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Archlin: I shouldn't have taken Sertraline


archlin

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Hello everyone. I have been struggling with sleep, dizziness, feeling faint, jelly legs, brain fog and occasional derealization since june 2018. It may have been because of various stress, like new work, big project, lot of work around the house that needed to be done and so on. All this spiked my health anxiety and I got my heart and blood checked, seen a neurologist(but no MRI done), got my thyroid checked. In the end of july it got worse as I had these intense feelings in my chest as if someone has died, but I couldn't cry. My wife tried the best to comfort me that everything is allright, but to no avail. Then I visited a psychiatrist and he diagnosed me with GAD and put me on Sertraline. It gave me even worse anxiety, sweaty palms, woke up with horrible feeling (panic I guess) 10 minutes after falling asleep for first 2-3 nights. I knew that first weeks are bad so i carried on. On 4th day a sort of intrusive visual toughts during the day started coming, they were like pictures with a depressive lonely hopeless atmosphere and this atmosphere flooded my reality. Again, I tought it's just a side effect that will pass. After 5 and half weeks it only got worse, I didn't feel like myself, derealization was horrible. So i stopped cold turkey (I was on 25mg for 4 weeks , 37.5mg for one week and 50mg for two days) as I wasn't on a high dose and only a few weeks.

First week I was feeling way better and I tought the worst is over. However, 2 weeks after stopping these visual intrusive toughts that feel like waking dreams got more intense. Dissociation spiked in the end of October, 6 weeks after stopping, I was very depressed and reality felt like something that shouldn't exist, it's hard to explain. I survived some days only because I was intensly thinking about my wife and parents and didn't want to cause them suffering by doing something dumb like killing myself. I tried acceptig everything and not fight it. But some days I got these intense feelings of doom and depression, coupled with these intrusive waking dreams, something like a PTSD flashback. It happened especially when hungry or while I was eating. It always left me severly depressed after.

2 weeks ago (10 weeks since stopping Sertraline) I started to feel more like myself and reality began to feel a little more ok. Those intense flashbacks stopped also, but I guess they morphed into something else. Instead of being intense and shorlived, they began to be milder but go on for hours, especially when it's bright outside, or when I see something that reminds me of some memory. It's hard to explain, but for example today is a bright sunny chilly November, but I feel like it's summer 25 years ago, the atmosphere is so overwhelming, that I feel like going crazy.

Does anyone else have this? Is it normal? Some days I get hours of feeling kinda ok, some days I only get derealization, but that's ok too. These feelings that dont correspond to reality are what scares me the most, it's like they tell me I'm somewhere else, or that I live in a memory.

Sorry for the long ramble.

Sertraline - 1.8.2018 to 5.9.2018

25mg for four weeks, 37.5mg for one week, 50mg for two days

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Hello, Archline and welcome to SA.  I'm sorry you're having these unpleasant symptoms.  It sounds like you had an adverse reaction to the sertraline, I'm glad you're starting to feel better.

 

To give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly.  Please do not include symptoms or diagnoses.  A list format is easy to read.  Please include dates, drug, dosage and tapering/cold-turkey information.
 
 

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

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Thank you, I have added this information to my signature.

 

Sertraline - 1.8.2018 to 5.9.2018

25mg for four weeks, 37.5mg for one week, 50mg for two days

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5 hours ago, archlin said:

Those intense flashbacks stopped also, but I guess they morphed into something else. Instead of being intense and shorlived, they began to be milder but go on for hours, especially when it's bright outside, or when I see something that reminds me of some memory. It's hard to explain, but for example today is a bright sunny chilly November, but I feel like it's summer 25 years ago, the atmosphere is so overwhelming, that I feel like going crazy.

Does anyone else have this? Is it normal? Some days I get hours of feeling kinda ok, some days I only get derealization, but that's ok too. These feelings that dont correspond to reality are what scares me the most, it's like they tell me I'm somewhere else, or that I live in a memory.

Sorry for the long ramble.

 

Hi, Archlin,

 

It's going to be ok.  Some people who have taken ADs call what you are experiencing "time travel" or try to describe it in other ways.  It is scary.  I know because I had it, too.  I took sertraline also, but it can happen to people who took other drugs.  The good news is that it will stop happening.  

 

This whole experience will gradually recede.  Often, I forget that I have had a particular symptom until someone tries to describe it on SurvivingAntidepressants.  Boy, is it hard to describe, too, isn't it?  I had that feeling in my chest that someone had died, too.  Truly awful and terribly confusing.  I had the doom and depression and the waking dreams.  All of this goes away in time.  

 

Gridley is a wonderful Moderator.  He has helped me a lot as have many other Moderators here.  I'm glad you are aware that your wife and parents need you to ride this very unpleasant experience out.  Over time, the symptoms will become less scary as you begin to realize that they can't hurt you.  So, before they are gone you will be less troubled by them.

 

I continue to be amazed that my brain can heal from this.  It's called plasticity -- the ability of the brain to heal after an injury, and these "medicines" do cause a sort of injury to some people that heals just as a physical brain injury would.  Fortunately for us, there is no physical injury, and all the changes the drug caused will be corrected by our own healing process.  

 

One day you will be completely back to "normal."  Meanwhile, try to avoid getting too frightened by all the strange thoughts and sensations.  While your brain is repairing the changes memories are going to pop up and you will feel out of place or time occasionally.  It's not permanent, but it's very confusing, I know.  Try to see these odd feelings as evidence of your body's healing power such as the way a physical injury itches or tingles as the body heals.  You are going to be ok.  

 

Yours,

Rosetta

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16629-rosetta-ct-may-2011-too-fast-taper-feb-2017/?page=25

2001-2011 Celexa 10 mg raised to 40 mg then 60 mg over this time period

May 2011 OB Doctor's Cold switch Celexa 60 mg to 10 mg Zoloft sertraline (baby born)

2012-2016 - Doctors raised dose of Zoloft up to 150 mg

2016 - Xanax prescribed - as needed - 0.5 mg about every 3 days (bad reaction)

2016 - Stopped Xanax

Late 2016- Began (too fast) taper of Zoloft

Early 2017 - Trazodone prescribed for bedtime (doseage unknown)

Feb 2017 - Completed taper/stopped Trazodone

Drug free since Feb 2017

2017 - Unisom otc very rarely for sleep

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Thank you so much for your encouraging and kind words, Rosetta, I feel a little better now that I know that this symptom is common. I just wish I could do something to speed up the process. I try acceptance and stressing as little as possible, but it's so hard with all these horrible feelings. I am a software developer and I cannot concentrate on my job, actually the job adds a lot to everyday stress but I can't afford to take a break now. My wife can't even listen to anymore of my complaints, because it hurts her so much, I hope she won't leave me. Guess I'm rambling again, but I really need to vent somewhere and find encouragement to go on, this is just way too hard.

Sertraline - 1.8.2018 to 5.9.2018

25mg for four weeks, 37.5mg for one week, 50mg for two days

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Today was a slightly better day, strong derealization while driving to work and around noon, but otherwise ok, at least I didn't felt like I was completely somewhere else, asi in a memory. Could be because the sun wasn't shining so much today, that seems to trigger it a lot. Also asked my teamleader if it would be a problem if I took time off from work until Christmas and he was ok with it. I want to reduce stress to a minimum and see if it will help, but am kinda scared to be home alone for so long during daytime when my wife will be at work. Am also considering asking my neurologist for an MRI. It would put some worry of my mind regarding health, but wait list is typically 3 weeks, sadly.

Sertraline - 1.8.2018 to 5.9.2018

25mg for four weeks, 37.5mg for one week, 50mg for two days

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Hi, Archlin,

 

I'm glad you feel better.  Be careful about making decisions right now and about what doctors suggest.  Being alone a lot is definitely not a good idea.  Some people have to stop working, but it's not something that is without risk.  Having a reason to get up, shower, and go out is very important.  Being in sunlight is important even if it seems to cause symptoms.  The best thing you could do is add gentle exercise -- walking -- to your day.  Don't jog or run or do anything taxing.  Just walk.  

 

Watch out for anything doctors want to do to you.  MRIs aren't totally safe and if they ask you to drink dye don't do it.  Your body is very sensitive right now.  You have to be careful what you drink or what medicines you take.  More later, but there are only two supplements SA Mods feel are safe enough -- magnesium and fish oil -- and even those have to be taken in small doses at first just to see how the system reacts.  Please don't take both, but try one for a while and then add the other later.  Everything else should be off limits for the time being.

 

I have to go now.  Be gentle with yourself and cautious right now.  Your nervous system is fragile and many people have found that various medical procedures and medicines have made things worse for them.  Once you learn how to search on SA you can read about the most common pitfalls to living with a sensitized nervous system.

 

Rosetta

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16629-rosetta-ct-may-2011-too-fast-taper-feb-2017/?page=25

2001-2011 Celexa 10 mg raised to 40 mg then 60 mg over this time period

May 2011 OB Doctor's Cold switch Celexa 60 mg to 10 mg Zoloft sertraline (baby born)

2012-2016 - Doctors raised dose of Zoloft up to 150 mg

2016 - Xanax prescribed - as needed - 0.5 mg about every 3 days (bad reaction)

2016 - Stopped Xanax

Late 2016- Began (too fast) taper of Zoloft

Early 2017 - Trazodone prescribed for bedtime (doseage unknown)

Feb 2017 - Completed taper/stopped Trazodone

Drug free since Feb 2017

2017 - Unisom otc very rarely for sleep

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  • Moderator Emeritus
On 11/29/2018 at 1:51 PM, archlin said:

I just wish I could do something to speed up the process. I try acceptance and stressing as little as possible, but it's so hard with all these horrible feelings.

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up the process and trying to do so often ends up delaying it even more.  You are definitely on the right track with acceptance--which is very important--and avoiding stress as much as possible.

 

I'm glad Rosetta made you feel better about your withdrawal symptoms.  She gave you wise advise when she said to be gentle with yourself and cautious right now.

 

To help you understand the withdrawal process, here are some helpful links.  It's a lot of information, so please take your time reading and don't be overwhelmed.

 

 
 

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.  
 
 
These links are excellent in explaining what is going on in your brain:
 
 
 
We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

 

 

Please research all supplements first and only add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.
 

 


 

 

 

Edited by Gridley

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

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SOOO much of this I relate to!! Im going into mth 4 of WD and I know it's gonna get better!! Just hearing you tell your story makes me feel like Im not alone! We've got to hang in there!! I refuse to lose hope and I try really hard to laugh at myself when I can. My dizziness isn't as severe at all but it's still DAILY and I even have some new side effects this week... God bless you archlin - we can do this!!

Only daily prescription drug I take - Amlodipine-Benaz 5/20mg - for high blood pressure

March 21, 2018 - 50mg of Sertraline

July 16, 2018 - stopped cold turkey

July 16 - November 25th -- 0.5mg Xanas - took only 9 times 

 

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Thank you very much for advice, Rosetta, it means very much to me that you find some time to reply to my posts. Right now I supplement magnesium and b12 every day, also fish oil and vitamin D from time to time.

Also thanks for the warning about MRI, I'll have to rethink the risk is worth it.

 

Gridley, thank you for your advice and links to all the valuable information. I've read some of that already, the brain remodelling theory gives me hope, as I was on Sertraline for only 5.5 weeks, so maybe there isn't that much to remodel back.

 

TedB, god bless you too, we can all do this, you are definitely not alone in this. I really hope your symptoms will get better very soon.

Sertraline - 1.8.2018 to 5.9.2018

25mg for four weeks, 37.5mg for one week, 50mg for two days

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  • Moderator Emeritus
3 hours ago, Rosetta said:

there are only two supplements SA Mods feel are safe enough -- magnesium and fish oil -- and even those have to be taken in small doses at first just to see how the system reacts.  Please don't take both, but try one for a while and then add the other later.

 

Magnesium

Omega-3 Fish Oil

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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The b 12 might be a problem.  I would cut out that and the Vit D, too, and see if things calm down.  

 

See this link for caution from the SA site founder about adding b 12 after destabilization of the CNS -- the first two posts.

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/1392-vitamin-b12-essential-for-mood-nervous-system/

 

I might cut out the fish oil, too, and then add it back in later.  

 

By the way, The magnesium dose on the bottle us likely too much for you right now.  I have to split my dose of mag between morning and night.

 

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16629-rosetta-ct-may-2011-too-fast-taper-feb-2017/?page=25

2001-2011 Celexa 10 mg raised to 40 mg then 60 mg over this time period

May 2011 OB Doctor's Cold switch Celexa 60 mg to 10 mg Zoloft sertraline (baby born)

2012-2016 - Doctors raised dose of Zoloft up to 150 mg

2016 - Xanax prescribed - as needed - 0.5 mg about every 3 days (bad reaction)

2016 - Stopped Xanax

Late 2016- Began (too fast) taper of Zoloft

Early 2017 - Trazodone prescribed for bedtime (doseage unknown)

Feb 2017 - Completed taper/stopped Trazodone

Drug free since Feb 2017

2017 - Unisom otc very rarely for sleep

Link to comment

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16629-rosetta-ct-may-2011-too-fast-taper-feb-2017/?page=25

2001-2011 Celexa 10 mg raised to 40 mg then 60 mg over this time period

May 2011 OB Doctor's Cold switch Celexa 60 mg to 10 mg Zoloft sertraline (baby born)

2012-2016 - Doctors raised dose of Zoloft up to 150 mg

2016 - Xanax prescribed - as needed - 0.5 mg about every 3 days (bad reaction)

2016 - Stopped Xanax

Late 2016- Began (too fast) taper of Zoloft

Early 2017 - Trazodone prescribed for bedtime (doseage unknown)

Feb 2017 - Completed taper/stopped Trazodone

Drug free since Feb 2017

2017 - Unisom otc very rarely for sleep

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Hi Archilin

 

i have had similar sensations to your flashbacks since i quit sertraline.  i was on the drug 14 years and when i stopped it in 2014, i would often have days where i had feelings like i was back in my childhood again in the 1970's.  It happened during summer days while walking or biking near a busy public beach and felt like i had stepped into a sort of time machine.  i have had lots of strange derealizations since quitting the drug, but i certainly have had the feeling of traveling back in the past on some days and now also have many sensory memories of colors and smells that come back to me, too.   I don't have the overwhelming flashbacks of the entire landscape and people around me feeling like they are from the  past as much now, my life mostly feels unreal in a way many days, and the smells from childhood keep coming back.   it kind of keeps me feeling good to remember things from my past, since i mostly feel dead inside from lack of sleep or depressed sleep over the years since quitting sertraline and also from many digestive problems.

 

Poetjester

Court committed to take Prozac, Paxci, and Respiradol from 8/95 to 3/96.   developed severe akithisia and brain damage.  Was unable to speak and walking in circles 15 hours a day.  Went in for 5 sessions of ECT during a 10 day period in March of '96 and my forced medication was discontinued at that time.  My akithisia and brain damage cleared up within a few days of stopping the meds.

 

On Zoloft (200 mg) and Zyprexa (17.5 mg) March 1998- Feb 2014

In between was placed on Effexor 200 mg and Abilify for six months in 2004.  Developed mild akithisia which went away once I stopped the Abilify.  Developed severe GI issues in Dec 2001 and from that time on suffered from fatigue and hypersomnia where I would sleep between 12 and 20 hours a day and rarely ever left my apartment. 

 

Had tapered to 100 mg of Zoloft and 7.5 mg of Zyprexa at the time of going cold turkey Feb. 2014

Went 5 days without sleep at the beginning while vomiting all over my apt.  Had brain zaps for a number of weeks and also lightheadedness which both eventually went away.  However 2 1/2 yrs later I still struggle with insomnia, depression, and fatigue.

 

 

 

 

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