Could anyone share their sertraline tapering plan? (If it worked)

[Januaryblue2020]

I tried to come off sertraline last September, or at least to reduce the dose, but had zero success. Spoke to GP who told me to cut down from 100mg to 50mg over 2 weeks, then 50-25mg over the next two weeks.

It was awful- going from 100-50 left me really anxious and feeling numb and spaced out, and I really think it was just too quick for me. I went back to 100 and have stayed there since.
Now I'm feeling well again and would ideally like to try and reduce my dose- I don't have anything against sertraline (saved my life!) But I do sometimes feel a little 'blunted' by them emotionally.

But I'm reluctant to come off them so quickly again, and my GP doesn't seem to have a lot of experience in this area. Could anyone recommend a regime of tapering that worked for them that isn't too fast? I have one of those pill cutters so can split doses.
Thank you!

I am trying the same. I have tried loads of times over the last ten years! I started doing 100mg one day 50 mg the next then until I managed to get on 50mg.
Could not cut from 100 to 50 quickly as I would get tingles. This has worked but I have done it over 3 months not two weeks
Hope this helps - I think 2 weeks is quick to cut down so much.

My DS was on 50mg for a year, he felt in a good place so wanted to come off them. He cut down to 25mg but after 3 months he became really down and had suicidal thoughts.
He's now back on 50mg, it's been 3 weeks now and he's starting to feel better again.
He obviously needs 50mg🤷‍♀️

Sertraline made me more depressed and lethargic so I couldn't wait to come off (once I figured that was what the problem was)

My GP recommended reducing very slowly over 2-3 months, from 200mg gradually down to 25 every other day, then every third day, and there might have been some advice about taking them at night rather than in the morning too, can't fully remember.

But I wanted off them asap so I asked for a quicker plan and I think I was off them entirely in about 3 weeks which cheered me up no end. However this is obviously different from your experience,January.

Run this by a medical professional of course, but could you try 100mg/75mg every other day for a couple of weeks - or even split a 25mg pill and alternate 100mg/87.5mg? I think my GP's original plan was something along those lines.

I fully sympathise with the blunting feelings though, I felt like I couldn't access any emotion but sadness when I was on sertraline. I think it might actually be the case for both of us that sertraline wasn't a great fit, all round.

I'm in the process of tapering now. I was on sertraline previously and came off with no bother.

I've been on 100mg for nearly a year. Started taper at beginning of May to 75mg then 7 days ago to 50mg. First drop was fine, second one I am getting some anxiety and tiredness but I know it's just the withdrawal.

I think a lot of people get anxiety/depression during withdrawal and assume it's their old problem back and jump back on the pills. Some may need to of course.

I always try to leave 5-6 weeks between drops to give the brain a chance to readjust. It's probably over caution but I'd prefer it that way.

I finished mine in Feb.

I didn't have a regime, I "planned not to have a plan" IYKWIM so I didn't put myself under pressure. I dropped a bit one week, and then about a week later I decided whether to drop again or do another week on the same dose. With 50mg tablets it was something like 2/3 tablet, half, a third, a quarter and then started dropping days. If you're having a bad day you can up the dose slightly, say a whole tablet instead of 2/3 the odd day. Cutting tablets into quarters and thirds is a pain, often you can only get 2 decent quarters from a tablet as you lose a lot in crumbs but that doesn't matter. By the time you're down to 1/3 of a tablet you're barely getting through 2 tablets a week so there is no need to worry about wastage. I'm not a medic but it worked for me to do it intuitively. If it's hard, just stay where you are until you're ready to step down again and allow yourself to have days when you need more and days when you don't - very much within safe limits of course! Eyes on the big picture and the long term trend, it doesn't matter if you take half a tablet instead of a third some days on the way and these are all tiny differences. There is no test for you to "fail" here, just take it one week at a time.