As per a member's request, I've started this thread so we can discuss the symptoms we've suffered when going off of Zoloft.

Please share your Zoloft withdrawal experiences here.

Thanks.

-Bean

It was the worst experience in my life. Was at 150 mg and dropped 25 mg every 5 days to see if it changed the physical symptoms I was experiencing (chronic pain, numbness/tingling, etc). It did not, but added onto other problems, such as dizziness, feeling like I had to pee real bad for 4 days straight, joltiness, and other things. My depression came back quickly and with not feeling well physically either, I was a mess. I wound up overdosing and had to spend 3 days in a psych ward. Am trying Lexapro, but is too early to tell if it will work and doctors still don't know what's wrong with me physically yet. I'm doing o.k. mentally, but I still struggle. I will have to be more careful when I withdrawal in the future and tell more people what's going on. I need more accountability in my life. Don't really have my family for that, but I have many good friends here.

im sorry your having such a ruff time. hang in there.

I tapered off slowly and it wasn't too bad. I did have the "brain shocks" thing for about four weeks afterward; annoying and distracting but it eventually faded away.

John:

How are you feeling now? Are you currently taking any meds?

-Bean

I'm glad I found this thread so I can add in. My doctor just reduced my dosage from taking one pill everyday to one every other day. By the way, I have been in the medication for 2 years now and July last year, I hit the rock bottom of my life and I feel much better now about myself and my life in general. I used to experience panic attacks, anxiety, confused and really tough mornings and not enough sleep. But things are really improving; finally I've got my life pretty much sorted out: new job, found a new place to live (moving at the end of this month...yippie!) and able to take my dogs with me, self confidence, until last week...I started feeling rough mornings again.

The feeling is not as bad as before, but compared to the weeks before, I can feel that I am going backwards. Depressing mornings, difficult to focus, lost a little bit of a grip in my daily life (i.e. more temperamental). I discussed this with my doctor earlier this day and he said that it is normal. He wanted to stop Zoloft but I asked him if it was a good idea considering that work is pretty stressful at the moment and I have to move to a new place. So he kept the once every two days dosage and told me to come back in 2 weeks. So I am being monitored pretty closely.

It is not really good, a bit scary that I'm starting to feel down in the mornings again, waking up too early and a bit afraid listening to the birds chirp, but I think the body needs to adjust slowly with Zoloft because within a week, I can feel the difference.

It is also important to surround ourselves with just good things (sounds selfish, but who cares...) and not expose ourselves to potential depressing situation. I avoid hard to not go there and I don't care what my friends and family say about me. My doctor told me to not be afraid of the symptoms, I'm not going to be in the bottom again. So lets see what happens.

It is scary, though, the thought of stopping the meds, afraid that my depression will come again. It is like a worry whether I will survive the world after being in meds for so long. I hope I can get through this.

I'm on 150 mg a day right now. I tried the exact same thing- reduced my dosage down to 125 mg this week. I didn't have as much physical problems as you did but the emotions were AWFUL. It was absolutely horrible. I can't do it. I lasted only a few days. I'm back to taking 150mg. It sucks, I don't want to have to take pills for the rest of my life. I'm in a new relationship and my boyfriend is trying to adjust.

I am in a new city and I need to find a doctor here that I can talk to about my medication and possibly seek some talk therapy. I would like to change my meds at the very least. My main problem with Zoloft is that I can't climax during sex. I know, I know- it sounds so petty but the physical enjoyment is very important to me.

What do you think of the Lexapro?

Hi LeeLee,

I have been taking 50 mg for about a month and a half and I was feeling better, but now am becoming more anxious again. Hearing people talk about trying to cut back makes me rather fearful about upping my dosage. I'm meeting with my doctor later this week and will talk to him about it. Even at 50 mg I have had very frustrating sexual side-effects and a similar inability to orgasm (from the male perspective). I'm not exactly sure what to do because this is an unacceptable side effect for me, and I haven't heard anyone give any good advice about how to deal with it. Once I reach my 5 post minimum I'd like to start a new topic about this. In the meantime, hang in there and does anyone have any positive experience with overcoming sexual side effects? Please post if you do...

Peace,
Tom

I have to say that this withdrawal is not as easy as I thought. This two days has been the worst. I guess the body just needs time to adjust.

What I feel is lost energy, confused, not focused, sad, anxiety, felt left by friends, easily get upset. It is similar to when I was having the major depression. But I don't want to up my dosage. I want to be free from meds.

But I begin to think, maybe I have to live with Zoloft for the rest of my life. I dunno...

Losing hope here...

good luck deep. keep letting us know how ur doing. im sure my day will come to get off zoloft also. so it will b nice to come here and look at ur posts and have some ideas as to what will happen

Thanks, Jumbled.
This morning I woke up quite ok, still a bit disoriented but ok. Maybe because I know that I have to go travelling. So I guess it will help if there is something that I do to distract the feeling.

Although it is difficult, I think it's the only way to reduce the withdrawal effect. I try praying, breathing and though difficult, try to keep busy.

I'll keep everyone posted, but my feeling is that when you taper down Zoloft, it will take a while, just like when you started it, it takes a while to kick in.

DD

Too early to tell how the Lexapro will do. I just had to up it to 20mg and it is helping a little. I have a lot on my plate right now, so I don't know if that is affecting things or not. How come you dropped dosage? Good luck with everything!

How come you are dropping the dosage? It definitely takes awhile to adjust.

DD,

I'm really surprised that your doc advised to take it every other day rather than halving or reducing the daily dosage. I had a friend who used to mess with her meds (just couldn't accept the idea of being on an AD). She was a trainwreck with the every other day thing, which was her own self-prescribed solution. After a lot of pushing from me, she finally spoke to her doc who explained what a horrible idea it was to basically start and stop the AD every other day and instead advised her to take half the dose EVERY day. After that, my friend calmed down, felt better and was a lot easier to be around.

I don't know about this every other day idea. Doesn't sound right. Is this a GP advising you or a pdoc? Sounds like a GP to me.

Why are you coming off the Zoloft in the first place? Are you reporting the return of symptoms to your doc? He should be monitoring the return of symptoms. Honestly, with the level of Zoloft in your system ping-ponging around the way it is now, I don't see how you couldn't feel bad.

The normal way to come off Zoloft is to reduce the current dosage by 25 mg and keep going down 25 mgs at a time every fweek. Not take full dose one day, skip the next, take a full dose another day. This just doesn't sound like a doc who knows how to wean someone off an SSRI.

KA

[The normal way to come off Zoloft is to reduce the current dosage by 25 mg and keep going down 25 mgs at a time every fweek. Not take full dose one day, skip the next, take a full dose another day. This just doesn't sound like a doc who knows how to wean someone off an SSRI.

KA
[/quote]

KA, your input is very valuable. I was also thinking the right thing about taking it everyday but half of the dosage. My doctor is a psychiatrist. He is a good one so far, and when I was taking 50mg, I felt very stable. It has been quite a while taking one everyday and he thought that it was time to reduce the dosage. I agreed, but I didn't know that it was really difficult. I told him about the side effect but he said it is normal. So I tried to hang in there, but it really made me difficult to live my normal life.

Before, tapering from 100 mg a day to 50 a day was alright. But this last bit of my journey is really killing me.

I need to tell you that weekends are the worst, maybe it is also my PMS kicking in. Also, I am moving out from my apartment. Yesterday, I was really a wreck. I took 2 sleeping pills to just sleep and sleep.

I might take your advise by taking half a dose one day and a full dose another day. I have tons of things going on right now and I cannot afford having all this downer. It is ok during the working days, but during weekends, it is just killing me. I also really want to be free from AD. Really. Although this means that I am 'designing' my own dosage, this probably is what I need to do for the time being.
Thanks.

DD

I mean, take 25 mg everday instead of 50 mg every other day.

Lets see how it works in a week. I hope it will give an effect after a week, like your friend, KA.

DD.

Telephofee,

I feel for you, I am also going the same thing, but I don't feel tingling. I just feel powerless, just want to sleep. Very depressed.

I don't have a friend to go too, I don't have a family that supports me. I only have one good friend but he is also busy with his own issues and family and I often feel upset that he couldn't help me that I start hurting him. See, this is what I am afraid of, losing friends because of my depression, because I used to have lots of them and now they are going away because of me not being too fun around, and I tend to pull out myself. But this is another issue.

I tried to tell my friends that I am going through a withdrawal, but they don't seem to care. So I don't know how friends are actually going to help support me. I am also moving house and work in the office is a bit stressing me out.

Anyways, with friends or not, I have to go through this. KA's information is very useful for me. I guess I have to self-subscribe myself by taking 25mg everyday instead of 50mg every other day. And see how it goes for the next two weeks or so.

OK, I hope this thread will go on, I really need some support with people sharing their experiences.

Cheers,
DD

I can share this with you other than b here to support you when u feel bad. i hope tomorrow is better. the sleep is prolly good for u so ur body can heal.

Thanks for sharing. I don't have much family support either and my friends don't understand, making it harder. I have good friends here, yet they aren't here when I really need them for stuff like this. There's some, but many are just too busy for me or have other priorities. Some of mine would rather pull out too. It's when attempting that sometimes you find out who your real friends are, which can be a total surprise, whichever way it goes. I don't get how some people don't care, but maybe that's who they are and then I evaluate the friendship. Like, what really defines a true friend and all that? Try the 25mg daily and see how it works. My Lexapro is finally kicking in and I am loving that. I hope that can keep up though. Sometimes medication will quit out on me and I have to have a higher dosage. Living in HI helps a whole lot, I don't think I'd be here otherwise. If I have to be on medication forever, then so be it. Better than being miserable. Sometimes you just can't help it and there's nothing wrong with that. Are you eventually going to switch to something else? I don't think withdrawaling is good if you're feeling as bad as you do. Hang in there. Prayin' for ya. Let me know how things are going.

Hi Tel,

(Maybe this should go to the relationship forum, but I hope the moderators know that it has some link).

Often, when we are depressed, we feel that everybody is gone and mainly it is because they don't understand what we are going through and how it feels to be rock bottom. You are right, you will find your true friends during this time. I did. But mostly, it also makes me stronger, knowing that I have to just be independant, by doing different things, say, exercise, eat good food, keep ourselves busy, and probably be selfish a bit. It is really difficult. That is why this forum is good for me; I can share.

I am following up what KA told me. I took 25mg of Zoloft today and I will do that also tomorrow. I will try and see if it will make me stable. I am also going through 'that time of the month', and also moving to a new place. So probably that is the trigger also, on top of the reduced meds.

I don't think I will change meds, I want to see if it works this way or not. I wonder what is the life time of the Zoloft though. I am tired of changing meds, personally!

I'll keep you guys posted. We are here, Tel, and if you need to vent out, you can pm me.

DD

Don't really want to add my whole story to this, as it's a bit of a horror movie (I posted it elsewhere on this forum if anyone's that interested). Let's just say that 14 months after stopping Zoloft, I still have the same raft of very painful and uncomfortable symptoms, still have the weird anxiety, and still have a brain that feels like a lump of sponge - but bear in mind that I was on this stuff for 10 years, so it's going to take a LONG time for things to return to normal. These drugs put a lot of stress on the nervous system, and coming off them after that long is a massive physical and neurological trauma. I am improving - slowly - and I'm nowhere near as bad as I was this time last year, but it's mind-blowing how long it can sometimes take when your brain has got a bit *too* used to being medicated. It's only in the last few years that the scientific stuff has been coming out about long-term effects, and ultra-protracted withdrawal after heavy use, and while it doesn't happen to everyone, it's not as uncommon as you might think. All I can say is: be on meds for as long as you *need* to be, and no longer.

Anyway, it's terrible that a professional psychiatrist is telling people to take Zoloft every other day, or once every two days, but I'm not surprised - that's the way I tapered (and don't I wish it wasn't). Zoloft has a half-life of roughly 25 hours, which means that if you take it every 48 hours, your brain gets VERY confused, and the longer you keep to that schedule the worse things get. You're very wise to go to everyday dosing. If it gets too grim on 25mg a day, do some creative pill-cutting and go to 37.5mg a day (three quarters of a 50mg pill). Some people can do the quick step-down, but not everyone - and you'll be safer in the long term if you go as slow as you need to. If the usual step-down is too harsh, you can stay on 37.5mg for a month or two before going down again - and you don't have to go straight to 25 from there, make a smaller cut if necessary. If it takes months to get off the drug, that's no fun, but it's a lot safer than trying to do a fast taper when you feel awful, and then "sticking it out". That can sometimes be disastrous. The slower you get off, the easier it is for your brain to cope with the change, and the less chance of screwing yourself up.

On the other hand, if it works out OK to stay on 25 a day for a while, then drop to half of that, then off - do it. No point stretching it out if you can handle a faster step-down, and it was just the every-other-day thing that was making you feel so rough.

Shardovan, thanks for this post. It is very useful to know the half-life of Zoloft and understand no wonder why I get so confused. I am taking 25 mg everyday now, and the confusing part has ceased a bit. I do get nervous but I guess it is also because of the stress of moving out from my apartment.

I'll try to deal with the 25mg perday, so far I can still survive. I think in the mean time I also need to avoid anything that causes stress.

Thanks for the info!

DD

sending you good thoughts

Yes, good luck with it.

Stay on 25mg until you feel comfortable. If the anxiety and any other symptoms calm down within two weeks, drop the dose again. If they stay for longer, wait until you stabilise and then make a smaller cut. Always best to wait until you're stable between dosage drops, because it's the big crash that can really screw your brain up. Little drops are better tolerated by the brain, and are much less likely to result in long-term nastiness when you're off - but you have to let the withdrawal calm down each time, or else it snowballs into one big w/d attack, and can be just as bad as cold turkey. This is why it's usually a case of the slower the better.

How are you doing at this point? My Lexapro is kicking in better now. I wonder how long I'll have to be on meds, but it is crazy how the brain gets addicted to the stuff. It's scary, but so is being depressed and what it can do to me without it.

Hi Tel,

There has been lots of things going on with my life at the moment and I am pretty stressed out; Jakarta is flooded, I am living with my sister while my new house is not ready yet, everything seems to halt. So I am depressed, but I'm surviving with the 25 mg. Sometimes I wonder if I could up it again to 50 mg but I'll try to survive on it. It's all the surroundings that are not helping me cope with my illness but what can I do? Just be numb, I guess.

Hi, I've been on Zoloft for seven years now. I've tried to get weaned off but my psychiatrist told me that basically I would be on Zoloft for the rest of my life. I want to try some herbs like St Johns Wort or exercising to pump some more serotonin to my brain. The times I miss doses I have anger issues and want to fight everyone or I need to bite something because my mouth gets dry. I don't really like the withdrawals so I try to make sure I don't miss a dose.

does taking a lower dose means it will take longer to take effect?

DON'T take St John's Wort while taking Zoloft!! Putting two different seratonin medications into your brain at once is highly dangerous, and is the cause of seratonin syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seratonin_syndrome). Seriously, it's not a good idea.

You won't be able to stay on Zoloft for the rest of your life, because sooner or later it will stop working and just cause side effects - you'll either have to switch to another drug or just wean off SLOWLY. If you do wean off, you'll have to either stick out the withdrawal or change to something like St John's Wort when you've finished weaning. It is tough, but in the long run it's much better for your mental and physical health than staying on one SSRI that has stopped working and is doing nothing but messing up your liver, hormones, brain chemistry and central nervous system for no good reason, and sooner or later will start making you feel worse. Timing is really important - I made the mistake of staying on Zoloft long after it pooped out, and it was a bad decision. It's better to make the change sooner rather than later, and a lot easier too. You just have to be very careful with yourself, because obviously the withdrawal is extremely horrible. It can be done though.

No, but it means it wears off quicker. If you're down to 10mg, for instance, you might find that you start to feel worse as you get further from your last dose. Then, when you take the next dose, you feel relief within an hour or two.

This is because - and this is crazy - SSRIs inhibit the liver enzyme that metabolises SSRIs. So the same enzyme that processes the drug and gets it in and out of your body is also being suppressed by the drug. This means that when you're down to a low dose, weaning gets harder, because the stuff is leaving your body much faster. It's still a lot better than quitting too fast, which is infinitely worse.

Hope I understood what you meant :)

This post has been edited by Shardovan: Mar 3 2007, 01:46 PM

Hi,

I am reading these posts and I am so glad to see that I am not alone and I am not crazy in my feelings. For the past three years I have been taking 75mg of zoloft a day -- this past summer I went down to 50mg a day and this past week I went down to 25mg a day and I feel like I was hit with a ton of bricks. Crying jags, moodiness, drowsiness, irritability -- you name it, I feel it. It sucks and I hate it. Granted I am also trying to finish up my masters program at the same time. Does anyone get through this? If so, how?

I really admire you people who can handle the withdrawal. Ive been on Zoloft for 8 years and failed to come off. Most recently in the last month. I did a 9 month taper from 100mg to 50mg to 25 mg to 12,5 to 6mg . I was buying capsules and splitting a 25mg pill into 4 days of 6mg. 3 weeks after i took last pill of 6mg I got hit with anxiety and dizziness and feeling like i was going to faint. I caved into it within a week and am trying to bring myself back up again and am currently on 100mg . I have been back on 4 weeks today and ramped up but im not getting much relief yet..I do wonder if i sticked it out if id beat it but honestly i just cant do it. I wish i was stronger.......good luck to you all...Mike

I went straight from 100 mg of Zoloft to 300 mgs the same.I couldn't tell if I had any withdrawl or not.
Lisa

Mike:

Don't think for one second that you're not a strong guy. To be able to live life from day to day while suffering from deprssion takes a lot of guts and a ton of strength!

Don't beat yourself up over this. I, too, have suffered withdrawals from meds - it's a simple fact of changing meds.

You are strong and you are capable!!!

-Bean

Mike -

Please dont' be so hard on yourself -- the first 5 times I tried to quit Zoloft were unsuccessful. I went as long as 3 months and finally went back on Zoloft because the withdrawal symptoms wouldn't end.

The easiest way to get off Zoloft is either when your body is ready for it, or switch to another SSRI like Lexapro or Celexa for a couple months, then wean yourself off those -- they don't have near the withdrawal symptoms as Zoloft.

Best of luck to you.

J

Well, I hope my case will be uplifting for those who are getting off Zoloft.

This is my 3rd year taking Zoloft. The last time I posted, I was down to 25 mg a day, plus some mood stabilizer. 2 weeks ago, my mood stabilizer was cut to half the dose and a week a go I am off Zoloft. This is based on the doctor's advise.

When I started cutting from 50 mg to 25 mg, I felt it for a week. Not terrible, but I just didn't feel like myself. But then after a month, I felt good. Now, after not consuming it for a week, starting day 4 I start feeling a bit uneasy and I don't feel as good as before, but after the experience, I'm sure that I will feel better because I understand what is going on with my body.

I had some events that was stressful: things at work was stressful and my projects didn't come in (beyond my control). Surprisingly, I took it as a normal person: I did it, worked on it, it didn't work out, so nothing to regret. Things with relationship didn't work out, and I didn't feel less normal than other people that doesn't take medication. So I realized that I am ready to cope with the world again.

Getting off Zoloft is not easy and it takes time to cut the dosage, which I think is the case for all meds. I learned that I have to cut it down slowly. I also found out that having a support like a close friend and/or family will help (which I don't have but I went through it anyways!). Try avoiding places or things that will make you feel gloomy. Be patient, that's another thing, let your body get used to the new dosage. And at this stage, psychotherapy definetely helps, where my doctor keeps an eye on how I am doing every other week.

I hope at the end of this week I can say that I am completely out of Zoloft!

DD

Mike, did your doctor tell you to reduce the dosage or you did it all by yourself? I don't recommend you play around with the dosage by yourself, or changing medication without your doctor's recommendation; your physician should be the one that knows when you are ready to taper down the dosage.

My pdoc always asks me if I was ready to cut down the dosage. He will not suggest cutting down unless he thinks that I am ready.

Maybe a more detailed session with your pdoc will help? You will get there, I did! Just be patient there, and don't forget, these meds are not miracle. You also have to work on it and put effort to get better. Most people think that you will feel good instantly, but everything is back to yourself. A good therapist should be able to help you.

Good luck! DD

Lindzter,

When you go through that much withdrawl, that says that your body is not ready yet. I went through that also. While I was cutting down the meds, I broke up with my bf. Instantly, I was on the floor, experiencing panic attack etc. It took me 6 months to recover to where I am at right now.

Masters program is stressful. My doctor postpones cutting off my dosage when I was moving out from where I lived because it was a stressful event. My dosage was not reduced until I was more stable.

Maybe try to talk to your doctor what you are going through, discuss with him/her whether it is a good idea to cut down the meds while you are finishing up your degree.

Good luck with your school!
DD

Have you tried adding some Wellbutrin with your Zoloft? I've been reading on this forum that WB helps with those SE. I'm also worried about those SE. I'm not even sure if I will take the Zoloft. I just got some about 4 days ago and haven't started it. I came off of Lexapro about a month or more ago. It wasn't helping me, and I had sexual se with it.

I agree that the withdrawl symptoms were not that bad from the Lexapro. But I had only been on it for 2 months at 20 mg. It wasn't helping me, and I was doing worse at school, so I quit cold turkey. I expected to get brain shocks, but I never did. I did get anxiety and anger that lasted for a week or so. I went over a month without any meds after that, and now I am taking Zoloft. I might try switching to Lexapro when it is time for me to come off. I was on SSRIs years ago and I remember much worse withdrawls than what I had from coming off of the Lexapro recently. I had no choice years ago when I stopped SSRIs to stop taking them, and the withdrawls were horrible, and it felt like they were never going to go away, but they did.