Getting off Zoloft
 

I've been weaning off this drug for the last few months and am now not taking them at all anymore.

Today is turning out to be a struggle which sux because it's fathers day here.

I feel kinda weird in the head like I'm half stoned or something and emotionally I'm ok, but just need to try and maintain a calm environment while my body shrugs off the residual effects.

Apparently zoloft is not a great drug to get off contrary to what the doc told me and the literature he gave me initially. Probably should have done more research in the begining but I was too farked up to think of it at the time.

Anyway, fingers crossed I can manage this and ditch the drugs for good.

Your posting this in Nothingland, rather than the Health forum, gives me the impression that you're certain this symptom is a residual effect of the discontinued medication.

Sorry you're going through this. I've quit zoloft several times and never had a bad time. Talk to your doc. did you taper off or go cold turkey?

Nope, just didn't think of the health forum for it till after I'd posted the thread and then of course it's too late unless a mod shifts it, in which case I don't care. I was just having a moment and decided to share.

Tapered off the way you're supposed to. Apparently the symptoms are pretty common, so I'm not overly worried. What dose were you on foot? I was on 100mg/day. Cut back to 50 then 25 then alternate days etc. Now it's been a bit over a week since I had any.

So far so good.

I hope it evens out for you soon Ali.

A while back, I went to see my doc for anxiety hoping to get zanax but she wouldn't prescribe it. Instead it was some sort of new paxil-like anti-depressant. I tried it for a couple of days but started experiencing some side effects. When I googled it, I discovered that getting off it would be a major effort - something like 6 months worth of weaning. I stopped right there and then. Its almost like they are making drugs like this purposely. I didn't think Zoloft was like that.

Rotten to go through it, Ali.
Keep your pecker up...

Pico, I had horrible side effects from Fluoxetine (Prozac) so I was taken off it after a week. But then I went cold turkey - stupid, stupid - on Paroxetine (Paxil) without withdrawal symptoms. I'd been on it for a while. Then again I never had physical withdrawl from alcohol or nicotine, so perhaps I'm not prone to it. (This is probably nonsense!)

I'm now on Citalopram (aka Celexa, Cipramil, Celepram, Emocal, Sepram, Seropram) and get by on it so well I'm not even fussed about coming off. I feel I have a correctly balanced chemistry now. I can't believe I used to make myself physically ill from sheer anxiety, and thought it was normal. I'm on 40mg.

Be careful, some doctors will try the 'latest and greatest' when an older established drug will do as well. In some cases this is due to ignorance. Drug companies are happy to provide instruction in new pharma but have no incentive to mention that a generic works as well or better for a specific ailment.

When I worked for the NHS, the more professional GP surgeries would not see drug company reps.
And there was a big push in the PCT (Primary Care Trust) to get GPs prescribing generics. It was part of their incentive scheme, where the money went to the practice (for training, equipment, furniture etc) rather than simply a cash bonus for the GP.

We had varying degrees of success.

The smaller practices cried foul at every stage, the larger practices benefited.
But the small ones were usually one Doctor whose waiting room looked like his front room, with his wife as Practice Manager and his additional admin services provided by University-aged offspring on holiday and the cleaner was Auntie or Grandma.

They knew exactly how to work the system!

I was on Proxac about 10 years ago for about 3 months and I don't recall any side-effects at all and when I decided to quit I went cold-turkey with no problem. As a result I was a vocal fan of the drug. Of course everyone reacts differently.

Ive definitely noticed that about the last two of my doctors. They are pill pushers. I wish I could get back on with a former doctor, but she isn't taking any new patients. She really listened to me and worked with my input. (Well up until the time she wouldn't help me out with a few pain pills when I ran short on my prescription - it was a matter of not going over the surgeons head, but he was out of town and his nurse would not help me out at all. I was in miserable pain from a shattered disc in my neck and waiting on surgery for it. My husband was infuriated and talked me into dropping her after that. Im really sorry I did)

And there's the rub.
I reacted physically and mentally to Prozac. I spent hours on the phone to the Samaritans, being calmed down by a lovely man from Preston (the Preston aspect helped, he had the same accent as Steve Pemberton). The morning after I got an emergency appointment with my doctor.

My suicidal thoughts ballooned until I could think of nothing else.
I was terrified if I called a heathcare professional they would commit me and I would never be allowed to leave. But if I didn't I would kill myself, which is also pretty final.

The odd thing is, it wasn't the lowest of the low of my depression, where I simply wanted to die, if only I could leave the sofa or my bed. And it wasn't the most wretched, where I believed I didn't deserve to live. But I think it was the most scary.

Horses for courses.

That was an a pretty serious reaction. I was prescribed a tricyclic antidepressant (imipramine, I think) prior to the prozac, which gave me the same reaction - which I did act on, unsuccessfully of course. It was an event that permanently changed my life.

Our Prozac Nation (Zoloft Nation)... get the fuck off the crutch.

That right there a some pretty plain-speaking description of the varieties of depression. Awful. I've never been that bad, but I do know it's not the sort of thing you can just jolly yourself out of.

I like my performance enhancing drugs, they help me get the fuck off the couch. ;)

I take 80 mgms of Celexa daily for PTSD is 60 mgm, but I 've started some OC behavior lately. If you want a really fun time, quit taking your meds for a few weeks. That will add some excitement to your life. LOL