Telomere: Sertraline withdrawal symptoms

[Telomere]

Hi! Glad to have found this community. 
I was out on 25mg Sertraline after a stressful life phase caused burnout that ended with me at the hospital. The psychiatrist raised the dose to 50mg within two weeks of starting. After a couple of weeks of extremely weird new ‘electric’ sensations in my body that the doc assured was just my anxiety, I slowly over three months or so got used to the medication and started to feel better mentally. The life trigger that resulted in the burnout ceased being there around month 6 on Sertraline, and I worked with the psychiatrist to begin tapering as I believed then I had developed other coping strategies through therapy, exercise and mindfulness practices. I was advised to taper to 0 within two weeks, but I intuitively felt that something that took 3 months to make the effect felt is likely not going to leave my system to pre-medication days in just two weeks, and decided on what I then thought was a slow and effective taper (I unfortunately did not come across this site before my taper attempt started 😕). 
 

Tapering to 25 mg from 50 and then to 12.5 and finally 0 all happened within a span of four months, with no symptoms whatsoever during the taper. It was about three weeks after the last dose that I started feeling funny physical symptoms— brain zaps, vertigo. These slowly faded away and mental ones took over along with new physical ones— irritability, low bandwidth for stress, thoughts that get stuck on a loop. Through therapy and mindfulness practices I learnt during my time on Sertraline, I am able to cope with the mental symptoms as of now. It’s the physical ones that are bothering me and reigniting my health anxiety— would appreciate input on these— chest pains, pain along nerves in limbs and torso, getting fatigued more easily from workouts. Docs have dismissed this as anxiety related, but I was pain-free before the meds. Ugh. I read about reinstating on the site but feel like my nervous system is overreacting to everything right now, and the mental symptoms I am able to cope with so far. What worked for you to survive the physical symptoms of withdrawal? Help!

[Emonda]

Welcome to S.A. @Telomere

 

Yep, as you now know, a slow taper is the way to go: Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

As a result of following the advice you were given by the doctor, I'd expect you to have WD symptoms. Have you seen this list: Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF) The things you describe are on the list.

 

So you've read this link: About Reinstating and Stabilizing to Reduce Withdrawal Symptoms If you change your mind about reinstating, don't go back to the dose you were on. The further out you are, the lower I've seen people reinstate. I've seen reinstatements ~0.5mg.

 

Time and patience is required to recover: Windows and waves pattern of stabilization

 

We don't suggest many supplements, but two that many of us find helpful are magnesium and omega-3 fish oil. Here are the links for info about those. Add one at a time and start with a low dose to see how it affects you. 

Magnesium

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

 

Avoid alcohol.

 

I find reading the success stories helps with the recovery process.

This is your own Introduction topic.  Each member has only ONE Introduction topic.  Your own Introduction topic is the best place to ask questions and the place to journal your progress.  This keeps your history in one place and means you do not have to repeat your story. 

Once again, welcome to S.A.

Emonda

 

 

 

 

[Telomere]

Thank you @Emonda! Yes, reading all the success stories has kept me going so far. I am also optimistic given I was on the medication for a short duration.
 

I will look into magnesium and fish oil. 

[Telomere]

Things that have been helping me tolerate moderate waves: 

- Physical activity (gentle exercise like qi gong and yoga when there are more physical symptoms, intense exercise when the mental ones dominate)

- Alternate nostril breathing

- HRV training

- Grounding techniques learnt in therapy as well as literal grounding (walking barefoot on the grass when weather permits)

[Telomere]

So I am at 4 months post stopping sertraline completely. Was put on antibiotic (Keflex) for 7 days for a suspected bacterial infection that caused bizarre side effects (extreme fatigue, head spinning). Let the doc know and he suggested I stop it midway. Bizarre physical symptoms are reducing but ai am back to feeling the same anxiety and depressive episodes as I did in early withdrawal. A little digging here on the site suggests this is commonly reported with antibiotic intake. Feeling like all my progress is gone in three days 😔 What has worked for you all to assist rebuilding the gut after antibiotics other than taking probiotics? 

[Tweed9674]

Hi! It seems indeed like antibiotic are not always our best friend during WD. Sometimes we don't have much of a choice 😕

 

It's a setback, but you'll bounce back, keep fighting!

 

For your gut, outside of time and trying to avoid food that cause inflamation (sugar!!), there's not much to be done I think. I'm no expert though.

If you look for probiotics, here's a few suggestions that don't imply taking them in a pill:
 

 

[Telomere]

3 hours ago, Tweed9674 said:

Hi! It seems indeed like antibiotic are not always our best friend during WD. Sometimes we don't have much of a choice 😕

 

It's a setback, but you'll bounce back, keep fighting!

 

For your gut, outside of time and trying to avoid food that cause inflamation (sugar!!), there's not much to be done I think. I'm no expert though.

If you look for probiotics, here's a few suggestions that don't imply taking them in a pill:
 

 

These are great, thanks!