SSRI withdrawals?

[Umbongo1]

Anyone with any experience of this? I have come off sertraline after 4 years excruciatingly slowly. Been on 12.5mg since October and stopped last Tuesday. Today I have headaches I just can't get rid of. Is this a withdrawal symptom? Thought these would usually show up a bit sooner than day 8....

I recently stopped cold turkey from 150mg (under the psychiatrists supervision) and headaches and brain zaps seemed to get worse in the second week. I’m now 3 weeks in and feel fine.

I've been tapering escitalopram since October. I now take 2.5mg every other day but get nausea, burning sensation in upper body, muscle aches, joint aches, headache....I've had these since October. I'm starting to think they will never go away. I was only on them since last May.
I wish I'd never gone on them in the first place.

It’s usually the last bit that’s the worse unfortunately!
Going to last bit to 0

You could see how you can cope with the headaches on 0 try and stick it out
Or
Do another break (if tablet form) from 12.5mg

You get a rough ride when going on them and another coming off

If it’s to much to cope with, you could go on Prozac this as a long half life and is used when you get to the last bit of your usual ad
To stop discontinuation syndrome

@56granadagirl

How long do you have to take the Prozac? I've heard this before but don't understand how it works?

Not sure
Have a read through this
Prozac Bridge. Psycheducation.org
Can’t link it

Thanks.

Thanks everyone. After a few days of feeling rough with headaches it all seems to have passed and am now at day 12 feeling a1. But perhaps the worst is to come.

Not sure about anyone else but I certainly wasn't told about the possibility of withhdrawal or discontinuation syndrome when I started taking those drugs. The message was rather 'don't worry about that now'. I may (or may not) have got off lightly but it seems an awful lot of people do not.

How is everyone doing today?

@Limensoda my best friend who is a GP said that latest guidelines were not to do one day off, one day on etc as it just confuses your brain as to how much of the seratonin it's getting. The current practice seems to be to stick with the daily dosage regime, albeit in smaller and smaller portions, rather than alternating days.

Obviously you'd want to discuss this with your dr first but might be something to try to ease true symptoms?

Possibly. Hold steady on your current dose until your brain adjusts. Don't drop any further until your symptoms subside. It isn't withdrawal as such, more that your brain is used to having the support of the meds and now is trying to regain its footing so to speak. Think of it as having your cast off after 6 weeks in plaster. You go easy on the limb at first, it feels weak and achy. Then as you gradually use it more, it goes back to normal.

58Umbongo1

Thank you.
Like you, I was told not to worry about when I want to come off the meds. I was also told it wouldn't be a problem.
I've only done the alternate day thing since I went down to 2.5 mg. Before that I took it every day and decreased the dose.
I had to cut a 5mg in half to get the 2.5mg....and its almost impossible to cut it down again so that's why I went on the every other day routine.
I tried acupuncture last week. Afterwards, my symptoms were worse. I felt awful and thought I'm not going back for the next session, but the next morning I felt much better and this has continued since so my doctor has told me to try to cut the tablet down to 1.25 and do that every other day.
She thinks my symptoms will go more quickly once I'm off it altogether as my side effects when I was on them, never went away the whole time.
She thinks SSRIs were the wrong meds for me.
I'm pleased to hear your symptoms are better....I hope that continues for you.