Dwhite: Sertraline tapering

[Dwhite]

Hi, I’m Dan and have been on Sertraline for 8 years now, I have tried tapering before (2019 & 2022) and reduced way to quickly, with adverse side effects. Since early 2023 I have been tapering 10% from 100mg to 50mg. I’m now at 56.2mg. I have had 3 months of moderate to mild withdrawal. My question is can a 6.25mg (quarter of 25mg tablet) be cut in half, to minimise withdrawal? 

Edited November 6, 2024 by Emonda
Name to title

[Jane318]

Greetings @Dwhite, and welcome to SA!  We are a community of volunteers providing peer support in the tapering of psychiatric medications and their associated withdrawal syndromes. 

 

So the moderators can best help you, please complete your drug signature by following these instructions. Adding a signature ensures your drug history appears at the bottom of every post, making it more efficient for those trying to assist. This link should go directly to your own signature: Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

Based on your narrative, your taper from Sertraline taper from 100 mg (dose in early 2023) to 56.2 mg (now) has been gradual enough to keep your withdrawal symptoms manageable - good job!   

 

 

Here at SA, we recommend the hyperbolic taper method, which you can read about here: Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  You are well within the schedule we recommend - cutting by no more than 10% of prior dose no more frequently than every 4 weeks.  Be aware that as your dose becomes lower, it becomes even more important not to rush.  This is because it is at the lower doses that the changes in the brain occur the fastest.  

 

10 hours ago, Dwhite said:

My question is can a 6.25mg (quarter of 25mg tablet) be cut in half, to minimise withdrawal? 

Yes, although pill-cutting is often not accurate enough at low doses, and can result in reducing your dose by too great of a percentage.   Here is good information on tapering sertraline: Tips for tapering Zoloft (sertraline).  "The best method for a very gradual, precise taper would be using Zoloft liquid."

 

We have some great tools to help you with calculating your doses at:  https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/9167-how-to-calculate-dosages-and-dilutions-spreadsheets-and-calculators/

 

Please let us know if you have further questions after reading this material.  

 

We have many threads on how to cope with symptoms – I encourage you to check out the various forums / links on the SA.org home page.

 

 

This is your introduction topic.  Each member gets one intro topic- please post updates and questions here, in this thread.

 

Do explore the rest of the forum – there is a lot of great information here.  Be sure to read “About SurvivingAntidepressants.org,” which has good information about how to use / search the site: https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/54-about-survivingantidepressantsorg  

 

Also, feel free to read and comment on the intro threads of other members.  This is how you build a community of people who understand what you are dealing with.   It is so helpful to connect with others who are experiencing the same things.

 

We look forward to following your journey, and helping out in any way we can.

 

Best wishes.

 

[Dwhite]

Thank you for the information, I have tried recently to request some Sertraline liquid form and my doctor said that and they said it would be extremely hard to split 6.25mg, even with liquid, and he thinks I should have no problem in reducing from 56.25mg to 50 mg sertraline (reducing directly to 50mg, removing 6.25mg) so some time in the new year I will make the change. Has anyone experienced lots of heady tired days on sertraline? Or is  this life stress and the medication? 

[Jane318]

7 hours ago, Dwhite said:

I have tried recently to request some Sertraline liquid form and my doctor said that and they said it would be extremely hard to split 6.25mg, even with liquid,

This does not make any sense to me.  A compounding pharmacy would have no problem making a solution of the right concentration.  Further, if you follow the 10% hyperbolic plan, you will still need to be able to take accurately prepared "odd doses."  For example, 50 mg, then 45, 40.5, 36.5, 32.8, etc.  Using a liquid is the easiest way to do this.

 

8 hours ago, Dwhite said:

he thinks I should have no problem in reducing from 56.25mg to 50 mg sertraline (reducing directly to 50mg, removing 6.25mg) so some time in the new year I will make the change

This is an 11% cut, a bit more than the 10% maximum we recommend.  If you decide to do this, be sure to keep tabs on your symptoms.  If they become unpleasant, be prepared to hold at this dose more than the "normal" four weeks, as long as it takes to stabilize again.

 

8 hours ago, Dwhite said:

Has anyone experienced lots of heady tired days on sertraline? Or is  this life stress and the medication? 

Fatigue is a common symptom of withdrawal.  When our bodies are healing / recovering from ADs, normal stressors and overexertion can exaggerate the symptoms.  It is as though the capacity of our CNS is somewhat depleted and will protest when we try to do too much.

 

Perhaps others who take sertraline will pipe in here. 

 

Recommend you also search the site for sertraline and/or other key words.  One way is to navigate to the site's Search page (From the menu at the top, "Activity > Search").  Another way is to use your favorite search engine. Type in "survivingantidepressants.org" then the symptom, treatment, supplement or information you wish to search for.

 

Hope this helps.  Let us know if you have more questions.

 

[Dwhite]

Thank you so much Jane, I appreciate the information you have kindly explained and given up your time to message me back, yes a compound pharmacy could definitely do this, but it seems the NHS in the uk are not willing to help with this. I’m not sure if this is down to cost or other reasons. If anyone has had success with a compound pharmacy in the Uk the information would be much appreciated. Thanks again Jane, and Merry Christmas to you all.

[Dwhite]

Hi, I have started the next taper to 50mg Sertraline today (Thursday 26th December 2024) from 56.25mg, making an 11% cut, which is not ideal, but it’s all I can do, I am hoping to stabilise within a few months…

[Jane318]

I trust this will not be too hard - best wishes and keep us posted.