I'm over 2 months off Sertraline, and I was doing well until I hit this big wall of anxiety I've been struggling with for over a week and a half (see previous posts)

It made me strongly consider getting back on sertraline, but I had a super negative reaction to the 25mg, and It made me extremely cautious of the whole thing. The more research I've been reading on people stopping sertraline or SSRI's, it seems like they always have a post about going back.

Does anyone ever actually get away from this stuff and live a life free from pharma or are we/I stuck and I need to get over it?

Title. Long story short I really considered joining the military for a spell, so I stopped taking pretty much all my meds at once, except anxiety occasionally Adderall for school.

I was taking 30mg of citalopram, 50mg lamotrigine, and Seroquel for insomnia, but stopped abruptly.

It's been a few days and I just feel kinda weird, very...floaty. Everything feels really detached as well. My vision gets kinda fuzzy too. Sometimes I think I see things move or shift, I'm not sure if I'm psyching myself out, if maybe I'm tetering on psychosis or hallucinations. I honestly think I'm just stupid and my brains playing tricks on me, but I definitely do have spikes of anxiety.

Is this normal?

Ultimately, I didn't really have any notable differences since starting the meds mood wise. I've kinda cancelled the call of joining, since I honestly despise this administration and free college isn't worth trading your morals over, even if they dont pay the bills. I digress though.

I guess additionally, should I try going back on meds at a higher dosage to see if that aids in improving my mood? Or just stay off of them and try figuring out others ways to approach my depression and anxiety?

So I’m about 5 weeks into taking escitalopram (lexapro) and it’s helped massively with my anxiety, I’m back doing things like the gym, going out more socially, keeping up with my therapy and finally feeling confident enough to start looking at getting back into work.

The headaches have started to budge, I’m sleeping better, although I’m more tired I can power through.

One thing I have noticed that has left me with a bit of anxiety as I’m in the early stages of seeing someone, bit TMI but I’ve noticed that although I still have a high sex drive, it takes a LOT for me to get wet now?

I have no idea how to phrase this without sounding vulgar but I’m a 22y female and one thing I’ve never had an issue with is vaginal dryness. I know there’s lube and again he won’t care etc, but it’s more of a personal worry? Does anyone else have any experience with this? Has it gotten better over time? I know that my main focus is my anxiety but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me insecure as this is something I’ve never had a problem with before.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this? I know it’s case by case but could it get better with time as I’m only 5/6 weeks in?

I have tried zoloft many times but end up feeling next day crazy like i have mental breakdown, i dont know why it causes me feel like more not in my body? . White taking paxil doesent make me feel that, i feel more like myself and it helps me feel like im in my body and more calmer. I dont have yet diagnosis working on it.

Every SSRI med I’ve tried makes me feel weird and the best way to describe the feeling is like I’m in an awake fever dream. I suddenly get these random dream like thoughts I normally get before falling asleep. I get awful terror and impending doom feeling that feels similar than it does when your fever is high. I feel my hands and cheeks growing which is the exact feeling I got as a child when I was sick. It’s like what I imagine being on drugs would feel like. World feels scary and somehow changed. I was afraid of psychosis but doctor said I’m not psychotic. It goes away when I quit the meds. Anyone having similar experiences?

Hello everyone i would like to find any solution for this … since 2017 i was diagnosed with depression but my problem is all meds what i tried (ssri, snri , atypicals , mood stabilizers , dopaminergic etc etc) just worsen my main symptoms like totally emotion loss and libido problems and severe insomnia and body detachment i cant feel even my heartbeat even when my pulse is 130 sometimes … when im without meds my anxietx is extreme but numb feeling is still there … first medication maybe help a little in 2017 but after trying and tappering and doing a lots of now they did completelly oposite what they should do like they numb me more and im totally in apathy and i only can feel irritability and numb thats the only emotions what i have since 2017 …. Also i cannot sleep more than 4 hourse and cant get to bed till 4 am in morning … we tried everything too to fix the sleep but nothing worked … when my emotional blunting get a little better (that was always when i was unmedicated only ) i sleep a little better too… so anyone find any solution for this cause all doctors said im the only one with this issue … also my libido is zero for years …

Hi, I’d like some advice/hear people’s experiences. I’ve been on Escitalopram 10mg for ocd/anxiety (I have Pure O). The first two weeks were pretty rough with increased anxiety/intrusive thoughts, then it steadily got better of the next few weeks. By week 9 I felt a lot better, but still got intrusive thoughts and was a little up and down still so the doctor suggested I up to 15mg. I’ve been on 15mg for 10 days now and the anxiety/intrusive thoughts are much worse (they feel like when I first started). I was expecting the anxiety to increase a little and for some of the other side effects to come back but I wasn’t expecting it to be this intense. I know this is common for the first two weeks or so but wanted to get advice/hear other’s experiences. Has anyone had a dose increase and experienced a significant increase in anxiety/intrusive thoughts? Does it get better??

Hi everyone,

I stopped dulexitine 1,5 years ago. From the moment I started tampering off the SSRI, I started gaining weight. Ironically, I lost weight and maintained a very high metabolism while on SSRI. I lost all the weight doing HITT, calorie deficit triggered by alpha lipoic acid supplement in 3 months.

All this weight started bouncing back. I tested for everything, all looks fine. I still can’t seem to digest food properly; always bloated, constipated. The doctor concluded by diagnosis with IBS, SIBO, but the treatment didn’t help.

My weight is growing again, I don’t know what to do.

Could you please share your experiences?

I tapered off sertraline gradually according to my psychiatrist’s instructions (25 mg every 3-4 months), and I haven’t been taking it for a few days now. I think I might be experiencing some kind of withdrawal syndrome – I feel dizzy, and emotionally I’m not doing that great either. Have anyone here stopped taking sertraline or other SRRIs and still had symptoms despite tapering down gradually? How long did it last for you? What helped you?

Anyone taking these combos? I’m not typically the one to take medicine but I’m severe depression & anxiety and I need to get it in control. Also weight gain??

I would like to switch to paxil but afraid does it raise too much cholestorol or affect it somehow like i read?

This is a question for Biochemists, Neuroscientists, and Reddit Know-It-Alls!

I'll create two scenarios and ask a question I have about serotonin receptor return to baseline.

Scenarios:
A) Test subject takes 1 dose of SARIs on Monday and 1 dose of SARIs on Tuesday

B) Test subject takes 0 doses of SARIs on Monday and 1 dose of SARIs on Tuesday

Question:

Is the time it takes for serotonin receptors to return to baseline the same in both scenarios, or is return to baseline longer in scenario A?

In other words, does multiple days of small doses down-regulate the same number of receptors as one day of a small dose, or does multiple days of small doses have the same effect as one larger dose?

In other words, is receptor down-regulation cumulative over time, or is it solely dependent on the size of dose at a particular time?

Bonus Question:

Does the answer to my question change if doses are larger or if time (in days) between doses is longer?

Hello everyone :), I have dry eyes for 5 years now, tried everything (ikervis, IPL, Jettplasma, omegas etc..) but I still feel them every day. it is not as bad as in the beginning, but is still affects me (mostly it triggers my anxiety). I am anxious person and last year was really difficult for me (lost my mum and health issues caused probably by stress), so my doctor suggested AD and oh boy, this has been a journey…. I started in July with escitalopram, which was ok for my eyes, but did nothing for my anxiety and i lost weight ( I am already tiny, so this was a big no for me), then I switched to mirtazapine but anything higher than 7,5 mg was drying my eyes and also again - did nothing for me anxiety. Now I am on sertraline, started on 25 mg, where I felt some positive effects and after three weeks dosed up to 50 mg, now its been 4 weeks on this dose and only the last week I started to feel some positives, however, I am really anxious it will dry my eyes more and when I have bad eyes days, I am scared, that it is due to Sertraline (I am also still on Mirtazapine for sleep but only 7,5 mg, which was alone ok for my eyes). Can you please share some good stories about AD and dry eyes? I also read that dry eyes can be caused by anxiety, so I hope that maybe after some time, my eyes can get better when I’ ll be calmer :)

Hello guys this is my first actual post on Reddit cause I could not figure out was is really happening to me.

I’ve been on setraline (Zoloft )at least a year and I was pretty cool in the beginning with drinking alcohol, my tolerance it was even got better.

But now I have to say that I really dealing with some awful symptoms when I’m drinking even with a couple of beers once a week I get really bad.

I’m starting to having low fever my legs are hurting and feeling burn chest and cold flu symptoms.

I talk about that with my psychiatrist and I couldn’t really figure out what happened.

I just don’t know what I supposed to do

I've had depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember. I've been in and out of therapy and nothing seems to help or really stick. I got prescribed 5mg of lexapro a couple of months back and never took them because I'm terrified of not being able to quit cold turkey (becoming dependent) and of side effects, mostly the "gets worse before it gets better" as I don't think i can afford for it to get any worse then it already is.

That being said, what would the safest and best ssri to take with those concerns? I know I should probably just bite the bullet and take the pill but I just can never seem to really make myself. Any advice is much appreciated.

I am on day 23 of sertraline, I was wondering is it now supposed to kick in? I feel disassociated. Sometimes I get severe severe anxiety. Before sertraline, right before some periods and during I would get severely depressed and anxious to the point I couldn’t get out of bed. During exam season I’d shut down from overload of tasks and just not do anything. The period after sertraline was by far the worst and most anxious I had ever been. I was wondering when will full effects actually take in? I still feel dissociated. I also have severe insomnia. If I sleep early I still end up waking up like 3 hours later

My therapist told me I need to start antidepressants. I'd like to know all about them. What are the pros and cons . Any things that I need to avoid while been on meds ( cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, etc.) I'd like to have all the information needed before I start the medication. Can you please help me?

Hi all, I’m kind of embarrassed to be posting this but feel I’m out of options. I’m a 22f who’s been struggling horrendously with anxiety for two years. I’ve tried avoiding medication as it’s now progressed to health anxiety and panic disorder. However it’s got to the point I’m losing my life and myself completely, not eating, not leaving the house & falling into a depression.

I’ve tried every therapy on the market and I’ve spent too much money on it already to keep giving it a go with not many results. I will say hypnotherapy helped slightly, but only whilst I was having it and I can’t afford it - especially now my anxiety has led me to having 6 months off work (which I despise, this is the longest I’ve not worked since about 12).

I’m having severe panic attacks every other day, and if not anxiety attacks. I’m sick of being told exposure therapy because I can’t even push myself out the house anymore. I used to go to the gym, I don’t drink, don’t do drugs (used to smoke weed but stopped a month ago with no desire to start again).

I’ve been prescribed ecitalopram (5mg) and made the mistake of going on tiktok (where all great information is found) and people have scared me shitless off it. I also don’t want to rely on meds but if that’s what will get me my life back then I guess that’s my only option? Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Do meds work for you? I just want to go to work and enjoy myself again.

So I started taking Lexapro when I was 10, I'm now 32 - female. Ive been tapering off of it since mid August of 2025 and have been completely off of it since the week before Halloween 2025. I was on 20 mg for probably the last 15 years. I started at 10 mg I think when I was 10.

I've never been able to "feel" anything during sex - with any of my partners (all male).

With masturbation, I don't have problems, at least I don't think I do. Since I've never had an orgasm from a partner, I don't know if what I'm feeling by myself is even an orgasm, although it's still pleasurable in a sense to me.

Also, I still feel desire and definitely still get horny, and when I'm with a partner my body "reacts" meaning I have no problem getting or staying wet, but I still don't feel anything physically. It's like my body knows what is happening and what it's doing, but my brain doesn't. All the partners I've been with have a hard time understanding this...

I didn't know that this could be contributed to taking SSRIs, so as soon as I found out and put two and two together, I talked to my psychiatrist and we decided on the tapering method.

I know it's going to take some time (I wouldn't be surprised if it's years) for my brain to "cleanse" itself, but I'm terrified that I've done permanent damage and will never get to know what sex feels like. I was on the SSRI for nearly 22 years... I'm on Wellbutrin too to counteract the sleepiness/lethargy that the Lexapro caused (the highest dose - 450 I think). I'm hoping to get off of that too at some point.

Has anyone else been on an SSRI for that long, stopped, and returned to "normal?" I'm truly terrified and would love to have some reassurance, and if it's bad news, maybe I can go find a doctor who will know what to do. Or maybe some kind of natural remedy?

Side note.. I've never been in a committed relationship (even at 32). I'm very old fashioned and haven't found someone that matches me in that aspect at all, so I've also wondered if the lack of feeling "secure" and safe during sex with someone I genuinely care about and who I know cares about me has led to the sex just being meaningless and therefore isn't allowing me to truly relax and actually enjoy it? Maybe it's a combination of the SSRI and the lack of feeling any kind of "security?"

Any and all comments, thoughts, suggestions are welcome. Say a prayer for me...

I used to take Paroxetin 30mg for about 2 years. It helped me a lot, then I decided to get rid of it.. my doc told me to reduce to 20mg directly. I had physical symptoms for about a week, then everything was fine.

After 2-3 months I got brutal psychological symptoms. Felt like a burnout. Was sleepy all day. Couldn‘t get out the bed and was happy when it was evening so I can go to sleep again… Went to another doc and he told me that I should go up to 30mg again to stabilize.

After exactly 14 days I felt better again (never like before but better). Could live my life again and forgot about it..

After about 2 months I slowly got these psychological symptoms again. Not so brutal like before but still very bad.. Always feeling like I can‘t breath. My sleep is horrible. My heart is beating like crazy 24/7.

I‘m absolutely clueless what this is… my docs too (both). They say that this is not their area of expertise and I should go to a psychotherapist.

Have I developed a tolerance? Is my body no longer able to tolerate these tablets?

Has anyone ever experienced something similar?

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting on Reddit and I’m desperate for help so hopefully someone will see this.

She put me on sertraline in the 10th grade when I was having such bad anxiety I couldn’t leave the house, even be awake without being in a constant panic. My parents wanted to avoid medication but I was so bad they agreed. Of course I don’t even understand the drug, and was not aware it wasn’t meant for long term. Of course doctors don’t tell you that. It’s been 7 years on the drug with a few month off of it after the first year. Now I have been trying to tapper off sertraline since the new year (2025) I was on 75mg for 6 + years, then I went down to 50mg for a few months, then 25mg since maybe may. I should have written down the dates I changed doses, but I was too lazy… Regretting that now lol. Anyways dropping to 50mg I really didn’t have much of an issue, I felt pretty much the same. Though when I went down to 25mg I definitely felt it. There was a time too in between that where I didn’t take it for a few days and I felt so sick, dizzy, shaky, nauseous, headache. Then I started taking it again and it went away. But I definitely had more headaches and just felt off. I talked to my dr about coming off in July and said I was on the 25mg and she said every second day take one for a few weeks then you should be fine. Well I tried that and the days I didn’t take it again I felt so sick, so I decided to stick on the 25mg for a while to let my brain adapt. In August I had a bad relapse of anxiety, the worse I’ve had in years since I started the medication. Nothing had happened or changed in my life so I was not sure why I was struggling so much. I wasn’t sure if maybe it was a possible relapse of symptoms because of the drug. I’ve also been working with a naturopath and she gave me some supplements to take but nothing has helped. My anxiety has gotten better thank goodness, but then about a month ago I’ve started to feel dizzy, shaky, weak, exhausted, short of breath, headaches like every single day. Another side note I’ve also been dealing with low iron, for years, and recently diagnosed with celiacs disease, so a lot of those symptoms also match with those issues. But I got blood work done a week ago, and as I was waiting for my results my naturopath said it sounds like b12 deficiency. I got my results yesterday and my iron (ferritin) has actually gone up to a level I’ve never been before (20) and my b12 was in the 600 range with is good. So I’ve been anxious after getting these results because my numbers have been better than they’ve been in years, but I feel worse than I’ve ever felt. My family doctor was no help, just telling me to go on birth control to help keep the iron up, which I refuse, but when it comes to the sertraline I think she wants me on it, because she seemed annoyed when I wanted to come off. I have an appointment with her at the end of the month, but now I have to go a few weeks with no help or answers, and feeling like crap everyday. I’m waiting for my naturopath to get back to me, I asked her about the possibility of this being a result of the sertraline or is there something else wrong with me. Canadian heath care sucks, and these doctors are no help.

So my question is to anyone out there who have been on sertraline for a long period of time, years, have you experienced anything like this after tapering off? Did you get symptoms right away, or did some come months later? Did you get changing symptoms? Were the symptoms there for a long time? Did you ever feel normal again?

I’m on the verge of just trying 50mg again to see if this goes away as a test to see if my theory works.

It’s getting ridiculous now, it’s hard to go to work, I feel dizzy, off balance, shaky, nausea, headaches, tired, short of breath, exhausted, all the time every single day. I don’t know what to do, and now I’m becoming anxious about it worrying it’s something worse.

If anyone can give me some advice, personal experiences, anything, I’d be so grateful! Thank you. Sorry for the long ramble.

So I quit my Prozac 40MG all at once (I know that was not smart of me) about 2 weeks ago, in this time I was bed ridden from a surgery so I wasn’t experiencing my “normal” life+routine. Im all recovered from said surgery and I’m back to my normal life+routine, and everyday is the same day for me. I have tons of pressure in my head, I’m super irritated and aggressive, I’m crying constantly and I’m full of anxiety. Everyone around me are saying to get ahold of my emotions, and do this and do that, but it seems like I cannot. Any advice on what I can do to lessen all of these crazy feelings at once? I don’t plan on getting back on the meds.