Coming off Sertraline?

[Eleme]

I've been on Sertraline for 2 years and honestly it's changed my life. I realise now that I was very unwell before I started taking it. I'd wake up feeling sick with anxiety every day and I'd worry obsessively about the most ridiculous and irrational things. I was, frankly, a nervous wreck.

However, just lately I've been thinking about how "robot-like" I am these days. I used to cry at sad things on TV all the time; I cried with happiness when I found out my best friend was pregnant after she'd been trying for a long time. I don't really feel joy anymore either. I haven't cried for the whole 2 years I've been on Sertraline. And I kind of miss actually feeling things.

I'm going to ask to reduce my Sertraline from 100mg to 50mg and see how I go.

Can anyone else share their experience of reducing/coming off Sertraline? I'm a bit scared but I think it's time...

Go to your GP. Don't do it on your own. I did and I bitterly regretted it. Felt awful

That’s a big drop. Don’t do anything without medical advice.

You need to taper down, the slower the better. Your GP will help you make a plan, do not DIY this!

With help from your GP you can see how you feel on a much lower dose. My experience of reducing down (gradually) to 25mg dose has meant that I don't really notice that I'm on it - I just feel normal and level if that makes sense. It's good that it's really helped you and maybe after being on a much lower dose for a little while you could come off it altogether. I haven't stopped it as I've found that it took my menopausal hot flushes away (I couldn't take HRT) so it's been a great alternative for me to that.

I was put on 25mg in 2020 (have been on larger amounts in past and came off fine but lockdown fucked my recovery). I decided I wanted to come off then earlier this year. GP said wait until may as easier to do in summer. I tapered down to 6mg and used a pill cutter to cut evenly. Tried to taper smaller but was impossible to get even split and it messed it up a bit as wasn't sure how much I was taking so I went back to 6 for a couple of weeks then came off and it's been ok actually. I've had telephone calls from the gp checking on me though so I would say you need contact with gp

Hello,
I'm also hoping to start to taper down from 50mg sertraline (been on for 1.5 years) this autumn.
I had phone call with GP who said when I ready, to just half pills to 25mg for 2 weeks, then 25mg every 2 days for 2 weeks then stop. I said I was a bit worried that this was too fast as I got worse side effects if I even missed my current daily dose by a few hours. I asked if she could prescribe a25mg pill, so I could try cutting these in half and reduce by 12.5 increments. She said no and told me that 50mg is lowest dose pill available??
I've spoken briefly to a pharmacist who said that they can get 25mg pills but he thought they weren't 'scored' tablets, so would be difficult to cut in half.
Have others had 25mg pills that are 'scored' so can be cut easily?

@teaandtoastwithmarmite you mention tapering slowly and achieving a 6mg dose..... how did you do this? Please could you share your approach? I tried cutting my seared 50mg in half with a cheap pill cutter and that was fairly even. But when I then tried to cut one of the halves into two quarters it all just crumbled...... 😕

I agree that tapering very very slowly is the way. One possible way is to take 100 one day, 50 the next. Alternate like that for a few weeks before cutting down further. Cutting pills is fine - first in half, then into quarters, then into eight. I used a sharp knife - probably not super accurate but was fine. I've also read about people switching to an ssri that has a longer half-life, as they are apparently easier to come off.