bubbles

[bubbles]

It's also not always quite as simple as politely refusing - there can be consequences. Refusing to take a prescribed medication might mean the loss of a driving licence, where I live.

 

The thing for me, now, is to set up good support so I can ride out a possible episode and prevent it from reaching the stage where anyone thinks meds are necessary. I think this slow taper has done a lot of good in that regard. If nothing else, my doctor has seen that I am well on a "sub-therapeutic" dose.

[bubbles]

I'm having some anxiety. I was due to drop on Monday but it's clearly not a good idea.

[Rosetta]

Hi, Bubbles.  Hope your anxiety stops soon.  Glad you are holding.  -R

[bubbles]

Thanks Rosetta.

Today I feel down, headachey and tired, but the anxiety has subsided. The weird head pressure sensation and dizzy spells have passed, thankfully. Considering an updose but hoping to ride it out.

 

I'm going to do some chores for a few hours and then have a rest.

[bubbles]

I'm aching too. I didn't get very far with the chores, but back to it now.

 

[bubbles]

I'm feeling better again today. Still a bit achey.

 

[Rosetta]

Good.  Hope you continue to feel better!  -R

[bubbles]

I am going to push through and drop again next week. I am okay.

 

It may come back to bite me, but the thought of prolonging this taper so long is too distressing. I've spent so long on it and the thought that it will take me just as long to get off 8.1mg, it's just too much. I can't do it. It's one thing that leads me to tears, no matter how much I try to rationalize it. It makes me want to just stop taking them now.

 

I won't just stop taking them, but I am going to stop prioritizing having long symptom-free windows and start to push through. I can reduce my workload to half time, if I need to, to help get through. There's a consequence for that, of course, but there you go.

 

My next drop at 10% should be from 8.1mg to 7.3mg which I will do on Monday or Tuesday.

[bubbles]

Well, I was going to drop yesterday but I have a lot to do this week so I might hold off for a few days.

[bubbles]

Dropped to 7.7 today. I'll do that for a week and if I feel ok I'll drop to 7.3 thrn, which I'll hold for three weeks. Ish.

[bubbles]

Will update sig when I get to my computer.

[bubbles]

Well, I'm not sure it was a good idea. I don't feel well. I think perhaps I should go back.

[bubbles]

I took 7.7 again last night. I feel ok. Don't know what  is the best thing to do but I'll see how the next few days go.

[bubbles]

I continued with the 7.7. I have spent a couple of days in bed with a flu-like bug, but my mood is fine and I'm not having those awful brain swells/shivers. I seem to have been sick for the last month - a combination of the previous drop and it being cold and flu season where I am. Pretty sure it's a nasty cold (aches, blowing my nose, sore thoat, but no fever) and not WD.

 

Tuesday is the 17th and that is the date I'm due for the second half of my 10% drop, which will be another 0.4mg to 7.3mg.

[bubbles]

Doing well. I'll do my second half of the drop tomorrow.

[bubbles]

Still feeling good. Well, feeling dreadful, if truth be told. I have an awful cold which has actually had me in bed for a few days. I must be run down. I feel as thoigh I've had one thing after another for weeks now. However, my mood is very good which is all I'm interested in at present.

 

I'm back doing a fairly strict keto diet. (I have seen a dietitian who helped me to put together a plan and she was happy that my nutrition is very good.) It has already improved some minor physical symptoms, I've lost a few pounds, and my mood is great. I've noticed this before, that keto helps my mood. I'm a bit weak willed but I feel so good that I will try not to lapse.

 

I have only had two days at part two of this ten percent drop, but so far so good. I expect the two parts to soften things somewhat. I'll see what happens in the next two to three weeks before I decide again what to do next.

[FarmGirlWorks]

7 hours ago, bubbles said:

I've noticed this before, that keto helps my mood.

How awesome that your mood is good! Interesting about the keto. I am trying to eat more meat, mainly seafood. And I read a little about zinc here and instead of supplementing (because I do not know my levels), I ate some canned oysters today which are packed with zinc as well as iron and omegas and other good stuff. Hoping it is good for my mood which can dive but is "okay" today.

 

Hope you get over the cold soon!

[bubbles]

Thanks, @FarmGirlWorks

 

The cold - I'm on the mend. I'm still coughing a lot but I have run my one errand for the day and now I can sit quietly at home and work at the computer.

 

I supplement zinc occasionally and have not noticed any ill effects from it. Where I live, most people are zinc deficient, according to my doctor. He tells me it is a combination of our terrible soils (no zinc in them) and the fact that we have copper pipes for our water. Apparently copper and zinc are somehow related in the body and being high in copper tends to mean low in zinc. Doc recommends we supplement for a month or so twice a year.

 

A caveat to the zinc supplementing thing... My taper is very different from most people here - I have gone (mostly) even more slowly than recommended. I have certainly had wobbles and rough patches, but I come good and typically have quite a long time of feeling totally normal before I drop again again. It may be because of this that I have not become over-sensitized and I may be able to tolerate more than some other people here.

 

Yes, I've noticed a well-formulated keto diet is exceptionally good for my mood. I have heard similar from a lot of people, though I'm sure it isn't for everyone.

[bubbles]

On the mend from my cold, though still unwell - it has been a shocker.

 

I did a two part drop this time and I have only taken four doses of the second half, but so far so good. I feel that it has been softer than doing 10% in one drop, but I'm not at the "new normal" yet. I think I'll be there in about ten more days. I think I've had a brain shiver, but it could also be a cold symptom.

 

If all continues to goes well, I'll hold it about another week after that and do it again. My intention is to still do 10% in 4 weeks, just to split that 10% into two parts a week apart. This gives me three weeks at the lower dose, and allows a week after all of the half lives have worked out, instead of two weeks as I'd have had with a single 10% drop.

 

Next drop should start 7 August, if all goes well. Or well enough.

 

 

[Rosetta]

I'm rooting for you, Bubbles!

[bubbles]

Thanks Rosetta. Much appreciated. How are you doing? I see you're coming up on 18 months from stopping.

[Rabe]

You have come SO far bubbles!!!  You are so close!  Happy to hear things are going well!!

[bubbles]

Thanks @Rabe

 

So near and yet so far! But I feel good so I’m ok to keep plodding along.

[bubbles]

Still coughing and sniffling, but definitely on the mend from the cold. Mood still fine.

[tyof]

On 5/13/2018 at 2:38 AM, bubbles said:

I've noticed that my zoloft suddenly has "take with food" on it. I generally take it at bedtime, often with a cup of (decaf) tea. I can't remember to take it at any other time and actually sometimes have to get up after I've gone to bed to take it because I've completely forgotten. I'm sure this wasn't the case when I was first prescribed it.

 

So I looked it up (and put it in the zoloft tapering thread). It looks as though absorption and bioavailability are DECREASED if taking it on an empty stomach. I'm not sure what to take from that, except that I don't want to make any changes now, when I'm doing well overall. I think this theoretically means I'm effectively on *less* than I could have been if taking with food. I'll ask the pharmacist for advice when I speak to him next week. As I'm on the way down, I think this is probably a good thing.

 

Also of note: half life is 24-26 hours, which is less than the lexapro I used to take. I have noticed fewer cold turkey effects of a missed dose or two with sertraline as compared to lexapro. I guess the active metabolite softens that absence.

 

Info on absorption and half life from this link: https://www.drugs.com/mmx/sertraline-hydrochloride.html

 

"Absorption:

Slow ^{{09} {15} {28}} but consistent ^{{09} {15}}. Bioavailability and absorption rate are increased if sertraline is taken with food ^{{07} {26}}. "
 

" Half-life:
Elimination:
Sertraline: 24 to 26 hours ^{{07} {09} {26}}.
N-desmethylsertraline: 62 to 104 hours ^{{07} {26}}. " 

 

hey! sorry to bring this old matter up. Just wondering if you ever felt stomach pain or sth like that after taking the sertraline pill without food, as you did it most of the time, like you said.

 

thanks

[bubbles]

Hi @tyof

No, I never noticed any difference.

 

I asked the pharmacist and the gist was that if the doctor specifies one way they put the sticker on it, but that it isn't really an issue for sertraline (though it might be for another drug), so they don't do it unless doc asks. My doc has obviously specified differently at different times. They agreed not to mess with what was working for me.
 

I should add that I generally have a pretty cast iron stomach.

[bubbles]

Still going well. Mood is fine.

 

20 days since I started the 10% and 13 days (tonight, when I take today's dose) since I completed it, so 13 days on the last dose minus 10%. If we are working on 66 hours for the half life of the active metabolite, and five times the half life to work down to the new steady state, I'm more or less at steady state now. I think that splitting the drop has made a surprisingly big difference - it was almost imperceptible. I've had a few brain shivers, but milder and fewer doing it this way.

 

With the goal of seeing if I can avoid the (disconcerting) brain shivers entirely, I might split the next drop into three, but still within that week, to allow 3 weeks on the fully lowered dose, like this:

 

Now 7.3mg

5 August 7.1mg

8 August 6.8mg

12 August 6.6mg

Next drop 2 September

 

Changes are timed to start on Sundays. This is because I use a weekly pill box that starts on Sundays. I use two, actually, and I measure out meds for two weeks at a time. It minimizes errors and acts as a reminder. I've been out of sync recently and it is just easier to be back in sync with the boxes.

[bubbles]

Still holding at 7.3. Decided to hold this for a while.

[Rosetta]

On July 21, 2018 at 5:44 PM, bubbles said:

Thanks Rosetta. Much appreciated. How are you doing? I see you're coming up on 18 months from stopping.

 

Hi.  Yes, I'm at 17 months or so.  I've seen a lot of progress in the past few months.  I'm not in Hell at the moment.  I don't feel great, but I have a few hours here and there of feeling terrible instead of whole days or weeks.  

 

(I wrote this, but never hit "submit")

 

That's brilliant to use 2 pill minders so that you have one all ready filled on the day the first one is emptied!!

[bubbles]

Thanks Rosetta

 

Well, I've decided to hold now and messed up all my careful planning.

 

Not feeling good and a few weeks of serious stress in front of me so no dose changes for now. Well, not downward changes anyway.

[bubbles]

I feel bad. Not withdrawal, just me I think. The sertraline at this dose is clearly not doing anything therapeutic for me.

 

[Rosetta]

On July 21, 2018 at 5:44 PM, bubbles said:

Thanks Rosetta. Much appreciated. How are you doing? I see you're coming up on 18 months from stopping.

 

Hi.  I'm sorry you are feeling crummy today.  I'm glad your dose is so low.  Maybe the side effects are, too.  It's tough to feel that your plans were scuttled.  

 

I'm pretty sad today.  I had a big cortisol spike this morning.  I think sadness is a backlash to anxiety.  I'm going to try to get moving and get some sunlight.  

 

I wrote this this out weeks ago, but I don't know if I ever sent it:

 

Yes, I'm at 17 months or so.  I've seen a lot of progress in the past few months.  I'm not in Hell at the moment.  I don't feel great, but I have a few hours here and there of feeling terrible instead of whole days or weeks.  I still cry sometimes, but it's not extreme grief.  It's more of a strong sadness.  The anxiety comes and goes, and it's less intense.  Challenging circumstances are hard for me.  I still get confused, have trouble making choices, weighing the options, making decisions, etc.  Its very hard for me to sort anything --objects, emotions, pros and cons.  Once in a while, I have clarity and I can do those types of things.  There have been a lot of improvements in physical symptoms, blood sugar, appetite, sleep, tummy issues, fatigue, heavy legs, Akathisia, and strength.  My system seems to be working better.  

[Rabe]

Thinking of you bubbles...take care of you!💜

[bubbles]

Thanks @Rabe and @Rosetta It is comforting to know someone is thinking of me.

 

[bubbles]

Another not great day but not as bad as Monday. Toying with a small updose, but not yet.

[Rabe]

Grateful to hear it is moving in the right direction since Monday!!!  Challenging to get through these day...glad we all have each other!