Tattycorum: Introduction

[Tattycorum]

Hello community,

So glad to have found this site!! I've been reading, reading, reading for almost two months.

 

Unfortunately I did not find y'all and Dr. Glenmullen's book until after eight months of thinking I was doing a gradual taper per my GP's advice. Without proper information I tapered too fast, alternated doses, and failed to recognize that the difficult symptoms I was having could be coming from antidepressant withdrawal. I'm currently trying to stabilize before embarking on the 10% taper, starting with sertraline.

 

The symptoms I currently have are:

• rapid heartbeat and resulting fatigue, anxiety and agitation, including:
  • dizziness and fainting upon standing up (orthostatic hypotension)
  • inability to alter heart rate with exercise (exercise intolerance)
• ears ringing
• morning depression
• heat intolerance (like hot flashes only longer)
• intense dreams and nightmares
• head tremor

Once I realized I was tapering too fast, I stabilized/increased to 25 mg sertraline and 0.75 mg lorazepam. In the two months since then, some other symptoms I had went away and the above symptoms have seemed to improve, except for heartbeat and head tremor. I had a normal EKG. All blood tests normal except cholesterol (and I consider high cholesterol a good thing for me as a post-menopausal woman).

 

Starting in 2013 or 2014, my antidepressant was increased and I started regularly taking lorazepam due to several years of extreme emotional stress (caring for my physically and mentally declining spouse).  I also experienced severe disrupton of my sleep cycle and used alcohol at night. During and before this time, I had many years of blood sugar fluctuations. So I imagine my HPA axis was already severely out of whack even before my mis-guided fast taper.

 

I stopped alcohol 15 months ago, after my husband died. (My symptoms are complicated by the effects of my grief process.) I've been gradually removing stressors from my life. I have recently addressed my blood sugar via a low-carb unprocessed way-of-eating. Am also phasing out caffeine. I am addressing my sleep cycle by using amber glasses to counter the effects of evening screen time. (Hope to reduce the screen time too).

 

Anyway, I am frustrated that my heart palpitations make me unable to exercise, but I understand that all the nervous system problems can be slow to resolve. Trying to be super patient. Appreciate hearing everyone else's stories, questions, and answers. This site is a wonderful resource.

Edited October 28, 2016 by scallywag
emphasize meds, add tags

[scallywag]

Tattycorum -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)

 

It looks as if you've been doing a lot of reading around this site and understand the best bet for you right now is holding at current doses.

 

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.

 

Let us know how things are going for you.

[RachelSusan]

Hi Tattycorum,

Thank you for your message on my thread. I posted the message below on my page, but I wanted to make sure you got it, so I'm posting here as well.

 

I read your introduction, you have gone through a lot. I am so sorry that your husband passed away.  If my story can be of any help to you I'm pleased.  I put it up here specifically for anybody else that is going through something similar to what I am going through. I even put my mistakes up here hoping that someone else might not make the same ones.  For me, patience has been hard.  If you need support, I offer it. If have any questions I am very comfortable answering anything about my journey.  I see Scallywag, one of the moderators, responded to your post.  Scallywag is the same person that answered me when I first posted.  Scallywag helped me a lot, along with others here.  It sounds like you are doing everything right, please continue to take care of yourself. Thank you again for your note, it made me very happy.

[Tattycorum]

I'm currently stabilizing on  25 mg sertraline in the morning and 0.75 mg lorazepam (at bedtime).

Would it make sense to taper the lorazepam first? Since it might be such a long time to before I'm tapered off the sertraline? Is there some general information on the question of tapering an SSRI before of after a Benzo if you are on both?

TIA!

[scallywag]

Here's our thinking about which to taper first: benzo or SSRI:

Taking multiple drugs? Which to taper first.

 

If you have questions, post them back here in your intro topic.

[Tattycorum]

I started my 10% per month taper January 2017. My symptoms seem pretty stable... not much better, not much worse. I'm discouraged that my symptoms did not improve more during the period I was stabilizing on 25 mg sertraline (Sept-Dec).

 

I'm continuing with my "zero carb" way of eating (http://zerocarbzen.com/zero-carb), and trying to keep stress down and remain patient with the extent of my physical disability due to the rapid heart beat. I have started getting acupuncture treatments and I'm taking a Chinese Herbal medicine (Tian Ma Gou Teng). Taking herbal tinctures: motherwort, hawthorne, black cohosh root. Drinking herbal tea: Nettle, licorice, ginger, lemon balm. 

[ChessieCat]

Here's SA's discussion of:  Acupuncture - Posts #6 & #8 (not detox or stimulation)

[RachelSusan]

Hi Tattycorum,

I decided to drop in and see how you are doing. In one of your previous posts you mentioned not feeling better, but not feeling worse.  Any difference now? Are you still having head tremors?  The tremors for me were the worst part.  Thankfully most of mine have gone away. During the first week of a medication taper they do come back, but are rather minor in severity and very short in duration.   Congrats on starting your taper.  I had to go back up a little on medication last fall and then started a taper in December. I'm doing between a 5% and 10% taper, based on how I feel. Wishing you the best.

Rachel

[Tattycorum]

Hi RS,

Thanks for checking in. I have been following your posts, which are very helpful.

 

I have not noticed my tapering having any effect, although I don't keep up with daily tracking of symptoms. I'm glad I'm doing a gradual taper as recommended here -- feels much safer, after how awful my previous, doctor-advised taper was. 

 

My overall symptoms (which I think result from nervous system damage from the too-steep, doctor-guided taper in 2016) continue about the same, with slight improvement. For me, unlike you, the tremor is not a major thing. Just my head. My symptoms center around my heart palpitations, which sometimes feel like they shaking my body and creating my head-nodding tremor. (Which I don't think is happening, but it feels that way.) So, for me, heat intolerance, stress intolerance, and exercise intolerance--I can't walk uphill or upstairs without feeling like it's too much exercise... muscles feel week and I have to catch my breath. I'm quite disabled in that way. But as long as I'm sedentary, not hot, and not stressed, I feel okay, most of the time. Even on a good day I'll get a hot flash or some heart palpitations. And I still have the ringing ears, mild involuntary tongue movements, vivid nightmares, waking up depressed/anxious, mild anxiety in general. Some days worse, some days better. On a bad day, I'll have POTS like symptoms--dizziness when standing up.

 

Good luck with your taper and thanks for the updates!

[RachelSusan]

I'll stay in touch and I will keep updating my thread.  Your symptoms, as well as mine, they are awful and there are just so many different ones. What a nightmare.  I do know however we will eventually get off and recover.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Tatty.
 
After hearing about your symptoms, I am concerned about your zero carb diet. Low blood sugar raises adrenaline, which can cause symptoms such as dizziness and rapid heartbeat in people whose nervous systems are already stressed by drugs.
 
Ketosis can also increase heartrate.
 
Ancient peoples ate grains, roots, and legumes when they could. Few of us are still genetically adapted to the ancient diets.
 
If I were you, I would add a few nuts, legumes, potatoes, and even oatmeal to your daily diet. Complex carbs in the evening will help keep your blood sugar steady overnight, which probably will assist restoring your sleep pattern. I would not be a bit surprised if the symptoms you experience in the morning, including depression, were from fasting overnight and even lower blood sugar.
 
Otherwise, we've found many people do better with fish oil and magnesium supplements, see

King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker
 
Also see Taurine for heart arrhythmia

[Tattycorum]

Thanks for your feedback, Altostrata. Yes, fluctuating blood sugar is definitely to be avoided! Unlike some zero-carbers, I don't do any fasting--I eat a snack in the evening as well as regular meals during the day, to keep my blood sugar steady. I have found my blood sugar to be more stable, and my symptoms improved, with this way of eating. (Also, by cutting out alcohol, using only minimal caffeine, and avoiding stress.)  I do take magnesium supplements. Fish oil did not agree with me, unfortunately. Also, I eat a lot of raw liver, which has carbs in it.   "Zero carb" is a bit of a misnomer for this way of eating. 

[Tattycorum]

Very happy to report that the last three weeks or so my symptoms are noticeably improved, and stayed at the improved level even after my March 1 10% decrease. My guess is I'm still overall recovering from the misguided too-steep taper of March-August 2016. Have been able to start exercising... my exercise tolerance has increased. Also, to clarify an earlier post, I haven't had arrhythmia, just rapid heart beat. And that rapid heartbeat seems noticeably better now too. Hooray and fingers crossed. I'm grateful for the guidance and moral support from this group!!

[RachelSusan]

Hi Tattycorum,

Thanks for your post on my page.  I'm here on your page to cheer you on as well.  My misguided taper which was actually "cold turkey" was in May or June of 2016.  It appears we are both on similar timetables. I'm so glad to hear you are doing so well.  We'll get this thing taken care of, slowly but we will.

RS

 

 

[RachelSusan]

Hi Tattycorum,

I just wanted to check up on you. Are you still visiting Surviving Antidepressants?  How are you doing? If you feel like posting I would love to hear from you.

RS

[Tattycorum]

On 10/4/2017 at 9:12 AM, RachelSusan said:

Hi Tattycorum,

I just wanted to check up on you. Are you still visiting Surviving Antidepressants?  How are you doing? If you feel like posting I would love to hear from you.

RS

Hi RS, sorry I missed this post, but I think I've given an update on your thread. I hope you are well.  Things are the same here, as I reduce my dose 10% every month. Don't seem to have symptoms from each taper, just my regular set of symptoms since my too fast withdrawal attempt in 2016. But even those symptoms might be moderating a bit, fingers crossed! I'm getting down where it will soon be too hard to measure the powder and I will need to school myself on the liquid solution dosing techniques that I've read about here.

[Tattycorum]

I read the post about shortening our signatures, so I did that and I'm just pasting the more detailed history here for future reference. Thanks everyone for this great site!

History:

2005-14 50 mg sertraline (aka Zoloft); 

2014-15 200 mg sertraline
2014-15 1-1.5 mg lorazepam (aka Ativan) at night
2016: attempted taper too fast
Sept - Dec 2016: 25 mg sertraline

2016 to present: 0.75 mg lorazepam at night

Sept 2016 - present: following Zero Carb diet http://zerocarbzen.com/zero-carb

Jan 2017: start 10% per month taper of sertraline: Jan: 22.5 mg; Feb: 20.25 mg; March: 18.23 mg; April: 16.4 mg; May: 14.76; June: 13.29; July: 11.96: August: 10.76; Sept: 9.69; Oct: 8.72; Nov: 7.85; Dec: 7.06: Jan 2018: 6.35; Feb: 5.72; March: 5.15; April: 4.63; May: 4.17; June: 3.75; July: 3.39; Aug: 3.04

[RachelSusan]

Hi Tattycorum,

 

I appreciate you responding to my post.  You did update me on my thread so no worries.  I too continue to taper my sertraline (Zoloft) since my disaster of a cold turkey and then a too fast taper in 2016.  I'm down to 3.8 mg at the moment.

 

It sounds like you are doing much better these days which is wonderful to hear.  It's sadly amazing that these drugs can affect us for so long.  Perhaps the two of us will be posting in the near future that we have completed our mission and are drug free and symptom free.

 

xo

RS

[Tattycorum]

Hello Fellow Travelers,

I'm down to 1.99 mg in my journey of reducing 10% each month! Only 14 months until I will consider stopping, at .46 mg. 

 

I started making my own liquids. I realized that liquid would make it easy to divide my dose into 2 x a day. Since the half-life is relatively short, I wonder if this will make things easier. I don't usually notice that my symptoms are affected by my monthly reduction but I do have chronic symptoms (tinnitus, nightmares, morning depression, anxiety, head tremor, heat intolerance, exercise intolerance, rapid heartbeat.)

 

I just divided my lorazepam / Ativan dose into 3 x a day hoping that will help with the above, and now I'm inspired to ask if dividing my sertraline might also help. Thanks for any ideas!

[ChessieCat]

If you have only just started dividing your Ativan I suggest that you wait a while before changing the dose time for a split dose of Zoloft.

 

Keep it Simple, Slow and Stable

 

The half life of Zoloft is about 26 hours so provided you didn't take a dose later, you should be okay.

 

However, if you do decide that you would prefer to split the dose it is better to move part of the dose by 1 hour each day.  I suggest that you keep notes on paper to see how it is affecting you.  If you usually take the dose in the morning, taking 1/2 at night time may affect your sleep.  If that happened you could either reduce the evening dose and move the balance earlier by an hour each day until the same time as the morning dose or you could move the entire evening dose forward by an hour each day until you are taking it earlier in the day and it doesn't affect your sleep.

[Tattycorum]

Thank you, very good advice and the information in the linked post is great too! I'll hold off on changing the zoloft.

[Gridley]

16 hours ago, Tattycorum said:

Only 14 months until I will consider stopping, at .46 mg.

You have a while to go, but you might want to consider going a little lower before jumping to zero.  This link has good information:

 

When to end the taper and jump to zero?

[Tattycorum]

Thank you, I have read that thread over and over and will not jump off too early!

[Tattycorum]

This past year after a lot of drama and tests and procedures, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, sarcoidosis of the lungs and some other places. I'm exploring lifestyle and environmental changes to try and control it before considering the mainstream approach to treating it: prednisone. I have read on here of someone finding that prednisone made their WD symptoms much worse.  

 

I had started a 5% every two weeks taper of my lorazepam but decided to put that on hold until I finish my sertraline taper.

 

I started researching low-dose naltrexone (LDN) for autoimmune disease and it looks very promising and not addictive. And, on this forum, I read that some folks find it useful to ease SSRI WD symptoms as they taper. If I try it I will report.

 

In the meantime, I find that my mega-dosing vitamin C (6,000 mg spread throughout the day) still significantly helps my symptoms. Every now and then I'll have a bad day, which reminds me of how much better most of my days are than when I first did my too-fast taper. 

[Tattycorum]

I have been doing Low Dose Naltrexone for my autoimmune condition for about 10 weeks (tapering up gradually). Taking it at night I found, if anything, it worsened my symptoms of nightmares, insomnia, morning depression. When I switched to taking it in the morning, those things instantly went back to where they were before.

 

I have been doing Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DRNS) since early December for POTS and general anxiety--which I had before and after withdrawal. The program is extremely powerful and has given me a lot more resilience, joy, calmness, confidence, and energy. The program does not solve SSRI withdrawal, but the changes I've had from the program have helped me handle my withdrawal better. I recommend DNRS as a tool for coping.  

[Gertie]

"Hi Gertie, I saw your post and thought I would reply, since I am tapering by crushing sertraline pills, weighing out an amount to put five days' worth in a capsule, and then diluting a capsule every five days. I keep the solution in the fridge and because the amount weighed changes the amount of liquid remains the same. I use the gem scale recommended in the posts on tapering. I start by getting an average weight per pill: weigh 30 pills, add up their weight, and divide by 30. The attached spreadsheet does the calculations, assuming a 25 mg pill being crushed - just substitute the applicable pill weight (and change the mg if you aren't using 25 mg pills). I start with current dose (1 mg for you) and each month reduce by 10%. I multiply this by five, because each capsule will be five days' worth to dilute. I then translate this mg dose amount to a weight amount. I usually weigh out the capsules in advance and put them in baggies marked by month. When the weights get too low to measure the difference with the scale, increase each capsule from 5 days to 10 days' worth. All amounts are in the attached spreadsheet.

Because the amount of solution taken daily does not change, I easily use this dropper:  https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZBH02G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hope this helps!

Martha

 

sertraline-taper-example.xlsm 48.21 kB · 3 downloads"

 

Hi Martha,

Above is your response to my question on RS's page.  Thank you SO MUCH for your quick reply!  I decided to respond on your page so I don't take over her page with my detailed questions.

Your approach is brilliant - I haven't see anyone approach it that way, by keeping liquid the same and reducing pill amount.  Usually they just add more and more water, which was what I was going to do.  Now you have me thinking...

My only concern is that I'm not sure my daughter will be able to handle a 10% cut at one time.  Her poor system just continues to take hits, and she's struggling a lot right now.  When (and I'm using that term to stay positive and reduce my fear that it won't happen) she's stable, I want to proceed VERY gently.  I'm thinking about starting with maybe a 1.5% or 2% drop to see how she handles it.  I can always speed it up if she's ok with that.

When I put that low of percent changes into your spreadsheet, your weights don't change for 5 pills.  Therefore I think I'm back to having to add a lot more water to get the itty bitty concentrations that I need?

I'm so happy to see how well your tapering is going, and I pray it continues that way for you, and that my daughter can follow in your footsteps.  Please continue to post here after you stop - I have such a fear of what happens 3 months after someone jumps off, and love to read success stories.  My anxiety is so high about what I've done to her by trusting these Drs; sometimes I fear I've ruined her life.  I come here looking for hope. Often times instead I get the "bleep" scared out of me, so stories like yours are so comforting you have no idea.

xoxo

 

[Tattycorum]

4 hours ago, Gertie said:

 

Hi Martha,

Above is your response to my question on RS's page.  Thank you SO MUCH for your quick reply!  I decided to respond on your page so I don't take over her page with my detailed questions.

Your approach is brilliant - I haven't see anyone approach it that way, by keeping liquid the same and reducing pill amount.  Usually they just add more and more water, which was what I was going to do.  Now you have me thinking...

My only concern is that I'm not sure my daughter will be able to handle a 10% cut at one time.  Her poor system just continues to take hits, and she's struggling a lot right now.  When (and I'm using that term to stay positive and reduce my fear that it won't happen) she's stable, I want to proceed VERY gently.  I'm thinking about starting with maybe a 1.5% or 2% drop to see how she handles it.  I can always speed it up if she's ok with that.

When I put that low of percent changes into your spreadsheet, your weights don't change for 5 pills.  Therefore I think I'm back to having to add a lot more water to get the itty bitty concentrations that I need?

I'm so happy to see how well your tapering is going, and I pray it continues that way for you, and that my daughter can follow in your footsteps.  Please continue to post here after you stop - I have such a fear of what happens 3 months after someone jumps off, and love to read success stories.  My anxiety is so high about what I've done to her by trusting these Drs; sometimes I fear I've ruined her life.  I come here looking for hope. Often times instead I get the "bleep" scared out of me, so stories like yours are so comforting you have no idea.

xoxo

 

Hi Gertie, I must run but I redid it with making 15 day capsules. (if there are concerns they don't keep after dilution you can throw away after 7/8 days and dilute another one. Also, can add some alcohol to preserve if you want. Those things are discussed in other threads. Can discuss more tomorrow!! (((hugs)))

sertraline-taper-example.xlsm

[Gertie]

OMG that was SO NICE of you!!

It's such a good way to do it - believe it or not I'm a "mathy" person, yet for some reason I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this.  I get the concept, but getting a little stuck in the details.

I'm gonna try to make my own spreadsheet, using yours as a base.  When it comes time for me to get started, would you mind if I run it past you? 

I think my fear is that if I have to make tweaks to what you set up (ex: moving to a different percentage change all of a sudden one month), I'll mess it up.

[Tattycorum]

Hi @Gertie I'm so glad this is useful. By the way, I realize my months were off in the left column but the rest should all be fine. I've been doing these spreadsheets for more than three years, modifying as I go through holds and other changes. I find it a bit mind-bending and have to triple-check my formulas each time I change my taper. The spreadsheet I sent you used *.98 in column B for a 2% reduction. Column C multiplies that by 15 to get the amount to measure up high enough for the capsules to be measurable. Column D divides by 25 (25 mg pill) to see what percentage of a pill the amount to measure is. Then Column E translates it from mg dose to weight by applying the percent to the average weight per pill, which you will determine for your pills.

I am more than happy to look at what you come up with! Crushing and measuring out the capsules is tedious but it is worth it for the daily work of dosing to be so much easier.

My heart goes out to you with the extra level of emotion because you are doing this for your daughter and seeing her suffer. I was a caregiver for several years for a beloved who was suffering, and it is so heart-wrenching. I hope that things will start to stabilize for her soon. (((hugs))) I will keep you posted as my process goes forward. I don't know when I will stop. I will be at 0.24 mg in October.

[Gertie]

Yes I read your story and I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your husband.  xoxo

And yes it is horrible watching my daughter suffer through this and feeling responsible - I have a lot of guilt about it.  I wish I had known better and not just blindly trusted the Drs.  It is so complicated because one of her meds is imported from out of the country and we are having trouble getting it now due to covid19.  I would have never put her on it if I thought it would cause withdrawal symptoms - I was told it was a nonaddictive supplement, so I figured it would be no big deal if we ever needed to stop it.  I could scream.

 

I do have a few question for now. 

1.  Because you are weighing out small amounts of the med powder, are you concerned that you aren't getting even dosing?  Like maybe sometimes the crushed powder you measure out has more or less active ingredient in it vs filler than other times?  That's a concern I have about doing it your way vs diluting a whole pill in more and more water.

2.  When you crush a pill and take your measurements to store in capsules, do you keep the remaining powder?  Or do you start over with a new pill each time?

3. Do you pour the powder out of the capsule when you make your water mixture?  Or do you drop the capsule in the water and let the whole thing dissolve?  If you pour the powder out, are you concerned a tiny bit might stick to the inside of the capsule and not come out?

 

Thank you again so much for your time talking to me.  This is a very lonely experience - even her Dr doesn't believe that it's "real" and tried to tell me she has the flu.  She thinks the 1mg I have my daughter on currently of sertraline is just a placebo.  Please.

[Tattycorum]

Hi @Gertie  

Thank you for your kind words. I know you are doing the best anyone could, or better, and yet it is hard not to feel guilty. I still look back at my caregiving years and wish I could have done some things differently. But I try not to go down those trails too much and instead focus on all the things I did that helped.  

 

And I too trusted the doctor's taper schedule. Big mistake  

 

I realized one thing about my weights - they are grams, not mg. so 0.077g is 77mg for a 25 mg tablet  

And, on your questions

2. I get out my whole collection of tablets and crush them all in a mortar and pestle. Then I start making capsules, following my spreadsheet. I make ahead as far as possible (depending on if I'm confident of my taper schedule), both because it is easier to do it all at once and because doing so provides consistency in weighing (I think). 

 

1. I don't know about dose variance based on the powder having more or less ingredient vs filler. I do stir and crush thoroughly. Maybe okay because once you multiply it by ten or fifteen, then any difference gets evened out somewhat? 

 

3. I open the capsule and empty the powder into the glass jar, then use the dropper to put 2ml water into the capsule halves to rinse out all the powder into the jar. Then use water to create the rest of the dilution.

 

Yes, this is a lonely experience! My doctor rolls her eyes but is supportive of me doing it. Oh well. This site is a LIFESAVER! If only we had found it before the too-fast taper!!! ❤️ 

 

[Gridley]

8 minutes ago, Tattycorum said:

dose variance based on the powder having more or less ingredient vs filler

@Gertie

I've read more than once on this site that the pharmaceutical companies are highly regulated on this point, and pills are consistent with respect to active ingredient vs. filler.

 

Regarding your other question about leftover powder, I save it and use in my next batch.

[Terry]

Hi @Tattycorum, I see that you are also on sertraline and a benzo.  It looks like you are tapering both at the same time, and I'm wondering how that's going.  I have considered doing the same thing myself, but have been a little reluctant to start.

[Tattycorum]

5 minutes ago, Terry said:

Hi @Tattycorum, I see that you are also on sertraline and a benzo.  It looks like you are tapering both at the same time, and I'm wondering how that's going.  I have considered doing the same thing myself, but have been a little reluctant to start.

Hi @Terry,  It is nice to meet a fellow traveler on the benzo/sert train! I had been tapering 10% a month on my sertraline for two years before I decided to taper my benzo too. I know that one at a time is recommended. My situation is, I have ongoing (but gradually decreasing) symptoms from my too-fast taper in 2016 before I found this site. I don't feel any new or increased symptoms from my monthly reductions, fortunately. This is unusual, I think, and is the reason I have tried tapering both at once.

 

In January 2019 I started tapering the benzo and didn't notice any symptoms. In September, I decided to hold the benzo for a while, just to be cautious, when some unrelated but disruptive health issues arose. Then I re-started benzo tapering five months later when life settled down -- but now tapering benzo at only half the "normal" rate. So, I'm reducing 2.5% every two weeks rather than 5% every two weeks. I have not reacted to the benzo tapering -- no symptoms so far. I'm very lucky. If I start to have symptoms, I figure I'll stop tapering the benzo until I'm off the sertraline.

 

Looking at the new end-game post from Brassmonkey - linked below - I realized I could start a more rapid taper of the sertraline when I get down to .33 mg and then be done by the end of 2020.

 

PS, Part of the reason I feel confident enough to taper the benzo for now is that my coping skills and general mood and stability have been helped a lot by the Dynamic Neural Retraining System I mentioned in a recent post. It is not a cure for withdrawal, but generally has provided me with a lot more calm and stability, and that helps a lot with handling withdrawal. 

Good luck!!

 

[Terry]

23 hours ago, Tattycorum said:

Looking at the new end-game post from Brassmonkey - linked below - I realized I could start a more rapid taper of the sertraline when I get down to .33 mg and then be done by the end of 2020.

That sounds really good.  I'm really looking forward to Brassmonkey's update.  I'm currently at 0.67 mg, so expect I'll be tapering into 2021.

 

Thanks for your reply.  I enjoyed reading your well-written post.

 

Take care,

Terry

[Gertie]

Hi Tattycorum!

 

Just stopping by to see how your tapering is going these days?   I see you have started your exit strategy for sertraline - woo hoo!!  So far so good?  I'm still waiting to see the updated version of BrassMonkey's post to really determine how to plan my daughter's end game.  She's still at 1mg sertraline, but we have slowly started tapering two of her other meds (very long story why, but we both believe it's the right thing for now).

 

You have been such an inspiration and beacon of hope for me, and I love to see your progress.

I hope you are doing well!

xoxo

Gertie