bye bye Zoloft

NR15

rocky, I apologize for being vague. I was referring to the depression, and not the withdrawal effects. I don't remember having a hard time coming off Zoloft when I took it - Effexor, however, is a different story.

If you feel you need to try the med-free route (as I did), I was only saying you should just be careful, watch out for yourself, be monitored.

r0cky

sickofeffexor -- did you experience any increase in anxiety or nausea? I've had a problem with both of those things in the last few days, which hasn't helped the whole dilemma! I really appreciate your encouragement and advice. I thought I was doing something great getting off of these meds, and I was sure that having tapered off correctly I wouldn't experience this stuff.

Tonight I took 12.5mg ... it may not do anything, but I was desperate for something to make me feel better - at least as far as the nausea and anxiety go.

SOE

Yes, I definitely suffered through anxiety and nausea. I took a lot of Benedryl which seemed to help with both. I also use Compazine, which is a medication to combat nausea -- and it seems to help a little with anxiety as well. Compazine needs a prescription.

My anxiety went through the roof for awhile after I got off the ADs, but I found the anti-anxiety meds made it worse, so I stopped those too. But everything is getting better for me over time -- even though it feels like a painfully slow process, I am finding it completely worth it.

(FYI, It took me 10 months to taper off, because when I tried to go faster, I couldn't deal with the withdrawal effects.)

r0cky

Benedryl ... yeah, I've heard good things about its effects on AD withdrawal ... the problem is, Benedryl knocks me out. The kind of sleep where you want to wake up but can't ... the kind of awake where you want to stay awake but can't ... so Benedryl isn't really an option for me.

I didn't have the nausea problem until just this week.

Should I really be experiencing this stuff even after tapering off correctly? I keep reading websites that insist on AD withdrawal only happening in cases where people tapered too quickly or just quit cold turkey. I did neither ... and so that's part of why I am thinking maybe this stuff is just me - who I am and why I need to be on them for the rest of my life. I don't know. It's hard to differentiate, and especially hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Did you experience irritability too?? Irritability is causing me to have a lot of problems with people whom I love ... and I don't like that at all, because I have never been an irritable person and now it's like I'm angry at everyone and everything in spite of realizing there's no reason for it.

EDIT: I wonder if I ought to go back on them and try tapering more slowly? If I were to do this, should I start at the original 75mg again, or at something less? Will it hurt that I've been off of them completely for 5 weeks now?

Spin444

Some suggest bonine. Have you tried it?

r0cky

No, I haven't ... but isn't it for motion sickness and nausea related to dizziness? Because I'm not having problems with dizziness ...

oceandreams

Try just taking benadryl at night. It will help you sleep and probably help with the anxiety for awhile the next day. Eventually, benadryl tends to not cause drowsiness so much after you've been taking it awhile everyday (at least that was the case with me).

SOE

It sounds like you may have tapered too fast... but I'm not sure about starting over with the tapering....

If you feel really horrible, maybe you should try the lowest possible amount and taper down from there, but don't go back up to 75.

You don't immediately feel great when you finish tapering. It takes a long time, most people don't want to wait it out. As I said before, I have read that it can take up to 24 months after you finish taking it, to feel completely well. I'm at 19 months and feeling better all the time, but still not at 100%.

And I went through the irritability for a long time -- very frustrating, I know.

Take care.

SOE

Me too. I was able to take it during the day. I use Tylenol PM at night when I need help sleeping (it also has benedryl in it).

r0cky

Maybe I will try some Tylenol PM ... though I have to admit, I don't have problems sleeping anymore since I've been off of the Zoloft. On it, I used to have frequent insomnia and rarely woke up rested ... in fact, I'd sleep and wake up still tired for no reason. Since being off of it, I feel like I'm sleeping better.

Anyway, will definitely try the Tylenol PM ...

sickofeffexor - how long did your irritability last? I went to another site and people were telling me that withdrawal occurs within 72 hours if at all ... well, my main problems didn't get really bad until last week. Do you still think it could be withdrawal? I dunno. I'm just tired of it.

I just feel like I was a better person on the Zoloft - warmer to people, less irritable, more caring, better at showing that I cared, etc. ... and now that I'm off of it, I feel like I'm a worse person, and that maybe this is who I really truly am ... and I don't like that.

Jennita

rockey, your doctor is retarded. And anyone who says withdrawal is the same for everybody or doesn't exist at all is also retarded.

Look, we all react and withdraw differently from drugs, some have it easier than others. We are all simular beings... but still very different; otherwise, nobody would die from eating peanuts or all would die, right?

If something as natural and ordinary as a nut can cause such different reactions, imagine what drugs are capable of!! Yes, even our "safe" prescription drugs! You know, even illegal drugs are "safe" if in moderation or from reliable source but are they not good for us. Safe doesn't equal= good for us.

Antidepressants, although "safe" and sometimes even helpful for some people are not healthy nor good for us. Besides side effects, something called downregulation of brain receptors occur when they are continually exposed to psychoactive drugs. Downregulation is a desentization or death of some of those receptors, causing tolerance and worsening condition because of cell death. This is why people might actually be worse off after years of meds.

The answer is to continue meds in hope that even more tolerance or dowregulation does not occur (no guarentees there!) or decide to wean off and allow the brain to repair the damage....yes, chemical damage is one that can be repaired! It's might take weeks-months-or even years, however, as time passes drug free, the brain becomes better and better!

But like peanuts, some people can take AD's for years and not have much in the department of tolerance or side effects..... or so we assume.....some side effects and tolerance reactions are definately easily mistaken/assumed to be caused by other factors then the drugs, so most people who feel they have no effects actually might, since there are any number of things that can be blamed.

After all, if there is never one explanation for disease, but usually there can be many causes. Same with health/mood conditions and so forth.

So drug co's and doctors choose not to blame their drugs, at least most of the time. They would just as soon blame aging, bad diet, or bad luck. This way they aren't to blame for any result of keeping a patient on a unhealthy drug for years and years, so you can't blame them for their way of thinking.

The thing is, a brain that can't function well due to damage of receptors will not just effect the mind but the body functions as well since the brain is what produces our homone balances, nervous system regulations, etc.

I would try to stay off Zoloft, if I were you, let your brain regain its own functions. However, a slower weaning might be in order to ease your withdrawal.

I mean really, considering the vast web of receptor systems of the brain do you expect it to be healed in the same time it takes a broken bone to? Bone heals in a straight line; an intricate web with a yet unknown amount of electrical reactions might be more complicated and more individualized, don't you think?

But your expectation of withdrawal being over in a few weeks is unrealistic, I don't care what others claim how fast it should be over with....we are all different in our reactions and withdrawals, and Zoloft isn't just any nut.

r0cky

Sorry, but the thing about my doctor being retarded made me laugh - although that's probably a bad thing.

Anyway, I appreciate your response though I feel like you're a bit frustrated with me or with what I've posted. When I said I was frustrated - it was because almost every website suggests that if withdrawal is going to occur, it will show with 72 hours. I was concerned because mine is only now bad enough to make me think of calling it "withdrawal" and yet it has been 4-5 weeks.

It's a confusing process, and I apologize if my post irritated you. I wasn't trying to suggest that I expected withdrawal to be over in a few weeks - but that I expected if it was actual withdrawal, it would have started - as nearly every website said - within 72 hours. I understand we are different in our reactions and withdrawals, I just didn't expect it to be THIS bad, and so I am having difficulty knowing what part of what I'm experiencing is due to quitting Zoloft and what part is due to me being a suddenly different and far worse person in reality than I was when on Zoloft.

No, I don't expect it to be healed in the same time as a broken bone - but I don't have people in my life - doctors or otherwise - who understand this stuff or who are helping ME to understand it, so these things are incredibly confusing to me. Because if this irritable, mood-swingy, nauseated, crying-all-the-time-for-no-reason, suddenly emotionally cold and distant jerk is who I really am, then I would rather be on the Zoloft. If it's just the Zoloft and its effects that are causing this, and I will be back to my usual self eventually - if Zoloft's effects can really be this far-reaching and personality-effecting, then I will wait it out and be encouraged to think that I might one day be myself again.

The idea that THIS could be ME is a horrible feeling and scary as hell.

Jennita

I'm sorry, I'm not irritated at you at all. I'm more irritated at the mis-information out there which has caused you to doubt yourself. The medical profession claims they know exactly how withdrawal should be or not be at all. But ever notice even the commercials for Zoloft say they aren't sure how it works? Even the drug literature alludes to the vague knowledge of how antidepressants work!

So just because the "usual" withdrawal occurs after 72 hours doesn't mean everyone will automatically get zapped with symptoms at some magical hour. "Withdrawal" is technically the period in which a drug is leaving the body, but nobody in the medical community mentions post-withdrawal. Post withdrawal is the healing process from the damages done, symptoms during this time are withdrawal-type and can kick up at any time, last any amount of time, or come and go in waves for a time.

So I'm just irritated that the lack of acknowledgement of withdrawal or a post withdrawal syndrome by most in the medical/psychiatric communities, which ends up causing anxiety and uncertainty in people trying to come off and stay off meds.

I don't want you to have that anxiety because of them!

Jennita

PS....don't be scared, that's exactly what they want so you'll end up back on meds.

You sound like a very nice person, but even nice people can get snippy when they don't feel good or are ill. It's very understandable that you might not be a happy sunny person at this point, but thats' normal in withdrawal and post-withdrawal so don't worry, ok??

I'm glad I could give you a laugh, though, at least, concerning your doctor. If only it was a joke.....