AllieCat27: Trying to Taper off Sertraline

[AllieCat27]

I've been on and off of sertraline for at least 21 years (since I was around 15 or 16, time is fuzzy), and most recently have been on 100mg of sertraline since at least 2006. When I was 15, in 1995, my psychiatrist at the time put me on Prozac, but when that didn't work he switched me to Zoloft/sertraline. Earlier this year I decided I wanted to be off of it, because I really don't think I've needed it for many years now, I'd like to see what it's like to be me without it, and the side effects are annoying (no libido and mind fogginess are the worst of them, along with the brainzaps and dizziness when I accidentally missed a dose). I'd tossed around the idea for years, but was always nervous that I'd relapse and just need to go back on the sertraline, but I've realized now that I am a much different and stronger person than I was in my mid-twenties when I had to go back on it last.

 

I thought it would be easy, especially when my doctor recommended a quick tapering off (even my counselor felt the doctor's recommendation was too quick). She wanted me to go from 100mg to 50mg 2 times in the first week, 3 times in the next, 4 times in the next, etc., until I was down to 50mg everyday. I did okay with that as far as side-effects go, even though right in the middle my mother-in-law got horribly sick with metastasized breast cancer, a very stressful situation.  This took place March through April of this year.

 

Since that went so well, my doctor wanted me to then start tapering from 50mg to 0mg using the same method. The first week of doing that (skipping 2 doses) I realized right away that was too much - the day after missing a dose I had horrible brainzaps, dizziness, headaches, and fatigue. My mother-in-law got even sicker, and soon passed away, but I felt like I was holding things together pretty well emotionally considering all that was going on.

 

In May, I talked my doctor into giving me a prescription for 25mg pills and followed her tapering method to go from 50mg to 25mg. That seemed to go well enough, although at the beginning of June I had a bit of an emotional breakdown that I associated with leaving a "volunteer" position that had turned into a full-time unpaid and underappreciated job. It was a big change and transition in my life to go from having all my time focused on that to suddenly having nothing I had to do, and even though I was not happy doing it anymore I was a little sad to leave.

 

At the beginning of July/end of June I decided to start following my doctor's tapering method to go off of the 25mg of Sertraline, and this is where the trouble really began. Last week was my 2nd week of this taper, so I skipped 3 doses. I spent the whole week having horrible headaches and fatigue that I blamed on the weather (not so sure it was that now), bad enough for me to break down and take Aleve a few times (I usually stay away from pain relievers because I have a very sensitive stomach). Saturday night I had 3 drinks while at a family get-together (that's usually the limit I would stop at and be ok), and by the time my husband and I got home I was having an emotional breakdown and arguing with him for no good reason, exaggerating things in my head and being unreasonable.

 

I woke up Sunday with stomach cramps and a headache, and felt extremely fatigued, foggy, dizzy, sad, achy everywhere, and just really really blah. I decided then that I would not continue the taper this week. I started having diarrhea that night, in addition to the queasiness, and woke up Monday morning feeling similarly. I cried a lot on Monday, and it took all my effort to stay out of bed and try to be friendly enough when my husband came home from work. Nothing was feeling quite real, and I felt so heavy and tired that I just wanted to lay around.

 

Each day this week I've progressively felt a little better (emotionally and physically). I went to an exercise class last night (had to force myself to go), and was glad afterwards, although during I was experiencing visual trails when moving quickly. I only cried once yesterday, and my stomach issues and headaches seem to be improving.

 

I'm thinking now that I'm going to stay on the 25mg for a bit to try to even out again before attempting a MUCH slower taper than my doctor recommended (I'm also going to find a new doctor, because I don't like her much anyway and this experience has sealed the deal for me). Is a month long enough to stay at 25mg, or should I wait multiple months? I'm trying so hard not to lose hope that I can be off of it, and I want to do it right so I don't experience the horrible withdrawal issues again.

 

I've been thinking about trying acupuncture for awhile now because of a chronic back issue and asthma, and I'm wondering if maybe that could help with any withdrawal issues during tapering? Does anyone have experience with that?

 

Thank you for giving me this space to unload all these thoughts and experiences, and thank you ahead of time for any advice and support offered!

[bubble]

Hello AlleCat and welcome to Surviving antidepressants.

 

I must say your instincts are right. Alternating doses to taper is very destabilizing for the brain but the vast majority of psychiatrist don't know of a better way.

 

Definitely stop right were you are and hope that this will be enough.

 

I would say that after all this destabilization one month will be too little and you might even have to updose.

 

Use this time to inform yourself about the proper way to discontinue the AD after such a long use.

 

I have provided some links for you and warmly recommend to read around and ask questions here. It might save you lots of suffering.

 

Also beware of something called delayed onset of withdrawal syndrome. I fear that you haven't seen the worst following such a rapid reduction in a very destabilising well.

 

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

 

These helped me to understand SA's recommendations:

 

Brain Remodelling

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

Sorry for the bad news but maybe you will be one that doesn't get hit so badly.

 

Regardless of what happens you have found a very supportive community with lots of great information.

 

Once again welcome.

 

Bubble

[Madeleine]

Welcome to the forum. I'm tapering sertraline/Zoloft too. As bubble told you likely it would be better to stay on more than a month. 1 month might seem like  a long time but is extremely short when it comes to these meds. Side effects of tapering are cumulative meaning you could feel effects of cuts you made in week 1 2 and 3 come on together at a later date. If you wait a while on 25 you will see if you get any symptoms.  If you do you can wait until they subside and you feel stable then taper again after youve been feeling stable for a while. 

 

then taper the last 25 very slowly. The las bit needs to be tapered the slowest. You'll find lots of info on this forum why there's a need for going slow. 

 

Best wishes

m

[AllieCat27]

Thank you very much bubble & Madeleine! I'm reading through the links you posted, and I'm definitely going to hold off on any further tapering for a good long while. My focus these next few months will be on stablization and self-care. I'm taking note of all of my feelings and symptoms each day so I can track things and be more aware of where I'm at. It's really helpful to know I'm far from alone, that this stuff isn't just all in my head, and to have it reinforced that this isn't relapse it's withdrawal.

[bubble]

I'm glad you found us in time and happy to see you are making good use of the information available here. I hope you can stabilize on 25 mg and glad to see that you quickly understood how important it is to allow your brain time to heal.

 

I hope we are both thinking in terms of months here. Although if nothing happens in let's say 2 months you should be in the clear and start a safe 10 % per month, based on your symptoms taper.

 

Keep us posted of how you go and check with us before you start reducing again.

 

Let us know if you have any questions and good luck.