Reducing sertraline. What's the worse that could happen?

[Machiavellian]

Fed up of the general numbness and separateness of my life. I've been on 50mg for a few years so snapped a pill in half and been on that for 3 days. Anybody else halved their dose? What's it like?

Following. I am the same and started taking half every other day. Feeling lower a couple of weeks in.

I came off 100mg with no side effects. I'd been on them years. I did it incredibly slowly over a period of months. I basically halved them for a couple of months, then broke them into quarters and took that for a couple of months. I did it so slowly and gradually over time that I never experienced any side effects at all.

I came off of Sertraline and experienced very unpleasant side effects, like brain zaps and such. It is best to taper slowly to avoid the following:

‘Discontinuation syndrome can cause nausea, tremor, dizziness, muscle pains, weakness, insomnia, anxiety, and brain "zaps"’

www.verywellmind.com/tapering-off-zoloft-1067486

How fast did you taper off them? I think it took me over 6 months to fully taper off mine. No side effects at all

Not slowly enough, maybe 3 months. The brain zaps were horrible. I came off due to insomnia and weight gain, plus Sertraline didn’t actually help me. I’m now on Fluoxetine and Propanolol. Too early to know about the Fluoxetine but Propanolol has been life changing. I am on them for depression, anxiety disorders, and panic attacks.

What the hell are brain zaps? I'm not wanting to stop them. Just lower the dose so I'm not constantly at the bottom of the swimming pool if you see what I mean. The sensation of being distant from the surface and life itself.

It feels like someone is giving your brain an electric shock. You can come off of it it’s just the advice is to take it very slowly to give your brain time to adjust.

Yep me too. Was in 75mg for about a year, then down to 50mg. Last 8yrs or so have been taking 25mg every other day, none at weekend.
Feeling absolutely fine with it - even forget to take it some days. I also have very supportive GP and have following several CBT sessions over the years.

You'd be better off alternating half/one tablet first before going to half daily.

Sertraline 50 mg worked well for me for after an horrendous fortnight of side effects.

Then after a year when more awful ness descended, it didn't. I was given conflicting advice ( by the same Trainee GP on the same call!) about changing dosage and against better judgment went up to 100mg. Instant and horrific reaction.

Took matters into own hands and reduced to 50, then 50 every other day the. 25 then nothing . No issues at all.

More clued up GP is in agréésment. She said they are clearly not suiting me. And hasn't suggested an alternative. I take propropanol and find that very helpful.

We discussed therapy and she said in her experience CBT tends to genuinely benefit only a relatively small scope of patients with very specific issues. Then at the other end of the spectrum there is the heavy psychiatric intervention.

Most people ( like me) are somewhere in the middle. I am going to look for some private psychotherapy when I feel a bit stronger.

A few years back, I came off 50mg without any withdrawal issues. I just stopped because I couldn’t afford my prescription.
im on sertraline again now as my anxiety went through the roof and my OCD ramped up. I now take 150mg, was on 200mg for about a year but reduced to 150mg on advice of hospital psych last time I was sectioned.

I'm on day 4 of 25mg and no real effects so far. But I do have a raging cold so I feel pretty rough anyway!

Hi @Machiavellian, just wondering how you got on if you're still about?

Did you stop completely?

I weaned off of 200mg Sertraline over a period of several months. I think I would go even more gradually if I did it again although I didn't have any side effects.

I did end up going back onto another medication after a significant period of time off of the Sertraline, but the weaning itself was OK.