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  1. My story in a nutshell: Always been anxious but got really bad in 2015 Went to see the doctor and was told I didn't have depression but had GAD Was prescribed Sertraline and GP told me coming off them meant “mild to no symptoms” Started 50mg Sertraline 1 Jan 2016 but also quit coffee and alcohol at the same time Brother on 200mg told me you feel better after six weeks Had blurred vision, dry mouth and increased appetite but was otherwise fine (but still anxious) Six weeks to the day (more on this later) I felt more relaxed, clear-headed and less anxious Decided to come off after nine months as to me medicine is a last resort and I felt okay Tapered off over three months Withdrawal started and it was indescribably bad — I can barely even put it into words Went on for a while and I went back to the doctors, was dismissively told it would right itself and that I could always go back on them if I wanted to Didn't have many people to speak to about it but those I did said it was my depression coming back and I need to go back on the meds I knew it wasn't as how I was feeling was an order of magnitude worse than I'd ever felt in my life the the most depression I'd had before that was likely dysthymia as I was always functioning and never missed any work from it (interestingly I don't think the NHS recognise dysthymia and I was never diagnosed with it but in hindsight while not feeling hopeless or worthless I likely have had anhedonia for a lot of my adult life) I suffered alone for about 7–8 months, easily the worst I have never felt in my life: hopeless, worthless and angry in a way that is so extreme as to be difficult to describe After about 8 months it eased up Still with anhedonia I would function okay for a few weeks then my emotions would fall off a cliff and it'd be like being in mini withdrawal for about a week, passive suicidal ideation This went on for 6+ years while I tried to explore alternative methods of recovery (exercise, supplements, etc) As well as this cycle I get constant nose bleeds in my right nostril, I get hand tremors (never had them before Sertraline) if I am stressed and sometimes my memory and thinking goes haywire (not blackouts but difficulty forming and retaining memories even though my recall and clarity of thinking was good before, e.g. once when stressed, I forgot which side of the road cars travelled on and found myself unable to remember quite recent conversations) Exercise and eating well (esp. cutting out sugar) helped but life was still a slog Kind of got sick of fighting this thing about a year ago and had a bit of a breakdown and realised I was on a continuum of passive to active suicidal ideation Hit rock bottom and swore to myself I would never act on intrusive thoughts and started fighting back with renewed vigor Slowly improved through supplements, light therapy, cold shower, lots of exercise and a particularly the Human Givens approach — basically it shows that your thinking affects your sleep and your sleep quality determines your mental state A couple of months later I started taking Moringa powder and within a week the “blackness” had gone (not sure how/why but it is rich in tryptophan) After about a month of taking Moringa I actually started to feel happy; after an 8 year battle, I'd finally beaten this thing However… All was good for a few months until some things in life went badly all in a row and my stress levels ramped up and I've had a few bad months. I am being asked to look at medication by my family but this time a different SSRI. It seems crazy to me given what I've been through but I have promised to at least look at other SSRIs, hence this post. Here are my questions: How different are SSRIs? Can any of the more well-informed members here take a look at my history and let me know what taking a different SSRI might look like? Fluoxetine (Prozac) looks like it is less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms but I've also read if you have had suicidal ideation before it can make that worse. Am I likely to have the same experience coming off any SSRI? I can't imagine being on them life as a) it doesn't address anything and b) I have heard they stop working eventually. I am also very concerned about the data surrounding them, particularly the lack of evidence for the chemical imbalance theory and their ineffectiveness in mild to moderate depression. I know SSRIs work as a placebo for some. I found it suspicious that I started feeling the benefits on the exact day my brother said they'd start working. Almost like my brain expected it. And if I ever got serious side effects like I had before…I honestly don't know what I'd do. And finally, the irony of having had to deal with all this depression simply because I took an antidepressant is not lost of me.
  2. Hi, Nice to meet you all. I’ve been lurking on this site since earlier this year and am finally posting because I am in some serious need for advice. I started sertraline (zoloft) in March 2015 for panic and anxiety disorder. It worked wonders and basically cured my anxiety. I was initially on 50mg and had missed doses/failed attempts to quit but never had trouble going back on it (the longest I was off the meds was 2 weeks). From May 2021 to November 2022 I took 50mg every other day and was able to stabilize. In November 2022 I decided to taper off Zoloft since I thought my anxiety was gone and my life had become pretty stable. I weaned off in three weeks, which was ridiculously fast in hindsight (I did 12.5mg for two weeks and 6.25mg for a week). I had all the classical withdrawal symptoms (flu like symptoms, insomnia, etc). However, some of them symptoms never went away to this day, such as fatigue and insomnia, although they did start getting better over time. From January 2023 to August I also tried a lot of supplements to help my sleep. I took ashwaghanda for two months, which helped slightly. I also tried 5-htp for a week. I thought it gave me more energy until it gave me a panic attack one day so I stopped. Magnesium glycinate and fish oil didn’t do anything to me, although I only took them on and off and max for a week. The most bothersome symptom I’ve had is hard to describe. I can only describe it as sensory disturbances (sudden dropping sensation, random waves of pulling sensation in the body, especially in neck, almost dizzy feeling when I turn my eyes that last less than a second throughout the day). This symptom used to happen maybe once a day, but since July it became more and more frequent, and sometimes I feel like I’m almost floating/not grounded. I decided to reinstate on August 14 because my doctor thought it was my anxiety relapsing, which was partially true since I did feel my anxiety creeping back. However, I had never had such sensory disturbances/fatigue/insomnia before I got on Zoloft, even on my worst days. After I reinstated 12.5mg Zoloft, I thought it helped with the dizziness/sensory disturbances in the first 2-3 weeks, but they slowly came back. It also started giving me bad insomnia after week 3 (worse than before reinstatement) and burning sensation in my back at random times of the day. Although my mood has been better and I feel like I have more energy, I also feel more anxious with a lot of mood swings. I apologize for the long post. I have a few questions that I was hoping you’d be able to answer: 1. Should I hold my current dose (12.5mg) given that it didn’t help with my withdrawal symptoms and caused side effects that aren’t going away? If it’s safe to taper off, how fast can I get off? 2. Are the sensory disturbances withdrawal symptoms? Why do I feel like they only got worse as time went by? I also have a brain MRI scan scheduled soon just to rule things out. Thanks in advance!
  3. Conner

    Conner: help

    #1 Help. I was on lexapro 8 years. Tapered off lexapro onto Effexor in sept 2021. Couldn’t handle it. Stopped taking after 5 days. Started Zoloft. Lasted 30 days. Side effects were bad. Tapered off to pristiq. Lasted 10 days and my psychiatrist said to just stop. I was trying to give my body a break so I could start a new med. 8 days later I went back to lexapro. Took it tonight. I’ve been having slight confusion lately, mental fog, poor concentration and not in touch with reality. I’ve always had panic attacks but what I experienced was not. My brain started to get warm and I almost wanted to pass out following extreme confusion with my heart/pulse racing incredibly fast. It’s like my brain was shutting down. I was so scared thinking i was having a brain aneurysm, stroke or seizure. I called 911. Went to hospital where I got a ct scan of my head. They ruled out a tumor, stroke or seizure: they didn’t check my blood sugar or run blood work. This happened at 10pm tonight. Got back home almost 2AM and went to bed extremely scared. I woke up an hour later in state of confusion to this happening again. The docs say it’s from the meds. I’m so scared I can’t sleep bc I don’t want it to happen again. I feel like it’s more than this and I’m actually going to die from whatever this is. It’s like my brain is broke. I was perfectly fine a few months ago. Idk why the docs couldn’t find an answer to what I was experiencing. I’m so scared this is something else. I’m 34, male, good health.. active
  4. Hello I recently withdrew from two psychiatric medications, Zoloft (Sertraline)and Zyprexa (Olanzapine) after a 15 year forced dependency which started when I was court-ordered to take them in 1998 for depression. In Feb. 2014, I finally quit the pills for the 4th and final time. The withdrawal symptoms were quite severe, probably similar to those of heroin, only instead of the people who care for you trying to help you get off the drugs, in the case of psych meds., everyone is dead set on you continuing to stay on them. I went about 6 straight days without sleep while trying to get off the pills, constantly throwing up all over my apartment (my parents had to bring over a steam cleaner to clean up all the huge piles of vomit, while at the same time admonishing me to go back on the meds.) I developed extreme lightheadedness. When I would turn my head to look at something it would take a moment or two for my field of vision to catch up. I suffered from those brain shocks which I thought might be some suppressed memories of the many rounds of ECT that were administered to me, against my will, back in the mid 1990's. I nearly died on a couple of occasions during the withdrawal as my blood sugar levels plunged so low that I was forced to crawl to my kitchen and shove wadded-up pieces of white bread soaked in either oyster sauce, fish sauce or salad dressing (for proteins and sugars) into my mouth to avoid collapsing on the floor, but somehow I did it, I got clean. I had kicked the pills cold turkey three times previously (twice in 2004 and again for 10 months in 2005-6) only to be put back on them. The last time in 2005-6, I had been given the choice of either taking the pills and being given a bed in a local group home on a 0° F January evening or else to go rough it in a snowbank (I had been evicted from my apt. after falling a month behind in rent). The pills (Zoloft originally at 200mg that on my own advice I scaled back to 100mg at the time of my withdrawal. Zyprexa originally at 17.5mg that I had reduced to 10mg) basically ruined my health. Within a couple of years of starting on the meds in 1998, I had gone from a lithe and slender 6' tall 160 lbs man to a portly 230 pounder,, with all the weight gain going into my belly and thighs (Blech!). My cholesterol and triglyceride levels tripled. I had copious amounts of diarrhea daily. My blood pressure was absolutely wrecked. When kneeling down or squatting on my haunches, at say a grocery store or maybe a bookstore, to look at something on a low shelf, upon rising I would start to nearly black-out or swoon due to massive head rushes and would have to hold on to shelving for about a minute or so until I regained my vision and sense of balance. And from about 2006 on, I became no more than some sluggish, gorging hibernating animal that slept between 12 and 16 hours a day, sometimes as much as 20 hrs a day (watching T.V. was my only other occupation) where I would hardly more than move from my bed to the couch only to fall asleep 3 hours later for upwards of 4-6 hours, sometimes for as much as 10 hours. I was sleeping so much that when I woke, I often had no idea if it was early morning or late evening. I would have the most awful and depressing nightmares of being strapped into a dentist's chair while doctors would be cramming every conceivable pill down my throat in an attempt to kill me. The sedative-like effects of the drugs, combined with a horrible and untreated case of sleep apnea due to smoking and a severely broken nose as a teenager, left me completely fatigued all the time. I usually only left my apartment once a week to stock up on groceries. Since the harrowing experience of withdrawal, my health and spiritual well-being have greatly improved. I began a 4-6 mile a night brisk walking regiment and starting biking between 10-20 miles a day which resulted in me losing 45 lbs in 3 months. While before on the pills, I could hardly stay awake, now I can barely get to sleep. My insomnia is sometimes so bad (3-4 hrs of sleep a day, often none) that I resemble a real live? zombie (I call my condition, Inzombia) but considering how low my spirits had been on the pills, I'm just happy to live an active life again, even if I do suffer bouts of sleeplessness. I've spent several hundred hours since early last year either volunteering picking up trash from local parks and lakes or else helping out at a local thrift store and my creative spirit has flourished. I have filled something like 15 fifty page notebooks full of my poetry (both of a serious and humorous nature) and have written many short pieces of memoir, one of which is entitled In Servitude to the Devil, and is about my nearly indescribable and entirely hellish experience in 1995-1996, when for six months, I suffered from brain damage and akathisia brought on by the forced administration of Resperdine, Prozac and Paxcil. I thought I might end this piece with two short poems of mine The Psychiatrist His pills amount to fool's gold; his lab-coat: starched and anti-sceptically white He professes to be a doctor, but he's a neuro-nazi in my sight. A Reflection On Our Times So much lust and vanity under the sun Surely God is our pariah as we have our fun.
  5. I have been taking Zoloft for 20 years for panic disorder. I started taking it when I was 18, and tried other medications as well. Nothing worked accept Zoloft. I still have breakthrough panic attacks and anxiety sometimes, but it’s manageable. I want to get off of Zoloft, but I’m terrified of the panic coming back. I’ve tried getting off of it 4 other times, and suffered greatly for years, becoming agoraphobic for months, and not driving by myself for 6 years the first time I tried to stop, and then severe depression, with suicidal ideation, extreme panic attacks I couldn’t calm down from, and constant debilitating anxiety the other times I tried to stop. One time I was off for a year, and they came back 1,000 times worse! I’m thinking of tapering slowly this time, but terrified that the panic attacks will come back full force again, and I will have to suffer going back on the meds until they kick in again. I have two young children, and I don’t want to suffer with withdrawal symptoms. I want to be able to get off of the meds easily, and with little side effects. I’m just so scared that the panic attacks and depression will come back if I stop the meds, and I won’t know if it’s withdrawal, if it’s legitimate panic attacks. They are so severe and terrifying that I almost want to stay on the meds forever and deal with the side effects than go through life the way I’ve always felt off of them. Any tips, advice, or thoughts?
  6. Moderator note: link to benzo forum thread - Ryder: Clonazepam Hi guys, This question has to do with SSRI's and supplements. I was diagnosed with Chronic OCD in January 2015. I have been on and off medication between 2009-2015. Since 2015 I was prescribed 200mg (Sertraline/Zoloft) Daytime and 2mg Clonazepam for night time sleep. At the back-end-of 2016 I felt that I was well enough to come of all medications as I just felt able enough to cope on 100mg after a while. I did Cold Turkey for most of it before admittingly and slowly going on the lower dose of 100mg Sertraline. I was afterward sent to a Dr who specialised in withdrawing people from medications. She prescribed: - L-Carneitine (300 mg) - CoQ10 (200 mg) - N-Acetylcysteine - Vitamin C - Selenium - Magnesium. - A Gluten Free Diet. With Gluten diet, I did not stick to this religiously as some of the books advocated here on this forum. Mainly Elaine Gotschall's Breaking the Viscious Cycle. (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and the GAPS Diet advocated by Dr Natasha Campbell-Mcbride. I am very skeptical when i read over these diets but since my Dad was on the diet, whatever was in the Pantry, I ate. I wasn't religious about it though if I ordered takeout. Back on topic, I reduced the supplements to L-Carneteine and CoQ10 in combination with SSRI Zoloft/Sertraline (100mg). I found that during the time taken them, I had trouble with Cognition and motor skills, driving, runnng and excercise. I also noticed that I couldn't stop feeling dizzy although they are supposed to aide mitochondria in the brain which the Zoloft dulls down. I also noticed real bad insomnia during the time taken these aided supplements. Has anyone else had success with L-Carneteine and CoQ10 prescribed with Zoloft? It seems that people are having great success with these two supplements to rave review, I am just wondering if Carneteine or CoQ10 has worked for anyone to either reduce withdrawal symptoms off SSRIs & Zoloft or taper off completely. **Note. I have looked through the other posts here, but most vary in opinion, so I just want this question answered. Many thanks. Ryder.
  7. Chlo

    Chlo

    HarperValley •Celexa 40mg 1999-2021 •COVID August 2021 •Celexa stopped working •Zoloft 100mg Sept.-Oct. •Zoloft did not work •Lexapro 10mg Oct.-Nov. •Lexapro did not work •Lexapro 5mg Nov- current •Mirtazapine 15mg at night Oct-current •Current supplements: B12, Magnesium Glycinate, Ashwagandha, Multivitamin, C, D3, Nac, CoQ10, CBD. No longer seeing a Psychiatrist, I am seeing a Holistic doctor now.. She will start my taper of Lexapro 5mg. mid January. I have severe anxiety and depression with panic attacks. Being that I'm treatment resistant will i continue to have withdrawals throughout my taper? Also..will my withdrawals ease up with lesser & lesser tapers? Or will withdrawals be my new norm? I have been having withdrawals since Covid in August 2021 because of my resistance to antidepressant. Also having phantom smell of burning ash tray.
  8. I hope this post is not too long, but I have been through the pharmaceutical wringer and I'm not being heard, believed or helped by my doctors: 2 years ago around May 2016, I had my first panic attack. ER doc rx'd Ativan .5mg 3x a day. Never said a word about dependence. After 3 weeks the script ran out and so I just stopped, and of course, all hell broke loose. Went to my PCP who dx'd me with anxiety and rx'd xanax and Effexor. After 1 night of throwing up, I stopped the Effexor. What I didn't know at the time was that the dose of xanax he prescribed was HALF the equivalent of the ativan I had been taking. He obviously knew nothing about dosage equivalencies. I could not understand why I was so very sick. I found a Pdoc who I thought was very understanding and said she could help me. She switched me to Klonopin and rx'd 25mg Zoloft, and upped the dosage to 50 mg after two weeks. After stabilizing on a whopping 3mg Klonopin, I started to cut, taking 50 mg Zoloft all the while. All during this time I was very weak and shaky, which I attributed to the benzo, but now I'm not so sure. I finished my benzo taper in Nov of last year, and really suffered very little, if any, acute, but still felt a little shaky. I then decided to come off the zoloft, as the Pdoc stated it was "very gentle" and I could just quit. Being gun shy after the benzo fiasco, I did do a short taper and came off with no issues in January of this year. Shortly after that, my leg shakiness and hand tremor went away, but I still did not connect them to Zoloft, because all the emphasis was on benzo withdrawal and how "gentle" zoloft was. In May of this year, it was clear that my mother, who had been very, very sick for very, very long, was dying. By this time, I had a new PCP and no Pdoc. Since I was extremely stressed and grieving, my PCP suggested I go back on zoloft, and I didn't see why not, so I restarted 50 mg. Immediately, I had weakness and tremor again. In August 2018, two months after my Mom died, I decided to come off the Zoloft. Still believing it was a benign drug, I once again did a fast taper of about 3 weeks. I felt fantastic off of it - no more weakness or tremor, TONS more energy - until 31 days later when it all came back full force. The trembling, weakness, and anxiety just all of a sudden came back. Finally, the penny dropped for me, and I found this site and realized it was withdrawal. I went back to my old Pdoc who laughed in my face and said withdrawal is impossible after 1 month. She told me to face the fact that I needed to be medicated and gave me the smallest dose of Lexapro. I took it for a week, but was feeling progressively worse, and I knew I didn't want her to treat me anymore. I went to my PCP and told her the whole story. She does believe me and is trying to help, but I think she's out of ideas. She did give me a DNA test for drug sensitivities, which shows me to be a slow metabolizer of most SSRIs and SNRIs, and an "intermediate" metabolizer of one SSRI, Prozac. For lack of a better answer, she put me back on 25 mg of Zoloft to attempt stabilization, but its been 3 weeks and I just keep getting worse. I now have insomnia, very high chemical anxiety, muscle twitches, no appetite, cold feet, temp changes, diarrhea and morning cortisol spikes along with the weakness and tremor. I am effectively bedridden. As of today, I have upped my dose to 37.5, but knowing that I retain high concentrations of zoloft for longer than normal, I worry about serotonin syndrome. My PCP wants to switch me to Buspirone, since my DNA test indicates I would tolerate that well, but she wants me to find a Pdoc to help with the switch, so here we go again!! I just want to stablize on something so that I can function, and then down the road a couple or few months, start the long taper that should be done. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm really struggling. Thanks for reading this long post.
  9. Hello! I'm new to this site! I am happy to have found this forum reassuring and full of mutual help! I apologize in advance for my grammar errors, I am from Quebec and I don't speak English so I use Google translate! ☺️ Here is my little story! In August 2023, my doctor prescribed Sertraline (the French name for Zoloft) at my request. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety about a vestibular disorder that I have been living with for 1 year, it is very difficult to live with. So, I start Zoloft, the first week at 25mg everything is fine! The second week I increase to 50 mg, stomach aches and heart palpitation, sleeping problem, difficulty urinating! I tell myself that it will pass….5 days after starting my second week all the symptoms are getting worse and worse, and a strange feeling in my genial zone….a bit like arousal without thinking sexual…sorry for the details, a frequent urge to urinate and pain similar to cystitis, like needles in the bladder! Just sitting down caused these symptoms or going to the bathroom! The symptoms were almost constant! So I made the decision to stop everything and I called my pharmacist and explained the situation to him… although I had been taking this medication for a short time (1 week and 5 days) he told me to take a 25mg the same evening. and the next day stop everything, which I did! Slowly everything was reducing but it was still there. A week after stopping I started to have muscle spasms in my thigh, hips and buttock. Constantly these spasm was there. So I made an appointment with my doctor to explain the situation to her, she’s a woman so it’s less embarrassing. She recognized all the symptoms except that of genital arousal. She was very reassuring with me and told me that everything would gradually go away over time. Today it's been 3 months since I stopped everything, the symptoms are less and less frequent, and sometimes I feel these genital symptoms towards the end of my period or during my ovulation...but it's very mild and not like in the past. beginning. I read the story of HopeFull and Cathy French on this forum which I found very reassuring and it gave me a lot of hope that my symptoms will go away! I didn't have a diagnosis so I don't know if what I had was pgad like people say, but it looks like it but without the pain! I no longer have any urinary problems either, everything is gone. All that remains is this feeling which sometimes comes back slightly! Sorry for the very long text and thank you very much for your welcome and your listening! 🥰 Rudbeckie 🙂
  10. Hi! Glad to have found this community. I was out on 25mg Sertraline after a stressful life phase caused burnout that ended with me at the hospital. The psychiatrist raised the dose to 50mg within two weeks of starting. After a couple of weeks of extremely weird new ‘electric’ sensations in my body that the doc assured was just my anxiety, I slowly over three months or so got used to the medication and started to feel better mentally. The life trigger that resulted in the burnout ceased being there around month 6 on Sertraline, and I worked with the psychiatrist to begin tapering as I believed then I had developed other coping strategies through therapy, exercise and mindfulness practices. I was advised to taper to 0 within two weeks, but I intuitively felt that something that took 3 months to make the effect felt is likely not going to leave my system to pre-medication days in just two weeks, and decided on what I then thought was a slow and effective taper (I unfortunately did not come across this site before my taper attempt started 😕). Tapering to 25 mg from 50 and then to 12.5 and finally 0 all happened within a span of four months, with no symptoms whatsoever during the taper. It was about three weeks after the last dose that I started feeling funny physical symptoms— brain zaps, vertigo. These slowly faded away and mental ones took over along with new physical ones— irritability, low bandwidth for stress, thoughts that get stuck on a loop. Through therapy and mindfulness practices I learnt during my time on Sertraline, I am able to cope with the mental symptoms as of now. It’s the physical ones that are bothering me and reigniting my health anxiety— would appreciate input on these— chest pains, pain along nerves in limbs and torso, getting fatigued more easily from workouts. Docs have dismissed this as anxiety related, but I was pain-free before the meds. Ugh. I read about reinstating on the site but feel like my nervous system is overreacting to everything right now, and the mental symptoms I am able to cope with so far. What worked for you to survive the physical symptoms of withdrawal? Help!
  11. Hello, just a little history about me I’m a 39 year old female who’s always had a bit of OCD/anxiety but never medicated. Around 6 years ago in 2018 my daughter was battling an illness that required my full attention/support so in order to cope with all the worry, anxiety I was prescribed 50mg of Setraline. I was on and off it over the years with no issues to deal with my daughter’s illness. Then in December 2020 I Cold Turkeyd Setraline and did fine for 4 months til I started having intrusive thoughts( which I didn’t know what these were) enough to freak me out and reinstated 50 mg of Zoloft in May 2021 just fine with no side effects. I stayed on this dose for over 2 years straight with no skipping. Fast forward to August 2023 I was in a better place mentally and my daughters illness was better so I decided to tapper on my doctors order to take 25mg of Setraline instead of 50mg for a few weeks. So I began to tapper in August breaking my 50mg pill in half. I never dealt with major withdraw symptoms or new what they were til these past few months have been hell. I started the crying non stop, lashing out, constipation, acid reflux, loss of appetite, urine issues as if I had a UTI, food sensitivity, AND WORST OF ALL A FULL BLOWN PANIC ATTACK. I called my dr and asked her what this was as I never experienced this before. It had been roughly 11 weeks of tapering from August to October so she advised me to go back to the original dose of 50mg ON OCTOBER 21, 2023. And that’s when I became worse. Two days later after updosing my Setraline to 50mg I was nauseous all day/vomiting , no appetite, trouble sleeping. This continued for 6 weeks when I was so dehydrated and my brain was not functioning correctly I went to the ER November 23 and told them what happened with the increase they said withdraw symptoms don’t last this long and it’s probably gastritis. So my husband told me to stop the increase and stay on 25mg of Sertraline since my dr was on Thanksgiving break. It’s been 45 days since I last changed my dosage back to 25mg of Setraline and have been feeling pretty awful: wake up with the cortisol spike/ anxiety in the morning running through my arms, Insomnia/broken sleep( wake up few times in the night), no appetite, depressed, OCD intrusive thoughts, panicky, nausea, sad/crying non stop, thoughts of death, tremors and back pain issues. I did cut out processed meats, fast food, caffeine, dairy and eating clean. What’s scaring me the most is this dark/doom symptom I’m having like there’s no point to live and I’m never been suicidal in the past just anxious person who worries a lot, but recently been feeling depressed. I truly want off this drug but want to know if what I’m doing in terms of dosage was the correct choice or should I have stayed on 50mg back in November and stabilized. PLEASE HELP ME Started my menstrual cycle 3 days early this month, today being day #1 and feeling depressed and down like I have no reason to live. I hate feeling like this I have 4 little kids who need their mother. Current medication: 25mg of Setraline magnesium citrate vitamin D 50 thousand( dangerously low) 2mg of melatonin My history *November 2018-2020 on and off 50 mg of Setraline (never experienced severe withdrawal) Cold Turkey Setraline December 2020 did fine for 4 months til I started having intrusive thought freaked out and started 50 mg of Setraline in May 2021 *May2021- August 2023 50 mg of Setraline *August 2023 25 mg of Setraline Didn’t know there was a such thing as severe withdrawal symptoms *First Noticed severe withdraw symptoms late October Loss of Appetite, anxiety attacks (never had these ) freaked out tried to reinstate at 50 mg for 6 weeks had more nausea, acid reflux vomiting, and insomnia throughout the 6 weeks so I went back to 25mg Sertraline . *Late December 2023 intrusive thoughts emerged.
  12. Hi people, I am kind of desperate as I feel really weird for the last week or so and it is not the anxiety or the depression that I started the antidepressants for (at least this is how I perceive it). As you can see in the signature, there were a lot of changes and adjustments since I started the antidepressants. My current doc (will have a meeting with her on Wednesday) recommended to go up to 150mg of zoloft and so I did, in December. But by the end of December I started to feel super anxious again and upon google research (doc not available during the holidays), I decided by myself to drop back to 125. A week after that I started to feel really good, maybe best I've been since I started the medication. It lasted about until around 20th of January when I started to feel another increase in anxiety. Contacted the doc and she recommended another drop, to 100 mg. About 5 days later I started to feel a bit better, but only for 2-3 days. Then the weirdness started. I now have a feeling that I haven't had before (of course, I might perceive it like that since the mix of depression and anxiety with OCD and health anxiety on top is a BOMB cocktail), like I am not the same anymore, a dreamlike feeling, a bit dissociative, a bit emotionally numb, a bit of confusion, ability to focus on something dropped a bit etc. Feels a bit like the derealization I had when I felt into depression, back in summer 2023, but without that severe depression. I fear that my brain got permanently "damaged" (a bit illogical, I know, but the fear is there) from all these meds and adjustments. I feel this new state to be even scarier than the anxiety attacks I was having in Autumn (at least I was feeling better after an attack, for the rest of the day, optimistic and hopeful) because I am in it the whole day, with minor ups and downs. Can I actually feel this way because of the last drop in dosage? If so, why I haven't feel this way when I dropped from 150 to 125? Lately I was thinking that upping the escitalopram dosage from 10 to 20 mg, back in September (I had a rough week right after I returned from holiday, anxiety was through the roof the week before I went up on 20 mg) was a mistake and maybe I just had to push through and stay on 10mg. I have the feeling that I have been overmedicated since then. I actually dropped back to 10mg mid Novemeber (and then switched to zoloft) after I complained several times to my doc that I started to feel a bit weird, mood shifts during the day, like feeling great in the first half and like **** in the afternoon. Also, I am seriously thinking in the last few days to start weaning off the poison, because I started to believe these meds are actually doing more wrong than good (of course, these words may come out just because I feel super off lately) I appreciate your thoughts and advice. Thanks!
  13. Hello all, long time reader first time poster. Firstly I just wanted to say how awesome it is to have such a place to go and receive help for what can only be described as a nightmare that thousands of people seem to go through. So here is my story which I will end with a few questions I have. As you can see from my signature, I was placed on 50mg of Sertraline (Zoloft) in September 2009. This is when my life was turned upside down. I was originally placed on this drug because I visited my local doctor comlaining about some anxiety that I was getting after I drank alcohol. I must say that for a period of about 8 years I was a heavy binge drinker. I was a typical 18 year old who went out every weekend and got blind drunk with his mates. This was obviously starting to take its toll on me once I hit 25 years of age and that is why I visited my doctor. Well I was in there for a total of about 10 minutes before he prescribed me 50mg of Zoloft telling me this would help with taking the edge off of my anxiety. I did what he suggested and this was the worst mistake of my life. I returned to the doctor within 10 days of starting 50mg complaining of the worst symptoms (severe agitation, anxiety and now depression). Unfortunatley I could not see the original doctor so I saw another doctor there at the time. He said I must need a higher dose and that 100mg was the normal dose he puts his patients on. He also prescribed valium to me (which I took a couple of times). The next 3 months of my life was like a horror film. I became suicidal with severe symptoms that I had never experienced before going on the drug. I seem to settle after about 3 months, but it must be said I never was without symptoms, but they were less severe. Around 12 months after starting the drug, I began to get more severe symtoms. I returned to the doctor and he once again up'd my dosage to 150mg. The next 3 months were a nightmare again, severe agitation etc. For the next 6 years I floated between 100mg and 150mg. I spent thousands of dollars on therapy to treat an apparent panic disorder; although I didn't mind the therapist, the information we went through just didn't seem to apply to me i.e. I wasn't thinking any of the ways he was suggesting was causing my symptoms. It wasn't until I started looking into more natural ways and researching antidepressants that I realised that maybe the drug could be the problem! Lightbulb moment! I have read a lot of books from authors like Peter Breggin, Joseph Glenmullen, etc. which I am sure most of you have read. I also have been doing a lot of work with a nutritionist. I had a 23andme test done and found out a couple of interesting points. I have a COMT gene mutation which means I break down adrenaline and dopamine slower and I also have a mutation in another gene which I can't remember the name of which means I break down serotonin slower. What this actually suggests to me and my nutritionist agrees is that I may have been quite toxic with levels of serotonin which was causing serotonin syndrome. Alot of my symptoms were a mirror image of serotonin syndrome (agitation etc.). So as you can see from my signature, I began tapering in February 2016. My problem now is that I seem to have hit a huge brick wall. I may have tapered a little fast and was hit with severe withdrawal symptoms which have not gone away. I have been holding at my current dose of 60mg for almost 4 months now. This past 4 months has been the worst 4 months of my life. It started with severe symptoms like pounding headaches, vomitting, insomnia, not being able to sit still (severe agitation) as well as some depression. It has progressed from there to now being just severe depression. I am not depressed about anything in particular other than the way I feel. It is like I am completely numb with emotions aside from being really upset. I have no appetite and really struggle to get through each day. I am very fatigued and lack motivation to do the most basic of things. I am pushing through it as best I can still working fulltime and excercising a couple of times a week plus playing golf on the weekend. I must say that I have a great life. I love my job, I have a beautiful wife and young son (8 months) and honestly have everything to live for. It is just these horrendous symptoms are ruining it all. So finally to my questions and looking for advice from some veterans on here. What should I do next? Should I continue to hold at 60mg until things get better, or should I continue at a 10% taper and see if things get worse or perhaps better? From previous drops, I seem to have a period of improvement on symptoms for about 2-4 weeks, and then it begins to decline until I drop again. I am not sure whether that means I should keep reducing or slow down. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks all.
  14. I am going through withdrawal from setraline zoloft used for 22 years, have tried to quit but failed, hope to find help here and help others Haven't drank alcohol in 2 years, haven't had a problem with alcohol like that but drank too much when I did. Going to a psychologist Have not used other drugs only zoloft. When I took zoloft my highest dose was 100mg, withdrawal was if I remember 6 weeks 50mg and 25mg 4 weeks if I remember correctly I have made a suspension of 2.5 months with the end of the last tablet of 25mg 2023-11-06 But now I have severe anxiety and compulsive behavior. Have I made too short a delay? Anyone have any tips on how I should do it? Thanks have nice day
  15. Long story short, I went to see my GP when I was in my early 20s with a list of printed off depression symptoms and without offering any other suggestions, I was prescribed Sertraline (I'm the UK, I believe it's commonly called Zoloft in the US?) Anyway, about 4 years ago I began a long journey of intensive therapy and healing after a traumatic childhood experience came to light, and on this journey, I carefully tapered my Sertraline down to 50mg; and then this year down to 25mg. My problem is where next. I have read these forums in great depth; trouble is my GP has told me they cannot prescribe liquid; and the 25mg sertraline tablets I take are smooth round ones that crumble horribly when I try cutting them. My GP said I can just stop now I'm at 25mg, but experience from reading people's accounts suggests it just won't be that simple. I want to do this properly - I don't want to be medicated for the rest of my life and I'm in very much a different place than I was back then. As I near 40, my coping strategies are solid and I have a wonderful network of support. Maybe I'm overthinking it and I can just drop to alternative days from 25mg then stop after a settlement period? Unfortunately my Doctor hasn't been much help at all, so I'm hoping someone here can perhaps give me an insight. I once tried their recommended taper of 50mg every other day (I think it was last year) but the brain zaps were too much for me (I have an 8 year old child and while my husband is around too, being debilitated for most of the day isn't really an option for me). I can appreciate and tolerate a certain level of discomfort, I know this isn't an easy journey by any means, but it was absolutely too much and I don't want to fall into that trap again and become disheartened. Really humbly grateful for any guidance, thank you for reading.
  16. Hi, this will take a while to write down as i’m suffering to remembering things clearly. When I was 16(2013) I got diagnosed with ADD, social anxiety and a learning disability. I was put on Atomoxetin and Sertraline where I refused to take them most of the time as I just didn’t want to be different from the other kids. Didn’t experience any side effects at all and I quit taking the pills CT a year after without any WD. In mid 2018 I was put on citalopram 20mg and seroquel(25mg but told me I could take up to max 75mg a day and switch between doses if I felt like I needed it) for sleep, after I developed an ED and a depression due to a past abusive relationship. had severe side effects at first, but wanted to feel better desperatly so I held out. In 2019 my anxiety got worse and my doctor increased my dose to 40mg of citalopram and lastly to 60mg. In start 2021 I began feeling almost sicker, having severe headaches, extreme irritability, stomach aches, bloating and numbness. decided I didn’t want to live like this, I educated myself on the medications I was taking and I was shocked to say the least. I contacted my doctor and we started started tapering down from 60mg citalopram in 2021 in May to 30mg, with no problems but experienced extreme withdrawal when i tapered down too fast from 30 to 12mg after a month. on a steady dose of 15mg of citalopram from July up to now. Been Tapering down on quetiapine from august 16th 2021 to (75mg, 50mg, 25mg, 12mg and been on 6mg for my last dose in April 2022. I wanna keep updating my progress here since i’ve had horrible withdrawals from the quetiapine tapering for the past 4 months, with very little windows.
  17. Hi! I used to be on 50mg zoloft, and started to tapper down 10% every four weeks, and when it came to 6 mg I tried to go to zero. Didnt work, got a LOT of strong symptoms. I went on it again and have taken a quarter of an 25mg. And this tablets have no score in it for splitting. This I have been taking for about a year. So I have alfeady been through a shakey period with no concistansy, and symtpoms a long the way. However, I stopped taking it two weeks ago, and havent got too mutch symptoms. I have a hedaiche, nightmares, anger and sadness, a bit anxiety and strange feelings in my eyes. So what do you think? Should I prepare for worse or stronger symptoms or is this ”it”? Because this ”it” I can handle, Im so used to this that it feels normal. For someone that felt good and then got all my symtoms at once would feel a lot different I think. best reguards, Rebecca
  18. I have had long covid for two years. Struggled with neurological issues such as severe racing thoughts with Songs in my head and migraines daily with feeling like I'm concussied all the time visual snow syndrome and tons of visual issues plus much more. started Zoloft in February 2022 to see if it would help with racing thoughts. I tried to push through the initial side effects and give it time because everyone said it takes time.. I started to get tons of symptoms on this drug such as worse ocd and racing thoughts and tics and Anhedonia. I started tapering and tried to cut in half and had a severe reaction. I felt like I was going insane for a week whole body burning I could not stop thinking about it. I've had body burning with long covid but this is much worse like my whole body and mind felt insane and on fire. I finally got the liquid and started coming down. A few times I think I've definitely gone too quickly. I'm now at 7.4mg and struggling so bad I just want this drug out of me. Everytime I go down it's awful and now I'm scared it's forever cause I stopped tapering for a month and still had the symptoms. Tapering symptoms that are the worst consist of anhedonia and feeling like I don't love my cats or daughter even tho I know I do. Insane racing thoughts and ruminating. I think about every action I do like oh the way I talked to that person was weird or the way I'm driving is weird. I also get those days where I almost take myself to the hospital as I feel I wanna jump out of my skin. The ruminating thoughts are so bad and so are the insane feeling. I think about my symptoms 24/7 because they are there constantly. I feel like I'm going psychotic and no doctor will help me or even understands. I think long covid made my nervous system sensitized and I may have done it way worse with Zoloft. Please tell me what I can do to help or if anybody has experienced anything similar. I'm feeling suicidal
  19. I am a 70 year old man who has been on Zoloft for about 25 years and wants out . I take 100mg daily and I do not trust my current medical practioner to help me to finally get clean.
  20. Hi, everyone, I'm new to this site. 15 years ago my mother died and I was placed onto Seroquel, Lithium Carbonate, and Zoloft. At one point I was also on Buspar. I started to taper my medication in August of 2021. I was able to quit Buspar in six weeks, and quit Lithium in four weeks by switching to Lithium Orotate. I was also able to decrease my Zoloft from 175mg to just 37.5mg over the course of about a year, which was very easy until I got down to the last 50mg. By far the hardest medication to cut is Seroquel. It will probably be another two years before I am off that drug. I'll talk about that more in a later post.
  21. Hello all, I have been reading this site for awhile but recently decided to join. Please forgive me for any misspellings or anything poorly written as my brain is not what it once was as a result of these drugs. Even finding the motivation to write this post took me multiple days. My parents were very pro-medication at a young age, I developed OCD around age 10 and took Zoloft for approximately 2 years as I was told I needed it to get better. I was also on Ritalin from age 5-13. I went through most of high school and college unmedicated, until the end of college around age 21 deciding to seek out adderall again as my grades were starting to take a hit. I also had a breakup at the time and a doctor put me on 40mg fluoxetine (prozac). I wasn't even that sad but he said it would help take the edge off. I didn't think twice about this drug after taking it, and somehow ended up taking it for the following 10 years. Fast forward to age 31 (about 1.5 years ago) Things were going incredibly well in my life, recently married, job going well, driven and enjoying life, and I looked at my pill one day and thought, Why am I still taking this? I learned about the long half life of this drug and since I was told 10mg was the lowest dose, I asked my doc to change to 10mg which he did without a real question. I went from 40 to 20 to 10 in about a month, and then started taking the 10 every other day, every third day, every 4 days, and so on, until I got to one pill every two weeks. Since this was the minimum dose, I figured this was the most drawn out "taper" possible. I took my last pill somewhere around October of 2022 and oddly enough, the 2-3 weeks that followed were incredible. Life was brighter than it had ever been, I was happy and motivated to take my life to even another level i had not yet experienced. About one month off the drug, I started to notice some very strange effects. My body and mind did not feel right. I had extreme mood swings and fatigue, complete loss of libido that has never returned, and other symptoms. I got my testosterone tested and it was very low, in the first percentile for my age. Health is my biggest passion and I had done nothing to cause this, I had continued my extremely healthy eating, active lifestyle, great sleep etc so I found this very odd. I eventually went back on the drug for approximately 1.5 months to see if it helped with my issues and libido (and I had genital numbness), but it didn't seem to make any meaningful difference (I also dont think I tried it long enough) so I did the same "taper" again around Feb of 2023. Looking back my taper was probably more of a cold turkey than a taper, given my last dose was still a full dose (10mg). My testosterone level started to improve, but not without a ton of other symptoms coming and going over time. Whole body pains, cognitive issues, weird mental issues like extreme difficulty making decisions among other things. This has been an ever evolving range of symptoms, with some things sticking around changing in severity and others coming and going. My current symptoms which have been around for quite some time are an extreme lack of motivation and a strong sense of apathy. This is also accompanied by severe anhedonia. Every simple task has become difficult, and I often feel like I am stuck in the mud with the way I interact with the world in my new state. I struggle to work my job in whhich I have been a high performer for many years, and I require a lot of daily assistance from my wife and father. I feel like a burden on those around me, I am no longer the same person and I keep desperately searching and trying to find that person again. I have considered a reinstatement, but do not want to slow down my recovery - but at this point I am getting kind of desperate for some relief. It is hard to say if I have experienced any real windows, but I guess things are changing, even if not for the better, which signals something is going on in my body. I continue to care for my body in every way imaginable from a great diet, sleep, exercise. However I am sure there are other things I could be focusing on to heal more quickly. Open to any and all suggestions or advice. Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this.
  22. kerid

    Kerid

    May 2024 be a year of healing! At the end of April 2023 I had a total knee replacement. 10 weeks later out of the blue came adrenaline surges. I did not understand what was happening to me. My stomach shut down and I couldn't sleep from all the surges. When I reflect I think I was in a very sensitive state from being on an antibiotic and aspirin and nsaids for 10 weeks. I have always had a difficult time with meds. I went to my doctor and she put me on Zoloft to increase my serotonin. I was reluctant but trusted the doctor. After 13 days I was lying on my couch a human zombie. I didn't want to die but if I did I was ok with it. I had so many side effects. My doctor wanted me to push through but I said no. I did not know anything about tapering so in 5 more days I was in WD. Though I didn't know it. I had some ok days then the adrenaline surges and insomnia and intrusive thoughts hit me. I ended up in a facility because I was scared and thought I needed a new med. They put me on effexor. Then I descended into the darkest pit. After 19 days I got out and my new doctor had me do a quick 8 day taper. During the taper/ CT I found myself in the worst mental state of my life. I was scared of everything but knew I would not go on another med. I found SA and the success stories have been a life line. I knew nothing about this only that a friend had been through something similar and made it through. I cannot believe what my body and mind have endured the last 4 months. I came here because I need some peer support. My husband has been a rock telling me I will heal everytime the depression crashes over me and I have a hard time believing this is my life. Which is almost every day. I have had a few days where who I am is stronger than the symptoms and I can feel a little hope. Usually in the evenings there is a break. Only had a few minutes/ hours where I felt almost myself. I'm looking for positive support where we can commiserate but ultimately there is a building up of each other. I am trying to accept this healing and would like to make a friend or two that gets it. I still have some very debilitating days. My belief in God and my husband have held me when I wanted to let go. I will add a signature but I need to go through my journals which triggers. Wishing and wanting for everyone peace and love and healing!
  23. bloomseine

    Bloomseine

    Hello, I was prescribed olanzapine 10mg three years ago for postnatal psychosis. I have experienced side effects from this so they kept me on it sometimes upping my dose. I was also put on sertraline two years ago. I am now on 10.7mg of Olanzapine and 100mg of sertraline.I plan to lower my olanzapine 5% every two weeks until I get to a lower dose of 2.5mg then I will lower my sertraline before coming fully off the olanzapine. I have not yet discussed this with my doctor I will ask him to prescribe me a lower dose every three months when I see him as he does not agree with me coming off of it completely.
  24. I am 47 years old have been on anti-depressions for 11 years. I was on venlafaxine for the first few months early 2012. While it helped, nausea was unbearable so I switched to Cymbalta. I was on cymbalta until Early 2017. When it started to lose its efficacy, I switched to Zoloft (sertraline) quickly. I was up to 200mg per day through the end (2022 summer) and I wanted to sleep 24/7. With my doctor's approval, I weaned off in 30 days. (Looking back - this was definitely too fast) I have been chemical free for the past 30 days. While the withdrawal symptoms are still there, they are definitely getting better every day. Reading a few comments here helped me a lot already. I feel very hopeful now. One final note - It is amazing to me how doctors take this so lightly. They prescribe these drugs like they are m&ms and they switch your medication like changing your bed-sheets. And when it is time to wean off, they treat like it is nothing. Shame to the medical system!
  25. Hi- M27, drug history is in my signature. Most of my AD journey has been pleasant. I am jointing this community to understand why I had such a terrible experience tapering, so I can avoid these issues in the future, if possible. As well as tips to stabilize. Got on for low level anx/dep in college when parents going through divorce. Recently, I’ve experienced difficulties when trying to taper off. Most recently was on Zoloft 150-200mg for ~2 years. Worked with my dr to taper down to zero over the course of 2-3 months. Hindsight being 20/20, it’s clear that this was too fast. Severe w/d for 4 months, mixed in with some Prozac introduced to “ease withdrawal” Most recently took the advice of a new psychiatrist to go back on Zoloft, as that’s the only way to make WD go away. To varying degrees- most every day for 7 months has had intense brain zaps, dizziness, whooshing when I move my eyes, trouble with balance, anxiety, nausea. I can clearly tell a difference between “withdrawal” and “onboarding” symptoms. It’s drastically changed what I can do in my day to day life, unable to do simple tasks due to disorientation and anxiety that follows the physical instability. Luckily I work remotely. Right now I am staying on Zoloft 50mg for at least 3-6 months to “stabilize”. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, where the physical symptoms are worse than anxiety and depression ever was before or during the meds. Again- I am jointing this community to understand why I had such a terrible experience tapering, so I can avoid these issues in the future, if possible. Thank you for your help and encouragement.
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