite unpleasant 🤢

@yyfromtheyy it took me 2-3 weeks personally. Like flu 😷 feeling light headed and spaced out. Brain zaps ⚡️ and just felt ill. I think I had 3 weeks off work for it. I’m back on Citalopram now since around 3 months ago. Feel much better than I did on Sertraline. I genuinely think ill need these for the rest of my life for anxiety and a bit of depression, id say my anxiety has taken over my life. Even the tablets haven’t changed me, they’ve just made me stop thinking scary things might happen.

@Winterishere19 do you mind if I ask why you prefer citalopram (I have been a choice between sertraline and citalopram.)

I've had a very similar experience. I also take sertraline 100 mg but was stop to take. I was fine for a whole month, seemed to be better than ever than all of a sudden out of nowhere I had a complete numbing sensation. Since that I feel like I've been losing my mind. Crying all the time, forgetting things, not seeing any point in anything, unbearable anxiety. So I've now had to start on the pills again.

@Siobhan95x hi sorry to see this 💐💐
ill be honest and say that I’ve had CBT therapy, every time I’ve come off my medication the same thing has happened to me. I managed to last since my first post here December 2019… I managed to stay off them until around May 2023 roughly. That’s 3 years filled with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I had to go back on them, I just hated the side affects that’s why I stopped previously. I’ll probably take these forever now to be honest. If you need them then you need to do what’s best for you. Did you find that they worked?

@kizziee it was the first ever one I tried around 9 years ago. It did work but gave me awfully bad dreams. I asked to change, they put me on Sertraline. I just suffered so badly with side affects, like a lot with Sertraline for many years. So I came off for 3 years. I then recently went back on and the side affects popped up again. I asked them if I could try Citalopram again or an other alternative and they said yes. Lesson learned is that we are all different and sometimes it takes trying a few to get the right one. Obviously I’ve still got some of the issues but I’ve noticed a few have stopped. They are helping with intrusive thoughts and depression, but not really doing much for my anxiety unfortunately.

I had to come off sertraline to start a new medication and it was 6 weeks at least of dizziness, nausea, what felt like 'electric shock' rushes of adrenaline/panics which sometimes came one after the other and the most visceral, disturbing dreams. I returned to sertraline and have been on SSRIs of one sort or another for 26 years. I don't think I'll ever be without them.

Thanks for the reply, it's nearing 2 weeks for me without. It became more bearable after a week I'd say. Brain zaps became less aggressive on day 7 still pretty horrible up until yesterday only having them a few times a day now. I'm quite defensive I've noticed but I am pregnant as well which was the reason I decided to come off them so that's made it more unpleasant with dizziness/nausea etc but all in all I think I'm doing alright considering.

Loads of stretching and deep breathing has really has made a difference.

xxxx

Thank you @Winterishere19 - really useful

I came across this thread by accident, but it explains a lot and I am grateful. Mumsnet suggested I start a new thread, but I think my experience is relevant here.

I've been taking 50mg/day Sertraline for anxiety and associated gastric symptoms for quite a few years. It was an absolute godsend at the beginning.

Recently I took a week's holiday and forgot to take the Sertraline with me. I was surprised to find that I felt fine, so I though 'Great – I don't need it'. So I stopped taking it altogether.

How wrong I was. A sufficient length of time to break the mental association later, some three weeks, I started feeling really rotten, with insomnia, lurid dreams, fatigue, aches and pains, gastric cramps and general 'meh'.

I am so glad to have found the probable cause. I now plan to go back onto Sertraline – one dose seems to have caused almost immediate relief – and from there taper very, very slowly.