quitting zoloft cold turkey

I want to thank everyone for their posts on this site! I have been in such pain for about 10 days due to Zoloft withdrawal symptoms. My dizziness is so bad that I actually went to my doctor (not the OBGYN that prescribed the meds for postpartum). She mentioned that what I was experiencing could be Zoloft aftereffects or something to that nature. I dismissed it because I had never heard of such a thing. Duh! I wish I had come across this posting first. At any rate she went on to suggest that I need an MRI to rule out MS or a tumor. A TUMOR!!! WTF? Um no. Not gonna do that. Instead I'm going to see an acupuncturist and a chiropractor to help get my body back in balance. Plus I've cut out a lot of the bad in my diet like booze, sugar and non organic veggies and meats. I'll keep posting my progress but so far I've been in 10 days of hell which has included dizziness, nausea, unbalance, flash in my vision with my eyes open and closed, some tingling and numbness of face and left side of my body, etc. And the Zoloft really didn't help that much with my postpartum (and I gained about 10lbs) despite being on it for about 6 months. And I thought a week of tapering off from 50 mg to 25 mg for a week was ok but again, had I read this post beforehand, then I would have done this over a matter of weeks rather than days because I've been sooooooooooo miserable. Wish me luck! 

As of right now I am at work and I feeling like I am having an out of body experience. I just went cold turkey on taking zoloft about  a week an a half ago at 5omg. I am going to be trying something to relieve these symtoms and which is Banana's, Niacin, and Vitamin C. Bananas have a large amount of Seratoin along with Niacin which converts to seratoin. Vitamin C is supposes to play a big role in youre mood and balancing emotions. So I will post how this goes. So far the Zoloft side effect for me are dizziness and feeling supper tired. I slept for 12 hrs one day and 17 hr another which is way abnormal for me. I have been a nutrition person most of my life and never even took a med. in my life til I had problems with my PTSD which push me to take zoloft. But now Im tired of feeling dulled out and a robot. So I am going to push through this and try the nutrition route.

I am 16 almost 17, and i have been thinking about quitting this pill. I am still iratable, i get really really bad when i forget to take it for a day. I feel like i am going insane. I don't want to feel like I need this pill any more. I feel i could do better on myown, but I am scared because they said that I can get really suicidal. Is it true?

Hopefully my story can help all of you out there with going off of Zoloft. I started taking it about a year ago because I was going through some events that caused severe anxiety in my life. I was having panic attacks on a regular basis, and I felt that was I was going insane! So when I made an appointment with my doctor he prescribed my Zoloft. When I began taking I immediately felt better. I took it for about 10 months and decided that I was ready to get off of it and go back to living my life. I made an appointment with my doctor and he told me how to safely go off of it. His instructions were to cut the pill in half and take that for a week, then I should be good to go. If for some reason I felt funny I could also do an addition week of half a pill every other day. When I started taking half pills every day, I was thinking to myself that this was going to be easy. I did not feel bad at all and I really couldn't tell a difference. Then day five hit and it was absolutely terrible. I felt that I had the flu for about a week. I was dizzy, nausea, shaky, irritable, and weepy. I wanted to just start taking the pills again because of the way that I was feeling. This lasted for a week. I was so fed up and mad at myself for even starting to take the drug in the first place because coming off of it was so terrible for me! I realized when I was researching this on the internet, that several others were having the same issues that I was as well. One thing I was particularly happy about was that most of the blogs and forums that I read about this people said that they were experience something called "brain zaps". I wasn't sure what that meant but they did not sound fun! Well what do you know...the minute that I finally started feeling halfway normal again after the flu symptoms subsided...the brain zaps started in. They are unlike anything I have ever felt and not something that I can really explain. You will not know what I am talking about unless you have experienced them as well. These have lasted for about a week now...but are progressively getting better and don't happen as often as they were. 

I have been off the pill for about two weeks now...and I will tell you that I feel wonderful now. I am not having any anxiety, and almost all of the troublesome symptoms have finally subsided. I do have a medical background and I will say that this pill is part of the SSRI class of drugs and this is supposed...key word....supposed to have the least amount of symptoms! HA! Certainly not the case for me...and judging by the amount of people posting on this forum and others that I have read it is not the case for them either. 

But as a word of advice...just keep going if you are trying to get off of this pill! The symptoms will go away eventually...it just takes time! Good luck with everything! 

I'm glad I came here and seen why I have been feeling like sh*t the last couple of days. I too feel as tho I am dying, however I will be going back on Zoloft because it does make me better.... I have been on it since 2005, after my mother passed. I have been on different doses and my last doc dropped me from 150 to 100mg and added the Wellbutrin... I am a better clear minded person on the meds! People say life is better and they can get off but don't you believe this could be part of why life is better/ It helps you deal! I know so very many people that say "you should not have to be on pills for the rest of your life" well I for one feel better and human on them. So this girl is going back on them and having a good life, I'm not depression free but I can deal with life a whole lot better;o)

I just did the same thing. Its been 4 days and I feel great!!!!!

I'm stunned at the number of people here who simply quit cold turkey despite being aware of the possible bad reactions. What did you all expect? I can understand wanting to get off Zoloft, but not ignoring every piece of medical wisdom (and more than a few anecdotal horror stories) to do this without talking to a doctor. Can someone explain?

I never thougt I would join a blog but this is not a fun experience and it is good to find out this is normal. I went on vacation and forgot my medicine. I have gained 25- 30 lbs in the two years I have been on Zoloft and was going to talk to my doctor about going off it at my next physical. I decided I had been off it 5 days and the buzzing and headaches weren't too bad so I would just stop taking it. Now a week later I am feeling sad and moody.... I actually went on it for anxiety.

I will go to my previously schdeuled physical next week. I am hoping my doctor will tell me how much longer this will go on. At this point I feel too yucky to even want to excercise or diet. BUT when I do force my self to go walk or ride my bike it helps.

I will report back if my doctor has any great tips to share!

Deann

 

 

 I too just quit zoloft cold turkey after 15 years. I used to take paxil then switched to zoloft.  While it was a huge help in the beginning, it just got to be like a massive shield protecting me from real emotions and hard decisions. it made me feel very bland and in some cases like i did not know how to express my real feelings. I took  it through my first bad marriage that ended in divorce which turned into a two year battle.  I have not seen my kids in 7+ years as well.  My second marriage is doomed and thats when i felt like I had to do this sober. I have not had many side effects but i think it is because i am in great shape.  I lost 40 pounds in the past 2years, by building myself a regiment that was easy for me to stick with, and I changed my eating and drinking habits as well, and i feel great physically!!!   Yes, the moments of sadness are prevalent and i do cry more often(commercials, movies,etc...) but i felt like I had to tackle this next chapter of my life without that shield. 

I've been off 100mg for about a month and have been feeling some mild symptoms but the basic cure for these symptoms (for me anyway) i.e headaches, nausea, stress, anxiety is to basically smoke MMJ. Does the trick for me apparently

I was one of those idiots who quit cold turkey. I was on Zoloft for 12.5 yrs and I went cold turkey almost 3 months ago. Stupidest I've ever done and I do not suggest anyone do this! I didn't do any research ahead of time. I did not read any horror stories.

I had a problem with an RX mixup at the end of May so I didn't take any for 5 days and felt fine so I stayed off of it. The first 10 days were fine other than a slight headache on and off. My main reason for getting off Zoloft was becasue the entire time I was on it, I had the perspitation side effect... and I mean sweating profusely every time I moved about too much, summer and winter, no matter the temperature. Mostly my head and face. It got to th point where I did not want to move much and stopped enjoying things like shopping because it was embarrassing and uncomfortable.

After 10 days, around June 10th, the withdrawal kicked in big time. Everything everyone has already mentioned except no suicidal thoughts. The headaches, nightmares and brain zaps left after 3-4 weeks, but I'm still having withdrawal symptoms...mostly extreme fatigue, irrirtation and crying all the time over everything.... good and bad! I get dizzy if I get up from bed too fast so I've taught myself not to.

I'm getting married next year and did not want to be walking down the aisle drenched in sweat. However, at almost 3 months off these things, I am STILL sweating. A tad less, but still more than I ever did before Zoloft. How long can I expect this to last? Surely after this time, the meds are gone from my system so why do I still sweat? I'm over it all.. the sweating, the crying, the fatigue. I just want to feel and look normal again. You get a lot of strange looks when you're walking down the street in the dead cold of winter with sweat pouring down your face. :(

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I hit thumbs down but meant the thumbs up. lol...

Maybe some people need to act on impulse so they don't have the fear that they will never stop. Some of us are spontaneous creatures. It's really that simple.

Hi everyone :)

I stopped taking 50mg Sertraline eight days ago.  I'm not quite sure how it happened.  I'm going through something of a period of reflection - I'm at a point in my life where I am desperate for change and it's time to take action regarding a lot of things.  Anyway...

I would say that this has been the toughest day so far.  I've had headaches and feel sick.  I had a sore throat over the last couple of days (but this COULD be related to the season) which (thankfully) isn't so much of a factor today.

I feel scared about where I stand mentally: I've been quite 'spaced out'.  I have issues with OCD and anxiety: I have very little (almost no) confidence and my social skills are not so great.  However, while acknowledging that these pills might have brought me through a rough time earlier this year (where I would spend days depleted of energy and crying copious amounts of tears) I am not sure that they are making such a difference now.  I've also put on weight with them, which I loathe.  Without wishing to sound like a shallow human being, my body is a real source of misery and it's something I want to fix sooner rather than later!

I do not know where this is going and I am very scared but feel I want to stick this out...

Kind regards: many thanks to anyone who has read this :)