Coming off sertraline - my journey

Treatment and medication
1

Hi everyone!

I haven’t been on this forum for a year since posting my success story regarding taking Sertraline but wanted to come back to discuss my journey in coming off the tablets to spread some much needed happiness! If you are struggling in the early stages of taking the tablets then please read my previous post and I hope this gives you even a small amount of hope that we as anxious beings often need!

I decided around 3 months ago that I no longer needed to be on medication. I had been feeling 100% myself for around 10 months, had a stable job and a support network around me. I visited the doctor and discussed how I would like to start the process of coming off (I was on 100mg). Me and the doctor talked it through and he discussed tapering over around 3 weeks. But in my heart of hearts, I knew this was too quick. I expressed this and he said that was fine and prescribed 2 months worth of tablets. 

The problem as we know with doctors ans the NHS is that there just isn’t the funding needed into mental health. I know from reading up that tapering for 3 weeks from 100mg was far too quick so with the support of my family I made my own plan. Please note that everyone is different and this is just what worked for me. I had a friend who was on the same tablets who stopped without tapering and had no withdrawal symptoms at all! (Lucky her!!!) My plan was:

1. Alternate 100mg one day and 50mg the next for 2 weeks. 

2. Reduce to 50mg and stay there for 1 month. 

3.  Alternate 50mg one day and 25mg the next for 2 weeks. 

4. Reduce to 25mg and stay there for 1 month. 

5. Alternate 25mg one day and nothing the next for 3 weeks. 

6. Stop tablets altogether. 

Therefore, it ended up taking 3 months and so within that time I went back to the doctors for another months worth of tablets. The first important point is you have to listen to your body. There is no rush to come off the tablets so take your time and be kind to yourself. Before stopping the tablets altogether, the only side effects I got were 2 days worth of dizziness around 4 days after each reduction. But I couldn’t believe how easy it was, especially after the hell I had experienced in side effects going onto the tablets!

I have now been sertraline free for 2 weeks. I timed my stopping for the Christmas holidays, so that I was off work and knew that if I felt rough I could stay at home and recover. 

The side effects from fully stopping were quite brutal for around a week, starting approximately 4 days after my final dose. These were mostly dizziness and a piercing headache. It is a rough ride for a short while, but it is so worth it. I am now tablet free and feeling strong. So far I have had no signs of any anxiety or depression coming back and each day I am feeling better. 

I hope that whatever stage you are up to in your journey, whether that is just starting on or coming off, you can know that I was in the the absolute worst place 18 months ago and now I am happy, healthy and tablet free. 

Xxxx

2

Good for you Kate! I started gradually decreasing my dose from a 100 to about 35mg now 3 weeks ago with no side effects so far, next week 25mg then 1/2 of 25 for another week down to zero.

3

Hi Kate how long do they actually start to kick in as I’ve been on 100mgs now for the past 3wks, I just want to feel myself again and be in a happy place 

4

Thank you for your lovely, positive post. All the negatives are quite anxiety

making, as if we weren’t anxious enough already. So glad you are feeling much better. I’m not there yet but I hope to be one day x

5

HI Eve,

I know what you mean, you come on here for relief and advice but many times I left feeling so much more anxious. You will get there xxx

6

Hi debra,

How long have you been on them altogether? It took me around 3 months to feel like I was almost back to normal. It is a slow process but the crazy thing is once you feel better, which you will, you so quickly forget how bad you felt. And please remember that posts on here are mostly negative experiences as once people feel better they don’t come on here anymore. That’s why I promised myself I would post once I came off xxx

7

Hi dan,

That sounds like a great plan! Good luck with it all. I found little to no side effects reducing and then when I fully stopped them I had around 5 days of feeling ill but it’s passed now xx

8

Wow that’s fantastic, ive been on sertraline for 2 years after having severe clinical depression and panic disorder, intrusive thoughts ect was absolute hell. I got well with sertraline I was always on 50mg , but for the past year I have been on 25mg, I do skip a couple days a week but twice I’ve skipped 3 days in a row and it brought on panic attacks and I felt tearful and had insomnia , so I don’t know how to reduce more from 25mg??

Any help would be really appreciated.

9

Hi Kate I was on 50mg for 1wk. And now I’ve been on 100mgs for the past 3wks 

10

Things will definitely keep improving for you then that is very early xx

11

Hi Latiffa,

That is amazing! 25mg is such a low amount you are almost there.

It might be that you’re not quite ready for the final step just yet. But if you do feel ready, I would suggest rather than skipping the odd tablet here and there, I would plan when exactly you’re gonna stop, take some time off and see if you can work through the symptoms including the panic attacks as they may be a side effect of the withdrawal rather than your old symptoms coming back. There were a couple of mornings I woke up crying last week and was worried it was my old symptoms but they passed. And if it doesn’t work this time, try and not be disheartened and try again a few months down the line. 

I also bought some natural tablets from Holland & Barrat that help with withdrawal. They were omega 3, magnesium and one called 5-htp which is a sort of natural antidepressant which help with depression. Hope this helps xx

12

Thank you , the panic attacks are awful, but getting depressed scares me so much , I’ll try skipping Tuesday and Friday and do that at least for a month,x

Yiu say it’s a low dose but still get withdrawal lol 

But thank you xxx

13

Well done Kate!

Can you please do another update in a few weeks? I want to taper off also. 

14

Hi Liparus!

Yeah no problem, I will keep you all updated on my progress

Xx

15

Thanks Kate. Worse thing for me is that my long term tinnitus has become more severe. I didn’t know that T can be a side effect if this med! and now I have it in both ears. Despair doesn’t cover it, nor does masking btw. Just want to get back to a normal life. So impressed with your info to others on how you’ve withdrawn 🌸

16

So glad to see posts like this! It gives us newbies hope! Banks for your words of encouragement Kate! 

17

Thank you so much Kate, that was very helpful in my decision making to come off Sertraline. It may seem a strange idea in the middle of a pandemic, but it is right for me, I feel. I'm working from home, and am lucky enough to live surrounded by lovely woodland and great walking country. Without the daily commute, there's plenty of time to walk a couple of hours every day, and keep an eye on my headspace. I had been on a daily dosage of 50 mg for just over a year. For two weeks now, this has reduced to 50mg one day, and 25mg the next. I'll continue this dosage for another week, and then reduce to 25mg daily for 3-4 weeks. If all goes well, I'll reduce to 25mg every other day for a further 3-4 weeks.

i know I'm only at week 3, but so far have had no negative side-effects at all. one slightly dizzy episode, but I'll put this down to gardening in this heat. I'm paying close attention to my emotional and physical feelings. I've always eaten well, and as I say, am getting more daily walking than for years. I'm also strictly limiting my alcohol intake during this period - probably kicking the national trend in this weird lockdown environment :-)

i will reoprt back every couple of weeks. Stay well everyone

18

your story gives me hope. I have been on 200mg Sertraline for a few years and I talked to my dr about not wanting it anymore. he had me go from my 200 MG daily to 100mg for 2 weeks then 50mg for 2 weeks and now Ive been off of it completely for 5 days and i am regretting it. I feel awful. All I want to do is lay in bed and cry. I constantly feel like I am going to vomit. anyway, I hope these symptoms subside soon because I'm not sure how much longer I can do this.