Cherende Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 (edited) Hi! I was on Zoloft for 7 years and tried getting off several times before but couldn't due to severe panic attacks. Then this pay January I had a really bad sinus infection and was taking an antibiotic and somehow it realllyyyyyy messed with my 50mg of Zoloft. I've never had problems before but this was so bad that I began having suicidal thoughts almost every minute of the day for about two months. I continued taking the medication even though my Dr thought it wasn't being processed bc of my liver enzymes being so high. June 1st I decided I didn't want any pet of this medication anymore and began weening off. Everything was going well until about 4 weeks off I felt like I was going crazy. The thoughts came back and intensified and violent thoughts came rushing in and now I've been off for almost three months and everyone says I should be feeling almost myself again. Some days are better than others. Some days I can manage those thoughts others I can't. Sometime I feel almost brain dead and can't think at all. Lately I've been soo dizzy.Anyone have advise on when I should be feeling better or will I ever be myself again? A lot of people have told me between 3-4 months off and I should think and feel myself. Is this true? Don't know how much longer I can go on like this. Any recovery success stories? Also pretty depressed most of the time. Thank you! Edited October 8, 2016 by scallywag added paragraph breaks and tags Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus scallywag Posted October 8, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted October 8, 2016 Cherende -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA) I've moved your post to the Introductions Forum so that more people will see your question. This is your introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community. A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly? Any drugs prior to that can just be listed with start and stop years. You don't need to include symptoms or diagnoses other than the initial condition that led to prescribing the first drug. We ask for this information in your signature so that we can see it at a glance. A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature The symptoms you describe are withdrawal symptoms, that unfortunately are virtually guaranteed to arise after an abrupt full stop, "cold turkey", of an SSRI .What is withdrawal syndromeSome people are lucky and their symptoms do resolve in the generally accepted time frame of less than 3 months. What people don't know is that this time frame has been generally accepted because of self-protecting promotion by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Many people have symptoms that last longer, sadly. People do recover; it takes time. The best known way to ease withdrawal symptoms is to reinstate a very small dose of the medication one has discontinued. This topic discusses reinstatement; please read the first post carefully:About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptomsAfter reading about this, please come back to this page and post whether you are open to the idea of reintroducing Zoloft.Then after having stabilized on that dose for several months, one could consider a slow, gradual taper off the drug. We suggest reducing dose by no more than 10% of current dose no more often than once per month.Why taper by 10% of my dosage?Some drug-specific information to consider:Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline) I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to 0.0 mg Aug. 12; details here scallywag's IntroductionOnline spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet Link to comment
PoetJester Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Hey Cherende I was on high doses of Zoloft and zyprexa for 14 years and quit both meds cold turkey in feb 2014. My liver enzymes were always very elevated during that time, too, but my doctor didn't really seem to care all that much. He would just say "we should keep an eye on it (my liver enzyme levels). He also told me the pills "make you feel good." when I had all sorts of side effects from them and rarely ever left my apartment because I was tired all the time and slept like 15 hours a day. Some of the withdrawal symptoms do clear up within a few weeks to months, while others seem to linger on for quite a while. There are a lot of us on this site who feel like zombies these days from the brain fog that comes on once you quit the pills. It's been 2 1/2 years since I took the pills and I still have problems with insomnia and fatigue, and like you, a lot of days my memory and cognitive abilities are pretty slow, mostly on days when I didn't much sleep the night before. I constantly forget things now. I have problems with names at times and start to forget what I am talking about in conversations. It's actually pretty common for those going through psych pill withdrawal. If you are interested, there is a facebook page that about 70 of us from this site take part in to discuss the problems we are having from pill withdrawal. Look under "Off-Topic" on the intro page and there is a link to it. Derek (PoetJester) Court committed to take Prozac, Paxci, and Respiradol from 8/95 to 3/96. developed severe akithisia and brain damage. Was unable to speak and walking in circles 15 hours a day. Went in for 5 sessions of ECT during a 10 day period in March of '96 and my forced medication was discontinued at that time. My akithisia and brain damage cleared up within a few days of stopping the meds. On Zoloft (200 mg) and Zyprexa (17.5 mg) March 1998- Feb 2014 In between was placed on Effexor 200 mg and Abilify for six months in 2004. Developed mild akithisia which went away once I stopped the Abilify. Developed severe GI issues in Dec 2001 and from that time on suffered from fatigue and hypersomnia where I would sleep between 12 and 20 hours a day and rarely ever left my apartment. Had tapered to 100 mg of Zoloft and 7.5 mg of Zyprexa at the time of going cold turkey Feb. 2014 Went 5 days without sleep at the beginning while vomiting all over my apt. Had brain zaps for a number of weeks and also lightheadedness which both eventually went away. However 2 1/2 yrs later I still struggle with insomnia, depression, and fatigue. Link to comment
Cherende Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 Yes I was on 50mg consistently for he 7 years never tried any other medicine or anything. I didn't stop cold turkey ever but I think my liver enzymes were raised and not processing it so it was if I had. Next Wednesday I will have been off for 3 months. I tapered very slowly for 3 months and now have been off almost 90 days but still dealing with withdrawal such as anger and. Or honking clearly and bad thoughts and intrusive thoughts etc. Is there hope I will overcome this and it will go away? Or should I try a new medicine? I haven't felt myself since January when I took that antibiotic. Also does fish oil help? Does the depression eventually go away? Link to comment
Juninmoon Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Hi I'm new on here, I've taken Sertraline and my feet have gone blue? Anyone else had this? Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus scallywag Posted October 31, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted October 31, 2016 Junimoon,Please start an introduction topic for yourself. That will be the best place to answer your questions. Tips on your introductionLink to start a new topic for yourself in the Introductions and updates forum Another request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly? Any drugs prior to that can just be listed with start and stop years. Please provide actual dates or month & year rather than relative time-frames such as "3 months ago" or "last week" You don't need to include symptoms or diagnoses other than the initial condition that led to prescribing the first drug. We ask for this information in your signature so that we can see it at a glance. A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature If you are using a mobile phone, please look at the instructions in Post #8 and Post #9 This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to 0.0 mg Aug. 12; details here scallywag's IntroductionOnline spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet Link to comment
3003 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Do you remember the antibiotic you were given for the sinus infection? I had the same issue happen with Augmentin and Zoloft. <p>Luvox 1997-2011 for OCD, 2016 reintroduction.Prozac 2011 - 2016: June 2015 started taper Feb. 2016 updose from 20 mg to 60 mg, taper to 10 mg by June then discontinue to 0 after adding Zoloft 100 mg.2016 changes:PROZAC - ZOLOFT CROSSOVER: June 14 100mg zoloft 10mg prozac; June 19 125 zoloft dropped prozac; July 13 100 zoloft;ZOLOFT - LUVOX CROSSOVER: August 12 100 zoloft 25mg luvox; August 15 75 zoloft 50 luvox; Mid August 50 zoloft 50 luvox; Late August 75mg luvox 25 zoloft;LUVOX ONLY: Sep 10 50 mg Luvox; Sep 22 43.75 mg, Oct 1 37.5 mg; Oct 13 43.75 mg***CURRENT*** 43.75 mg luvox; Xanax as needed .25-.50 a daySupplements: 5000 vitamin d, Ubiquinil 100mg, Inositol 8-10 g, Flaxseed oil 2x a day, Calm at night (magnesium), B-complex,5-10 grams inositol Link to comment
Lakelander82 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 (edited) Zoloft really is really hard to come off, as are all the SSRIs I'm sure. I remember foolishly cutting my 50 mg in half and trying to ride it out for a week or two. It was simply too much, I was a dysfunctional wreck. I could barely hold a thought in my head for anymore than a few seconds, I was suffering "dead head" syndrome. Then embarking on my taper, 1st 10% cut no problem, the same with the second. I ran into problems with the third 10% cut but rid it out and on my fourth cut I had to reduce to a 5% cut which is just about on the very edge of what I can tolerate. I'm having to hold for 4 -5 weeks on each of those 5% cuts, it's really all I can handle. Edited November 1, 2016 by ChessieCat changed obscenity May 2007 - October 2007 Citalopram 20 mg od. 1st Antidepressant ever taken. No problem with fast taper and no withdrawal effects. No antidepressants for over 5 years. January 2013 started Citalopram 20mg. March 2014 Switched to Sertraline 50 mg od. 23rd June 2016 started taper 45mg 23.07.16 40.5mg 23.08.16 36.45mg 27.09.16 34.65mg 24.10.16 32.90mg 28.11.16 31.26mg 04.01.17 32mg 25.02.17 31mg 22.03.17 30mg 14.04.17 29mg 09.05.17 28mg 07.06.17 27mg 08.06.17 26mg 13.07.17 25mg 07.08.17 24mg 24.08.17 23mg 13.09.17 22mg 12.10.17 21mg 10.11.17 20mg 04.12.17 19mg 01.01.18 17mg 25.01.18 15mg 22.02.18 13.5mg 25.03.18 12.15mg Link to comment
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