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Weimgirl: Free from Zoloft and ostpartum depression


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I have used this site plenty of times. mostly to check back and see success stories. there was so many days I needed encouragement to believe that freedom would one day be mine.

I started taking Zoloft for Postpartum depression I was on it for a total of a year and 2 months. I spent the next 2 years battling the negative effects of coming off and withdrawals from this horrible drug. The side effects being off were horrible, much worse then when I was on them. I felt I was going insane. Suicidal thought were rampant, and so was the hopelessness of feeling like I'd be that way forever.

Knowing that these were just symptoms from the withdrawals were the only logical thing that passed through my brain and kept me on track.

 

I have been completely off antidepressants now for 1 year and 8 months. The first year was utterly awful and the last 8 months have gotten increasingly better with time . as much as I'm a proactive person who wanted to feel like I was doing all I could to recover. The more time went on the more I realized that my best remedy for healing was TIME. I know that doesn't sound fun and its not like i don,t believe the other treatments and support I used werent benefical. Counceling, proper nutrition, chiropractic care and spending time with the Lord in Prayer are all positive aspects but when the brain needs to heal I believe time was my best asset. it also really helped take the pressure off me.

I can honestly say that I feel completely and totally healed from my postpartum depression. I love my little girl to the moon and back. I also am no longer afraid to make plans for the future. and I the last 4 months I have flown in a plane 8 times which is something that would have been unheard of and probably one of my biggest fears. Keep facing your troubles head on and never run from them. Recovery is for everyone. Finding the strength to be positive and pick yourself up again is exhausting but so is Anxiety and depression. You can do this. there is an end. you will come out of this so amazingly strong. Trust me.

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Weimgirl, Congratulations to you!!!! I am so happy for you. So happy your little girl has her Mommy!!!! Happy Mothers day to you. Oh, you must be so very happy and feel so blessed!!!! I am very encouraged to hear you, yet another voice coming through, speak to TIME!!! TIME being the essential piece. Yes, the other measures are so important and I am one who believes in prayer and the Lord. My own lifeline!!!! It is a relief because you are right, it takes pressure off. We cannot make our CNS heal quicker than it can. Thank you for sharing your good news!!!

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What a lovely Mother's Day story. Thanks for sharing!

200 Zoloft; 10 mg Zyprexa; 4 mg valium as of May 2021;  Valium taper: July 16: 3.5 valium; July 30: 3 mg (paused valium taper); Aug. 23: 2.5 mg
Zyprexa: July 26: 8.75 mg; Aug. 9: 7.5 mg; Aug. 30: 7.1 mg

-------
Dec 1, 2016. 10 mg zyprexa for 1.5 month. Started taper mid-Jan. 2017. Cut 1.25 mg every 2 weeks; smaller cuts 2.5 mg down. Stopped at .6 mg. May 7, 2017: zyprexa free. 
Zoloft: Dec1, 2016, 200 mg. Started taper: Jun12, 2017: 197.5 mg; Jun19,:195 mg; July 2:185mg; July 9,:180 mg; July16,: 175; July 23: 170; July 30: 165; Aug6: 160; Aug13: 155; Aug. 20: 150; Aug.27: 146 mg; Sept3: 145 mg; Sept10:143 mg; Sept17:140 mg....Nov5: 122 mg...Dec3:112.5 mg; Jan14, 2018: 95 mg...Jan28: 90 mg; Feb21:80 mg; Mar11: 75 mg; May2:70 mg; May15: 68 mg; May28: 65 mg; Jun9: 62 mg;Jun25: 60 mg:July22: 55 mg; Aug25: 45 mg. Aug28: 50 mg...Oct 28: 38 mg; Dec.4: 30 mg; Jan8,2019: 25mg; Feb6: 23.5 mg; Apr1:17.5mg; May1:1 mg; May 5: 18;  May 18:15mg; June 16:12.5mg; Sept 10:11 mg; Sept.16:10 mg; Oct. 1: 9mg; Nov. 27: 8mg; Dec.5: 7mg; Jan.1,2020, 6 mg; Feb1: 5 mg; May 1: 2.5 mg; Jn 1: 2 mg; Jy 1: 1.5 mg

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Weimgirl, was the flying mandatory or optional? How did you know you were ready? I Thank you to respond.

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Thank you for posting this success story! Really inspiring. 

 

When did you see a turning point of healing? Did you experience any physical symptoms at all or was it mainly mental symptoms? How many symptoms did you get?

Also did you CT or taper your medication?

My medication -- Prozac
August 2015: Started on 10mg/day
September 2015 to May 2016: Increased to 20mg/day
May 2016: Abruptly stopped 20mg for 2 weeks (withdrawal symtoms arose but assumed it was worsened depression)
June 2016 to August 2016: increased to 40mg (my body reacted very badly to this dose)
August 2016: decreased back to 20mg
September 2016: tapered off 10mg this month alone
September 30, 2016: last day of Prozac
October 2016: month long window
November 2016-Present: WD symptoms (too many physical sxs and some mental sxs)
February 5-20, 2017: Reinstated at 1-2mg // February 21, 2017: Back to no meds

 

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so good to hear these stories, how wonderful! I wish continuous healing for you and a wonderful time with your family!

2005-2006: Cipralex 5 mg

2009-2010: Cipralex 5 mg

2012-2015: Cipralex 5mg, 10mg 

tapered 10mg-7.5mg-5mg-2,5-0 (I always waited for a few weeks on the current dosage until I felt stable. Steps were too big I realized too late)

Completely drug free since August 2015

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So very happy for you!

zoloft 2004-08 tapered too fast(2 weeks)
Luvox 5/08 100 mg 07/10 40mg via small reductions, 08/10 39mg, 09/10 38mg, 10/10 37mg, 11/10 36mg,2/11 35mg, 5/11 34mg, 8/11 33mg, 11/11 32mg, 01/12 31mg, 03/12 30mg, 4/12 29mg, 5/12 28 mg, 8/12 27 mg, 11/12 26 mg, 1/13 25 mg, 3/13 24 mg, 4/13 23 mg,6/13 22 mg, 7/13 21 mg, 8/13 20mg, 10/13 19 mg, 11/13 18 mg, 12/13 17 mg, 1/14 16 mg, 3/14 13 mg, 9/14 10.9 mg,  1/15 10 mg, 3/15  9 mg,  5/15 8 mg. 11/15 7.12 mg.  4/16  5 mg, 6/16   4.5 mg,  9/16 4.2 mg, 1/17 3.48 mg, 2/17  3.2 mg,  4/17 2.2 mg, 5/17 2.0 mg, 6/17  1.74 mg, 7/17 1.58 mg, 9/17 1.27 mg, 11/17 1.0 mg,  1/18 0.79 mg

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Congratulations to you! It was nice to find your succes story because I was on Sertraline (same stuff with different name) and you are living prove of healing. I was longer time on the drug so that's why it will take longer time to heal, I quess.

 

But anyway, enjoy of your life because now it's finally possible! :)

I'm not a native english speaker, sorry!

 

My history with Sertraline:

 

November 2009 - September 2013: most of the time my dose was 100 mg but when I stoped taking it first time my dose was 25 mg.

 

Unfornately I decided to start taking Sertraline again in April 2014. My new dose was 50 mg.

I took my last pill of Sertraline in November 2014. Then my dose was 25 mg.

 

Symptoms: PSSD, anhedonia and emotional anesthesia

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Weimgirl

Its so encouraging to see your recovery story. I was wondering if you could talk about anhedonia and sexual dysfunction. Did you lose emotions / feelings ? 

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great story!! I second lone ranger. how was the emotional side of things?

late July...lexapro 10 seroquel 25.....due to mild depression......adverse reaction, suicidal thoughts, hospitalization

August....felt that meds were ripping stomach apart....docs didn't believe me..upped meds to seroquel 125, lexapro 20, mirtazapine 30, olanzapine 20....stayed on these drugs unitl mid november......severe anhedonia all the time...mid novemeber 2016 , began taper.....very small windows of emotion...Christmas....off everything by Christmas day......last six weeks, cried and laughed on a number of occasions for first time since taking initial meds....8 occasions of strong emotion over 6 weeks in ealry 2016.......doubting recovery......

BIG WINDOW IN july 2017, felt incredible, lasted a month or so, felt close to recovered...window left, september to Chrimstas 17 was anhedonic hell.....Turn of the year, January 2018, some very strong days (a window) offering renewed hope

back to hell until late February 2018, strong 10 day window....followed by anhedonic wave for 7 months straight! not a flicker of normalcy

September 2018 ...incredible window...followed by three month wave.January 2019.... a strong window

window subsided, but new baseline was higher.....life since January 2019 ( 9 months and counting) has been far better. Complete anhedonia is gone!! God, I've tears writing that. I am far from recovered, but far from hell...to use a scale, if life is rated out of a hundred, I was about minus 50 for the majority of 2 years..I know feel about 30 per cent of self, experiences intermittent flickers of normal life regularly....My days have more quality and I am optimistic of recovery. 

 

 

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THANK YOU! I needed this today. So sad you went through WD for so long, but I am in the same boat and 9 months into this hell hole. Seeing you survived it all and came out the other side is beyond encouraging. 

1987 March, two weeks on something when I suffered from postpartum depression, Symptoms were anxiety and depersonalization. No one really knew about PPD at the time, so I did my own research (old school at the library) and found a doctor, Katrina Dalton, who wrote one of the books on PPD. She helped me find natural progesterone and it was a huge help.
2005: Put on Citalopram. 20 mg 

2010: Upped the dose to 40 mg.

2014: Big crash, upped the dose to 60 mg. Seemed to do the trick. 

March 2016: I hit bottom. Quit meds cold turkey. Blamed it on too many drugs in my systems with stressful events too.

2017: Taking magnesium, Vitamin D, Fish Oil, a cortisol reducer from Whole Foods, and drinking loads of water. Suffering terribly from anxiety, racing thoughts, internal shakes, depression (never had that before quitting), lethargy, angry brain, loss of appetite, frequent colds, and flu like symptoms off and on. Health anxiety from all the symptoms.

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  • 4 weeks later...

"Recovery is for everyone". Thankyou, I needed to hear that today! 

I wish you all the best. How lovely to hear about your little girl. 

Current dose: 0! Free!  Quit June 2017.

2017: Last dose zoloft: 17 June 0,00065 mg 18 May 0, 001 mg 14 May 0,002 mg 9 May 0,003 mg 28 April 0,006 mg 19 April 0,009 mg 8 April 0,013 mg 25 March 0,019 mg 22 March 0,039 mg 18 March 0,052 mg 16 March 0,079 mg 4 March 0,086 1 March 0,099 mg 22 February 0,11 mg 15 February 0,13 mg 6 February 0,145 mg 24 January 0,15 mg 19 January 0,19 mg 10 January 0,20 mg 3 January

2016: 0,98 to 0,22 mg; 2015: 2,35 to 1,01 mg; 2014: 4,9 to 2,5 mg; 2013: 9,1 to 5,1 mg; 2012: 15,7 to 9,7 mg; 2011: Started on 25 mg - then 50 mg- dropped to 25- to 12.5 mg - back to 25 mg - after 18.75 mg started tiny tapering to 16.6 mg

Started on 25 mg Zoloft in March 2011 due to stressrelated tinnitus that gave me panicattacks. Had a terrible reaction to Zoloft from start, but was told to "hold on". After four months I was stuck. Therefore the long taper. Crazy, I know... Super sensitive to drops and have dropped by 4-6 % from the previous dose.

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  • 3 months later...
On 2017-05-15 at 0:09 PM, gigi63 said:

Weimgirl, was the flying mandatory or optional? How did you know you were ready? I Thank you to respond.

 

On 2017-05-15 at 0:09 PM, gigi63 said:

Weimgirl, was the flying mandatory or optional? How did you know you were ready? I Thank you to respond.

flying was optional as they were all for vacations.  I know that sounds like a luxury but travel was a very scary thing for me.  Planes and  being away new food new place etc. It is something that is very important to my husband so it was something I really wanted to conquer so I just kept practicing it. I spent many hours in airport bathrooms with nervous diarrhea and vomiting.  It still not my favourite thing but I can totally do it now without all the physical outcries. I just told my body. "Do your worst". I wasn't giving in.  Good luck with your own flying.  All the best 

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On 2017-05-15 at 3:56 PM, anongrl5590 said:

Thank you for posting this success story! Really inspiring. 

 

When did you see a turning point of healing? Did you experience any physical symptoms at all or was it mainly mental symptoms? How many symptoms did you get?

Also did you CT or taper your medication?

I would say the turning point in my healing was when I was very low and I could look at my daughter with so much love. Knowing that I was no longer dealing with Postpartum Depression and now was in a battle with the withdrawals was a huge turning point.  Having my first great window of relief was amazing too. I felt like myself which was something I thought was never going to be a reality again.  I was able to be the mother I dreamed of being. My body definitely followed the wave and window cycle.  Which sucked to be thrown into a low after a period of normal living but I just new to be thankful for them and to know that the low WILL have an end.   I still have mild waves but am completely able to function in them so I know they are just residual effects and can confidently come through them.  

As for my symptoms. Sheesh where to start.  Yes I had many mental and physical. Always during a wave and all the symptoms disappear during a window

Brain fog, Insomnia, stiff neck, nausea, panic, depression, extream fatigue, loss of interest in everything, sore eyes, Irritability numbness in fingers and forearms, and random vibrations on my body. I would think I was dying or had a chronic disease but all would be ok as soon as I would feel better for a couple months.  I helped me know that it was all just side effects.  Hope this helps you some or at least makes you feel more normal

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On 2017-05-17 at 0:52 PM, theloneranger86 said:

Weimgirl

Its so encouraging to see your recovery story. I was wondering if you could talk about anhedonia and sexual dysfunction. Did you lose emotions / feelings ? 

At my low times I didn't feel like having any relationship it intimacy at all but I was just lacking interest in everything not sex specifically. I have had a really hard time with the pleasure of Sex through this whole experience but it if hard to say why was caused by the drug and what was caused from Child birth as I had had lots of physical damage done during birth that could be major factors.  Sorry to not be of more help.  

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Weimgirl thank you for coming back and answering our questions.  Where are you at now?   May I ask, did sexual desire return?  Hope you are continuing to see great improvements.  Thank you. Gigi. 

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Hi Weimgirl,

 

I am really glad to here that you have recovered and taken the time to write home about it. I too am taking Zoloft. 100mg daytime. May I ask how you went about doing it? The drugs here are difficult to cut, but in saying that, I am open to getting off this drug as you are living proof that it is possible:excl: I have tried sheer willpower but that alone won't do it. Feels a bit like alcohol really Only time will do it.

2008-2012: Cymbalta, Zyprexa, Valium (5 days supply),

2012 - Seroquel x 4 weeks C/T. 

2014 - Seroquel x 2 Weeks C/T. Crossed to Risperidone 3mg for 6months until December.

2014 - Stopped Risperidone. Xfer > Anti-Depressant 200mg Zoloft and 6mg Clonazepam. 

2018 - 150mg Clomipromine changed Anti-depressant. Tapered Benzo to 1mg Clonazepam. 2019 - xfer to 20mg Diazepam. 

 

Currently:

Anafranil: 75mg. 17th Dec 2022 70mg. 27th Dec 22: 75mg, 14 January 23': 70mg. 16-26th January: 50mg (too fast drop no sleep). Jan 28th 2023: 70mg. 20 Feb 2023: 65mg. 11/06: 60mg 9/08: 55mg 15/08/23 : 50mg
3/03/2024: 60mg (Updose)

 

        Diazepam (V): 25th Oct 2019' 20mg. 22 Dec 19' 19mg. 04 Apr 2020' 18mg,  30 September 20' 17.5mg , 13 Nov 2020' 17mg. 01 January 2021: 16mg, 13th Aug 21' 15mg. 1st Nov' 2021 14.5mg. 1st Dec' 2021 14mg. 13 January 2022: 13.5mg, 11 Feb: 13mg.  11 April 22' 12.5mg, 12 May 22': 12mg, 6th September 2022: 11mg Valium. 9th October: 10.5mg, 25th Oct 10mg. 12 March 23: 9.5mg 2 April: 9.25mg 23 April: 9mg 12/05: 8.75 26/05: 8.5 12/09: 8.25 21/09: 8.5. 3/10: 8.25 17/10: 8mg 20th Nov Brassmonkey: (7.9.,7.8, 7.75) 5 Feb: 7.25mg. 23 Feb: 7mg 

*.      Have tried to go at faster rate than 0.5mg but is currently too fast. 

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  • ChessieCat changed the title to Weimgirl: Free from Zoloft and ostpartum depression
  • 1 year later...
  • Moderator Emeritus

Hi there,

 

The staff at SA are wondering how you are.  We'd love to hear how you are doing now.   Would you mind dropping by and giving an update?

 

Thanks.

CC

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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