Treguard - Sertraline never again

[Treguard]

Hi

 

I found this site after doing a fair bit of google searching on sertraline/zoloft withdrawals and dizziness after eating.

 

I had been on Sertraline (mostly 50mg bar one winter) for about 9 years and decided this year that they weren't working for me and wanted to come off them completely. Initially I was given very bad advice by the GP to space the doses out. Well the next day I felt as though I was going to pass out! I then just weaned myself off them trying to cut the tablet in to smaller bits (very hard even with a pill cutter). Eventually I came off them completely around about mid July this year. Even whilst weaning off, I experienced quiet bad tension headaches, dizziness and nausea.

 

From around 2012 whilst on the tablets, I experienced quite severe dizziness at work which if honest I put down to my sinuses, as I felt almost instantly better on leaving the office (which is air conditioned). After a few weeks, the dizziness returned (although probably not as bad) tension headaches, congestion and now some sort of digestive disorder. Strangely the dizziness only seems to come on really strong after I've had a meal. I've tried spacing the meal out into smaller portions which does help, but the dizziness is still there. What makes the Dr think it's my sinuses is because I feel dizzy when I tilt my head back (to look up at someone) and if I lean forward, my head feels light a dead weight in trying to bring it back up.  After trying an aromatherapy session, I would highly recommend basil oil as it seemed to help tremendously with the headaches at first.

 

Perhaps it's a bit of both, I'm not sure. I'm going for some blood tests soon, but am concerned that this will be misdiagnosed (as the GP has never accepted withdrawals can be THAT bad). I've also been prescribed Nasonex (for the sinuses) but have heard about dizziness with this. The only thing is that I ahve to try all these different things with the sinuses before they'll send me for a CT scan.

 

The dizziness after eating probably came on as well shortly after I injured my knee. I don't think I broke it, but it was quite a bad sprain.

 

Now I also have to wait 3 weeks before I can do a stool test for H Pylori (the GP believed I had gastritis) due to being prescribed Omeprozole.

 

8 weeks on and all these problems :\

 

Edit:- Sorry forgot to add that I don't get the dizziness after drinking water, but do off pure fruit juice/food.

[Nomoreheadmeds]

welcome 'tregaurd' someone will be along soon to advise you.

[Fresh]

Hi Tregard , welcome to the site.

 

Please could you have a go at putting your med. history in your signature,   Omeprazole is a class of drugs (ppi) that will need to be tapered when the time comes.  You might try exploring other ways of controlling stomach problems in the Self Care section.  Something like 90% of serotonin is stored in out gut , so most members have had digestive problems at times , and there are loads of alternatives to ppi's.

 

What month did you start the lexapro taper?    Stopping Lexapro after tapering for 6 months may or may not be successful . . . SSRI's are notorious for their delayed/protracted withdrawal , i.e symptoms can appear up to 12 months after stopping.   If you start to get new symptoms , you'll know this is what's going on.

 

I suspect your dizziness is related to  lexapro use as it's an extremely common symptom of both withdrawal and toxicity. . . a CT scan will likely show nothing unusual.

 

It's going to a long ride , but you'll get there , and you'll find loads of information and support here.

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh

[brassmonkey]

Hi Treguard-- welcome to the group.  I'm sorry to hear that your feeling so badly.  We really need more information about how you can off of the Sertraline.  When did you start the taper, when did it finish, what doses you took along the way.  From what you said below it sound like you came off too fast and are now suffering WD syndrome.

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

 

Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

If you would please enter a signature block with all your drug information it will really help us to help you.

 

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature

[Treguard]

welcome 'tregaurd' someone will be along soon to advise you.

 

Many thanks for your reply

 

Hi Tregard , welcome to the site.

 

Please could you have a go at putting your med. history in your signature,   Omeprazole is a class of drugs (ppi) that will need to be tapered when the time comes.  You might try exploring other ways of controlling stomach problems in the Self Care section.  Something like 90% of serotonin is stored in out gut , so most members have had digestive problems at times , and there are loads of alternatives to ppi's.

 

What month did you start the lexapro taper?    Stopping Lexapro after tapering for 6 months may or may not be successful . . . SSRI's are notorious for their delayed/protracted withdrawal , i.e symptoms can appear up to 12 months after stopping.   If you start to get new symptoms , you'll know this is what's going on.

 

I suspect your dizziness is related to  lexapro use as it's an extremely common symptom of both withdrawal and toxicity. . . a CT scan will likely show nothing unusual.

 

It's going to a long ride , but you'll get there , and you'll find loads of information and support here.

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh

 

Hi. I wasn't sure if Lexapro had the same half life as sertraline, but I think you know it was Zoloft in the US. At first I was given very bad advice to space the doses out, but tapered from 50mg over a period of 8 weeks. That's after being on it pretty much non-stop for 9 years. I had actually felt pretty good after about 2 weeks of stopping, but the new symptoms seem to have come on about 6 weeks after taking the final dose. The complete list of symptoms seem to be:-

 

*Dizziness after eating

Bloating after eating (water is fine)

Pains in my wrist and left shoulder

An odd bubbling sensation in my chest - possibly acid reflux?

*Dizziness when I tilt my head back to look up

*Heavy head when I look down and try to bring it back up

Swelling across mid chest right below rib cage

Excessive sweating

Warmth over spleen, stomach, liver area

Occasional pain on left side around kidney area

*Puffyness behind eyes

*Tension headaches

 

Strangely the loratadine has helped a great deal over only a couple of days with the symptoms marked with an asterix, so I'm wondering if there could be a couple of conditions (withdrawal and sinusitis) compounding each other. My partner has had very similar symptoms which leads me to think if this is the case. Sadly the loratadine seems to wear off at present at around 14:30 (if taken at 08:00) although it did give temporary relief and allow me to work. I wasn't keen on the Nasonex as it made me feel high as a kite!

 

Edit:- Apologies, the loratadine is an anti-histamine. I've only taken it once at work, but it really did help. The symptoms however came back on mid-afternoon, so I'm unsure if it takes a week or so for a dose to last for the whole day. On speaking to hay fever sufferers in the office, they usually start to take it 2 weeks before they expect symptoms to come on.

 

 

Hi Treguard-- welcome to the group.  I'm sorry to hear that your feeling so badly.  We really need more information about how you can off of the Sertraline.  When did you start the taper, when did it finish, what doses you took along the way.  From what you said below it sound like you came off too fast and are now suffering WD syndrome.

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

 

Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

If you would please enter a signature block with all your drug information it will really help us to help you.

 

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature

 

 

Thanks. I've updated my signature, so hopefully should give a better idea. I'm just about to go back and edit it to give a better diary of how I tapered. The problem with sertraline is that we only seem to be able to get the tablet form at a minimum dose of 50mg. A liquid version at 11.2, 17 and 25mg is produced, however the GP wouldn't prescribe it due to costs (no matter how much I begged).

 

Admittedly my knee injury hasn't helped, as it has prevented me from riding the bike and doing much at the gym. I did start taking cod liver oil and glucosamine, but with having bad cramps decided to stop taking them.

Exercise really does seem to help a great deal though as does a healthy diet for me. I've recently picked up a blood pressure monitor, so will keep check on that and also am trying to go in for a full blood test check.

 

Thanks again for your replies; it's greatly appreciated

[brassmonkey]

A lot of people here make their own liquid and have had great success using it.

 

How to make a liquid from tablets or capsules

 

Taper in your signature is pretty standard for what the doctors suggest and we have found that it rarely works. It basically is a slow CT.  Going back on a low dose, getting stable and then doing a slow taper should help a lot.  I'd try reinstating at 10mg and give it some time to stabilize and see how you feel.

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms 

[Treguard]

A lot of people here make their own liquid and have had great success using it.

 

How to make a liquid from tablets or capsules

 

Taper in your signature is pretty standard for what the doctors suggest and we have found that it rarely works. It basically is a slow CT. Going back on a low dose, getting stable and then doing a slow taper should help a lot. I'd try reinstating at 10mg and give it some time to stabilize and see how you feel.

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

Thanks for coming back and letting me know. I'll definitely have a think about going back and tapering. I suppose there are two things to consider really:-

a) Is there a risk of discontinuation syndrome going back on

How long do you think the withdrawals would last if I didn't go back and taper?

 

To be honest I think the weird acid reflux came on as I started to feel the sertraline wasn't working (about March - 4 weeks before I started to taper).

 

Really appreciate your thoughts/comments

[brassmonkey]

There is always a risk of things getting worse if you go back on.  That risk goes way up  if you let the WD symptoms have the time to really get their claws into you.

 

We can't guess how long the WD would last if you don't go back and taper because each case is so individual.  What I can tell you is that this forum is full of people who wish they had gone back and tapered.  Use the search function for CT or cold turkey and you'll get a lot of results.

[Treguard]

There is always a risk of things getting worse if you go back on. That risk goes way up if you let the WD symptoms have the time to really get their claws into you.

 

We can't guess how long the WD would last if you don't go back and taper because each case is so individual. What I can tell you is that this forum is full of people who wish they had gone back and tapered. Use the search function for CT or cold turkey and you'll get a lot of results.

Many thanks for your reply.

I've made an appointment with the gp to see if I can get a prescription to go back and taper. Given their lack of agreement regarding withdrawals, I'll have to say that I just want to go back on them.

 

Woke up last night with a bad panic attack and severe chest pains, but unsure if yhwt coukd be a reaction to:-

Loratadine

Nasonex

Cod liver oil (taken 2000).

 

Up this morning (uk) with a sore chest, dizziness and confusion :/

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Treguard.

 

Did you have any gut issues while on sertraline?

 

I'm not sure if you have withdrawal symptoms. I guess reinstating a little sertraline would help -- if the symptoms are reduced, yep, there's withdrawal symptoms in there.

 

You may need to look more closely at your gut issues. You may have food sensitivities, this would account for loratadine helping, see

Digestive problems: Nausea, Diarrhea, Bloating, GERD

Histamine food intolerance
 
Also see

That acid reflux pill may be causing your health problems

Tips for tapering off stomach acid blockers or PPIs

 

[Treguard]

Welcome, Treguard.

 

Did you have any gut issues while on sertraline?

 

I'm not sure if you have withdrawal symptoms. I guess reinstating a little sertraline would help -- if the symptoms are reduced, yep, there's withdrawal symptoms in there.

 

You may need to look more closely at your gut issues. You may have food sensitivities, this would account for loratadine helping, see

 

Digestive problems: Nausea, Diarrhea, Bloating, GERD

 

Histamine food intolerance

 

Also see

 

That acid reflux pill may be causing your health problems

 

Tips for tapering off stomach acid blockers or PPIs

Hi

 

Apologies for the delay in replying to your message; I've had an interesting few months to say the least.

 

I started to experience weird bloating, particularly when laying on my sides at night. On some nights this would become quite uncomfortable and I had problems getting to sleep. The only thing that seems to work is Lansoprazole.

I have noticed that there seem to be two types of dizziness. One comes after eating (but not all food - in fact there doesn't really seem to be a pattern) and the other in social situations - I seem to have this weird physical anxiety that I didn't have before going on the Sertraline. It makes me feel nauseous, struggle to form sentences, and feel as though I'm going to pass out. It doesn't always happen, but usually if I'm in a situation where I need to be thinkjing clearly (another problem is that I get dizzy when trying to remember things, work out calculations etc).

 

I went for a full blood test, and the only thing that came back was a 14% monocyte count. Celiac, Calprotectin, UTI and Vitamin D were also tested which came back fine. Next they're doing a scan for gallstones, and further test for Magnesium, PSA (prostate), and amylase.

 

When on sertraline, I had quite a strong stomach. The only thing that I couldn't stomach were things like Mars bar icecreams (sorry to be rude, but they would just go straight through). The gastric issues started to appear in August (a month after stopping completely) but then went away, and came back more severe in November.

 

At least the brain zaps have mostly stopped! I just seem to have Photophobia in its place (an FL41 tint on glasses seems to help). The only thing I don't do well with is scrolling images/text - makes me even more dizzy.

 

The general consensus seems to be that I could cause more problems trying to go back on Sertraline (or another SSRI) at this point (7 months since stopping)

[Treguard]

Just a quick update to let you know that I went for an initial meeting re mindfulness based cbt the other day,and spoke with someone who seemed to have had the exact same symptoms as myself.

 

They suggested looking into migraine induced vertigo and that either amitriptaline or propanolol may help.

 

As I'm not keen on taking anything that affects serotonin production, I'm curious as to whether the propanolol at a low dose would have an effect or help with the withdrawals (if that's what it is). Going to speak to the GP on Friday - I think it's worth a try. If it doesn't work after a week then there's nothing lost really.

[Petunia]

Thanks for updating Treguard, I'm sorry you are still having symptoms, it sounds like you may be in protracted withdrawal from Sertraline. Unfortunately, very few doctors recognize withdrawal and especially not withdrawal that lasts longer than a few weeks.

 

We generally don't recommend any drugs for treating withdrawal symptoms, but some members have found propranolol helpful for certain symptoms. If you take it for any length of time, it will need to be tapered. See:   Beta Blockers: Propranolol, Metopropol, Atenolol etc ...    and  Tapering Beta Blockers or Alpha Blockers - Surviving ...

 

Its good to hear you are doing some mindfulness and CBT, both can be very helpful with managing withdrawal symptoms as we recover.

 

Do let us know if the propranolol helps.

[Treguard]

Thanks for updating Treguard, I'm sorry you are still having symptoms, it sounds like you may be in protracted withdrawal from Sertraline. Unfortunately, very few doctors recognize withdrawal and especially not withdrawal that lasts longer than a few weeks.

 

We generally don't recommend any drugs for treating withdrawal symptoms, but some members have found propranolol helpful for certain symptoms. If you take it for any length of time, it will need to be tapered. See:   Beta Blockers: Propranolol, Metopropol, Atenolol etc ...    and  Tapering Beta Blockers or Alpha Blockers - Surviving ...

 

Its good to hear you are doing some mindfulness and CBT, both can be very helpful with managing withdrawal symptoms as we recover.

 

Do let us know if the propranolol helps.

 

Thanks for the reply and links. My GP prescribed me with 80mg slow/extended release and I've been on it for two days. To be honest, I can tell that they do make a massive difference - at least in terms of the panic attacks that I've been having. The major downside and concern for me though is that they heavily affect how well I can do exercise.

 

Yesterday when taking the dog for a walk, I noticed that I couldn't get my speed up to what I normally do and felt a bit more short of breath than normal.

 

Today I went on what should've been a 50 mile bike ride and couldn't do the whole route. In fact, I felt quite fatigued after 25 miles. I couldn't get a decent acceleration from a stop start, and I felt that I had to stop quite often due to feeing tired/dizzy and breathless. Others in the group seemed worried as they kept asking if I was ok, and I know they could definitely hear my slurred speech (I sounded like I was drunk). Fortunately on the way back, another member of the group with a back problem asked if I wanted to get the train with them, so I took them up on their offer. It was just as well as I had a stomach upset (yes).

 

I checked my heart rate a few times during the day, and if honest it didn't feel as though it went over 90bpm - and I understand that the propranolol can cause this, and in turn mean that the heart isn't able to cope with the oxygen demand.

 

I would consider a much lower dose, however they don't seem to do a slow release version of less than 80mg. I think I would rather suffer as I have been if honest, as not being able to exercise properly will make me just as depressed.

 

The only other option that was suggested (if this is indeed migraine induced vertigo) was Amitriptaline. I really don't fancy taking anything again that's going to mess up my serotonin, but I have to admit the possibility that there may have been underlying conditions that the sertraline helped/masked.   :\

[Treguard]

I'm having to come off the Propranolol as have an ecg on the 9th. They've done an ultrasound which came back clear.

I have noticed that my stomach has kicked off again, although the discomfort and bloating seem to be limited to the centre of my stomach behind rib cage. The GP suggested taking lansoprazole again so I've taken in two doses so far (every other day) but have only noticed it get worse.

For me the worse symptoms are the dizzines and migraines I get in warm rooms, on trains or air conditioned environments (by far the worst) and to a lesser degree the physical anxiety / fight or flight mode I get when in some social situations (but not always - if I can force a calmness on me then it tends to be easier).

 

I didn't think I would believe how bad withdrawals can be (if this is what they are) but they're horrendous.

 

Often it gets to the point where I wonder if it's just easier to go back on them? I take it it's too late to go back on - even somehow at a low dose?

[Fresh]

Hi Treguard ,

Lansoprazole belongs to a group of drugs called proton pump inhibitors. It decreases the amount of acid produced in the stomach.

They make lots of people feel worse ...

 

Please re-read posts 6 and 10 above.

[Treguard]

Hi Treguard ,

Lansoprazole belongs to a group of drugs called proton pump inhibitors. It decreases the amount of acid produced in the stomach.

They make lots of people feel worse ...

 

Please re-read posts 6 and 10 above.

Thanks I wish I'd tried going back on it at a low dose back in September. Not sure if doing it now would be too late.

 

The lansoprazole helped immensely (over 8 weeks) with the bloating when laying on my sides and acid reflux, so it has been beneficial. Maybe it's done all it can do...

 

Strangely I never seem to get dizzy or have migraines after a couple of beers (rarely as my stomach feels sore now; even after two pints).