SSRI withdrawal

[WildFlower]

Anyone gone through this? How long does it last? I am seriously doubting my decision to go off Zoloft. The dizziness, and electric shock feeling, constant tiredness, dreams galore at night. And trying to deal with a nutty 3 yo at the same time. I did wean myself down, but 2 days after taking none of it, I started getting withdrawal symptoms. I hate this. I am taking ginger and hylands nerve tonic as needed.

[mellifera]

How did you step down? I have read that some people take several months, and take a fraction of the smallest tablet every other day to finally wean off. :think I have gone on and off SSRIs over the years, and after stopping cold turkey, the brain zaps last a few weeks.

[WildFlower]

I was on 100 mg every day and only had 4 days left so cut them all in half and took half a dose for the next 8 days. Then nothing after. So maybe not slow enough. I wonder if I should just get it refilled and take it for a while and then decrease properly. I am scheduled for a follow up appnt for february 6th and can ask about tapering off. It was scheduled 6 months ago so I didn't really talk to her about stopping

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[lizzyd]

I went a little slower than that the first time. I think maybe over 2 weeks.

The second time I was on it was brief and I pretty much went cold turkey. I guess because I had not been on it too long I did not have many withdrawal symptoms.

[Andi]

Yeah that's a pretty quick drop off. I weaned off of Zoloft by forgetting to take it random days. But it was a couple months before I realized that I just didn't need it anymore. I would refill and discuss a longer plan

[Calliope]

If you are not already taking them at night, start with that. It helps you sleep through the worst of your withdraw symptoms. Cut the pills in half. Take one half in the morning and one half in the evening. Then split the evening half and take 1/4, but keep your 1/2 morning dose. After a few days, split the morning half a pill, so you are taking 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 at night. After a few days, drop the evening 1/4 but keep the morning 1/4. See how you do. If you are surviving, you can move the 1/4 dose to evening and then drop to every other day until you feel like you can do without it.

Was that too complicated? :shifty I found the splitting the pill and doing morning and evening doses really helped. Took me about 2 weeks. No withdraw symptoms.

[WildFlower]

That makes a lot of sense , taking it morning and evening and splitting the doses. I have run out of them but can still refill it. I am still thinking maybe I should go back on it and then try that but wait a bit. The only reason I was going off the meds is because I have gained so much weight and was thinking it was partially due to the zoloft because I had read others had that side effect. But now I think I should have put more effort into losing weight first and if it didn't work while on zoloft then wean off instead of having the bright idea to get off then try to lose weight. I am feeling scared of my own feelings because I have been having a lot of anger toward dd and been really impatient and unkind, bad thoughts when she is acting soooo 3. I felt this way before going on zoloft and it was so much better after I started zoloft. Now I am starting to feel the same constant irritation and anger. And I don't want to be like that.

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[Calliope]

Yeahhhh. I'm probably gonna be a zoloft lifer. :shifty I would rather feel like a normal person that has to pee all.the.time (my side effect), then go back to crazy obsessive and have normal bladder control. :bag

I used the method I mentioned to get myself from 100mg to 50 and felt fine. All of my previous attempts to wean off even a little were no fun at all.

[WildFlower]

So you didn't wean totally off, just decreased doses? Can I ask if you have any trouble losing/gaining weight on zoloft? I had read that it decreases metabolism. I really hope not. I don't much nd so much being on it but I dont want to have weight issues all the time. And I never did before till now. But I also sit around a lot when I don't feel good which is how I have been as I go off of it

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[mamacat]

Look for wean protocols online it has to be done VERY slowly.When my dd went off it she had to go to part tabs and that kind of thing every other day etc.Also lots of water and things like chlorophyll can help flush from system

[lizzyd]

It definitely caused weight gain for me. Towards the end of my first course on it it started causing night sweats. That and wanting to have a baby are what made me get off of it.

The second time was for PPD and like I said, it was brief. It started causing night sweats almost immediately and that wasn't a side effect I wanted to live with.

[Calliope]

No, I didn't wean off entirely. I was planning on it, but once I got to half my regular dose still feeling fine, I decided to stay there.

It doesn't seem to have caused weight gain for me, but everyone is different. The peeing all the time thing though. So. Annoying.

[ReadingMommy]

Unfortunately, yes to the weight gain. 40 lbs total, 25 of that in just the last few months that I was on it. I definitely believe it shut my metabolism down, because I was not able to start losing the weight through dietary changes and exercise until it was out of my system for several months. I'm curious if some liver cleansing would help get it out of the system faster.

I agree with taking it slow. I think I only had a couple bad days where it felt like it got worse before it got better once I got down to 0. Lots of water, rest, and go easy on yourself.

[WildFlower]

Thank you. I think I really do want to stay off ssrsis if I can and manage depression/anxiety naturally. I know I needed it for a time but I am ready to try other methods of management.yesterday was bad for me. I feel lots better today. Barely any dizziness today so far. And dd didn't wake all night so I feel more rested even tho I went to bed late. Good to know that it may take a while for weight loss. I mean not good that its likely, I just want to be informed and prepared.

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[Andi]

There is a really good book called when "panic attacks" that gave me tools to manage my anxiety without medication. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/076792083X?cache=1390843697&pi=SY200_QL40#ref=mp_s_a_1_3

That same Dr wrote another book called "feeling good" that my counselor also recommended.