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It’s time for me to write this. I’ve wanted to write it for a while and have often come close in the last few months, only to be hit with another short 1-2 day long wave. It’s been 2.5 years since I took my last dose of Sertraline and I am happy to say that after 2 years of horrible insomnia and the plethora of other physical and emotional WD symptoms we have to endure, I’ve slept well for 3 months straight and aside from minor tremors, tingling hands and what I can only describe as moderate nerve pain in my head 1 hour before bed and 1 hour after waking I feel pretty normal. I smile, I laugh, I cry. I enjoy the moment instead of living in an anxious world wondering if I will ever feel normal again. My story starts in early 2016. After a normal and happy life, I had a number of significant life challenges thrown at me in a very short period. I became anxious about my health and issues in work and sleep started to elude me. Eventually I became anxious about my sleep and we all know that makes sleep worse. Somehow I managed to keep going for 6 months on virtually no sleep before I blew a fuse and ended up off work, in bed with a prescription for Zoloft/Sertraline. I still remember my first dose. It made me feel much worse and made me not sleep at all. I was back at the doctor 2 or 3 times saying that this couldn’t be right and wondering if I’d ever sleep again. After about a month, the side effects subsided and sleep resumed, though I still felt very tired all the time and would often need a time out during the day and in the evening I would just curl up in a chair as talking to people, even my family, was too much for me. This went on for 2 years with some, but limited improvement. I was really questioning why I still felt so tired? Was it the Sertraline, was it that I was still in the job which had been part of the cause of my condition or had not sleeping for so long damaged my brain permanently? I had to do something and the smartest place to start seemed to be to stop the Sertraline. I didn’t like feeling reliant on a drug anyway and 2 years had passed and my sleep was good. At the time I was on 25mg and had been for several months. My GP said at that small of a dose it probably wasn’t doing anything anyway and was just a placebo and that I could just stop taking it. I ended up splitting tablets with my nails ‘roughly’ into quarters and had a couple of weeks at 12.5mg, then went to zero on November 1st 2018, so that I would be over the alleged 2 weeks ‘self limiting’ withdrawal effects well before Christmas. I remember immediately feeling sharper. The emotional numbing effect of the drug had gone and I felt great for a week. Perhaps this was my new beginning. Then about 1 week after stopping I had my first brain zap. I remember it well. I was driving and I felt something building in my head, right in the middle of my brain. The jolt was so strong I remember it to this day. It scared me. I didn’t know at the time but I was to have brain zaps, ripples & electric waves in my head for almost 2 years. My WD symptoms got worse over the first year. First was the insomnia. I hated that that had returned and considered going back on the Sertraline, but I chose to persevere. Then the nausea and fatigue got worse. I was excusing myself from social events and having tactical timeouts in advance of important events. My work suffered and I started being managed out of my job. What was going on? It was about this time that my wife discovered this website and I started reading stories and realised what was happening. I searched the recovery stories to figure out if I would recover and how long it would take. I’m sure we all have done that. My initial hope was 12-18 months. At 9 months post zero I left my job. For a month I felt reasonably OK but at 10 months I started feeling worse and worse. By month 12 I was bedridden, sweating, nauseous and emotionally very low. I’d get 1-5 day windows but waves lasted weeks. The worst one was around 10 weeks long at around 15 months post zero. I’d say my symptoms changed over time. Initially they were fatigue and nausea, this moved to sweating and tingling, then emotional with many flashbacks and much self-criticism and finally more nervous with tremors, shakes and voice loss. Tinnitus and Insomnia were present throughout, especially waking in the middle of the night for 2-3 hours. At 18 months things started to improve. My wife saw me laugh for the first time in ages, my kids said I was better company, I remember being able to cry again, I stopped being so self-absorbed and started being interested in others and the surroundings. At 2 years I started working again. That was tough, but over 3 months I got back to being able to work a full week. At 27 months I stopped taking Sleep aids and I’ve now gone over 100 days with good sleep. It’s now 30 months and the only thing I get is the odd tremor and head pain an hour before bed and an hour after waking. I can manage that and know it goes in an hour or so, though I suspect it may be a while. My tips are the same as everyone else’s: Be kind to yourself Accept your situation, stop looking for answers There’s no magic cure with diet, supplements or re-instatement Walk a lot Appreciate those who support you Finally a big thank you to all those who have provided help to me through chats on this forum or privately, to the administrators and to Alto for creating this forum back in the day. I wish you all patience and success in your WD journeys. ADMIN NOTE DaBro's Introductions topic is here: ?>

Hi everyone, I am new here and I am desperate to get well. I was on Prozac for 10 years and stoped very easy. Three months I was feeling great but some major changes in my life made me hit rock bottom in March 2021 and was put back on Prozac 40 mg and klonopin 1.25mg. I decided to stop after one month and went into insanity, emergency rooms and but back on Lexapro 5mg to 10 mg and klonopin .25mg as needed and then decided to stop again after one month. I ended up with the worst panic attack from withdrawals and shaking,not eating, lost 15 pounds and ended up in hospital. They kept me 12 days on Paxil 40mg and Quietapine for sleep and 1mg Ativan. Was feeling great and came home just to start all over and ended up in the hospital again. I was put on 100mg Zoloft, 300x 2 a day Depakote,1.5mg Ativan and 15mg Mirzaten I was great for a month and I reduced myself the dosage to no benzodiazepines, no Depakote, 25mg Sertraline and 7.5 Mirzaten. I took 0.1mg clonidine to regulate my blood pressure for three weeks. I am finished, I am bed ridden, crying, surge of adrenaline, shaking. I am taking 0.5mg Ativan and I am calm till I go to sleep. Every morning I am waking up with anxiety. I am at the end of my ropez I am planing to go to a psychiatrist tomorrow and see what I can do to stabilize. How can I get off the 7mg mirzaten I am now without feeling this mess. I cannot keep a job now. I took my 20 years old son from Canada and moved at my parents in Romania and we suffer here because we cannot adapt. My son will leave in couple weeks back to Toronto but I am not able to go in this state of mind. I am unstable. Help!

Hi all, I’m Corn, 30 yo woman, located in Austin, TX. After a few months of just reading, finally joined & taking a tentative step into the world of slow tapering. I’ve been on sertraline 50mg since 2015, put on it while I was in college and suffering from severe depression made worse by the Chicago winter. It did save my life, and I think it was definitely the best choice in the moment. Fast forward to June 2023 - after going through a year of intensive therapy where I tackled a lot of my childhood trauma, PTSD from a recent loss, and taking better control of my life, I decided to go off of medication. I decided this because I was feeling overall better & more hopeful about my life, and this meant that I noticed more of the emotional blunting effects of sertraline. I “tapered” (according to the recommendation of my psychiatrist), from 50-> 25mg per month, and then completely off. Well, you can probably guess what happened from that. About two months after I was on 0mg of zoloft, I started becoming increasingly anxious, severely restless, waking up with my heart pounding, crying spells, hyperviligence, irritation, and severe lack of focus. This worsened over the weeks following, where I was not able to sleep properly, and could not sit still or do any activity required for life. Of course, my psychiatrist did not believe that I was going through withdrawal. I’m currently on a medical leave from work, and have reinstated my sertraline, slowly going up from 12.5mg to 25, to 50mg over the span of a few weeks. I’m definitely starting to feel more normal, less anxious, etc. But the emotional blunting is also obvious. During my period of withdrawal hell, I searched all of the internet for stories like mine, and found SA. I read through the scientific papers, especially of Horowitz, and realized that safe discontinuation of psychiatric medication is a problem that the psychiatric medicine community is currently discussing. I realized that I’m holding onto a lot of internalized mental health stigma, that I wanted to quit my medication as fast as possible to be rid of a “sign of weakness.” I’m grappling with that as I look down the barrel of a multi-year taper. My side effects on medication aren’t severe, and so I believe I’ll be able to manage a slow taper, especially since I will be returning to work soon. I’m going to wait to stabilize for a few months, and then start a 10% (of previous dose) taper, and see how that sits with my nervous system. I'm heartened, though, that even Mark Horowitz and members of the psychiatric community are affected by this, in just the same way as us layfolk. My heart goes out to all of you, and the suffering that you’ve all endured, especially the first few who had to figure this out for themselves. I’m tremendously grateful for all the wisdom & support here. It’s given me hope that I can get through this. tl;dr: 2015: Start 50mg zoloft for severe depression 2023 June: attempts to get off of zoloft, 50 -> 25 -> 0mg 2023 Sep: Terrible withdrawal at the 2 month point. 2023 Oct: Reinstated 50mg zoloft, working up slowly from 12.5mg. Withdrawal ceases. Will wait a few months for brain to stabilize, and will attempt a "10% of previous dose" taper. Thanks everyone, let's go slow and easy together.

Hi everyone, My name is Audrey and I’m currently in month 9 of protracted withdrawal from stopping 12.5 mgs of sertraline cold turkey for a panic disorder. I’ve been using this forum for months as support to check symptoms/giving me peace of mind and it’s been a god send. I took sertraline on and off for 3 years. I currently am suffering with every symptom imaginable still - some days better than others. Lots of Dysautonomia, heat intolerance, sleep issues, anxiety, POTS symptoms, pounding heart, you name it. I was a hypochondriac before withdrawal happened so this time has not been kind to my nervous system. I know one day I will heal but sometimes it’s so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m 30 and feel like I could be 75+ some days. Here’s to a healing year in 2024!

Hi everyone. Below is the Zoloft tapering schedule I have followed to the present. I didn't notice any withdrawal until dipping below 25mg. As I've gone down from 75mg towards the 50mg and 25mg marks, I began noticing huge improvements (needing less sleep, better/clearer thinking, more sex drive, caring more about work and meeting deadlines). Now I'm experiencing withdrawal (insane bloating, brain fog, needing way more sleep, vertigo, dizziness, lack of coordination, and irritibility) Schedule I followed: March/April 2017: began Zoloft 75mg November 2017: I went down from 75 -> 62.5mg by reducing by 2.5mg every couple of days December 2017: stayed at 62.5mg all month January 2018: went down from 62.5 -> 50mg, reducing 2.5mg every couple of days February: stayed at 50mg all month March to April: went down from 50 -> 25mg, reducing 2.5mg every couple of days early May: stayed at 25mg for 2 weeks late May to present: went down from 25 ->12.5mg, reducing 2.5mg every couple of days. I've been on 12.5mg for one week. The current side effects are almost debilitating. My question is what you think is best to do now? Should I go back up to 25? Should I wait until I stabilize at 12.5mg and then do the 10%/month taper? My worry is that I probably won't stabilize at 12.5mg because it's not even a therapeutic dose, so if I just wait here for a month I'm just prolonging the withdrawal. Any feedback would be much appreciated as I'm torn on what to do next! Thanks to anyone who responds ❤️

Hi everyone! I am a 26 y/o female who was put on Zoloft at age 20 in 2016. I originally was put on the medication for stress and a suicide attempt (that happened a few days after I was put on Lexapro, but that's a story for another day). In 2021 I decided I wanted to be free of the Zoloft and live a med free life to focus on other health issues- extreme fatigue, stomach and constipation issues, and vision decreasing. Oh man I thought it would be so easy (as previously I had gotten off adderall after using for 7 years with barely any side effects). At first I felt fine tapering off the Zoloft- I started in Nov 2021 and got from 50 mg to 25 by Dec 2021, by Jan 1 2022 I was fully off the meds. Oh and let me mention my psychiatrist advised this schedule was fine lol. The past year has been soooooooooo hard for me. I have never felt like this in my life. I first started noticing random memories of childhood come up and thought huh weird, then the brain fog, the anxiety, and the tiredness kicked in. And then the awful depression that I've never experienced like this before. I am still fighting but starting to feel lost and worried mainly about the low moods. My mood can go from happy and ok to severely depressed in a matter of minutes which really scares me. I write this post because I am considering going back on a LOW dose of Zoloft to see if I can get some kind of relief as the past 14 months have been quite literally awful. What would be the recommended reinstated dose? I would want to go in super low so I don't have to go through this ever again. Any thoughts super appreciated! TIMELINE: 2012-2018- adderall 20 mg 2015-2016- lexapro 20 mg 2016 Nov- 2021 Nov Zoloft 50 mg 2021 Dec- Zoloft 25 mg 2022 Jan 1- med free 2022 April- 10 mg Zoloft (did this for about 14 days and then stopped because I thought it didn't help)

Yes, it will feel like a miracle when it happens for you; and it will happen for you, it is just a matter of time. I want to get that out there first thing; it is my belief that we will all heal in time; it has happened for me and is continuing to happen and it will happen for you. Am I completely 100% done healing? No. Am I so, so much better? Oh yes! Now for some basics: Male, mid 50s, took zoloft for over 20 year, quit cold turkey 3.5 years ago, was off 5 months, thought I was relapsing, so started prozac for 3.5 months and then quit that cold turkey. Then I found S.A. and discovered what I was dealing with was not a relapse but withdrawal (and recovery). So yes, I did everything completely wrong and more than once! I am proof that given time we can heal. I currently just celebrated 30 months of being drug free. Now, how to begin to describe the inhumane torture that I have endured until very recently; not sure but I will try. I have gone through both the windows and waves pattern and the continuous misery pattern. I was one of those that suffered a great deal after quitting, but really got slammed at about 6 months off. At 1 year I was barely functioning; at 1.5 years I was still miserable, and at 2 years off I was wondering if I was doomed to endless suffering with no end. But now as I have hit the 2.5 year mark I feel as if I have turned the corner. Windows and waves general comprised the first year and then it became continuous misery for pretty much the next 6 to 12 months or more; and then back to windows and waves. My last serious wave was in months 25-26 and now finally what feels like solid progress the last month or so. I am hesitant to list symptoms because I know how much it use to scare me to read what others were going through; but on the other hand it really helped when a new symptom would start, because I knew it was part of the recovery process and not some disease or sickness, and most of these are gone or have become minimal although they lasted for months or years. And just because I experienced them does not mean that you will, we all have a very individual road to recovery; so here they are in no specific order: Dark depression, anxiety, paranoia, obsessive compulsive, panic attacks, intrusive/obsessive thoughts that tortured me, hopelessness, irrational thinking, suicidal thoughts, brain zaps, intense organic fear, severe inner-body tension that felt like my whole insides were clamped up, sexual dysfunction, severe tension, tremors and pain in the back of my legs and calves, terrible shoulder and upper arm pain, mania, extreme bloating and stomach pain, nausea, dizziness, vertigo, feeling like my brain was on fire, feeling like a part of my brain was missing, feeling like a bomb had gone off in my head, floating head feeling, super-hot face, body temperature regulation problems – being super-hot or cold, constipation, dehydration, lack of appetite and weight loss, feeling dead, anhedonia, akathisia, mood swings, insomnia, terrible brain fog and inability to think clearly, sensitive vision and hearing, inching and burning skin, cold like symptoms, head congestion, phantom smells, constant tinnitus, severe fatigue and exhaustion, health anxiety, I could not read, listen to music, or meditate, heart palpitations, random traveling aching and stabbing pain throughout my body, headaches, and so many other symptoms that I can’t remember. The torture, pain, misery, suffering and utter despair was never ending…until it did finally start to end for me and it will for you too. Did anything help me along the way? I tried many things; acupuncture, vitamins and supplements, alpha-stim, gluten free diet, no sugar diet, no caffeine, no alcohol, and anything else I could do to try and feel better. Did it work? In a sense it all worked because it kept me focused on recovery and gave me hope when I had none, and the possibility that I might feel better. But time passing has been the real healing agent; although that was the last thing I wanted to hear when I was suffering so intensely. I did find that mindfulness, breathing exercises and physical exercise helped when all else failed and I was so truly desperate. Many hours were spent just trying to pay attention to my breath going in and out; and I still use this practice as a relaxation method. It also helped me greatly to visit this website daily as well as Benzo-Buddies. I read success stories for hours at a time, read the Bloom in Wellness facebook page each day and anything by Baylissa Frederick and also Don Killian. So, what remains for me? I still have tinnitus (although it has gotten much better over the last month), stomach bloating and pain on occassion, nerve pain, some brain zaps at night, fatigue and tiredness, and sleep issues. If I had to put some percentages on where I am at now I would say physically I am at about 85-90% healed and mentally/emotionally at 90-95% healed. I now eat anything that I choose although I eat as healthily as possible because I value life so much now and I want to live as long as possible; I exercise regularly and it feels wonderful; I enjoy caffeinated drinks including regular tea and coffee which I had given up for many months; I also drink wine and beer a couple times a week if I choose to and enjoy it. I am in the best shape since high school, and have lost 75 pounds (on purpose). Life is good again and just the simple things are more than enough to bring joy and happiness. So that is my story and I hope it will encourage you as you read it that you will recover and become yourself again. I remember reading similar statements in success stories and thinking, “Yea, right, that is easy for you to say, you are not suffering through this terrible hell right now!” And maybe you are thinking the same thing as I did, but please listen to my words; you will make it, you will recover, you will feel better, and you will join me in loving life once again; just please don’t give up or give in and keep going! As I sit here with a cup of coffee and contemplate what I have been through the last several years, it all seems so strange and foreign. Success stories promised that I would make it to recovery, and they were right, so now it is my turn to tell you that you will make it, “You will make it!”. Wishing everyone here all the best and a quick recovery. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to try and help. All my love. Pug

Hello to all. Been following for 2 years. Just joined "officially" today. Profile tells just about everything. Stuff getting real and I'm getting tired of fighting.

Hi all, I am 29F and trying to end my relationship with Sertraline/Zoloft but have been having difficulty in that I seem to be able to get to 3 - 4 months of 0mg before my mental health falls off a cliff and I become very mentally unwell. I don't know if this is some sort of delay in my brain realising it is without the additional serotonin and whether it is a temporary adjustment thing or permanently how I will feel without medication. By way of background, I was put on 50mg of Sertraline in 2017 for anxiety. Minimal discussion with my doctor about any side effects or how long I would be on the medication for. Stayed on the medication for 3 1/2 years until decided myself to taper down in 2020. I did research on how to taper and tapered over a number of months, reducing by 50% each time by splitting my pills until I got to 25mg and couldn't split the pills any smaller. During this time, I had minimal withdrawal symptoms, some headaches and digestive upset but nothing too debilitating and they usually went away after a week or two of the reduction in dose. Then in March 2021, following 3 months of 0mg, I had an intense mental episode where I became extremely anxious, depressed, intrusive thoughts and was very unwell. Looking back I notice that the mood had been dropping over the 3 months of 0mg but the symptoms worsened very suddenly. Following a month of difficulty, doctor advised restarting sertraline 50mg. Noticed some improvement upon restarting and then spoke to a Psychiatrist in July 2021 who advised increasing to 100mg and told me 'I could be on this medication for the rest of my life no problem'. The issue was now I didn't want to be on this medication and felt like I couldn't come off it. In particular, I noticed that I am flattened and blunted somewhat on the medication and had worries that this was stopping me feeling attraction or starting a relationship with anyone (don't know if anyone else has had issues or worries about this? I don't mean sexual symptoms in that I don't have no feeling in my genitals or difficulty orgasming - this is more in terms of actually having a romantic interest in someone in the first place). Maintained 100mg for about a year and then decided to reduce again, following the same pattern and again with minimal withdrawal symptoms. The same thing happened again, was largely fine for 3 months but then went away travelling in February 2023 and was struggling and ended up returning home early. From February to March 2023, I was struggling with anxiety and depression but not completely debilitating. Then in April 2023, again it was like my mood fell off a cliff and I had another severe mental illness episode with depression, anxiety etc. I suppose I am coming here looking for advice and support and to see if anyone else has had similar symptoms as I am not able to get answers from the medical community so questions as follows: - has anyone else had minimal symptoms throughout the tapering process and initial 3 months or so of being on 0mg, only then for severe psychological symptoms to set in around 3 months? Due to the gap of time where I am ok (i.e. the 3/4 months), I think most medical doctors view this as a resurgence of original symptoms rather than withdrawal but the symptoms are much more severe than they were before I started medication. My issue I suppose is that I don't know whether this is a temporary thing as my brain is freaking out at no longer having the extra serotonin available and whether it will eventually adjust to the lower levels and therefore whether to push through and try to cope with the psychological distress in the hope it will pass or if I need to go back onto Sertraline. I suppose I'm looking for hope that if I just try and cope with the anxiety and depression, it will eventually lift and I'll get through it and I'll come out the other side but I can't seem to find any advice or information to give me this hope. Thanks, KF2694

When I was 19 I had a terrible break down. Abusive boyfriend, fear of parents, fear of life. I ended up in the hospital. Just a regular hospital under the care of my gyno for what appeared to be anorexia nervousa (however it's spelled). That doctor was smart. He said i was too young for pych meds and had me to start taking b complex. I slowly began to return to normal. If I had ever been normal that is. I had always had a low depression i felt like. I turned to drinking and smoking for social validation and this carried me through college and through my 20's. When I was 28 I left my job to stay home with my baby. My husband and I had just bought a house but thought is was too important to keep our child close. After some depression surrounding a miscarriage, we had a second beautiful son. The isolation was not good. I remember watching Oprah and she was talking about lead in window blinds and how bad the was for our children. I looked over at the blinds in my bedroom with the teeth prints in them from my son standing there waving goodbye to his dad in the mornings. That's when the hot flash of anxiety hit and did not leave. I was testing everything for lead and yes it was everywhere. Then the asbestos. Then on the news, ecoli in the apple juice and meat then worst of all was the women who caused harm to their own children though pychosis. Was I that crazy? Could I be the danger to my babies?? I was sooo terrified!! A doctor put me on xanax and I was told to take it when I needed it. Of course I needed it constantly. For around 2 months I lived in a stupor. Then one day I said forget this and stopped it ct. I was then put on Effexor. Never great but not as anxious. So a different doctor(because the one prescribing me xanax was in a drug treatment facility) added a few things when I mentioned my fears. He added wellbutrin, resperdal because I must be bipolar, which I only took one of thank Heavens, then zyprexa. My world turned upside down again. It was a horrific spiral for several months before I was admitted to a Behavioural Health center. I stayed there for 3 weeks while they ct me off all meds then put me back on zoloft and klonopin. When I left I have to say I was feeling better. It only improved over the following weeks. I even called my klonopin my Hakuna Matata pill. For 17 years all was well, I thought. My mother passed and I had to take care of my dad who had dementia during lockdown. My dad then passed and I got sick after his funeral. The doctor told me if I didn't take the med Levaquin for my pnuemonia I developed after the virus, then she would just have to give it to me intravenously when I was admitted to the hospital. So I took it and it chemically ct me off klonopin. I was a mad woman. Terrified and holding the grief from losing my parents and fearing going down that rabbit hole again 17 years earlier. I started to even out a few months later and decided to come off meds. I found Benzo buddies and Benzo warriors on fb and started my klonopin taper. That had only taken a year since I had only ever been on .5mg. That was two years ago. In March I began my Zoloft taper. 100 mg. will take a whole lot longer. I'm down to 53mg now and the bottom has fallen out. My therapist and sister asked me to go back up to 75 but they don't understand. And now I can't understand. I'm pretty frightened that my life is just circling back to those terrors except this time it's all new fears. I hope I didn't share too much but I wanted to let you know my history. Have I got a chance? Sometimes I think I should just stay on it. I'm 57 and would be tapering maybe 8 more years. I could really use some friends. I feel so alone in this. Although my family is great none of them have any idea what it's like. Thank you,

I used to be very happy and funny guy who loved dancing and enjoyed going out with friends until one night I got drunk and someone put drugs in my drinks.I still dont know what that drug was but I felt like my legs were burning and I became very agressive and delusional.I got locked up for trying to brake into a house and send into a mental hospital. I was forced to take zyprexa for 3 months and after that zoloft for 2 months. Since then I lost all feelings and emotions. For all I mean: fear, love, hate, envy,everithing.I've Lost all my friends. No desire to live, I feel like an empty shell. Complete lack of creativity, lack of social skills Lack of empathy, lack of motivation and a sense of accomplishment. 5 months ago I stopped taking zyprexa but I have no improvement and Im beginning to think that my brain is permanently damaged by these drugs. Is there any hope that my brain will recover?

Hi. I've been on SSRI meds for a long time. I'm currently tapering from Zoloft. I'm at 26 mg. I'm reducing at 2.5% every 2-4 weeks. My CNS is a mess and I can feel every taper. I'm so tired all the time and have no energy. I'm taking cal-mag citrate, Barleans Omega fish oil, Vitamin D3/K2, and an iron supplement for anemia. Sometimes I take Coq10. I'd like to know what has helped others with the inability to focus and with fatigue.

Hi everybody. Finding this group is like being raised by robots and then stumbling into a human encampment. Suddenly, things make more sense. I've been taking Sertraline continuously for 15 years for anxiety, panic attacks and IBS. It was originally prescribed by my primary care physician just for the panic attacks, which were triggered most often by over-stimulation by continuous loud noises, physical jostling and/or strong flashing lights. The worst would happen while driving, in crowds or on a boat or plane. Within a few weeks of taking Sertraline 50mg, the IBS miraculously abated (as did the panic attacks). I'd suffered with always uncomfortable and frequently debilitating IBS since 1980 and had been to numerous specialists and had numerous medical tests with no effective relief until the Sertraline, so to me it was like a miracle. I credit the Sertraline with saving my career and possibly even my marriage. After almost 10 years on the Sertraline, I began to feel apprehensive about taking it for such a long period of time and curious to how much I still needed it. I tried tapering on two occasions, about a year apart, but without support or a plan, failed. Usually the stomach issues make themselves known before the anxiety and then the IBS drives the anxiety even harder which makes the IBS worse; lather, rinse, repeat. I'm in my 60s now and found I was able to move into a lower paying but much less stressful job and kids are grown and out on their own so less demand and worry. With changes in my body from aging and the less stressful environment, I began to feel I had a better chance of eliminating the Sertraline with a slower, more methodical plan, support of my Primary Care physician and of people who understand the process and problems. And that's how I find myself here, today. I've been taking the "recommended" 50mg dose but I'm very sensitive to all medications so it may have been more than my body actually required all this time. I've been tapering for 6 months now. I would cut my dosage in half, suffer through the worst of the withdrawal symptoms for a few weeks, then if symptoms decreased or at least didn't get any worse after another 3-4 weeks and were tolerable, cut it in half again, etc. I recognize now, that's too fast. I'm still experiencing frequent brain zaps (I didn't know what to call those; I was calling it "elevator head"), mood swings and easily-triggered bad temper. I can actually physically feel an internal tornado of turmoil in the core of my body when I get angry. It's awful. I feel like an emotional ping pong ball. And I don't even get to be The Hulk. Anticipating the stomach and mood issues, I got a medical cannabis card. I have to say, a combination of CBD and low-THC cannabis has kept the stomach issues at bay. I microdose .5mg to 1mg of a 3:1 mixture of CBD to cannabis daily; that's about 3 hits. If I get twisted up in knots over something, a hit of indica does settle me (vaped organic dry flower only). I tried ingesting CBD tinctures but they kill my stomach. My physician didn't object to this approach, although he thinks I'm too concerned about the long-term effects of the Sertraline. I think this struggle of just trying to get off of the Sertraline is justification enough. The 50mg tablets are too small to cut into more than fourths, so after 5 weeks at 12.5mg, I stopped altogether; that was 30 days ago and the withdrawal symptoms still persist with no further reduction. After spending some time here, I now recognize I'm going too fast. I need to slow down a lot and seek wisdom from those who have made it through this. I've just sent a request to my physician to change my Sertraline prescription from tablet to oral solution so I can dilute it and get finer resolution on the tapering dosages. My current plan is to restart the Sertraline at 12.5mg, where I left off, stabilize or slowly increase until stable for at least a month (more?), and then reduce 1mg at a time for as long as it takes. Thanks for listening. I've got no one else to talk to who will understand. I'm so glad to be here. PapaSmurf (my son called me that after he grew taller than me, and it stuck)

Hello, I have been taking Zoloft 25mg for 3 months and decided I do not want to continue taking this medication since my body is not tolerating it very well. Can I stop it cold turkey since it is a low dose? or should I taper? So far I have been taking 12.5mg daily (today is the 3rd day) for 2 weeks, is this the safest way to taper?

Introduction topic: ☼-mranxious-3-months-off-effexor-xr-6-years-on Heyyyyyy 😊 I am alive !!!!!! Out there living a life that I am proud of and comfortable with. Pheww I am one of the blessed ones to have breached the other side and lived to talk about and YOU WILL TOO !! That was one hell of a ride. One that is FAR FAR FAR in the rearview mirror 🙃 If you have read my story, you will know that I went through literally the most traumatic event in my life and that was "Effexor Withdrawal". From start to finish I was unsure I would make it through this time, but here I am and let me tell you "Its a process". This will not happen overnight...BUT if you make the right moves, eat healthy and take your vitamins, time will heal, only time BUT everything you do in the mean time will make the difference in the end. Here is what I did : -Increased Omega 3:6:9 daily -Lots of purified water -Maximize sleep if you can and set a goof environment to be able to sleep(No sleeping drugs) -eliminated processed foods and to a whole food plant based lifestyle(THE BIGGEST GAME CHANGER for me and healer I believe* -Cut out all toxic people -light walks/bikes/swims daily(Key word "light". -meditation- daily(Prayer as well daily) -Church -daily mantras "I will heal" "I will get better" "I am getting better" -Reading books, occupying my time -Multivitamin and mineral support tablet I went from being a very anxious person once off Effexor for months and months of withdrawal , to now years later, a fully functional human being again 😎 I fully believe that in order to fully heal, you need to be fully off any pharmatheuticals (Per doctors orders of course, my disclosure) ughh 😋 Oh yes and find a good doctor that will listen to you and meet your needs "YOUR NEEDS". I have found a wonderful doctor and he is all about my plant life and healing and he is all about me living my best life drug free. Whatever you are going through right now, just know it gets so much better. It can takes months to years to recover. Realize this is your journey and a special one. Myself personally believes that god has transformed my old life into my new life and I can't be ever more thankful and grateful. One hell of a adventure but "hey" I love who I am more now and have grown exponentially since this ordeal. I have days where I cry happy tears over the smallest things, butterfly on a flower, old person smiling, to the breeze blowing off the lake , to the food on my plate. I never appreciated it before Effexor and I took it for granted, now it just happens and i love it 😊 I guess it all depends how you look at it, but when things get grim and they will, come back here, read my story and just know you are all in good hands😊 The effort you put out now in the throws of this awful withdrawal, will eventually become the reward you see in your future !!!!! YOU ARE GOING TO RECOVER MY FRIENDS, ALL OF YOU !!!! STAY CALM AND SOLDIER ON, stay safe and always consult your doctor before making any moves and if they don't listen to you : FIND A NEW ONE !!!! But always stay in close touch with them please 😎 This website has been a game changer and so are all the admins* Beautiful hard working volunteers 🧡💛💚💜💖 *Taper, taper, taper your mediction , this is most important, don't rush a taper just because you start feeling good. It will catch up to you, stay the course 😎 or possibly suffer grave setbacks * *Feel free to message me* MR. A

Hello everyone! I'm writing this because I told myself I also wanted to be of help for those struggling one I made out of the mess psych drigs withdrawal is. While I still struggle with anxiety and some ocd, therapy is currently my only prescription haha along with a few other natural supplements like cbd, magnesium chloride spray, pregnenolone, and a few others. My main objective with this is not to say mental illness is not real and that the meds don't work, because they do sometimes and when we decide to come off them is not like our traumas and mental struggles will disappear. But I hope to say with this that it is possible to overcome ssri withdrawal and start a drug free life along with different coping strategies and a good support system. I was put on sertraline 25 mg along with buspar 10 mgwhen I was 15. I was never very consistent with it, but would experience the effects every time I'd try to come off it. I kept going on and off until 21 when I went cold turkey and my life was almost paralzyed from the withdrawals, I was then put on sertraline 50 mg and aripiprazole. The sertraline game me horrible side effects at first and most of the time i was on it. I believe it was giving me mild serotonin syndrome. I then tried to come off and again withdrawals so I was put on prozac and buspar. Stayed on it until 25. I decided to come off, but did a very small tapper compared to what is needed. The withdrawals were manageable at first, but then they came full force. I was throwing up, head spinning, brain zaps, you name it. I thought it'd never end. that's when I found this group and a few other people hwo have through the same on intagram. The success stories in here gave me so much hope, and that's why I wanted to create mine. Yes, it was horrible. The worse was aroound 6 months, then took 18 months to feel almost close to normal, and now its almost two years, and my nervous system is no where near where it was when I came off the drugs. I'm able to drive, exercise, run, wake up with energy in the morning, go to the store without feeling like my world is spinning, and so much more. For me prayer, supporting my body, and believing I was going to be ok, were huge in my recovery. DUring my worst times where I'd feel hopeless prayer became my strenght and usually something would come that reminded i'd be ok. i also found the work of Dr. Ray peat on serotonin. OS when we come off these drugs our serotonin receptors are all over the place and we actually need to lower them most time. This why I decided to go bakc to the doctors and asked ot be presribed Vistaril, hydroxizine, which is a non addictive, take as needed anciety med. Its simply a potent antihistamine, so there is no withdrawals from it. It realy was of huge help at my very worst to bring some stabiity from the nausea, dizinness and racing heart. I really recommend anyone going through withdrawal to try this if they feel like they can;t simply handle it before going back on the ssri's. I no longer really take it as I now take cbd, but it is usually considered a safe drug free of withdrawals if given at small doses as is simply once again, a potent antihistamine. Apart from that, I worked on bettering my thyroid, nutritional level, and make sure to stay hydrated with mineral water and coconut water to help my nervous system. I also impletened a lot of grounding which is supper healing for the nervous system. AT my worst, I'd simply wake up early in the morning to sit on the grass and take in some sun while sipping on coconut water and listening to worship music. That was very healing for me. But I really encourage anyone here to check out the Walsh protocol and perhaps work with Walsh practiciner as they're expect in treating mental illness naturlaly and healing the many hormonal imbalances and nutritional deficiencies behind long lasting withdrawal symptoms. Please also research mind syndrome and german new medicine so you can learn more how your brain has the ability to keep creating symptoms even after the withdrawl is over and also to learn how the body has immense healing abilities and if taken care of and supported it is very well capable of healing from psych drugs withdrawals. To anyone reading this going through the worse right now, please hang in there, it gets better, it truly does! But makes ure you're getting enough rest, being gentel with yourself, and supporting your body with sunshine, minerals, and plenty of grounding if you also wish. I truly think constant grounding was huge in shortening the duration of my nervous system breakdown. Also find your grounding stone, by that I mean that something that gives you a little hope when it all seems lost. I remember when I was barely even levaing my room, I had a lttile picture with a Bible verse letting me know God was in control. I'd look at it everytime i;d feel panic and repeat myself the words in it. I also hope with this post inspires some to find their support in The Faithful father we have in heaven. As you go through this, I promise you, that you're not alone. I remember reading another srri success story on instagram and how at her worst moment she pleaded with God and a humming bird suddenly appeared on her window. She also beautifully stated how most times when she'd feel low the humming bird would suddenly appear. For me it was an orange butterfly and owl. Many times when life just felt hopeless i'd go to my backyard and boom an orange butterfly would come to my greeting. other times, an owl would literally appear out of nowhere, and my mom also oftentimes saw it, so I wasn;t hallucinating form the withdrawls haha! But I hope this encourgaes you and reminds you that this universe is huge and there is a purpose and a reaosn why you're here. You're loved and cared for, trust that. With a little faith and time you'll be an even stronger and better version than you were before all of this. Oh! I also found @cherellethinks page on instagram very helpful. HSe had her own journeyw ith anxiety, a truly life changing one and also took psych drugs. SHe does one on one coaching and can be of huge help for many in here! @brookesiem is also extremely knowledgeable and has her own encouragng story! SHe also answers dm's and helps answers questions you might have, Last one is @livingrootswellness. Theresa is awsome and also usually answers questions about her withdrawal story. SHe also has an eft tapping group and offers incredible information on improbving withdrawals symptoms! Hang in there my friends! This is truly horrible what you;re experiencing. But with some faith and dedication from our part it gets better! Also, I;m sorry for the many errors. I'll come back soon to fix it. I'm very sleepy but felt liek it was alreay time I wrote my story to hopefully help someone out there. I;m not anit psych drugs by any means, I knwo there were likely of help for me at a time, but I do find there are many alternatives to try before putting somoen on a drug cocktail. ALso, i feel like there is no medical training or experience when it comes to tappering patienst of these drugs. Hopefully, with time this chnages.

Hi everyone, I stopped my 200 mg Zoloft basically cold turkey that I had been on for 4+ years (one of my dumbest ideas yet) and I didn't start getting withdrawal symptoms for almost a month. After about 3 weeks of withdrawals, I've now been back on 100 mg (at the advice of my doctor) for two weeks because the symptoms were so bad, and I've been incredibly nauseous the whole time. Is this normal? I've been bedridden from the nausea (and dizziness, insomnia, etc, but the nausea is the most debilitating) If anyone else has experience with this, how long did the side effects from coming back on it last? I'm so terrified that this is going to be permanent.

Hello, I've read this forum for a while and it has helped me much. I've been putting off creating my own thread as getting my thoughts straight has been quite difficult. I will attempt to be as accurate as possible but some dates are estimates. I am a 24 year old male. To be brief, as a young teenager I had some trouble fitting in and this presented me with emotional difficulties, Due to prevelence of the idea in the culture, online especially I was led to believe this was something called 'depression' and the treatment was pharmaceutical drugs. At around 15 years old when school was becoming difficult I presented to mental health services seeking allieviation of my struggles. I believed I had ADHD due to difficulty concentrating and this was a popular meme online when researching difficulty with applying yourself to schoolwork and studying. Naturally I pursued medication for this also. After some tests I was diagnosed as having this condition. I was prescribed 100mg sertraline and 50mg vyvanse after some medication trials. This kind of quieted down my negative emotions for sure and it did help me concentrate somewhat on schoolwork. I took these drugs for 7-8 years. I did take a year off sertraline when going to university, but reinstated due to severe difficulties a year later. I switched this to 15mg escitalopram shortly after this reinstatement. this was roughly 2020 I think? I was on the escitalopram for a year or two but it's foggy. And I came to the conclusion it was harming my ability to feel emotions and have meaning in my life so I discontinued after a short taper. For 9 months there were tolerable symptoms such as simple low mood. Something changed at around 9 months in and I started to experience severe distortion of my cognitive functions. I was hence unable to perform but the most simple daily tasks. This was In april 2023 (this year) I believe. I found this forum and related to many of your experiences. This gave me hope for improvement. I am posting here because I am hopeful to one day find the cause of this disease and promote awareness to doctors and the public alike to the systemic changes these drugs can induce. Afterall serotonin mediates processes throughout the entire body, it is not simply the happiness switch but a key player in keeping all the systems of the body functioning properly. One idea I have had is some of these symptoms could be the result of an alteration of blood flow. Serotonin influences blood vessel tone. Reduced blood flow in the brain could explain reduced cognitive ability many experience and potentially reduced blood flow would also result in reduced erection function and PSSD. My blood vessels for example have adapted to a certain serotonin signalling over 7-8 years so it seems feasible to me. I also struggle with exercise, becoming light headed after a simple walk. My reaction time is substantially slower in video games also for example. My hands and feet are constantly cold. I can go into details with symptoms but really they are very much in common with those details by most people who are brought to this website. Anxiety and head pressure, over stimulation etc. I hope this is reasonably coherent, it is difficult! Thank you.

Hey all, first post here. I am so glad to have discovered this site. For 3.5 years I’m sitting here wondering what’s wrong with me and why doctors keep telling me it’s all in my head (I KNOW I’m not fabricating this stuff) only to discover my symptoms are legitimate, validated and real. And shared by many other fellow survivors. I spent many years feeling alone and hopeless. Not anymore. So yeah, I was on very high doses of a hormone that has anti-depressant effects for 6-7 years. After coming off 3.5 years ago, my cognition/ concentration/ brain function and memory were destroyed. No energy, have severe insomnia, tinnitus, anxiety. Live in constant brain fog, derealization/depersonalization, had to quit school, work, lost friends and relationships… basically stopped living. Don’t recognize myself or my life anymore, let alone friends and family. My naturally outgoing, extrovert, colorful and comedic personality became dry, flat, apathetic, anhedonic, agoraphobic, introverted, recluse. I feel brain dead. And dead, in general. Also noticed extreme sensitivities to foods (usually high histamine/fermented/high fodmap) which could send my brain on a trip equivalent to LSD. I have tried everything but nothing really works. What worked last month doesn’t this month. There’s 0 stability. I find I’m sensitive to most supplements. Currently on a decent regime- including fish oil and magnesium. I went to so many doctors (to no avail). They put me on various ADs (which I think made everything worse.) Couldn’t stay on more than a few months. But I find myself torn. Seems that when I’m on them, I want to be off. And when I’m not on them, I want to be on. It’s like I have 0 capacity for decision making and executing functioning. I’m currently tapering off Zoloft. I don’t know what else to do anymore… So 3+ years like this with very little improvement. I need help. I don’t know what to do, where to go, where to turn. I feel completely lost. I had goals for my life and now I consider it a success if I get out of bed and make food. Tell me. Does it ever get any better? Or is this just my life now? Is there hope for me? Should I go back on ADs or try and heal without them? Please help me. I need to hear a success story. Thanks for reading and for your advice. I value it so much. Blessings.

ADMIN NOTE Farmgirlworks's Introductions topic is here. A pickle-and-cheese sandwich marked the beginning of the end of this trip to hell. At 25 months, I stopped in at a neighborhood yard sale. While my friend looked at a carpet from Mexico, I was drawn to an older man sitting on the front stoop and eating something. I looked closer and saw that it was a pickle-and-cheese sandwich. And I realized that I *wanted* one. I craved it. Bad. It was a strange feeling after months of forcing myself to eat and often could only stomach potato chips dipped in butter. I walked over and discussed the sandwich with him. Havarti cheese, bread, lettuce, and, of course, pickles. He told me that the brine of pickles is good for cramping. “I come from a long line of crampers,” he said. I could not get it out of my mind. I actually had a CRAVING. Next stop was the grocery store and I got all the ingredients. I dressed it up a little by making it into a grilled cheese and pickle sandwich with lettuce, mayo and mustard. Cut it into little triangles and, well on the eighth day, God made a pickle-and-cheese sandwich. And it was good. Best of all, I knew I was going to heal in time. The corner had been turned. . . . For every person who is in withdrawal -- wherever you are in the process -- you will heal!!! Know that, deeply breathe it in. Healing is inevitable… unfortunately the pain is too but it will eventually end. Hang in there. I didn’t “think” I would recover but always “believed” it because of the Success Stories. I have gone through so much high stress the past 3 years -- some of which was withdrawal but a lot was situational family dramas, auto near death experiences, and meeting my biological father less than a year ago. It’s been, well, "a lot." However, I am grateful and humbled to be on the other side. Yes, I still trend toward depression and anxiety but not at sky-high withdrawal levels. I now have tools to cope. Creativity is increasing each day and my motivation and cognition, while lagging a few steps behind, is coming back as well. And while anger is hard-wired into my DNA, now I am more of a firecracker than a bomb. ~~~ Drug: sertraline (zoloft) 50-75mg Time on drug: Jan 2012 - April 2017 Kindling: cold-turkey (CT) multiple times including once in 2015 for 6 months Fast-tapered sertraline 5ish weeks Complete end on April 1, 2017 Age/sex: 50yo female Recovery: 33 months, 90+ percent Supplements: magnesium powder, fish oil, aspirin. I used others ($$$) but nothing with regularity. ~~~ I was put on sertraline because I had just come back to Seattle from a six-month stint in an isolated, tiny rural town as a funeral director -- not stressful at all. I quickly fell into physically painful depression and high anxiety because I had no job, no place to live, and a new dog -- not stressful at all. No doubt I had PTSD. If I knew then what I know now, I should have splurged on therapy, quit drinking, and gotten a gym membership. But I did not and after two months asked my GP to prescribe anything to make the pain stop. After a couple weeks on Wellbutrin which created such anxiety, I quit and switched to Zoloft. And it worked. At least for a while. But there was breakthrough depression and I did not want to be dependent on a drug for the rest of my life. Of course, the GP gave me the lines about “it’s just like insulin for a diabetic” and “you have a chemical imbalance.” I went rogue several times and tried to stop cold turkey because this stuff isn’t addictive, right? I finally decided in spring 2017 that I wanted to stop for good. I decided to attend an ayahuasca ceremony for Easter -- hippie! -- and knew I could not be on an SSRI to do it. So I did a fast taper for Lent and in 5ish weeks stopped. The ayahuasca was transformative and I felt great… until I soon did not. My therapist at the time, with no medical knowledge, advised I switch to Lexapro because “it worked” for her. I dumped her immediately because my soul knew this was not right and was beginning to sound like a medical pharmaceutical conspiracy. After a couple months of suffering and quitting drinking, I found Surviving Antidepressants and saw that indeed this pain was REAL and experienced by others and I could lean into the expertise here. I’ve never looked back. The moderators said it would take time and indeed it did. Here is my thread about it. ~~~ The following helped me stay alive… I was going to say “and hope” but, frankly, there were several months when I didn’t have a shred of hope. It is the absolute worst (insert every curse ever uttered) hell. And I say this as someone who survived brain surgery. Yes: this is worse. And you will get through it. What kept me alive: - information - peer support - Success Stories on this site - acceptance - rage at pharmaceutical companies I obsessively read most of the “symptoms” threads to find out what was happening and get information. I needed proof that I wasn’t a freak of nature and that others had experienced the exact same thing… and recovered. The information on this site is invaluable, I learned so much. We are lucky to have such a comprehensive resource. I also watched YouTube videos, Baylissa Frederick videos, and read Beyond Meds and Inner Compass Initiative. The peer support on SA is exceptional -- I am reading over my thread and moved to tears (I can cry now!) by the compassion of members. I briefly hosted a Meetup for other withdrawal folks and could only do it a few times because I was still ill (apologies to The Smiths). I could not hold space for the misery and sad stories that people appeared with. One dear girl came with a handwritten letter in pencil on lined paper about her experience -- I am still haunted and inspired by her courage. I bow to the moderators here and what they do daily. Their knowledge and compassion blow my mind. It is a strength not many of us have. Part of my diet was reading the Success Stories over and over and over. There are some that I read at least a dozen times, eating up every single word and ingesting the message that “it does get better, hang on.” Do good writers get afflicted with withdrawal? It seems so based on the Success Stories. Seriously, I cannot recommend these enough to give you the strength to make it through one more day, hour, minute, second. Acceptance came late in the game because I couldn’t believe this might go on for years. I had to hit rock bottom first: unable to work, “friends” disappearing, and the possibility of never feeling any semblance of joy again. In the beginning, I resolved to go on by giving myself deadlines. “If you make it one year and everything still is this bad, go back on drugs.” “If you make it 18 months and it is still this bad, you can kill yourself.” “If you make it 24 months and it is still this bad, then you can storm the office of the CEO of Pfizer.” Yeah, immature crap, I know. But it helped me stick it out. Then at 2 years, my bio-father unexpectedly entered my life and deadlines were no longer viable options -- that relationship means the world to me. I think that was when I truly started to “accept” that I’d be sick as long as I was sick and get well when I got well. Yes, rage is not zen, not productive, and probably wasted energy. But it was the spark in my darkest hours that kept me going. I don’t mean homicidal rage, just the desire to add to information about how real and bad this experience is. There is a rage that comes with not being “seen” and this illness is definitely not seen except by those going through it and a few compassionate people. Every time I read “discontinuation syndrome” in media articles, I wanted to pull my hair out. Still do. I firmly believe that it will be seen eventually and want to support that however possible. What has helped me, but is not in the category of keeping me alive, is first and foremost kundalini yoga. I am now taking a training course in kundalini and am developing a class for people going through withdrawal. It is a trauma unto itself and the focus on the glandular system and, especially, strengthening nerves has helped immensely in healing. AA for honest sharing. I wasn’t able to get into the personal soul-searching until half way through the second year as what I was experiencing was chemical and no amount of soul searching was going to change that. I was legit envious of those who recovered from alcohol or opiates in months and here I was suffering from prescribed medication for years. And, I had reservations -- sometimes explosive anger -- at the members on psych drugs. However, now I am getting so much from AA, seeing patterns, changing my behavior going forward, forgiving myself the past. Hydrotherapy in the form of pools, hot tubs, and saunas were a big part at the end of year 1. Especially the sauna. I religiously do a cold rinse at the end of showers. This stimulates the parasympathetic system through the vagus nerve. Check out Wim Hof on YouTube. I do it because of kundalini but this method is a widely accepted way to strengthen nerves. And taking epsom salt baths a couple times a week calmed my body especially during bouts of akathisia. Acupuncture: I still do this regularly and she followed the NADA protocol for drug withdrawal (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153313/) Art! It took a good year before I began to have glimpses of ideas for art projects. My thread has the work I did. Sometimes just sitting and slowly stitching was all I could manage. The last piece was drawn from quotes here and I am proud of it as a piece of activism. Timed gratitude lists for 10-15 minutes each day. Did this for a few months in the second year. I got this from a site about combating anhedonia and there is a neurological basis to strengthen the “wires” of positive connections in the brain. The gratitudes always have to be different to strengthen your “mind muscle” to see more positive events. Yeah, it sounds hokey... and it also helped. ~~~ Symptoms, I’ve had a few but not too few to mention (if you think “My Way,” please make it the Sid Vicious version): black depression, sky-high anxiety, neuro-emotions, anhedonia, daily suicidal ideation, headaches, severe head pressure, low appetite, panic attacks, leaky eyes, facial nerves tingling, akathisia, cortisol morning spikes, fatigue, tense shoulders and neck, cognitive decline (cog fog), depersonalization/derealization (DP/DR), no creativity, impulsive rage at people on the street, catatonia, intrusive thoughts, unmotivated, no confidence, no self-esteem, and emotional dysregulation (a later symptom). Had short windows but mainly months of waves. Triggers: fluorescent lights, caffeine, processed food, crowds, unsupportive family/friends, and above all else, high situational stress. ~~~ Admittedly, I am nervous about big situational stressors that are marching down the pike in the form of aging parents (now I have three), financial security, and vocation. Then, there is the “3 year relapse.” My memory is not good and focus is difficult. But both are steadily improving. I do wonder if this experience has made me less resilient to depression and anxiety. However! I made it through and if that doesn’t take serious resilience, I don’t know what does. So screw the nervousness: I’ll survive yet again. You will too. ❤️ . . . It just wasn't like the old days anymore No, it wasn't like those days... Does the body rule the mind Or does the mind rule the body? I dunno – THE SMITHS, "STILL ILL" ~~~ Book recommendations The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth by Gerald May Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker Own Your Self and A Mind of Your Own by Dr Kelly Brogan Death Grip: A Climber's Escape from Benzo Madness by Matt Samet Blue Dreams by Lauren Slater

Hi everyone, I have been a member on this site for awhile (can’t remember when I joined). But I have never posted. My journey of tapering from Lamictal has been a long one of starts and stops. My original dose was 200mg (started in 2009ish). I started tapering in 2015, and I am currently on 100mg. I have no idea if Lamictal ever did anything for me, I was diagnosed with depression in 2005 after a miscarriage, which was devastating. I was prescribed Zoloft (if my memory serves me correctly), and then went off Zoloft when I was pregnant in 2006, but went into a tailspin, had a hospital stay while pregnant, went on other meds and after the birth of my son, was first prescribed Lamictal, (along with Cymbalta, which I successfully got off) My provider at the time thought that I had 1 hypomanic episode (because I stayed up late cleaning 1 night) and diagnosed me with Bipolar 2 depression. I never believed this diagnosis. I have 2 questions/concerns 1) what if I was kept stable by the med? And what will I be like off of it? I’m so scared I will fall apart without it and I won’t be the same person, or have emotions I can’t handle. I know no one can answer these questions but I don’t know where to go from here. I want to be medication free. 2) I don’t know the best method for tapering and I am mathematically challenged. Do I just continue to split pills (and use my scale) or use a liquid taper? I did see the tapering schedules and calculators, I have difficulty downloading the calculator. I guess I’m just looking for success stories and comfort, with these difficult decisions. Thank you

hello! i've been reading this site for awhile now and finally decided to contribute. the information here has helped me immensely as i've been going through this. hopefully i can add something that may help someone else as well in college i was put on zoloft in 1996 for generalized anxiety disorder. i also have traits of a highly sensitive person. i tolerated zoloft well except for some side effects that i learned to live with. i stayed on lower doses ranging from 25mg-50mg. i went up and down in those ranges over the years unsupervised and never noticed any issues, although if i forgot the take my pill the night before i would get brain zaps in the morning. in january 2013 i decided to try to get off of zoloft after 17 years to see how well i could tolerate the world med-free. before doing so, i learned CBT and mindfulness meditation so i thought i had it under control. i met with a psychiatrist who put me on a taper plan. while going down, i did have bouts of being very emotional, depression, anhedonia, anxiety/cortisol spikes, brain zaps and other feelings I've never experienced before and are hard to describe. the psychiatrist told me it was normal and would go away in a few days. the smaller increments under 10mg were the hardest. i had the worst brain zaps (hundreds a day) and i did slow down the taper a bit but she again said it would go away in a few days. at that point i was just trying to power through it. funny, i remember thinking "this can't be normal and must be causing some damage." too bad i trusted her instead of my gut and didn't research or find this site sooner. my symptoms at first 6 months: - constant painful headaches - brain zaps - physical "headaches" (which i call "ickiness"- head pressure like i have a heavy wet blanket on my head, hard to concentrate, depression, fuzzy, hard to focus, painful stiff neck and fullness in ears) - daytime cortisol spikes - sensitively to sound that makes me want to cry - an eye twitch on my right eye lid - lack of motivation - waves of anxiety, depression, anhedonia and the other feelings. symptoms that developed after i had an anxiety attack 6 months in: - all symptoms above - very strong cortisol/adrenaline spikes mostly starting between 2-4am and cutting in mid morning - nerves feeling like they are supercharged - underlying anxiety reoccurring with some ocd - fatigue - tinnitus - exhausted when i talk sometimes - struggling with real depression - twitches in finger of right hand (about once a month it will pick a different finger) currently, 10 months since last dose, I'm in the worst and longest wave I've even been in. i believe i had a paradoxical reaction to some supplements i was given from a naturopathic doctor last month. i was also very very stressed out and at the start of a wave so it may have been that too or a combo of both. after months of thinking some of my symptoms were healed or drastically weakened, they've all come back and incredibly strong. in the earlier months i actually had 1-2 weeks a few times of feeling normal between a few weeks of feeling bad. it gave me the illusion i wasn't that bad and kept expecting the windows to get longer. i haven't had a full week of feeling better since august. now I'm lucky to get a full day or 2. frequently i feel better in the evenings so i don't want to discount that. I know i shouldn't have expectations but i really hope after this bad wave ends (or "if it ever ends" is how i feel right now) these super strong symptoms will subside and i will feel like I'm making progress once again. i can't wait. is anyone familiar with recovering from paradoxical effects? its been over a month now for me and when i feel its getting better it just morphs into something else. i just started to see a psychiatrist who is familiar with withdrawal and is trying to help me but its a slow process. i'm on a low sugar, high protein diet. i'm still learning how to do better at this. i don't drink alcohol or coffee. i walk at least 30 minutes every morning and try to do yoga and pilates once a week. i go to acupuncture weekly as well. i try to be mindful and meditate but not very good about keeping it up. somehow i've managed to keep my job but worry i may need to take a medical leave. what i currently take daily: - 2400mg omega 3 (the red label from trader joes) - 200mg magnesium (calcium magnesium citrate in a bottle, if someone recommends something better, let me know) - multi vitamin pill - i just started l-theanine under doctor's orders as needed: - i take advil when i have the headaches or the ickiness headaches. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. - i used to take a little bit of espresso to help cut the headaches and that would help sometimes but i haven't done that for awhile. when cortisol is high: - vitamin c pill - some homeopathic drops (i have 2 different ones i alternate, Relaxtone and a tincture my naturopath made) - i have lavender pills my naturopath gave me but i'm not sure if they do much so i stopped taking them. i'm curious if anyone has experience with these - tulsi/holy basil tea (you can get it at whole foods) i guess that is it for now. thank you for reading and happy healing!

Hello - I attempted a direct switch from a high dose of lexapro to Sertraline under doctor guidance - I now realise from reading this website that I may have kindled my nervous system. I subsequently increased the lexapro dose and have reduced it again, probably making matters worse. The biggest effect I have had is a noticeable cognitive impact, my brain literally can't solve complex problems the way it could only a few months ago and I have had to step back from a senior executive role. I really don't know what to do - I stupidly halved my lexapro dose 4 days ago and think I should updose - but by how much? Have I done permanent brain damage because it feels like I have? My memory is shaky and complex math that was easy to me is now beyond me, almost like i've had a stroke or something.

Hello everyone. Im thankful for this forum, it has really helped me understand what im doing through. Here's a short-ish decription of what im experiencing: Im hyper sensitive to noise. Normal and even low sounds do a 'thud' in my ear. After Zoloft, i hear more acutely and at the same time am more bothered by sounds. My own voice is overwhelming, its like it resonates in my head. When people around me speak normally, it sounds so loud. Im like Varys in that Game of Thrones scene where Joffrey yells 'I am the King'. Thank god my family is understanding and they whisper around me. Going outside is a challenge, especially in places with car noise. When i get home, its like my senses are overloaded and i need at least 30min of total quiet in order to relax. I constantly hear the thuds of neighbour's footsteps in other apartments and generally alot more neightbour noise - something ive never noticed before. Other effects i feel: some painful and tingly fingers for the last month, anxiety Ater skipping days for two years(my own uninformed way of slowly cutting dose), ive been doing a regular dose every day for the last 3 months. I feel like its time to start taper, especially since the noise sensitivity has been getting worse with time. I need some advice. Is is safe to start tapering at this point or should i hold more? Has anyone had similar sound sensitivity stuff? Even knowing others have had it helps. Has anyone had their effects get worse with time, rather than with dose?

What is the best way to taper from 25mg of Sertaline/Zoloft after being on it for 5 months.