quitting zoloft cold turkey

After being on Z for two years, I realized I was forgetting things. Days could go by and I had no idea what had happened. I too have been diagnosed with ptsd, depression, and aadd and have been in therapy for many years. Zoloft was a very helpful tool for me to take the edge off while in a terrible job and marrage, but dont be fooled, there are side affects, or were for me. Loss of sexual drive or completion, stomach/bowel issues, loss of memory/ mental speed(important for me as an engineer) that side affect is why i stopped. Now I feel like im on acid all the time, but I feel like im becoming myself again. Im so glad to read all these other posts here and know that what my brain is going through at the moment other people experience too. Good luck everyone!

About 2 months to get your sex drive back and 3 months to get your emotions back, and as of right now I am suffering from lack of appetite.. I leave it up to God, he created and he heals....Amen!

I felt like I was reading my story! Would you mind telling me if you ended up taking them again? Or weening yourself off

I'm at DAY 14 of quitting Zoloft. I have Chronic Depression, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bi-Polar & Borderline Personality Disorder but I'm sick of drugs not working properly. I've been to hell & back & feel nothing could be worse than what I've endured. I've been on 100mg for 13years & it only just took the edge off so I figure I may as well just do it alone. I weened off very quickly over 1or2weeks. I also quit Sodium Valproate at the same time. I was on 1000mg morning & night. The first week I felt pretty positive & was ready for the side effects which werent major. Week two was another story; felt really psycho, super irritable, super angry, depressed, suicidal daydreams, very jumpy, anxious etc. Now its settled down a bit I'm feeling dizzy from 2pm-bedtime. Kinda like a migrane, dizzy, weak, patterns make me sick, hot&cold sweats. I stay up til 12 or 2am most nights & rise at 7am so thats not helping. I'm eating regular, well-balanced, healthy meals & lots of fresh made juice & vitamin supplements & exercising twice a week or more. Tommorrow is the first anniversary of my wife's death so hopefully things will get better once I'm through it. I don't reccommend doing what I've done or going cold turkey but if you do, be prepared for heaps of side effects & dangerously powerful suicidal depression or some kind of nervous breakdown/anxiety attack. Get help from Psychiatrist/Councelor. Be gentle with yourself. Don't do anything except the basics; food, wash, sleep. Avoid any slightly stressful situations for at least 1 month. & study, research your condition, do self-work, exercise, keep growing, learning. You can do it but you must be so frikkin strong, indestructable. Welcome to hell. Kill the demon.

I stoped when my Rx of 100mg Setreline ran out about 8 days ago.I did wake up last night about 3 am freezing cold but dripping wet. It was 60 in my room and I could not wrap my head around it so I went back to sleep.Not until one of my co-workers recognized it as withdrawl symptoms and suggested that was the case, it hit me.

I remember "not" taking it every morning but other then lightheadness and a couple mood swings,I have been feeling very good.I attribute all of it to smoking or digesting a daily regement of high CBD marijuana. I try to get 12% or higher but I just got my hands on some 17%Cbd almost 7% thc...suprising positive attitude affects... Iam 38 and  Iwas actually skipping one day. I will try to up date because  Iwas very concerned about my mental health affecting my son...led me here.

I've been taking Zoloft for about 10 years now for a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) recieved in Iraq courtesy of 2 consecutive blast injuries. The doctors, both military and civilian, think this is the answer to everything evidently because a lot of my friends said that was the first drug prescribed to them for TBI, PTSD, and anything else remotely like it. I have tried to go off this drug a couple of times but after a couple days the withdrawal effects would bring me back. About a week ago I ran out of them and decided to try to go cold turkey, again. I'm starting to feel the effects again but I've read some forums and found some really good solutions such as taking Benedryl and the 5-HTP (GNC). I have also found that 5 Hour Energy has some dampening effects as well. Thank you for all of you that posted your stories and good luck.

Mike the Grunt 

Just gone cold turkey after 100mg a day. Started taking them to deal with a relationship. Head is spinning and feel faint at times. Have ended relationship as I want to be myself again and not feel subdued. Can't wait for my old self to kick in. No one is worth medicating for :-)

I just had a baby two months ago and was going through depression so I was prescribed Zoloft. 25 for two weeks then 50 after that. I made it a week n half and started having severe side effects. Hearing the baby cry when he was not. Dizzy. Suicidal. Just out of my mind not myself. Nausous too. No one Understood which made it worse. Stress. Sleep deprived and Zoloft has all been the worst thing. Worst drug ever

Yep it's a fantastic natural medicine that alleviates most of the symptoms except brain zaps.

I read somewhere & saw that it can cause weight gain (idk if I have I don't do scales) but as soon as I read it I immediately went & threw it in my trunk so I wouldn't take it, iam going to see my doc tomorrow, will she make me get back on it in order to get something else? Because I'd rather die, & frankly want to f*****g kill a doc who gave it to me, I have an eating disorder & that's just stupidity to give me a med that can cause weight gain, & she told it wouldn't when I asked!

And what is a antidepressant that would cause weight loss? I am freaking out, & need to come up with a way to ask for it, because my doc knows of my issues

Been cold turkey from Zoloft for 6 days now.BAD IDEA!!!Dizzy,nerve zaps and extreme irritability are its legacy.As they say:do not try this at home!

I was on Zoloft generic first at 50mg then 100mg for about 1.5 years.  It got to the point where I didn’t feel like it was doing what it should.  On top of that, I was tired all the time.  To the point where after work, I’d just set on the couch not wanting to do anything that required effort.  I was just waiting for bedtime to roll around.  So basically I decided to go off the medication totally.  I can’t decide for you whether or not that’s a good idea or not, but in my case, that’s what I chose to do.

Below is a 2 month diary of sorts stating how things went for me.  After the first 2 weeks, I only give updates at the 30 and 60 day mark.

Day 1 - Felt slightly disoriented in the afternoon.  Also fairly agitated and had few small brain zaps.

Day 2 - Pretty much normal day, with the exception tinnitus is much worse

Day 3 - Very agitated.  Have to make a conscience effort to contain myself (not always successful) over little things.  Head feels "fuzzy". Tinnitus is still worse than usual.

Day 4 - Went to bed kind of apprehensive last night as I have read where around day 4 is where people started feeling really horrible.  I work up to not feeling bad at all considering.  Tinnitus isn't quite as bad today. I do still feel more irritated than I should.

Day 5 - Had a pretty bad night’s sleep last night.  My mind wouldn't shut off at all.  That is one of the main reasons I got on the meds.

Day 6 - Woke up feeling tired, but ok.  Slight light-headedness.  As the day wore on, my anger grew steadily.

Day 7 - Had a horrible night’s sleep.  At 2am I was still wide awake.  Had a tremendous day of stress so my patience was tested.  While there was a healthy dose of agitation, I didn’t try and rip off anyone’s head.

Day 8 - Got a decent night’s sleep last night, (for me, I have severe sleep apnea).  So far other than a few small brain zaps, nothing too bad today.

Day 9 - Good day with the exception of a several brain zaps, though they were minor in severity.

Day 10 - Overall feeling good.  Spent a good portion of the day being a coach potato so it was fairly stress free.

Day 11 - About the same.  I do struggle with my mind racing and creating imaginary arguments in my head with people I am in currently in conflict with.  This is why I got on meds to be begin with.

Day 12 - Tinnitus is pretty bad today.  It's normally pretty much constant tone in both ears.  Now it's like somebody's tuning a modulation know or something.

Day 13 - Very horrible night’s sleep but it was more related to one of the family pets than anything.  The only reason I mention it is because once I was up, I was up.  My mind raced from 2am through the rest of the night.

Day 14 - Another bad night’s sleep, same pet related thing.  I did have an easier time getting back to sleep.  Overall; minus the lack of libido and anger issues, which are getting better, my withdraw systems are all but gone.  The only other exception is I still get light headed from time to time but the severity has diminished.

Day 30 - Sleep is still allusive at times.  Tinnitus has pretty gotten back to its normal level of annoyance.  Sex drive is slowly getting back to what it was.  Anger issues leveling out too.

Day 60 – All symptoms seem to have faded and life as it should be.  Moods have evened out, libido is back to normal, sleep has returned, etc..

 

I would find a new doctor if yours MADE you quit cold turkey!

If you know true depression, you would know that there is not necessarily a reason for it. Mine is due to a chemical balance. I have a great life. Unfortunately I need antidepressants. You must not understand the true meaning otherwise you wouldn't say what you said.