Share Your Experience with Zoloft Withdrawals

When I was 12 years old I was put on Zoloft, and the dosage gradually climbed to 250mg by the time I quit cold turkey when I was 17. I'm now 22 and still remember the days surrounding when I quit in patches.

I actually don't remember some of the finer points because of the-for lack of a better word-haze I was in, but I do remember feeling almost animalistic because I didn't have any sense of self. I just lay in bed for two days straight with my nerves feeling like they were on fire and a headache from hell. My eyes would feel like they were vibrating off and on and everything twitched intermittently. I'd get the brain shocks frequently and I had to work so hard to convince myself just to get out of bed and go to the bathroom because it felt like my body was made of lead. And I just cried and cried; it wasn't even an emotional thing, it was just like I desperately needed some form of physical relief. I still occasionally have nightmares where I feel like I did then, trapped in my own body in a world of pain. And of course there were cold sweats and nausea, I think I remember puking at least once. If my memory serves me correctly I didn't eat or drink anything for those two days and sleep was almost an impossibility, though I phased in and out some. When I woke up the third day I hurt all over and I still had the headache but I was able to get up and function minimally and it gradually got better.

However, five years later my hands still convulse nearly constantly and I have some rolling twitches with my elbow and shoulder. And my sex drive has been diminished ever since having been on Zoloft (though thankfully still strong, ha) and I still get brain shocks that drop me to my knees occasionally.

I also lost many hobbies and friends because of Zoloft; the word most often used to describe me was "zombified" and the man who is now my husband said "it sounds like weed without any of the good". To this day I have to remind myself to take up hobbies and enjoy life because it's almost like life on Zoloft became a habit (putting in no effort because you just don't care and walk around with a glum expression looking for the unenjoyable aspects of everything all the time.)

I warn everyone I know to never go on any SSRI and have gotten several friends to quit them in time to spare themselves much of that, for which I am grateful. Please folks, never take an SSRI. If you're on one now, quit. I won't lie and say it's going to be easy, but push on through and get out of that world; the sooner the better.

It should also be noted, I was simultaneously on Bupropion (can't remember the dosage but it was substantial) at the time but I quit that before I quit Zoloft.

If I knew then what I know now I would never have taken anything remotely close to an SSRI. Not only am I a zombie I have no sex drive at all along with the 30pound weight gain. I quit working out and isolated myself from everyone that I love. I am quitting cold turkey as my life is a living hell.

i have been on zoloft for 6 months and was on 100mg,ive recently moved and have been without for about a week now.i feel proper ruff,real bad headaches and weakness,cant sleep.im on methadone and have been on and off heroin for 17 years and have had sum bad w/ds,but this is rite up there.i didnt know they were addictive,my doc didnt tell me.

This whole topic is very informative and we have read the lot. My wife has gone off Zoloft three times now. The first two times she was on 100mg for about 6 to 8 months and when she tapered off she experienced no real problems apart from mild brain pinging which was manageable, so she did not know about any of the problems. However this time she was on for 12 months and reached 200mg. After about 5 months she started getting bad headaches which many different doctors, including a specialist neurologist, could not explain. None of them mentioned that it could possibly be Zoloft. After 12 months of Zoloft and 7 months of headaches my wife thought it may be the Zoloft, especially as she started suffering extreme hypersomnia, and so tapered off over a period of 1 month to see. She is experiencing all the very severe withdrawal symptoms that we have read on this site - including brain shivers, brain zapping, fogginess, extreme tiredness and sleepiness, nausea - and in addition, the headache is getting worse. So far it has been 10 days since completely stopping, with no sign of the symptoms going away. Fortunately she is not working as there is no way she would be able to go to work like this. We wish that we had read this information earlier and also that the medical profession would take some notice of what the patients are actually experiencing. In this case we wonder why one of the many doctors that my wife saw did not think that perhaps the Zoloft may be causing the original headache. In fact looking back we remember that one doctor did suggest changing from Zoloft, as the medicine she wanted her to go on for the headache was contraindicated for zoloft, but the next doctor laughed at it as a ridiculous suggestion. The worst thing is that after 8 months of using panadeine forte for the extreme headaches, it no longer works. She has tried digesics, tramal, voltaren, ibuprofen and beta blockers among other combinations, and after going to at least 20 doctor appointments (and five different doctors) but there seems to be no way to get relief from the headaches.

I lost my sex drive 15 years ago when I started taking these
drugs.
I am coming off Zoloft VERY slowly (7 months) and down to 12 mg. I still see no change but hoping it gets better when I am totally off.
Hope things get better for you, also.
Be careful quitting cold turkey-you could get really sick. :-(
This book changed my life and gave me hope:
Your Drug May be Your Problem-How and why to stop taking psychiatric Meds

hey i had withdrawles two i  took 100 mg/s for about 2 years suffered from the following:

 

rash

headache

tiredness

iratabillity

inability to make disesions

heart palpatations

minor memory loss

nasuea

vertigo

"head zaps

buzzing sensaion

shakeyness

inabillity to sleep

twitching

increased deppression

sweating

and thirst

i had these simptoms for about 2 months and now i only get the occasional buuzing sound and anger spurs

i still cannot take any drugs (even panadol) without having a panic attack and i stopped seing my doctor because of how much i now hate him

even so all of this has happened the current effects seem to become less and less freequent most of them have already faded adn im sure soon they all will thanks for listening

after reading all the posts from those in the same situation as i am in right now, it makes me wonder, Why was no one told about this??? for years the thought of withdrawal symptoms from anti-depressants seemed ridiculous. Surely i believed my doctor would've made this very clear to me, a kid (at 13 when i started it) if there were such dramatic withdrawal issues. Now i get those commercials imploring people to "ask questions when your at the doctor"... because they sure won't tell you this info openly. I did, but asking the general "whats the downside of this med.?" apparently wasn't specific enough for Dr. Quacky McPillpusher. Thanks Doc, now i'm a recovering zoloft addict... Anyone know a good tort lawyer? or wanna start a lawsuit or know one i can join?  ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** private e-mails not allowed*** Please read our Terms of Use

You have described exactly how I am feeling! THANK GOD! I thought I was going CRAZY! I've printed your post to share with my family so they might understand what I am going through right now. I was trying to do it on my own...now I know I need to inform my friends and family. I was driving my family home from dinner thinking what the hell am I doing behind the wheel!

Ahhhhh ok so this is one of those "trials" or actual tough things in life

Have been on 50mg Zoloft for a year.  The doctor lessened the dosage and as of this Sunday I am not taking them any more.  First few days was OK but since Tuesday the withdrawal symptoms started.  After reading some of the other posts I consider myself lucky, I only have severe nausea and slight vertigo.  If I had know how hard it would be to get off the pills I never would have taken them in the first place.  People should really not take any medication without being 100% informed of all the facts.  As a last thought  I just want to say that nothing works better for nausea than peppermint and ginger.  I have been living on peppermint chewing gum for the last few days, but at least it give some relieve. Good luck to every one going through this.

Hi-
So I've been off zoloft for about a week now and all I can say is that I'm praying it ends soon, and I certainly hope it doesn't last as long as some of the posts here describe-because i don't know how I would handle that. I've been taking zoloft for about 2 1/2 years. My doctor never mentioned anything about withdrawal symptoms. I tapered off like he suggested from 150 to 100 to 50 once every two days (cause I'm bad at taking them consistently). It has been a horrible week. Nausea has been the worst-all I can do it lie down, try to sleep and hope it goes away soon. I also had really bad mood swings, the worst was the anger-I had no idea why I was angry or how to stop it and I felt really  bad for my boyfriend who had to deal with me. I need these symptoms to be over soon, I have stuff to do to prepare to move in 4 weeks but it's so hard to feel ok enough to get out of bed. If I would've known how bad they symptoms would be, like most other people here I probably wouldn't have started taking them. If you need it, that's fine-but there are other drugs with lesser withdrawal symptoms. I so disappointed in my doctor-he should've have better informed me (I was 18 when i started taking the drugs) and suggested things to help with the symptoms (along with letting me know they were going to happen as well). I liked the above comment-maybe i will try peppermint-anything to help with the nausea-it's driving me insane right now, along with the insomnia.

Hi everyone.  I was taking zoloft 50mg for about three yrs.  I got off three weeks ago.  After two days of not taking it i started to get the withdrawals. I would get dizzy, nauseous, headaches, and my arms and legs would get the zaps, also moody, angry and sad.  I was like this for a week before i started researching what could possibly make these horrible feelings go away.  I started taking omega 3 fish oil vitamins, st johns worts vitamins, and  b vitamins.  I beleive these vitamins has helped me.  Its been only three weeks but i  feel so much better.  Hope this helps somone.

I was on lexapro for three years then cold turkeyed it. No problem. I then was put on zolofot 50mg for 6 months then quit cold turkey. All the symptoms occurred that everyone is saying. It has been almost 30 days and everyday has gotten better. The Physical symptoms are gone just my anxiety is at an all time worst. I have extreme emotions but it has gotten better I'll repost in 30 days. Hang in there my fellow nuts!

I've taken many SSRIs and SNRIs and for the worst withdrawl was paxil but I have had a less severe and much easier time with prozac. The ones that seem to be the hardest based on my patients in order of my experience, has been paxil, effexor, cymbalta, savella, zoloft, lexapro, maybe celexa. But it really NEVER happens with prozac. The reason is all due to half life. All of the drugs listed have a half life that is hours long but prozac's half life is days. Since prozac takes so long to get out of your system you can just stop it one day and you won't have withdrawl. The serotonin withdrawl syndrome is really freaky dizziness, where you turn your head and then you feel like it comes around later or swims, and the rest is vague flu like symptoms. In general, I would say mood issues are not part of withdrawl but may reflect that your brain really needs help with making serotonin, norepinephrine or other neurotransmitters. In general, the current research about SSRIs and SNRIs is that the first time you have major depression (lasting over 2 weeks) if you take medication for a year and don't stop early you have an 80% chance of not needing it again. If again in life you do need it again then taking for 2 years and then stopping you have a 50% chance of not needing it again but if you find yourself for the third time in your life having major depression then you just may need to stay on something for life or until we come up with something better. One way to help people get off one of these medications if they have withdrawl is to just have them take one prozac 20 mg (fluoxetine) and then it will slowly work out of system and no further issues.

I also often advise to not quit these medications from October to March because if you have any element of seasonal affective disorder than your best chances for successfully stopping it will be when the days are lengthening and such. Plus for many people the major holidays don't help. But one year I got terrible stomach flu around Christmas and couldn't take any medications so didn't get my zoloft. After few days I figured well why restart and I did fine for about 5 years until I needed something again after a stranger broke into our house while we were home. Yikes! So I've been on zoloft again. Now the above research is fairly general and we are all unique but I suspect I may need something for next several years as the peri-menopause is kicking my arse! But we'll see!

I know it's been a while since you posted this, maybe the website will notify you of my reply. My experience has been that fear is the big problem. Amplify that with any kind of mood enhance, even caffeine makes me nuts. Our biggest problem is a lack of unconditional love in our lives. I was blessed to be introduced to Dr. Greg Baer, author of "Real Love." He has a website and much is free. He only charges for books. There is a forum, free conference calls, and access to people who can really love us while we heal. Best to you. M