Suzy55 off Zoloft in Australia

[Suzy55]

I'm confused about where to post. What goes in my Introductions topic?

 

Your topic in the Introductions and updates forum serves a number of purposes:

• It introduces you to the community. If someone sees a post of yours elsewhere on the site, they can look up your Intro topic and understand your situation. This is very helpful for the moderators.
• You can put questions in it about your particular situation, such as your own dosing regimen. Again, it's easier for the moderators and others to answer questions when they can see your context.
• You can use it as a journal to track your progress, keeping your progress notes, questions, and dosing notes in one place.
• Other people who are tapering off the same drugs can find your Intro topic via search in the Introductions forum and read of your experience.
• It is a case report that can be helpful to physicians trying to learn about tapering and withdrawal syndrome. (I know of several doctors who refer to the site for this purpose.)

Keeping your Introductions topic updated reduces repetition throughout the site. You only have to explain your history once. If you have a question about your own personal situation, you'll be able to find the answer in your topic. And other community members will be able to follow how you're doing.

 

Everything about your own personal situation belongs in your Introductions topic. The Introductions forum is a collection of case histories.

 

You can follow your own Intro topic by clicking on the Follow This Topic button at the top right of every topic. You will get an alert so you can respond to any new posts.

 

There is only one topic to a member in the Introductions forum. Moderators will merge multiple topics started by one member in the Intro forum.

 

(If you find all this confusing, you can't go wrong posting just in your Intro topic for a while, until you understand how the site is organized.)

 

For more general discussion, you can post or start topics in the other forums:

 

Tapering forum -- Mostly for reference by other people who are planning their tapers.

 

We prefer that cross-talk be kept to a minimum in Tapering -- it makes the topics more difficult to understand by the thousands of non-members reading them from the Web.

 

The moderators will move initial posts that introduce a new member and discussions about personal tapering schedules and dosing to the appropriate Introductions topics. These fill out the members' Introductions topics.

 

Symptoms and Self-Care forum -- A place for peer support and sharing tips about dealing with symptoms.

 

Before starting a topic in Symptoms, use search in the Symptoms forum to see if a discussion of your question already exists. You may be able to see what other people have posted and what they've tried before. I think we've covered just about every supplement or vitamin there is. You can add to a topic no matter how old it is -- no need to start a new topic.

 

Moderators will merge related Symptoms topics that are about the same thing. We're trying to keep the accumulated wisdom accessible and reduce topic proliferation.

 

Media forum -- Articles and links to other sites. Use search to see if a discussion of your Media tidbit already exists. People tend to post the same articles over and over. The meatier discussions may be the older ones.

 

Events, Controversies, etc. forum -- General discussion, for speculation, theories, and proposals for activities. It is publicly viewable.

 

Off-Topic -- Fun and games, anything goes. Off-Topic cannot be seen by non-members or Google.

 

Journals -- A library strictly for articles from scientific journals. There is a required format for starting topics. If an article is not from a scientific journal, please post it in Media.

 

The initial posts in topics in Tapering, Symptoms, Media, and Events, along with topic starts in Finding Meaning, Family and Friends, Recovery Success Stories, and Journals are auto-posted to Twitter and Facebook. Posts in Introductions and members-only forums, such as Off-Topic, are not auto-posted anywhere else.

I think these guys have very good intentions. They just need a good techie to make this website work. Because right now, it doesn't work. I live in Australia and have just gone cold-turkey on Zoloft after almost 15 years because Australia has no Zoloft, only the cheap, generic brands that don't work and cause endless side-effects.

[Suzy55]

I still don't know how this website works, but I came on here for advice from fellow users after 5 days "withdrawal" from the rubbish generic "Zoloft brands" currently available in Australia due to the shortage of the real thing. My generic-brand-induced tinnitus has finally eased and I am happy to report that I am not suffering any side-effects from sudden withdrawal. Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say! 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Suzy.

I moved your posts here to start your Intro topic.

 

Good to hear that you went off Zoloft with no problems so far. Please let us know how you are doing.

 

For your information:

 

This Web site is an Internet forum site. Internet forums have been around almost as long as the Internet. Millions of people have used them.

 

Forum sites have very simple structures. Click here http://survivingantidepressants.org/, on the Forums tab above, or the site logo  and you will see the home page -- the "table of contents" or the forums that comprise the site.

 

Within each forum are topics. The topics are comprised of posts in chronological sequence that make a conversation -- like a Facebook thread, but with more permanence. You will be able to find them later.

 

If you are new to this site, go to the Introductions and updates forum and start a topic about yourself, including your screen name in the title.

[Nomoreheadmeds]

hi suzy55 welcome 

[Fresh]

Hi Suzy , welcome to the site.  Once you get the hang of it , the website is pretty easy to navigate.

 

So you've stopped Zoloft ct after 15 years , about 6 days ago.  What advice are you looking for?

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh

[Suzy55]

Hi Fresh. No advice needed really. I'm doing okay since going cold turkey. I guess I registered on here to find out if any other long-time Zoloft users had experienced side-effects such as tinnitus after being forced onto the generic brands. Supplies of Zoloft have run out in Australia and my local pharmacist reckons it will be next year before they are available again. I suppose I should be grateful to the crappy generics for giving me the excuse to stop taking the damn things!

[luv2knit]

Welcome, Suzy. I am on other boards with many Australian members who are indeed suffering side effects from the generic brands. Unfortunately, cold turkey is not the way to go--especially after 15 years. I hope this works out for you, and I definitely wish you the best, but I speak from experience when I say that oftentimes withdrawal is delayed. In my case, I tapered off 100 mg. Sertraline over a 6-week time period, after being on for 20 years. You may or may not have noticed that the taper rate recommended on this site, as well as most other withdrawal sites is 10% per month. My "taper" was what is commonly referred to as a "cold turkey taper", and my withdrawal did not start until I had been off for a month. It has been going on for 13 months, and has been quite disabling. Hopefully you will not find need for this site, but it is good that you have found us, in case the need arises. Should you begin having withdrawal symptoms, it may be recommended that you reinstate a reduced dosage and taper much more slowly. If this should happen, the more quickly you act, the better this will work for you, so please pay close attention to your body and any symptoms you may have. I have seen withdrawal delayed anywhere from one month to six months. Wishing you the best of luck!

[Altostrata]

Suzy, see Australia members, please check in here

Zoloft Shortage

[Suzy55]

Thank you all for your kindness to this newbie who is struggling with the technical aspects of this site! And thanks also for the feedback on my cold-turkey withdrawal from generic SSRI brands. Anyone who has ever had severe tinnitus after just a short time on this generic rubbish can hopefully deal with any other (delayed) side-effects caused by a non-tapered withdrawal. I was only on 25mg a day of the real thing, so fingers crossed. 

[Fresh]

I'm another long-term user , and I think it depends on length of time on the drug rather than dosage , how intense the w/d process gets.

As luv2knit said , the w/d is often delayed , and may not kick in for 6 or 9 months.  By then , there's no easy fix.  

Oh , and tinnitus  , no matter how severe , looks like a picnic compared to more disabling w/d symptoms , I promise you.

 

If things get any worse , you might want to consider reinstating a small dose.  See http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/7562-about-reinstating-and-stabilizing-to-reduce-withdrawal-symptoms/

[luv2knit]

Suzy, to learn more about the disabling withdrawal symptoms others on this site have experienced, just scroll down through the "Introductions and Updates" section. Each person has their own "thread" there, and many use it as their daily journal. You will find much suffering there, I'm afraid. Akathisia, for example, is one symptom that is very common in cold turkey. I have suffered this for almost 13 months. It is one of the symptoms that, as Fresh said, makes tinnitus look like a picnic. Check out my thread, for example, since our drug and length of time on was very similar. I will try to post a link here that outlines the main symptoms of akathisia, so you might be able to recognize it, should it occur.

[luv2knit]

Apparently I am unable to copy and paste the link to the article I referred to. Google "Akathisia INFO Blog", if you are so inclined. The second entry that comes up on my search is the article I was wanting to post. It has a symptoms list.

 

You can also search this site for "akathisia".

[luv2knit]

akathisiainfo.wordpress. com/2012/03/10/akathisia-info/

 

Hopefully this link will work(?)

 

Apparently not...