R187: suffering zoloft/sertraline 11 weeks and no med

[R187]

Hi everyone

I recently stumbled across this site in my search for answers about these awful withdrawals and I can see that there is an active friendly community here.

My history is as follows

I'm a 32 year old female. Started taking 50 mg sertraline/zoloft in october 2011 for mild depression. 8 weeks later - dec 20-27 started getting bad stomach cramps and attributed this to the sertraline. Thought well I'd only been taking it for 8 weeks I shouldn't have too much of an issue stopping it, so I reduced down to 25mg - was bed ridden for 3 weeks with awful symptoms(shakes, chills, pains, pins and needles, headaches) but seemed to recover and stabilise on 25mg. 4 weeks later got a pill cutter and split the 25mg tablet into 4 pieces and actually felt fine until I stopped and felt pretty bad for a week with eye pain and dizziness. During April this year I felt ok physical synptoms wise- i had the odd bout of stomach cramps and always woke up in the night with numb/tingling arms but from the end of April and all of May I've been ill every day. The symptoms change, I've had headaches, anxiety, panic attacks, chest pain, eye pain, burning skin, crawling skin

pains in my back, ribs, hips, cramps in my finger and feet.

Now I have experienced a stressful time recently, a close relation is dying and work is really tough. I also have 2 young kids to look after.

My husband is convinced it;s a new bout of stress/anxiety rather than the withdrawals but I feel differently. I think it's still the withdrawals. So i'm 11 weeks in. I know a lot of you brave people have been going on like this for a long time. I'm in the anger phase at the moment - blaming myself- why the hell did I ruin a perfectly brilliant body? I can't actually believe it's happened to me - I've never been ill in my life before.

I convince myself every day that tomorrow I'll go and see the doctor and ask to go back on it but I can't face the idea that if i do then I'll have to go through all this again one day. My doctor says they've never heard of anyone who's experienced this unless they stopped their anti d's outright.

What should I do? Does the fact that my symptoms are changing all the time mean that I might get better? I feel so alone in this. Please can someone help

Thanks R187

[Tommysmom]

 

I would say withdrawls, I am not a doctor but, I am a mom. My 42 year old son went off Zoloft, in April 2011 and back on in September 2011. Nine days later he was gone, death by Suicide. I don't know why he was on these meds. to begin with and I don't know why he went back on. My daughter in-law hasn't told me. Find support on the Internet with people who successfully got off their antidepressants. YOU can do it! GOD bless us everyone.

 

Tommysmom

[Altostrata]

Welcome R187 and Tommysmom to our community.

 

R187, you can indeed still be suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Your nervous system is having a difficult time adjusting to the absence of the drug.

 

Since it's been a while since you took sertraline, just a little bit may be enough to reduce withdrawal symptoms. Do you still have any tablets left? Can you try taking a quarter of a 25mg tablet? 6.25mg may be enough. After you stabilize for a month, you can taper more slowly from there.

 

 

Tommysmom, I'm so sorry for your loss. davidhealy.org is collecting reports of such tragic outcomes of antidepressant treatment. You are welcome to participate here as well.

[Barbarannamated]

Tommysmom, I am so sorry... those words feel terribly inadequate to express my feelings...

 

R187 - what you are describing is classic withdrawal. Very few doctors recognize or acknowledge the power of these drugs and the difficulty many have in getting off of them.

You will be ok. Hang in there.

[Nikki]

R187:

 

If you have been off Zoloft for 11 weeks now it is very, very common to be expriencing WD.

WD has most physicians convinced that it is a return to the original issues which put us on meds in the first place.

 

I am thinking along the same lines as Alto. Reinstate the Zoloft at a small amount to offset WD. Sorry you are feeling so poorly.

 

TommysMom I can't imagine your pain from the loss of your son. Maybe getting the word out as you did here will help you and help others. I will send healing prayers your way.

 

R187 & TommysMom considered yourselves hugged

 

Nikki

[R187]

I am so sorry Tommysmom for your loss. This is truly awful to hear and my thoughts are with you.

 

thank you for your advice. Unfortunately I threw the zoloft away about a month ago but I think your suggestions to reinstate on 6- 7mg is very useful and might possibly of helped.

 

This site is fantastic. There is a wealth of information and everyone seems very supportive. I'm going to read some suggestions for coping with some of these symptoms now.

Thanks again and best wishes

r187

[Karma]

R187,

 

When you start feeling guilty or angry about having gone on ADs in the first place, please remember that you made the best decisions you could at the time with the information you had ... if you had known how awful withdrawals could be you might have made a different decision. Please don't beat yourself up.

 

You should probably go with that doctor's appointment and get a low dosage of zoloft to reinstate.

 

Love and light,

Karma

[R187]

Thanks Karma. I was thinking about calling the doctors this week. I'm just so frightened about taking anything anymore. If I take a paracetamol or even a fish oil capsule, my body goes into panic, i feel faint, my heart starts racing and I get chest pains.

I was considering asking for a tiny dose of prozac as it's available in liquid form so i could taper properly, at least it has a longer half life and I might not experience such terrible problems? although i know that's not a definite. I can't belive i didn't research the zoloft before I started taking it. What an idiot i am. thanks for your support. r187

[Nikki]

R187 the sensitivities you are having is also a very common experience. With this in mind, please do not take Prozac. You are introducing another ssri. Prozac is rarely and answer to WD. It can cause very bad anxiety. There are no guarantees. It is a majfor gamble.

 

The most viable solution is to reinstate the Zoloft at a reasonable dose. If your original dose was 50mgs. and you dropped down to 25 and from that point the results were bad WD, then you may want to consider going back onto 25mgs. as a starting point to stabilize.

 

I don't know the medical reasons behind the sensitivities, but I do know it is real and basically we all have it now. Please don't feel bad about going back on. It's just the way it is.....

 

Hugs

[elizabeth11]

R187

 

Consider going to your internist (GP) for a regular physical to check hormone levels and other physiological issues that could cause your symptoms prior to reinstating.

 

I believe the good advice you've received is right...it is probably withdrawal.

 

However I just went thru a situation where my thyroid was in the hyperthyroid range causing all costs of psychological issues and no one bothered to check, especially the pdoc whose responsibilty should be to see if something else is going on before giving you these drugs!! They just wanted me to go back on and I did at a very low dose. In 20 20 hindsight, I wish I hadn't gone back on...just my two cents...now that I know what was really going on.

 

A friend was recently told to go on pdrugs but discovered she has too low blood pressure. A better "regular" doctor told her to eat extra salt in her diet. Now she is fine. Her husband was killed last year-and I mean it-by gross Dr. error at the local ER.

 

You've gone thru 11 weeks off==withdrawal==plus you are going thru the extreme stress of having a relative dying. That is a HUGE amount on your plate. If you didn't feel like crap, I'd say you'd have to wonder why NOT instead of feeling bad about how you actually feel right now! You sound completely normal when looking at the big picture.

 

You'll know in your heart what is right for you to do.

 

Hugs!

Elizabeth

[Barbarannamated]

Excellent advice, Elizabeth!! Fascinating instruction to "eat more salt" from doc to your friend. I've craved salt since I was a kid...got chastised for using it... now wonder if there is some natural craving for substances our bodies need (iodine in salt?). I don't think this would apply to hot fudge sundaes, tho. Darn!

 

Sorry for the tangent!

[R187]

Thanks Nikki and iteresting stuff Elizabeth - I think i might well ask the GP to check whether i have any thyroid issues. Thank you for your advice regarding the prozac gamble. I wasn't sure about whether to ask for it- I've read some people say a half dose of 10mg can get you through some of the withdrawals as it can take 5 weeks to leave your system. To be honest I haven't got a clue. I've never taken anything in my life before my unfortunate run in with the sertraline/zoloft.

I had a strange day today. This morning I had all the WD symptoms and had to spend the morning deep breathing to get through the panic attacks and I all I wanted to do was to lie down. After lunch I forced myself to take my kids out for the afternoon and visited a friend and her kids and over the course of the afternoon the pains almost faded away! I even managed to go to the gym tonight and did my exercise class as I was feeling ok apart from the head and back ache -i did an hours workout. My head feels a bit foggy now and and my back achey but I feel so much better than last night when I was just lying in bed looking at the tree outside my window unable to move my head. I just hope this might be a sign that I might be getting better. I know it's quite likely that i'll feel rubbish again tomorrow but i feel great that i was able to get back to the gym and hopefully I will get windows of time when I'm feeling okay again soon.

Hope you've all had manageable days.

R187

[Altostrata]

Thanks Karma. I was thinking about calling the doctors this week. I'm just so frightened about taking anything anymore. If I take a paracetamol or even a fish oil capsule, my body goes into panic, i feel faint, my heart starts racing and I get chest pains.

I was considering asking for a tiny dose of prozac as it's available in liquid form so i could taper properly, at least it has a longer half life and I might not experience such terrible problems? although i know that's not a definite. I can't belive i didn't research the zoloft before I started taking it. What an idiot i am. thanks for your support. r187

 

This reaction indicates it is withdrawal, it's a typical withdrawal hypersensitivity reaction.

 

You may be able to get sertraline in liquid form, check http://www.bnf.org/bnf/search.htm?q=sertraline

 

I suggest you try a very low dose of sertraline first, perhaps 5mg, as you may be hypersensitive to higher doses. If that doesn't work, you can titrate up.

 

Substituting Prozac might work, too.

[R187]

Hi everyone, just a quick update. I went to the doctors last week and broke down talking about my symptoms. i asked her if i had a brain tumour because of my headaches(which have since gone and been replaced by Eye pain yippee) and asked if I was having a stroke. She took my blood pressure and said it was unusally high so I'm going to have a 24 hour monitor soon so they can find out if i do have high blood pressure. I've also had a thyroid test done today so hopefully this will rule any thyroid issues. Again, I told the doctor (this was the 3rd doctor i've seen) that the problems have come about since I stopped the sertraline and I definitely feel this is linked. The doctor got out her medicine book, looked up sertraline and said 'it says here the symptoms for withdrawal will only persist for a maximum of 2 weeks'and i'm experiencing stress and I should have a bath(which is probably good advice, but i;m not sure it's going to cure me completely!). It is so frightening that nooone has heard of this. I think i'm going to work my way around all the doctors in the surgery and try and find someone who believes me.

I've decided I'm not going to reinstate the sertraline yet. I'm going to try and tough it out for another month. I cannot cope with the idea of taking it again. It does not sit well with me. As it is i can't even take ibuprofen,paracetamol, a vitamin tablet or fish oil without my body going into crazy panic attack mode I really do think if i even took the tiniest amount of sertraline or prozac I could have a heart attack.

[Altostrata]

Doctors believe withdrawal syndrome only lasts a couple of weeks; this is incorrect.

 

Most likely, your high blood pressure is from withdrawal, too. Go very carefully with any blood pressure medications.

[jfrank17]

Doctors believe withdrawal syndrome only lasts a couple of weeks; this is incorrect.

 

I agree. Most doctors only really know about medications what they are told by the drug companies. That is very evident sometimes in my medical transcription. Sometimes pharmacists are more knowledgeable about medications than the prescribing doctor.

[R187]

Thanks for your replies Altostrata and jfrank17. I've never had any blood pressure issues before so yes this will be down to the withdrawal. Frightening stuff really. If I was to be offered any medication to lower the blood pressure do you think this could potentially make make this withdrawal worse? When the nurse took my blood for the thyroid test she asked me if i was on any medication and I said no and she looked at me like she didn't believe me said 'are you sure ?' I had a nasty bruise on my arm from the needle and she said it was really unusual for that to happen for someone who wasn't on any medication. Have been suffering today with cramps in hands and sore ribs (feels like it did when I was pregnant and baby's head pressing against ribs) Anyone else get that? Best Wishes to you all.

[Altostrata]

Some people find alpha blockers or beta blockers, common blood pressure medications, help with withdrawal symptoms.

 

But if you are hypersensitized by withdrawal, you should be very careful trying any medications that affect the autonomic nervous system. (Blood pressure is an autonomic function.) Try fractional dosages and titrate up if necessary. Take only the lowest effective dose, and only as needed, if possible.

[R187]

Just a quick update on me- I have been feeling a bit better over these past 3 weeks. I'm coming up to 16 weeks without sertraline and i have to say i feel about 50% better than a month ago. No skin burning, no eye pains, no fatigue, no shooting pains in my arms or constant back/hip ache. I'm still having occasional tingles, hand cramps and a few aches but not all the time, 24 hours a day every day and the pains have reduced in intensity. I'm back at work. not needing to take sick days, back at the gym and generally active again at home, cooking, cleaning.

I haven't wanted to write in case I jinx this feeling better but thought i would post my positive progress.

 

I hope this is now the sign that everything is heading in the right direction and this experience will be but a memory soon.

Just in case anyone sees this and wants some hope that things will improve - they do!

I haven't taken anything since the sertraline apart from fish oils.

Get well soon hugs to you all xxx

[Altostrata]

Thanks for this very good news. It definitely sounds like you are healing.

 

Keep us posted, yours could be one of our Recovery Stories.

[Barbarannamated]

YAY, R187!!!

[Nikki]

That is such good news...

 

Nikki

[xDebbiejo]

Brilliant News

 

So good to hear positive results!

 

So pleased for you

 

Debbie x

[R187]

Thanks for all your good wishes and fingers crossed for recoveries for everyone on here.

I will certainly keep you all updated on my progress xxx

[R187]

Hi guys and girls. I haven't posted in over a month or so but i just wanted to post as I find this a really useful site to keep track of my progress and there are so many inspirational and interesting stories to read.

When I last posted I was having some good spells and in fact almost felt back to normal. Since then I've had some waves again but then a good window of no symptoms (which lasted 2 weeks) and I'm now in another wave. So i guess there is definitely progress from when I first wrote at 11 weeks off sertraline. I am now 22 weeks off.

I'm currently experiencing headaches and nausea and fatigue along with some other 'new' symptoms. These symptoms have replaced the flu like aches and pains and eye pain. Feeling pretty low at times, not depressed low, but fed up. Wondering (like all of us) when this will be over. I'm hopeful that because I was only on Zoloft for 6 months in total and prior to this have taken no other antidepressant, I won't have to put up with this for years but I guess our bodies have their own healing schedule.

Keep posting everyone- you're all doing a great job and helping so many sufferers x

[Altostrata]

Thanks for the good news, R.

 

Yes, withdrawal symptoms go away and get replaced by new symptoms! Fun, eh?

 

Have you found any supplements or self-care practices have helped?

[R187]

Thanks Alto. I guess my update is good news (although I was hoping i'd be completely free of this by now!) Unfortunately I can't take any supplements at all - I'm hypersensitive to fish oils, vitamins, painkillers etc.

I'm exercising a few times a week at the gym also swimming and walking which all help I think.I avoid caffeine and alcohol too. Fortunately I don't have any issues sleeping so after a rough day I tend to go to bed early and try and sleep any symptoms off. My symptoms are all physical. I don't have any issues with anxiety or depression so I'm very fortunate in that respect. I'm thinking of perhaps learning a new skill such as playing the piano or taking life drawing classes as I've read these type of activity can also help with the healing process? R

[Altostrata]

If you take pleasure in those activities, they certainly will help with healing. Learning news skills encourages neurogenesis, the growth of new, healthy brain cells.

 

How about Epsom salts baths for the physical pain? Or rubbing on magnesium oil?

[R187]

I've never tried Epsom salts but I've been meaning to get some - thanks for reminding me of this and magnesium oil is something I'll definitely look into too. Any tips for reducing severe headaches? I get pains in the back of my head and then sometimes across my temples. I'm drinking tons of water but nothing seems to shift them and I can't take any painkillers due to the hypersensivity issue, thanks for your help, R x

[Barbarannamated]

R187,

 

Ice usually works very well for headaches originating in my neck/base of skull (suboccipital area).

 

There are a few threads discussing head and neck pain. Very common.

[R187]

Great suggestion - will try some ice. Thank you x

[Altostrata]

Magnesium can help headaches, too. See Symptoms and Self-care.

[skpeng]

Hi r187, i myself am going through withdrawal symptoms. Was on zoloft 25mg for 2 weeks, on zoloft . On 3rd week, was given 50mg for peripheral neuropathy from prolothrapy to neck facet joints. Neurologist think i have toxicity from licodane injections.

 

As both conditions have overlapping symptoms, it would be kind of u to explain your withdrawal symptoms.

 

Worst withdrawal are, jerking , tremors and can't sleep. Strange invisible band around neck and forehead, chest coldness, crazy sweating atnight and day time. Can't balance, hand and feet numb and felt like fainting. ! First 7 days of stopping zoloft.

 

1. Nausea, after stopping zoloft i had nausea and sometimes vomiting. This this occur?

2. Pins and needles, i had them on legs and hands. It comes and goes, leaving me very confused. Usually they come stronger in the evenings. Where they painful and did it burn?

3. Did u get dry mouth and burn or pins on tongue and throat?

4. Chest pains, happen to me once 7 days after i stopped. While trying to sleep. Sends m y heart racing.

5. Itchiness , after pins and needles i get itchy feet and scratch them till they bleed

6. Ear ringing, constant ear ringing when pins and needles stronger.

 

Anyone's opinion would've be helpful.

[skpeng]

Sorry got to add 2 more ongoing symptoms on 2nd week off zoloft.

 

1. Random muscle pains, not as painful as neuropathy pain earlier 2 months ago. Neuropathy pains are like daggers in muscles.

2. Did u get muscle weakness randomly?

[strawberry17]

Hi R187 thanks for the update, I'm glad you're on the upswing, interesting you mentioned piano, I learned piano as a child/teen and back then got to quite a high level, when I left home I let it all go, I fell out with my piano teacher and lost interest, it's something I'm planning to get back into and I'm saving up for an electric piano so I can use headphones and not disturb anyone, I think it will be great therapy for me to pick it up again, I kept some of my old music books.

 

Skpeng - welcome to the site,I noticed that you are new here and was going to split your posts off to make a new thread for yourself but noticed they are replying to R187 so wouldn't make sense. Would you like to start your own topic here in Introductions? everyone can have one thread here for themselves which is just for them and can update everyone on how things are going. You can put your withdrawal history in your signature.

[strawberry17]

Tommysmom if you're still here, I am so so sorry

 

As others have said there are no words are there that are adequate to say how devestating this must be.