Moodle: Zoloft / sertraline - looking for advice to come off

[Moodle]

Hello all,

I will have be

en on Sertroline at a medical grade of 110mg for 6 months and I believe was on the 50mg dose for a month or two before that. 

 

I took them further to experiencing post natal depression and anxiety for around 3 years before that. 

 

I’m keen to come off them but want to do it slowly and not put myself more steps back than I’ve progressed. 

 

I believe that a lot of the stressors that we’re present before have been improved. 

One thing I can’t work out is that I am still very sluggish and wonder whether this is the meds or not. 

 

Many thanks for any positive contributions you can make. 

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by ChessieCat
added space

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, Moodle.  I'm glad you found us before you started your taper.  Drowsiness and tiredness are listed as common side effects of Sertraline.

 

As to your upcoming taper, we recommend tapering by no more than 10% of current dose every four weeks.  

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

So your first taper would be 110mg (your current dose) minus 11mg (10%) = 99mg (your next dose).  

 

Your can obtain the smaller non-standard doses either by cutting the tablet and weighing the dose. The AWS Gemini-20 scale is used by many members and is available on Amazon in the UK.

:

Using a digital scale to measure doses

 

Or you can make a liquid from the tablets.

 

How to make a liquid from tablets or capsules

 

Here is specific information about tapering off Sertraline and obtaining nonstandard doses.

 

Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

 

Some people prefer to taper at a slower rate than 10% every four weeks.  A micro taper is the gentlest way to come off these drugs.

 

Micro-taper instead of 10% or 5% decreases

 

The Brassmonkey Slide is a way of making micro-taper reductions weekly, as opposed to a larger reduction once a month.  This too is a gentler method that spreads the taper over four weeks so you aren't all at once with the reduction.

 

The Brassmonkey Slide Method of Micro-tapering

 

These links explain the importance of a sow taper:

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

   On 8/30/2011 at 2:28 PM,  Rhiannon said: 

When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

 

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. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

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

 

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[Altostrata]

Welcome, Moodle. I love your pseudonym!

[laydefish]

Hi  @Moodle& welcome to the Group!