Visconti: 9 months off sertraline

[Visconti]

Hello everyone, apologies in advance for the very long introduction.

 

I am so glad I found this site.

 

I have been on Sertraline 100 mg for about 4 years and did a taper recommended by my psychiatrist back in June 2016. It was faster than the recommended 10% with a rate of about 10 mg every 3 weeks (He recommended every 2 weeks but I increased it a bit (obviously not enough!!))

 

During the taper I had issues first with rage then irritability, some obsessive compulsive thoughts and a few episodes of low mood but nothing major (my wife would probably disagree with this one). Anyhow, I have prior experience of tapering diazepam and this was nothing even close (bizarrely I did not have the windows and waves pattern during the diazepam taper. I was under sertraline back then, could that have played a role?)

 

Back in July 2017, I had a major episode of health anxiety completely out of the blue which made me go back to my psychiatrist. Since I was on holidays when this happened, I only saw him a few weeks later. By then I was starting to feel much better. I was puzzled. I asked to my psychiatrist if maybe it had been a “blip” and that all I needed was less stress at work and CBT.

 

The answer (predictable) was that it was relapse of my underlying conditions (I have some health anxiety issues although the sertraline was prescribed because of the WD depression due to the first failed benzo taper…so relapse of what?) and that I have a chemical imbalance that needs to be corrected,….

So I was told that I needed to restart on the sertraline (50mg one week and then 100mg).  The reaction of re-instating sertraline was brutal, with what I think was akathisia (I could not stop walking for 2 days). This started a few hours after the first tablet and I finished prostrated at the end of day 2.

 

Between the time I stopped the sertraline and seeing my psychiatrist again, I searched the internet and found the Surviving Antidepressants website (I cried as much as when I discovered BenzoBuddies during my benzo problem.)

 

I had a few exchange of emails with my psychiatrist and queried about the protracted WD. The answer I got was: “Discontinuation syndrome is usually self limiting and lasts 2-3 weeks” so it had to be relapse. He then proposed to try all sorts of other medications including quetiapine, pregabalin, duloxetine, agomelatine, even diazepam….

 

After what I found on SA, what I read about the medications he proposed, I decided that 1) he was no longer my psychiatrist and 2) I was probably experiencing protracted WD and all I needed was time to heal.

 

My health scare in July was related to my GI so I got it checked and I was diagnosed with IBS. I have developed several food intolerances during my time on sertraline (it was obvious with hindsight but ignored by me in my sertraline induced haze). So I have radically changed my diet. I have been put on the FODMAP diet but since I also have stomach and reflux issues (the LPR one not really GERD), my diet is even more restricted than the FODMAP. Regarding the reflux, I have been prescribed Peptac and I also bought slippery elm, does anyone have experience with these? I have not yet tried these.

 

This is because I seem to have developed some hyper sensitivity to supplements and medications (I was quite unwell after trying lanzoprazole prescribed for the reflux and had to stop after 2 days) so I am very careful.

 

Talking about supplements, I have introduced cod liver oil, Bio Kult and 100mg of vitamin C per day and they seem fine. I am also progressively increasing magnesium citrate (as of today it is about 40mg). Would there be something else I could try? I have bought holy basil but am a bit scared to try it (it is a mixture of 800mg of holy basil leaf and magnesium stearate), has anyone tried this?

 

I force myself to have physical activity with 30 minutes of brisk walk everyday and 1 session of 45 minutes of fitness (treadmill + bicycle) once per week. I also continue to work (not easy but I have to). I go once a week for acupuncture and CBT.

 

I am now about 9.5 months sertraline free and, since July, I can clearly see that I follow the windows and wave pattern. My windows last about 14 days and the waves about 10 days, so far.

 

My current symptoms are: high anxiety (mostly around health), intrusive thoughts, and rumination, sleep problems (I wake up between 2 and 3am whatever the time I go to sleep), muscular pain, stomach pain (strangely it happens twice a day at set times, ~4am and ~4pm, It almost disappear at the best of time of a window), anhedonia, dizziness and memory problems.

 

I fell I am slowly improving and the rage episodes were the first to go. They morphed into irritability which has also decreased significantly about a month ago.

 

Is there anything that I could change or add to what I am doing now that you believe could help?

 

Thanks a million in advance for your help.

Edited October 13, 2017 by baroquep
White Space

[Visconti]

Hello everyone, 

 

As mentioned in my introduction post, I would be interested in knowing people's experience with using Peptac and slippery elm for stomach problems.

 

I would also like to know if people have had good or bad reaction with using holy basil.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[AliG]

Hi Visconti. Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants( SA). I'm sorry to hear you have been struggling so much. It sounds like you are highly sensitive to the Zoloft now , and in fact you may be generally sensitive to many things right now so it would pay you to be very cautious.

 

We ask all our members to fill in their signature with their drug and tapering history.Please follow the directions at the link below : 

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature

Please have a read of symptoms and self Care section: as there are many topics that can help through withdrawal. I'm not sure about the supplements you have listed but they can have highly variable effects in  people and what helps one can send another into a tailspin for quite a while so we recommend being very cautious with supplements especially as you already  seem very sensitive. It's a good idea to avoid caffeine, alcohol and anything in excess , even exercise.

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

This is your thread to journal your progress, ask questions and interact with members.

Again , welcome. You will find a lot of support here.

Ali