Zoloft Withdrawal - At Wit's End

I am a 40 year old woman who has been on Zoloft for the past 16 years. I first went on it after being hit by a car while I was walking across the street. I had broken both legs and was in bed for several months. During this time, I started having anxiety and depression and the doctor prescribed Zoloft. It really helped me and has been a very good drug for the last 16 years. A few times, I have tried to wean off but unfortunately my anxiety and depression symptoms would come back and I would have to increase the dosage. In the last year, my husband and I were thinking about having a child so my doctor started the weaning process last April. I went from 175mg down to 25mg. Unfortunately, for the last 6 weeks I have not been feeling well again. It seems like everytime I get down to a very low amount the symptoms come back. Not at first, but after a few weeks of being on a low dose I start to feel anxious and depressed again and end up having to increase the dosage. Not sure if I am going through withdrawel or is it just my anxiety and depression returning. I agree with several posts here that the symptoms are terrible. My doctor has recommended cardio exercise every day and relaxation tapes which have helped. However, it still is very rough when the symptoms act up.

Stargrace, I've been going through zoloft/sertraline withdrawal for 1 year now. Around 6 weeks off the med is when my anxiety kicked in. For me I knew it was WD as I'd been prescribed the med for depression and never in my life suffered anxiety and 6 weeks after stopping the med i had terrible terrible anxiety. It may be you're incredibly senstitive to dose reduction as i was and you'll need to reinstate and stabilise and then taper slowly. Look at paxil progress for advice on weaning schedules. x

I too have recently stopped taking Zoloft after many years of having been on it. I also have been unsuccessful with previous attempts.to stop taking it. This time , I weaned off over three months and started taking SAM-E, which can be purchased at any store that sells OTC medications. It is a bit expensive, but between the slow withdrawal and taking 800 mg. of SAM-E, I have been able to stay off the zoloft for 3 weeks now and counting. I still have some of the withdrawal symptoms, but so far I have been able to manage. Also increase your water intake. At least 1 liter daily, more if you can. Good luck :)

I have been on Zoloft for approximately 5 years, taking 75 mg/day. 2 months ago I told my doctor I wanted to stop taking it, and she gave me a 'withdrawl schedule' to follow. Like you, I wish to get pregnant and before that happens I need to be sure that I can overcome my anxiety myself, and not have to depend on anything to help with that. I never really looked at the withdrawls or side affects of Zoloft until now, as I figured my doctor would have filled me in when prescribing it to me. I didn't think I had any side affects, but now that I am going through withdrawl, I am beginning to realize that a lot of the health issues i've been dealing with for the last 5 years (stomach issues, headaches, decreased sex drive), may very well be due to the Zoloft. I am currently experiencing withdrawl symptons similar to yours, except for the zaps, and from the sounds of it I am lucky for that. My biggest issues are weeping, anxiety, muscle aches, problems concentrating and vision problems. I have done a TON of research, and I think the only way to overcome this, is just to hang in there and wait it out. I am really struggling right now, but I am hoping I can just push through this, I know it won't last forever, but I understand what you are going through. Our stories are very similar, and it's really nice to know someone else can relate. Good luck to you. :)

Take a very small dose of prozac. Seriously. Prozac has a much longer half life. I took a half of a pill once and it dramatically reduced my withdrawal symptoms. Of course it didn't take them away completely, but it did help. I've been off zoloft for about a month. I still hear a noise in my head on a regular basis and I lose my equilibrium from a few times a day. Very annoying.

Does Gingko Biloba help to relieve the withdrawal symptoms of Ringings in Ears? I abruptly stopping taking Sertraline 100 mg about 4 weeks ago the reason why I stopped due to side effects. I am having ringing in ears which is not constant, but it intermittent through the day and it is like click sounds in my both ears. I hope this symptoms will go away soon. Has anyone experiences this please drop me a line. Thank you.

Hi, I am having the same problem. I went off Zoloft for almost 3 months. Was hell. Ended up in the ER. As a result I started back on .25mg Zoloft. 2 weeks later the head ringing started. Been 3 weeks with it. I assume it will be forever so am trying to brace myself for it. Probably will increase my dose just to be less anxious about the head ringing. Plus I now have a painful sensitivity in my left ear to noise.