Pamela

[Pamela]

Hi I live in Canada and am a long term user of antidepressants.  I have tried them all and have had horrific side effects.  I suffer from crohns, psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases.

 

I am presently on Zoloft 17.5mls- liquid

reducing from 23mls

 

I am suffering from horrific weakness in legs and quite intense sadness and no motivation

 

I am scared but want to continue slowly

 

I seemed to react to even the smallest dose, the doctors don't believe the drugs makes me sooooo ill.

 

Looking for support as I feel very alone most of the time

 

Have suicidal thoughts, but have had them most of my life

 

I am also currently thinking about medical cannabis for my crohns and debilitating anxiety and OCD

 

Thanks so much

Trying to hang on for my special complex medical daughter

 

Pam

 

started anafranil 1990 100mg

weaned off for pregnancy 1995

horrific withdrawals

 

have been on Paxil, Effexor, Wellbutrin, Elavil, nortripline, Prestiq, Prozac,  cirpalax, remeron- 2xs, serequol- one time, ability - 3days  and presently zoloft - Im sure I am forgetting

 

OCD

anxiety

depression

PMS

trauma survivor

PTSD

bladder problems

multiple auto immune diseases

[brassmonkey]

Hi Pam-- welcome to the group.  I was just talking to another new member "Kenmar" about tapering Zoloft.  I'm sorry to hear that your are feeling so badly.  We really need to know more information about all those other drugs you were taking.  How much, how long, how did you stop taking them?  It all has a bearing on how to handle your current taper.  If you would please a signature block it would really help us to help you.

 

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature         

 

There are some other threads that you should take a look at;

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

 

Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

The slowness of slow tapers

 

That should give you information overload for a day or two,  hope it helps.

[Pamela]

Thank you Silver star

 

I have updated my signature, hopefully I have done it correctly

I do have more history, but it would not let me add more lines to my signature

 

Hopefully my signature will attach when I send this

Thanks

Pamela

[Fresh]

Hi Pam , welcome to the site. ,  and good job on the sig.

 

This site recommends decreases of 10% max , and many people find 5% decreases mush more tolerable.  

Have you felt worse since the decrease?    How many days have you been on 17.5 for?

 

You might want to consider bumping up the dose to where you were and getting stable again , then decreasing to 20.7mg

(i.e. a 10% decrease)?

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh

[laineyk]

ju7st wanted to say hi from one Zoloft user (ex) to another.

[Pamela]

Hi everyone

 

Just wondering if its normal to have restless legs and severe weakness in legs during the withdrawal

 

I was on 24.5mg Zoloft,

down to 11mg for 4months now

 

Thanks

pam

[Altostrata]

Hi, Pamela. I moved your post here.

 

Restless legs are common in withdrawal. Many people do better with fish oil and magnesium supplements, see
http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/
http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1300-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

 

The magnesium in particular can help your legs to relax.
 

[Pamela]

Hi

 

I am a long term user of antideprresnants for anixiety depressin and ocd and PTSD

 

I am a mother of a severely disabled adult child

 

I have had severe childhood trauma

 

I have been desperately trying to get off Zoloft - the lastest med that I am taking

 

What have I noticed,  dizziness off and on for months

 

severe self doubt ,about what I say

and feeling more conflict with everyone around me

 

It has been really rough

 

I have tried numerous natural remedies

not much is helping

 

I am wondering if I can every get off this stuff.  I stuff from severe auto immune crohns, pernious anemia, psoriasis and genrally feel like hell 

 

Any suggestion???

or can anyone relate

 

Thanks so much

 

Pamela

 

[SkyBlue]

Hi Pamela and welcome. I'm glad you found us.

 

While only you can determine if you want to / need to be off these medications, it seems that many people have been able to successfully wean off of them. 

 

I wish you the best on your journey.

[ChessieCat]

Hi Pamela and welcome to SA,

 

You've found a great site with members who are very supportive.  The volunteer staff are very knowledgeable and there is lots of excellent information on the site.

 

Thank you for completing your signature.  Have you included ALL the drugs you are currently on?  What natural remedies are you taking at the moment?

 

         Excerpt from your signature:

 

          Zoloft 23mls liquid 2015- 3 months

          tapering presently Septermber 2015 17mls

          November 2015 -12.5 mls. liquid Zoloft

 

This site recommends a 10% taper of the previous dose with a 4-6 week hold.  Please see Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

If you have dropped from 23 mls to 17 mls and then from 17 mls to 12.5 mls that may well be the reason you are suffering dizziness.  Please see Introduction to AD Withdrawal Syndrome

 

Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

 

The drug changes our brain and it needs to adapt to not getting as much of the drug.  These helped me to understand:

 

Brain Remodelling
 

Video: Healing from Antidepressants: Patterns of Recovery

 

You can use your Intro/Update topic to ask any questions and as a journal of your progress.

[Fresh]

Hi Pamela ,   please can you update your signature to include the 4 months you went down to 11mg.

 

"Posted 23 October 2015 - 05:19 AM

Hi everyone

I was on 24.5mg Zoloft,

down to 11mg for 4months now"

 

Ii's important for us to understand exactly what you've been doing with your dosages to work out how the "dizziness on and off for months"   is connected.

[Pamela]

Hi,

 

I don't believe this is me,  I never was on that high of a dose ever

 

I am still dizzy, so I have increased from 11.5ml to 12.5ml recently

 

Not sure,  I have really low blood pressure as well

 

Thanks

Pamela

[ChessieCat]

"I have really low blood pressure as well"

 

Have you had that checked out?  It might be worth looking into that.  At least then you will know whether it is/isn't a BP problem.

[Pamela]

Hello,  I am at 8mg Zoloft now.  Its been 9 days and counting.  I found out I am dealing with a ton of autoimmune disease.  So I cant tell if this is withdrawal or autoimmune problems????

 

Lots of weakness that comes and goes, this has been going on for about 1 year since I was put on Zoloft, swollen lymph glands, nausea- which I've had for years, shortness of breath at time.

I keep worrying that I am dying or having a heart attack or MS. 

I have went to the doctors repeatedly, they have no idea what is causing me these symptoms.  They have no clue about withdrawal from antidepressants. 

When I have a dark cloud of depression over me, which is lately real bad, since the lastest reduction from 10mg to 8mg.  My physical symptoms are better.  Could all this be in my mind????

 

I keep thinking every day is a new day of symptoms or mental health issues.  It must be all connected.  Can people die from withdrawal????

 

Anyway, any thoughts?????

Thanks so much

[ChessieCat]

Hi Pamela,

 

I have moved your post, which was in jd83's Intro/Update topic, here into your own Intro/Update topic so that your history remains together both for you and other members.

[scallywag]

Pamela -- I'm sorry you got such unwelcome news about your health and that you are still going through challenging symptoms.

 

Will you be meeting with a specialist about the autoimmune disorder?

 

How much do the symptoms overlap between the disorder and withdrawal symptom?

[Pamela]

I see a rhuemotogist, gi Doctor, and psychiatrist

 

No one seems to know what is going on

 

I think dizziness is associated with Zoloft and more stomach problems associated with Zoloft

Weakness and swollen lymph glands started 2 months after starting Zoloft about 1 year ago

 

 

Not sure about shortness Of breath and chest pain. I am know having small brain zaps from the last taper

This is your far the worse 2 mg decrease

 

Does it get better?

Feel like I'm losing, yield with anxiety,darkness, jealousy and more irritable than usual

I feel confident that these meds make My autoimmune disorder worse

 

Thank u so much

[Pamela]

Hi

 

I am now on 8mg of Zoloft- I am reducing extremely slowly

 

My question is,  I feel more jealous of people and more isolated then ever before

 

really sad and lots of grief

 

will this get better?

 

Thanks

Pamela

[brassmonkey]

Hi Pamela-- congratulations on getting down to 8mg, well done.  You still have a ways to go but things will get better and better the further you decrease.  The symptoms you mention are very common but can be worked through.  Common grief is a large part of WD and needs to be handled in the same manner as any other lose.

 

WD is a highly personal and selfish process.  No one else can go through it for you and no one else will have quite the same experience you do. So feeling isolated is very normal.  Then seeing "normal people" going on about their lives is quite frustrating.  It took me a long time to realize that there are no such thing as "normal people".  Everyone has problems we can't see.  Consider the numbers, one in ten people in the world are taking ADs, and we know how useless ADs are and what they do to people. There are a lot more problems in the world to screw people up too.  So next time you're in a large group somewhere start counting groups of ten people and thinking 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,he's screwed up, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, she's screwed up.  Pretty soon you'll realize just how not alone you really are, we just can't talk about it too openly.

[Pamela]

thank you brass monkey,  you are very kind

I felt a few moments of hope when I saw your message

 

I will keep going and take things really really slow, but it is a struggle everyday.

 

thank you again

 

Pamela

[Petunia]

Hi Pamela,

I'm sorry you are struggling with some difficult emotions at the moment, this can often be a normal part of coming off these kinds of drugs. Our natural emotions have been numbed for a long time and when they do start coming back, it can feel overwhelming and we have to learn how to manage them again. Sometimes, these strong emotions can be withdrawal symptoms caused by tapering too fast. You can know if this is the case if they seem to come out of nowhere, with no obvious trigger.

 

I'm also dealing with feelings of jealousy, worse than I've ever experienced before, but in my case, I stopped taking my medication too fast and am still in withdrawal. Its great that you're tapering slowly.

 

This topic may explain more about some of what's going on for you: Neuro emotions

[apace41]

So next time you're in a large group somewhere start counting groups of ten people and thinking 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,he's screwed up, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, she's screwed up.  Pretty soon you'll realize just how not alone you really are, we just can't talk about it too openly.

 

That is BRILLIANT, Tom!

 

Sometimes I feel like numbers 1, 4, 7 AND 10, but your point is well taken.

 

Best,

 

Andy

[Pamela]

I'm on 8mg Zoloft and have been for 6 months. I have noticed severe memory problems. I feel like I'm thinking in slow motion. Depersonalizations I think?? Panic at times. I keep wondering why it is getting worse as I have stayed st the same dose for 6 months. I had a head MRI and it was normal. I feel like I'm losing my mind

Edited January 4, 2017 by scallywag
merged from new topic started in Symptoms forum

[scallywag]

Pamela thanks for posting.  I've moved your post/question to your introduction topic so that all your information, questions and answers are in one place.

 

Here's a topic in which members discuss dealing with memory and cognitive problems

Brain fog; mind, comprehension, cognitive and memory problems.