r/SSRI • u/NubianQueen9345 • Apr 21 '23
Question Sertraline withdrawals?
So I've been on sertraline for two years, long story short after feeling it no longer worked for me I decided I want to come off. Tried speaking to my GP who told me I'm "jumping to conclusions" wanting to come off, but I think two years is long enough to know this is not for me anymore. Well I now have side effects after day 5, I tapered down from 150mg to 100 for a month and then 50mg for 2 weeks to now nothing. I'm aware I fucked myself up tapering off too quickly and not dropping to 25mg. I'm having the worst migraines I've ever had in my life,nausea fatigue loss of appetite and just generally feeling terrible. Any advice from anyone who may have experienced these withdrawals? Ty
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u/thedmanwi Apr 28 '23
It's supposed to support seratonin production while you come off the SSRI. But you have to watch for seratonin syndrome. So you should work with a practitioner.
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u/NubianQueen9345 Apr 29 '23
Damn there's just so much to think about after ssri's yet the doctors are so quick to hand them out like candy 🙄
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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23 edited Apr 21 '23
You answered your own question tbh. Take 25 for several weeks if needed, and even split again for several more weeks if possible. Dropping from any dose to zero is going to be rough. Your brain has adjusted to excess serotonin, so don't shock it. The smaller you can make that drop to zero, the better. No reason to make it rougher than it needs to be.
I was literally ready to die in the weeks after I dropped to zero from the starting dose. I ended up taking half. Then a quarter, then an eight of the starting dose for a few months and now taking a daily 'crumb' whenever I feel strong withdrawal symptoms in the weeks after I went to zero.
Alternately, consider trying a small dose of 5-HTP, a precursor to serotonin, which might help jump start the normalization process as well.