hangoninthere: 10mg Abilify and 50mg Zoloft. Please guide me in my 10% withdrawal

[hangoninthere]

Hello dear wonderful forum of SA ❤️ 

My name is Ana (and English is not my first language  ) , my story about ADs has been a long one. I have been on and off them for many years ,starting 14 years old (now 32)  when I took them for 2-3 days and due to side effects I didn’t take them anymore. Years later after my intrusive thoughts and scary ones emerged, I took ADs for a couple of months and dropped them. And after some years later I took them for a year and dropped them (Circa 2016-2017)

I have been on different ones: Escitalopram , Zoloft and others I cannot remember.

 

In 2022 after 4 years of battling my anxiety ( anxiety non stop, headaches, racing thoughts, vomiting, neck, head and terrible body pain at the point that I barely could stand up.  Which may have been caused because of me experimenting with my on/off drug use ) I decided to try another psychiatrist. She prescribed me Abilify 10mg explaining that I was resisting the ADs and needed something else(poor me for believing this)

I cannot explain how I survived the beginning of taking this drug. I stayed on it for 1.5 year and my anxiety still continued(no improvement whatsoever). Me and my psychiatrist decided to add Zoloft so maybe I could feel better. After a year and a half on Abilify I decided to drop it and went from 10 to 5 and from 5 to 2.5. Then cut it off at the end of November 2023. I had terrible Withdrawal symptoms but also had a little sparkle of determination and hope that I will survive it(this was my 4th attempt). I survived somehow.  At the  end of December I decided to cut Zoloft from 50 to 25mg (bad mistake, don't do it please) and ended in a terrible situation. Then went back to 50mg in January 2024. 

 

I have decided that I should try the 10% method. My question is when should I start ? How should  I cut the doses? (in my country no liquid is available).
Should I buy a scale and a pill cutter? Please help to start my safe (hopefully) withdrawal.

 

Right now my symptoms are: Fatigue, brain fog, memory problems, allergy like symptoms : watery eyes, overwhelmed easily, anhedonia, depression, anxiety but not at big levels (after cutting off Abilify anxiety has really improved).

 

At the moment I am trying to stay on track with a  healthy diet( mostly I cook by myself healthy meals). I try and walk every 2-3 days a week and do 10-15 minutes of stretching/exercises every day. I am trying to add prayers to my daily routine but don't know how to do it ( I believe that a greater force has kept me alive so far and thus I need to create a connection with that) 

I have a full time job and  don't know how I have managed but I still do work these 6 past years have been a nightmare and I don't really know how I have been able to work, I am married and   have a 3.5 year old daughter ( she is my light ❤️ and mostly I am doing this because of her because I don't want her to be without a mother and I really do want to come to the other side ). Being a mother during this time of my life has been exhausting to say the least  but I still have tried to keep a smile in front of my lovely daughter.

 

My family is very supportive and they really have helped me be alive so far and for this I am really grateful.

What has also kept me alive so far is the thought that I was not born like this and I clearly remember how I was such an active person, very alive and creative one. I am crying while writing this and am so sorry we all have to go through this season. 

 

Today I join this wonderful forum which I found after so many years of questions and no answers. I found my people ❤️

 

Note: Today's my father heavenly birthday (68 years) and I am really happy to join in a remarkable day to this remarkable site ❤️ 

 

Edited March 1 by FireflyFyte
forgot to edit my watery eyes allergy like symptom from WD

[hangoninthere]

50 minutes ago, hangoninthere said:

Hello dear wonderful forum of SA ❤️ 

My name is Ana (and English is not my first language  ) , my story about ADs has been a long one. I have been on and off them for many years ,starting 14 years old (now 32)  when I took them for 2-3 days and due to side effects I didn’t take them anymore. Years later after my intrusive thoughts and scary ones emerged, I took ADs for a couple of months and dropped them. And after some years later I took them for a year and dropped them (Circa 2016-2017)

I have been on different ones: Escitalopram , Zoloft and others I cannot remember.

 

In 2022 after 4 years of battling my anxiety ( anxiety non stop, headaches, racing thoughts, vomiting, neck, head and terrible body pain at the point that I barely could stand up.  Which may have been caused because of me experimenting with my on/off drug use ) I decided to try another psychiatrist. She prescribed me Abilify 10mg explaining that I was resisting the ADs and needed something else(poor me for believing this)

I cannot explain how I survived the beginning of taking this drug. I stayed on it for 1.5 year and my anxiety still continued(no improvement whatsoever). Me and my psychiatrist decided to add Zoloft so maybe I could feel better. After a year and a half on Abilify I decided to drop it and went from 10 to 5 and from 5 to 2.5. Then cut it off at the end of November 2023. I had terrible Withdrawal symptoms but also had a little sparkle of determination and hope that I will survive it(this was my 4th attempt). I survived somehow.  At the  end of December I decided to cut Zoloft from 50 to 25mg (bad mistake, don't do it please) and ended in a terrible situation. Then went back to 50mg in January 2024. 

 

I have decided that I should try the 10% method. My question is when should I start ? How should  I cut the doses? (in my country no liquid is available).
Should I buy a scale and a pill cutter? Please help to start my safe (hopefully) withdrawal.

 

Right now my symptoms are: Fatigue, brain fog, memory problems, allergy like symptoms : watery eyes, overwhelmed easily, anhedonia, depression, anxiety but not at big levels (after cutting off Abilify anxiety has really improved).

 

At the moment I am trying to stay on track with a  healthy diet( mostly I cook by myself healthy meals). I try and walk every 2-3 days a week and do 10-15 minutes of stretching/exercises every day. I am trying to add prayers to my daily routine but don't know how to do it ( I believe that a greater force has kept me alive so far and thus I need to create a connection with that) 

I have a full time job and  don't know how I have managed but I still do work these 6 past years have been a nightmare and I don't really know how I have been able to work, I am married and   have a 3.5 year old daughter ( she is my light ❤️ and mostly I am doing this because of her because I don't want her to be without a mother and I really do want to come to the other side ). Being a mother during this time of my life has been exhausting to say the least  but I still have tried to keep a smile in front of my lovely daughter.

 

My family is very supportive and they really have helped me be alive so far and for this I am really grateful.

What has also kept me alive so far is the thought that I was not born like this and I clearly remember how I was such an active person, very alive and creative one. I am crying while writing this and am so sorry we all have to go through this season. 

 

Today I join this wonderful forum which I found after so many years of questions and no answers. I found my people ❤️

 

Note: Today's my father heavenly birthday (68 years) and I am really happy to join in a remarkable day to this remarkable site ❤️ 

 

 

[FireflyFyte]

Hello hangoninthere,

 

Welcome to SA. Thank you for summarizing your drug history in your signature.

 

5 hours ago, hangoninthere said:

I have decided that I should try the 10% method. My question is when should I start ?

 

You have made a lot of changes recently so would encourage you to hold for at least  6 -8 weeks before you begin your taper. It is important to give your system time to stabilize without changes before you begin your taper.

 

5 hours ago, hangoninthere said:

How should  I cut the doses? (in my country no liquid is available).

 

We have guidance on tapering off of Zoloft at Tips for tapering Zoloft (sertraline). Options include using a digital scale to weigh and measure doses or making your own liquid solution.

 

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[hangoninthere]

@FireflyFyte Thank you so much for replying  I was going to wait until end of March but will wait a little longer.

Will update you once I start the tapering of Zoloft.

 

Thanks,

Ana

[FireflyFyte]

2 hours ago, hangoninthere said:

 I was going to wait until end of March but will wait a little longer.

 

I think this is a good strategy. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

[hangoninthere]

Hello team and hope you are doing well.

I have started my zoloft weaning off on 1st o April. From 50mg I cut down to 37.5 drop by 25%) and I don't see until now any major changes except the usual ones that I have almost daily and don't know why , which are: a sense of overwhelm during the day everyday , ear ringing all the time, and strong  chest pain and low back-pain. For the back pain I am starting today physiotherapy and see how it goes.

 

Is the constant overwhelm from my zoloft and abilify use? Because I cut off the drugs and still have this overwhelm daily. I  want  to mention that I used to have anxiety daily when I was using Abilify and now I have this overwhelm all the time almost.

 

Maybe the CNS is still very sensitive  and is trying to adjust but to me is so exhausting at the end of the day

 

Thank you and have a great day ❤️

 

 

 

[FireflyFyte]

2 hours ago, hangoninthere said:

I have started my zoloft weaning off on 1st o April. From 50mg I cut down to 37.5 drop by 25%) and I don't see until now any major changes except the usual ones that I have almost daily and don't know why , which are: a sense of overwhelm during the day everyday , ear ringing all the time, and strong  chest pain and low back-pain.

 

25% is a much larger drop than we recommend which is no more than 10% of your previous dose per month. You can read more on why at Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

Were you feeling the symptoms you listed when you began tapering again?

[hangoninthere]

@FireflyFyte yes I started getting overwhelmed once I dropped the dose. The pressure I have on my chest and stomach causes also a pain to my back unfortunately.

[FireflyFyte]

3 hours ago, hangoninthere said:

yes I started getting overwhelmed once I dropped the dose. The pressure I have on my chest and stomach causes also a pain to my back unfortunately.

 

Did these symptoms start before you dropped 25% in dose or afterwards?

[hangoninthere]

Yes they started after I dropped 25% in dose. 

[FireflyFyte]

45 minutes ago, hangoninthere said:

Yes they started after I dropped 25% in dose. 

 

They are most likely withdrawal symptoms then. You can choose to hold at 37.5mg and see if you stabilize or you could try a small up-dose to say 40mg to see if it helps to ease what you are currently experiencing.

[hangoninthere]

@FireflyFyte thanks a lot for your reply:) I’ll try it if this situation continues for another week . Will keep you updated

 

Thanks a lot 🙏🏻🙂