Coming off Sertraline

[Hueandcry]

Does anyone have experience of this? I've been tapering down from 100mg to 50mg for a while & now taking 50mg every 2 or 3 days.Feeling anxious but that's probably the same for many people just now. Having headaches & feeling a bit shaky. Is this normal when trying to come off Sertraline?

From looking online it looks like the side effects. Could you break the tablet so you're halving the dose and do that for the next couple of weeks?

Thanks. I've looked online but was hoping some people with personal experience could help me.

I would make sure you are taking some setraline every day into your system.

Also 100mg to 50g is quite a jump hence the headachey funny feelings.

if you could cut the tablets so you are having 75mg that would be better.

Or as you are on the 50mg, get into taking that every day and that will level out the funny feels!

Don't rush. Stay several week at 50mg, then take it down to 25mg for several weeks, I had the most reaction when I was literally taking the last spec every day. My body obviously knew it was the very last bit!

Thanks @bluesky, that's really helpful

I stopped taking 25mg about a week ago and am feeling horrendous today. Very light headed, dizzy, sneezing and absolutely exhausted.
I also suffer with hayfever and the pollen is high at the moment so I think that's not helping.
Also work on the frontline in the health service so I'm really worried incase I've picked up the coronavirus.
None of the above helping my anxiety and starting to wonder if coming off was a good idea. I'll give it another few days and hope things improve.

@jogalong hoping things improve for you soon. I must admit if I'd known this was coming I'd have probably decided against coming off them but having started I intend to finish. Having said that I'm not in your position so do what's right for you & whatever gets you through. Take care

I intend to finish too. I just hope I've made the right decision. I couldn't stand the brain fog and crap sex but I'm wondering if I've paid a high price as some of the irrational thoughts and emotions are creeping back in. I can't bear the side effects of starting sertraline again. Would I settle sooner on it as I've only been off it a week. Or should I stick it out now and hope for better days.
I'll see how I feel tomorrow and decide then.

I went cold turkey from 200mg to nothing; I had about two weeks of headaches and dizziness but that was it. I don't advise it at all (it was a stupid move on my part) but it did get better.

So today I caved. My withdrawals were so bad. The blinding headache was the worst. I actually spent most of the day in bed under a dark cloud. And i was having very dark thoughts.
So a few hours ago I took a sertraline. Already i feel different. The headache is gone. And I feel slightly calmer. Maybe a relief that I've decided to go back on sertraline.
I guess I'm not as well as I thought I was😕

I have been on and off sertraline for the last few years too. Had similar brain fog etc that you mention BUT on the other hand usually feel
much less miserable as soon as I go back on them. I came off them because I felt that certain issues in my life should be tackled, rather than me having to take something to cope with them, if that makes sense. Do whatever feels right for you. Don’t feel that you have to come off them at any given time. Be kind to yourself. Good luck.

@jogalong it's not caving, it's doing the right thing for you at this moment. I've gone into 25mg daily to try & stave off the headaches & withdrawal thanks to the advice on here. Think I was just trying to do it all too quickly & by making it s longer, slower process I'll have more chance of success. Saying that yesterday I had really bad weepy day but that's more to do with being alone & no sight of restrictions ending...

@hueandcry I think that's right. In the past I have tried to just stop and felt epic(!) for the first few weeks but then the malaise sets in again, sometimes worse because I have felt a false sense of security about how well am I doing. Sorry you had a bad day yesterday. Lockdown is a very strange beast for us all, and I am sure that has a big bearing on how we all feel too. It can be so hard to tell can't it? Be sure that will be a contributing factor though. Are you able to be in touch with friends/family digitally?

I came off sertraline a number of years ago. I initially found that it felt quite emotionally unstable, weepy and anxious which did make me feel like I wanted to run back to it, but it did subside after a few weeks and then I felt ok. Take your time and don't panic if you feel 'worse' for a period as think this is quite normal whilst your body adjusts. Good luck!

I've not been on sertraline but I'd advise you take ages a long time to come off ADs. They are powerful psychotropic drugs and you can't muck about.

It's disastrous to come off quickly. The kickback is because of sudden cessation. If you come off slowly there are no side-effects.

I took 18 months to come off an AD once! A bit ott lol but I was terrified of returning to my previous state. In the end my GP gave it to me in a liquid suspension (bless him) so I could reduce in tiny incremental doses using a syringe.

I honestly wouldn't be cavalier with ADs. Take your time xx

Hi all
I thought I would share my experience. I had been on 75mg sertraline for just over a year and made the decision to come off in January as I was feeling better generally and didn’t like the sexual side effects. I had been on them before a few years ago and found I had to taper very slowly in order to minimise side effects.
I discussed with my doctor and decided to cut the 75mg down to 62.5mg for a month then 50mg for a month then 37.5mg etc.

I went down to 37.5mg around 10th April As being in lockdown and working from home I figured this was the best time to try, and from about 17th May I have been experiencing really bad side effects. Mainly dizziness and what I think is brain zaps based on others descriptions. When I love my eyes and head I feel a contracting of sorts in my brain and feel quite disoriented. My head feels swimmy if I look up and down.
These have been fairly constant since 17th May. Not completely debilitating. It’s ok if I am busy and pottering around the kitchen or sunbathing, but worse when I’m at my desk or in the supermarket.

I thought it was odd that it took a while (over a month) from going down to 37.5mg to start experiencing these symptoms and coupled with the fact I barely had any effects coming down from higher doses. I have heard from reading other forums that apparently, when you drop down from 50mg your withdrawals can increase because there is a sudden drop in the level of serotonin receptors or something? Whereas above 50mg even if you are decreasing from 200mg, the receptors stay fairly high.
So now it has been about three weeks nearly of bad withdrawals. I am pushing through as I have heard it can take up to 6 weeks. I also won’t decrease down to 25mg until the withdrawals have significantly subsided for a week.
Hopefully that has helped a bit. Please let me know if anyone is sharing a similar experience of delayed onset withdrawals and how long they lasted?