mistaman, is this a migraine, sinusitis or sertraline withdrawal

[mistaman]

hi, still suffering some 2 months off sertraline but is it withdrawal???

 

I had gone on sertraline for 3months due to suffering severe health anxiety 

 

initial dose of 50mg was quickly increased to 150mg which i found gave some side effects including headaches, pressure in head etc, i ended up coming down with the flu and had a stonking headache, as such i didnt dare take my sert dosage for fear of making the headache worse. after a week of being ill i got better and decided to take 50mg from then on due to not wanting to get the headaches back, i still had a bit of headache so decided to come off completely and stopped on jan 7th just gone, initially was fine just very tired and struggled with memory when trying complex conversation etc.

then at week 3-4 was very frustrated aggressive and short aswell as emotional

physical symtoms included head aches and brain zaps in middle of head.

 

anyway ive had a headache on right temple and forehead which i had got mildly from time to time but is now quite persistant at week 8 off sert, The headache is happening quite frequent sometimes 2-3 days on the trot, sensitive forehead when touched/rubbed near sinus and temple area fairly mild in nature but enough to annoy and worry me. been much less anxious than at week 3-4 of withdrawal tho and had thought i was clear of anything at week 6ish.

 

is this still sertraline withdrawal?, GP diagnosed Tension headache and said not in list of side effects from sert but anxiety/stress induced

 

notes:

 

i started some 5htp at weeks 5-6  35-40mg twice daily 10am and 6pm 

 

I only found out about tapering at week6 of my withdrawal but do i go back on an ssri now and slowly taper after getting thru week 3+4 where i felt like a vegetable?

[Altostrata]

Welcome, mistaman.

 

We have many people here who developed headaches as a withdrawal symptom. However, it sounds like yours started as an adverse reaction while you were taking Zoloft. 

 

Do you have any other symptoms now other than the headaches?

 

It's not a good idea to take serotonergics, such as triptans for headache, while taking an antidepressant. They can interact badly.

 

Has the 5-HTP reduced any of your symptoms? If not, it may be adding to them. It also requires tapering, you might be able to go off relatively quickly, at 25% every 4 days.

 

Are you taking any other drugs? Please put ALL the drugs you take in the Drug Interactions Checker http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html and post the results in this topic.

[mistaman]

Hi, thankyou for the reply.

I had stopped the 5htp for two days(weekend just gone)as I thought it may be giving the headaches, this resulted in quite a few old symptoms, (chest pain rapid heartbeat anxious )resurfacing and a bad headache on day 3 so reinstated the 5htp on that day.

 

Im not taking anything else prescription wise, I do drink chammomile tea on an evening which has some benzo like effects, it certainly helps the anxiety and use lavendar oil sprinkled on hankerchief a few days a week or less But only since quitting sertraline.

[Petunia]

Welcome mistaman,

I'm sorry to hear you've been having a lot of headaches since starting on sertraline.  Since you stopped taking the sertraline have the headaches got any better, or stayed the same.  Are you getting them every day now?

 

Its good that you've found some natural ways to help you relax.  Something else many people find helpful is magnesium.  See:   Magnesium, Nature's Calcium Channel Blocker

[mistaman]

Thanks for the advice, I am going to get some magnesium. The ache had subsided a bit since I went back on the 5htp at 50mg a day but I have reduced that slowly to about 12.5mg twice a day.i stopped the lavender oil b4 bed. Currently Still feeling sensitive forhead/temple which is setting off my health anxiety

[Fresh]

Hi  mistaman ,    I had that skin sensitivity too for a while.  Sometimes it felt like a touch of sunburn on my face.

It's part of the withdrawal package and I'm sure you don't need to be worried about it.   It will go away soon enough.

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh