inupup: Terrified to death. 11 months after rapid taper off 8 years setraline/zoloft 50mg - had akathisia trying to reinstate 25mg. What are my options. Am i screwed?

[inupup]

Hi all. I found this site far too late. I'm in a desperate situation socially/financially with the way things are going and want to know what my options are. 
It's been 11-12 months (May 2022) since i tapered off 8 years of sertraline 50mg way too fast. 50mg --> 25mg for 4 weeks, then stopped. 
7-8 months in (Jan 2023) I tried reinstating sertraline 25mg (too high i know) but was immediately hit with INTENSE akathisia. The most hellish experience I've had. Took the sertraline for 3 days to confirm this was an adverse reaction - it was.

I am unable to function now., much less work. I've only JUST started having some brief windows of normality, but this isn't good enough. I want to be back at work by mid-July, when my leave period ends.

I can't go back on sertraline after what happened with the akathisia right?
What are my options? Suffer through this nightmare and likely ruin my life in the process?
Or can I try another SSRI (if so, which one?)

Please help me. My god i am truly losing it. 


 

[Shep]

Hi, @inupup.

 

Other than the 3 days you reinstated back in January 2023, you've been completely off sertraline since May 2022 or June 2022, so reinstating likely will be dangerous at this point.

 

Your nervous system is likely to hyper-react to any amount at this point.

 

On 5/14/2023 at 4:57 PM, inupup said:

I've only JUST started having some brief windows of normality, but this isn't good enough. I want to be back at work by mid-July, when my leave period ends.

 

The fact that you're getting windows is wonderful. You may only have a few more months of waves because the worst may be behind you. But it's important that you continue to treat your nervous system kindly in order to continue this healing trend. 

 

Are you able to go back to your job with accommodations, such as gradually easing in part time? Or working remotely? 

 

Are currently taking any supplements? We don't recommend a lot of supplements, as many members report their nervous systems are simply too fragile to handle them. However, magnesium and fish oil tend to be calming to the nervous system and many people report they do help. Please only add in one supplement at a time and at a small dose. For more, please see:

 

 King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker

 

When adding in or subtracting supplements, we advise only making one change at a time and in small increments. Please see:

 

 

The rule of 3KIS: Keep it simple. Keep it slow. Keep it stable.

 

Please also check out these links listed in the non-drug coping thread. 

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

It's very important that we learn to handle regulating our emotions off these drugs and how to handle stress, this is especially important as you go back to your job. And these are things that are good to know anyways. Many of us find that learning these techniques make us much more able to handle stress than we ever were able to handle before starting these drugs. 

 

I also get a strong vibe that catastrophizing may be an issue. Forgive me if I'm mis-reading this. If this is an issue, please have a read of these links:

 

Dealing With Emotional Spirals

 

"Change the channel" -- dealing with cognitive symptoms

 

Please continue to use this thread to document your recovery and ask questions. 

Edited May 17 by Shep
fixed typo