Kkaat: Trying to find best way to taper off small dose of Sertraline that I just started this month

[Kkaat]

Hello! I have been trying to research the best methods to discontinue my use of sertraline as it is causing too much distress for me and I do not want to be taking this medicene anymore. I feel like I have a situation where it’s somewhat unique and I have been trying to find others that that done the same as me with discontinuing and minimizing withdrawal symptoms.

 

One important note to keep in mind with how I am trying to discontinue this medicene is that I have a severe phobia of throw up and being nauseous so my main goal I am trying to achieve it to minimize any possibility of those two. 
 

I was suggested my my therapist to see their psychiatrist to talk about possible anxiety medicene. I was already weary about it but decided I should maybe give it a try. He prescribed 25 mg pill of sertraline. I was way too nervous about the side effects so I started on 6.25mg for comfort with starting and hoping to minimize side effects. 
 

First week was rough where I just did not have much appetite and it was stressing me out cause I knew I should eat with the pill. I stopped taking it at night and switched to lunch and that seemed to have helped a bit. I was taking 6.25mg from 6/5-6/14, since stuff was going okay I upped it to 9.375/10mg to slowly increase. Again it went okay and appetite was better but still not what it used to be. I was experiencing some slight acid reflux every so often as well but it was not horrid. Starting 6/19-6/21 I upped it to the half. Monday I was okay but Tuesday I took it at lunch with a beefaroni and I had such bad acid reflux I thought I was going to throw up. Obviously this just caused more stress for me cause of my phobia. Still stuck with it though and took it on Wednesday and was okay, but Wednesday afternoon I was crying for no reason even though I had nothing to be upset about and did not want to do anything but stare out my bedroom window for 2 hours. Thursday I was okay during the day but for lunch I tried to eat chicken but my mouth was so dry it made me lose any appetite and it was hard for me to eat a campbells chicken and stars just so I could take my lunch time dose. I decreased it to 10mg again just cause I did not want to have a half dose in me and was getting tired of feeling all this extra stress from the medicene so I wanted to quit. 
 

I had a long talk with my parents and I feel like this medicene is causing more stress and anxiety than before I was even on it and I do not want to have to wait another however many months for this to balance out. I’ve already went from 123lbs to 110lbs since 6/5. 
 

I am trying to figure out the best taper method based on how long I’ve been on the pill and my doses. I’ve only been on it since 6/5 and most of it was me starting on a 6.25 pill then increasing a bit for a couple days then the half pill for only like three days. My parent said I could probably just go to a 6.25 dose decrease for a couple days since I’ve only been on the medicene for 17 days and been taking these small doses. But I want to do whatever will minimize the withdrawals and more specifically any possible nausea and throw up as that it what is freaking me out the most about this. 
 

I feel like my psychiatrist is just going to tell me to quit cold turkey but I do not feel like that is a smart decision based off what I have read on this website. 
 

Does anyone have any insight to help me with the best plan to action for this as I know about the 10%/2.5% decrease method but don’t know if i should modify it due to such the small amount I’ve been taking with only being on it 17 days. 
 

If you need any other information let me know! I took escitalopram 5mg for like a week almost a year ago and had no symptoms and stopped after like one/two weeks as I just didn’t like the idea of anxiety medicene and didn’t feel anything and did not want to increase. Getting off that was perfectly fine. 
 

edit: I also know that there is a liquid and I can make a homemade liquid but I am currently not comfortable with that. I only have anxiety based on if I feel nauseous and think I may throw up so those are the only things I want to know how to minimize when tapering off of this. I do not have sudicial thoughts or any depression so I am not worried about any relapsing with that. Just want to get off the meds and not feel nauseous or throw up. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by manymoretodays
name to topic title

[Onmyway]

Hi @Kkaat

because you have only started your medicine less than a month ago your chance of being dependent on it is very low yet, so I think you can safely stop it by halving your dose for a week and then stopping. If withdrawal symptoms occur (which we don't expect after being on the drug for such a short time) you can reinstate quickly. 

 

Great job for researching this and looking for advice. 

Let us know how you are doing. 

OMW