Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 976279

Shown: posts 9 to 33 of 33. Go back in thread:

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by Conundrum on January 9, 2011, at 13:51:57

In reply to Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:05:12

> It wasn't necessarily a New Year's resolution, but I decided (alone) to come off of sertraline. I had tried before, but the depression was too overwhelming and I always went back. I was on 50mg when I quit cold turkey, and for a week I've felt horrible. The anger and depression have lessened, but I still feel overwhelmed by loud sounds/ speech, bright lights, vivid and bizarre dreams, and (visual) changes in depth or distance. I am not really get any support from my family and I hate my regular physician and see someone else when I need a script or have a minor medical problem. Neither doctor seems to be very conversant in antidepressants, and the latter considers what I was on a "baby dose" and thinks I just need therapy. Yes, wonderful, of course I would except I have no insurance. I want to know if I am doing the right thing and how much longer I can expect withdrawal symptoms. I feel like either no one is treating this with any gravity or they think it's (as always) all in my head. Honestly, that bothers me more than the symptoms. Sorry for being so verbose, I just feel so alone and ignored.

This is as uncommon as you think. I would suggest you join paxilprogess.org or .com not sure, and talk to some of the members there who have gone through the same thing. I can tell you for sure that I notice changes in vision when starting or stopping SSRIs. It is almost as if things look two dimensional at times.

It can take a while for these things to go away. Some people end up going back on the drug and slowly weening down to stop these side effects.

You might experience problems with light and sound anywhere from 6 months up to 2 years. However you don't seem to be as bad as some of the folks who have come off SSRIS, so you would probably be better in a shorter time. Just know that it won't be an over night change.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by Conundrum on January 9, 2011, at 13:59:47

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 12:03:59

> Oh, so sorry, I didn't realize this was a fan page for the pharmaceutical industry and lifelong dependency. Why do I want to come off Zoloft? Uh, I don't want to take drugs the rest of my life? I was put on it when I was 14 and no one seems to find it a problem that it was never stopped. And morgan's post might has well come from Pfizer itself. What a load of crap.

There is no need to be rude to the members here. Many people here have suffered depression for years. I could understand that if you were put on a drug as a teen and now that those often turbulent years are over you might want to try to stop the zoloft. However, there are people here who have suffered with depression for years, and who will need to continue taking meds for the rest of their lives and there is nothing wrong with that. Would you recommend someone suffering suffering from psychotic delusions stop their meds? I highly doubt you would, so can you see why it sounds crazy to someone who has suffered for years with depression for someone to want to stop a drug that is making them not want to kill themselves. Also I don't think you need to take at what morgan said, I think he was just trying to offer useful advise.

Also zoloft is generic so I'm sure that Pfizer isn't wasting their time having people go on forums to promote the drug. You do often see that with newer drugs though, generally not on this forum, because it is so 1997.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 14:58:13

In reply to Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:05:12

Hi there,

>I want to know if I am doing the right thing......

Well, not really, no :) If you wish to stop sertraline after long term treatment, the correct way is to reduce gradually, not to stop abruptly. Since you are still experiencing very unpleasant symptoms, the best course of action would be to restart sertraline at a dose sufficient to block withdrawal symptoms. I would recommend 25mg per day initially. If this is not sufficient to relieve your symptoms, you could try 37.5mg per day, then 50mg if necessary.

Once you have established a dose which prevents withdrawal symptoms, you can start to reduce gradually over a period of several months (often about three months, but variable and individual). There is absolutely no reason to rush this process, it should be gradual and pain free. If you are experiencing unpleasant withdrawal symptoms you are going too fast. The withdrawal should not be unpleasant, and there is no benefit whatsoever in making it unpleasant by reducing too quickly.

When reducing, sertraline should still be taken every day, do not skip days or do 'alternate day dosing'. What you need to do is gradually reduce your daily dose. If you live in the US, 25mg sertraline tablets are available and should be helpful in allowing you to reduce gradually. You can cut the tablets into pieces as necessary. If your tablet halves, quarters (or whatever) are not exact, it does not matter. The aim is only to reduce slowly, not to take a precise dose. When reducing, avoid decreasing the dose more than once a week.

Whilst reducing, be aware of what type of symptoms you are experiencing. Bizarre dreams and changes to hearing and vision are clearly withdrawal symptoms, not symptoms of depression. Withdrawal symptoms can be dealt with by reducing more slowly. On the other hand, if you experience substantial depressive symptoms in the absence of withdrawal symptoms, this could be a sign of a relapse into depression. If you start to experience a relapse, I would recommend increasing back up to 50mg and abandoning the withdrawal process (at least for the time being).

As a side note, 50mg of sertraline is not a 'baby dose', it is the standard therapeutic dose for the treatment of depression, as recommended by the manufacturer. Certainly, higher doses are widely used, but 50mg is very much a therapeutic dose with clear pharmacological effects. The withdrawal symptoms from 50mg are the same as from higher doses.

My main advise is to be sensible. You current strategy has made you ill, which is a clear sign that it wasn't the right thing to do. Rapid withdrawal has made you feel so bad that you are left with no idea whether you actually require continuing antidepressant treatment or not. A gradual tapering process will allow you to discover whether you still need sertraline, and if so, what the lowest effective dose will be.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 15:01:22

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:10:41

> Apologies again, I was down to 25mg as I was splitting the 50mg tabs in half.

Sorry, I just read this.

First of all, you need to get a prescription for the 25mg tablets. You can then restart treatment at 25mg then initiate the tapering process.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » ed_uk2010

Posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 15:12:23

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine, posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 14:58:13

Thank you for the informed response. I had no intention of discrediting the use of meds or bashing people for whom they have been beneficial and even lifesaving, as they have helped with my depression and anxiety, I was only annoyed that the responses didn't seem to address any negative issues with (the) medication and the first response seemed close to touting sertraline as a panacea on par with taking a daily multivitamin. I am slightly more critical as I was put on Lithium when I was younger and still believe it was a grave error by an overzealous psychiatrist. I apologize to those I offended.

 

Lou's request-edu-skulchutngs-15d

Posted by Lou Pilder on January 9, 2011, at 15:13:44

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine, posted by Conundrum on January 9, 2011, at 13:59:47

Friends,
If you are considering being a discussant in this thread, I am requesting that you view the following video. If you could, I think that the education in the video could be helpful in relation to the question as to if taking antidepressants prevents suicide or could cause violence , murder and/or suicide.
Lou
To view this video,
A. bring uup Google.
B. Type in;
[youtube, Can antidepressants cause violence]
There will be a picture of a woman and the time is 10 min on May 8, 2007

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 15:19:26

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 12:03:59

>Oh, so sorry, I didn't realize this was a fan page for the pharmaceutical industry...

It isn't, there are people here with all sorts of views regarding medication.

>Why do I want to come off Zoloft? Uh, I don't want to take drugs the rest of my life?

Well, it all depends on whether you still need it. Abrupt withdrawal causes illness in itself and therefore prevents you from finding out whether you still need the medication. Very gradual withdrawal serves to prevent unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. This way, you can find out whether you still require sertraline for its effects against anxiety and depression. You can monitor yourself for symptoms of depression during the gradual reduction because you are not overwhelmed by withdrawal symptoms, as occur during a rapid withdrawal.

>no one seems to find it a problem that it was never stopped

I guess this is because long term use of antidepressants is so commonplace. I hope you don't feel that you've been harmed by sertraline, but I do sense your anger. The final reduction from 25mg to 0mg needs to occur more gradually then any other stage of withdrawal. I know it can be difficult to cut the tablets up but it is something that has to be done. Just don't worry about it being too precise. Initially, I would go back on 25mg, then you could try 3/4 of a 25mg tablet for a couple of weeks and go from there.

>And Morgan's post might has well come from Pfizer itself. What a load of crap.

Please be respectful to the views of others. Morgan has a right to his own opinions, as we all do. As far as I am aware, his personal experience with sertraline has been very positive. There are people here with all sorts of different problems, and many different beliefs about how they should be dealt with.

Best regards.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 15:23:11

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » ed_uk2010, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 15:12:23

> Thank you for the informed response.

You're welcome.

>I apologize to those I offended.

That's good of you to say so. I just responded to your post to Morgan in my previous post, but I hadn't read your apology.

 

Re: Lou's response-edu-psuesighd-17b » Lou Pilder

Posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 15:26:42

In reply to Lou's response-edu-psuesighd-17b, posted by Lou Pilder on January 9, 2011, at 13:06:04

Lou, the original poster has asked for assistance with withdrawal from sertraline, he has not asked to become part of an anti-psychiatry campaign.

Antidepressants can cause problems but they can also be beneficial. It's important to retain a balanced viewpoint.

 

Lou's request-edu-krmphrd-14c

Posted by Lou Pilder on January 9, 2011, at 15:50:40

In reply to Lou's request-edu-skulchutngs-15d, posted by Lou Pilder on January 9, 2011, at 15:13:44

Friends,
If you are considering being a discussant in this thread, I am requesting that you view the following video. If you could, I think that the informatgion could be educational in regard to you having more information so that you could make a more informed decision as to taking the drugs or not.
Lou
To see this video,
A. pull up Google
B. Type in,
[youtube,Dangers of antidepressants supressed (Fox News)]
There will be a picture of bottles...the time is 5 min on Jan 20, 2008

 

Re: Lou's request-edu-krmphrd-14c » Lou Pilder

Posted by ed_uk2010 on January 9, 2011, at 17:38:32

In reply to Lou's request-edu-krmphrd-14c, posted by Lou Pilder on January 9, 2011, at 15:50:40

>you could make a more informed decision as to taking the drugs or not.

Give it a rest Lou. This thread is about how to taper off sertraline, it's not about anti-med propaganda.


 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by roscopeeco on January 9, 2011, at 19:30:09

In reply to Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:05:12

No offense man but you were on zoloft for fifteen years at one of the smallest doses and you were obviously getting great relief from it. You decided that you don't want to be dependent on a med and you quit cold turkey after fifteen years. Now you are going through withdrawal symptoms and want help.

Meanwhile, there are people on here that would love to take 50mgs of zoloft the rest of their life and be completely normal.

Your side effects are because you quit cold turkey. You want my advice? Taper off the medication as long as it takes to avoid side effects. There is a liquid concentrate of zoloft that you can get to taper off your small dose. I hope you put some hard thoughts in coming off this medication. If it provides you with relief you might not get the same response two years from now if your depression happens to return.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by morgan miller on January 9, 2011, at 20:54:33

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 12:03:59

> Oh, so sorry, I didn't realize this was a fan page for the pharmaceutical industry and lifelong dependency. Why do I want to come off Zoloft? Uh, I don't want to take drugs the rest of my life? I was put on it when I was 14 and no one seems to find it a problem that it was never stopped. And morgan's post might has well come from Pfizer itself. What a load of crap.

I understand you were put on drugs at a young age and it was not your choice. I'm not for putting children or teens on medication, though I understand it may be a necessary evil in some cases. I guess I just though that if you didn't have any negative side effects, and you felt good and functioned at a high level, the potential for suffering may not be worth taking the risk of getting off Zoloft, especially if you have not gone to therapy first.

I came off medication a few times in my life. After years of experience and some research, I realized that major episodes of depression and anxiety can potentially do much more damage to one's life and one's mind than medications can do in many instances.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should not have let my experience and bias influence my response to your post.

I'm not sure if you read my post carefully enough though, if you had, you would have realized I was saying to make some other changes in your life before getting off medication first. I believe that is some fairly sound advice.

One other concern I have is that people often get off medication, fall back into a bad state, and try the medication again only to find it does not work as well as it did when they got off it.

I say go for it. Do what you can to be medication free. Research supplements you can take. Start exercising religiously. Get into Meditation. Start doing meditative yoga. Find a really good therapist. And hope for the best.

I really do think it is possible that you could live a medication free life, it just might be a difficult long road to get there. If you do end up happy and medication free, I will be the first one to congratulate you and wish you well.

So good luck on in achieving your goals. I say that with all sincerity.

Morgan

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by morgan miller on January 9, 2011, at 21:09:47

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » ed_uk2010, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 15:12:23

> Thank you for the informed response. I had no intention of discrediting the use of meds or bashing people for whom they have been beneficial and even lifesaving, as they have helped with my depression and anxiety, I was only annoyed that the responses didn't seem to address any negative issues with (the) medication and the first response seemed close to touting sertraline as a panacea on par with taking a daily multivitamin. I am slightly more critical as I was put on Lithium when I was younger and still believe it was a grave error by an overzealous psychiatrist. I apologize to those I offended.

Ed gave you some good tapering advice.

I think I was just trying to give you some positive information about sertraline so you might not feel as bad about being on it, especially if you were to find yourself needing to stay on it. You made me laugh with multivitamin panacea comment : )

>I am slightly more critical as I was put on Lithium when I was younger and still believe it was a grave error by an overzealous psychiatrist.

Lithium probably didn't alter you or damage you in any permanent way. I guessing maybe it did make you feel bad in some ways and this is the reason for some of your resentment. Anyway, I totally understand why you would be frustrated and angry about being put on medications so early in life. I was lucky I guess in that I "chose" to be on medication starting in my lower 20s. You may not want to hear this, but it's likely that your anger is misguided and is mainly harbored toward your parents. The development of mental illness is usually a result of the combination of both lack of nurture by the parent and a genetic predisposition, not just one or the other.

Again good luck and I'm sorry that my first post frustrated you without addressing your needs here.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 23:12:21

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by roscopeeco on January 9, 2011, at 19:30:09

> No offense man but you were on zoloft for fifteen years at one of the smallest doses and you were obviously getting great relief from it. You decided that you don't want to be dependent on a med and you quit cold turkey after fifteen years. Now you are going through withdrawal symptoms and want help.

>
>
I never said I was at 50mg for 15 years, I was at 150mg for many years and have reduced it most recently splitting a 50 in half and honestly didn't expect such extreme withdrawal symptoms stopping a 25mg dose cold turkey. Thanks.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by morgan miller on January 9, 2011, at 23:30:28

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 23:12:21

I respect your effort to be medication free. I often wonder why some people go through so much worse withdrawals than others. I suspect in your case it may have something to getting on medication at a young age, being on an above average dose, and the length of time you were on the medication. And, of course, it also has much to do with your individual brain chemistry.

I really do hope you are able to get off medication and live free of it without any major issues. I really do wish I could be medication free and I'm sure most here at babble do as well. I've successfully stopped medication with a fair amount of ease in the past. The only problem was that I was bipolar and always fell back into a bad place. In a different world with a different upbringing and maybe some earlier intervention with therapy, I may have made it through long periods of my adulthood without medication.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by bleauberry on January 10, 2011, at 11:48:03

In reply to Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:05:12

> It wasn't necessarily a New Year's resolution, but I decided (alone) to come off of sertraline. I had tried before, but the depression was too overwhelming and I always went back. I was on 50mg when I quit cold turkey, and for a week I've felt horrible. The anger and depression have lessened, but I still feel overwhelmed by loud sounds/ speech, bright lights, vivid and bizarre dreams, and (visual) changes in depth or distance. I am not really get any support from my family and I hate my regular physician and see someone else when I need a script or have a minor medical problem. Neither doctor seems to be very conversant in antidepressants, and the latter considers what I was on a "baby dose" and thinks I just need therapy. Yes, wonderful, of course I would except I have no insurance. I want to know if I am doing the right thing and how much longer I can expect withdrawal symptoms. I feel like either no one is treating this with any gravity or they think it's (as always) all in my head. Honestly, that bothers me more than the symptoms. Sorry for being so verbose, I just feel so alone and ignored.


A baby dose is more like 6mg or 12.5mg, by splitting pills.

In my eperience, it will take a long time for the brain and the entire body to settle into a baseline pattern in the absence of the zoloft molecule. 15 years is a long time.

Eight years on prozac. Took a couple months to wean down to 0mg, about 3 months for all withdrawals to be gone, and another 3 to 6 months to stabilize into a new baseline.

To do it better would involve getting back on zoloft and slowly decreasing the dose in tiny steps over about a 2 to 3 month period. You would have to cut and sliver pills to do it right.

Following just 3 months on zoloft it took about 6 weeks for my withdrawals to be gone.

Life without zoloft might be more lousy than with, so keep that in mind. If you were doing well before you stopped it, I see no reason to stop it at all. If it wasn't working, that's a different story. In that case the simple addition of Nortriptyline low dose would have been a great maneuver. IMO.


 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by Sanguine on January 11, 2011, at 13:32:20

In reply to Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:05:12

Thanks to everyone who offered information and support over the last few days. I went back to taking 25mg after visiting my doctor and being (gently) reprimanded. I am very sensitive to medication and this may have something to do with the extremes of my withdrawal symptoms. The reason for all of this was I had just hadn't been drug-free in so many years I wanted to see if I was functional without anything, if only for a short time. I admit it was stupid. I am also aware there are people far worse off than me and there is no cause for hostility.

For what it's worth, I was started on Zoloft when I was 14 for 'social anxiety disorder'. I do not recall what dosage I was on at that time. This was about the time I started self-mutilating. Then after one attempted overdose I started seeing a different psychologist specializing in teens (the previous one specialized in children and had a penchant for napping during out sessions; my psychiatrist was some geriatric pseudo-Freud that only seemed to want to know about my sex life). After one session where I apparently made a statement that was cause for concern I was admitted to a treatment center and my Zoloft was upped to 150mg and I was put on Lithium (again, I can't remember the dose, just two pink capsules). I was on that for several years until I decided that I was tired of being in that shaky, sensory-deprived limbo and that perhaps a psychiatrist who used mood lighting and incense and couldn't remember my face or name had misdiagnosed my condition. I did ween myself off of that very slowly so I did not have major withdrawal issues, although I have been left with an enlarged thyroid from taking it and I am being observed for any problems that may eventually stem from that. I also stopped seeing my psychiatrist as I was no longer covered by insurance. I had another attempted overdose at 21 and was Baker acted and admitted to a local hospital. Since then I have gradually dropped my Zoloft dosage to the 25mg I was at before this episode. I also began taking Xanax within the last two years for anxiety on an as needed basis; I have also had problems stopping this if I have taken it for more than a few days at a time and have been given Valium to help me come off of it (though it really made no difference for me personally.) At this point in my life, the anxiety is a much bigger problem for me than anything else, and I hope to someday be able to obtain insurance so I can find a therapist. I may try again to come off of the Zoloft, but my family has seen me at 12.5mg and thinks I am better at 25mg, so if that's where I'm at, that's fine. Depression and anxiety do run on both sides of my family, so I cannot deny that this is probably a lifelong issue for me. Again, I thank you all for your support, guidance, and perspectives. I hope my information in turn holds some value for others.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » Sanguine

Posted by morgan miller on January 11, 2011, at 16:06:31

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 11, 2011, at 13:32:20

There's no doubt you have gone through some very rough times, especially when someone should be feeling young and alive and enjoying many things life has to offer to their fullest. It's really too bad you were put on lithium at a young age. It may not have affected your thyroid in such a way in adulthood. It's also unfortunate that you weren't able to get into see a really good therapist and psychiatrist that could work together in your early teens.

That's good you are doing o.k. on 25 mg of Zoloft. Whatever you do in the future, I really hope you are able to live a comfortable, happy and full life. I get the feeling that you will, especially if you are able to get into to see a good therapist.

Has exercise ever helped you feel better? What about changing your diet? Have you ever tried taking some supplements? Fish oil would be the first supplement that comes to mind.

Morgan

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by creepy on January 13, 2011, at 15:35:30

In reply to Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 9, 2011, at 1:05:12

There are all sorts of symptoms that can occur during discontinuation. unfortunately many pdocs do not believe in discontinuation syndrome despite the research on it.
IF you get off of any psych drug, its usually best to do it slowly. If you can get a pill cutter or count beads from capsules thats the way to go.
Usually these effects last a month or two, then the depression may return.
When I went off of lexapro the zaps and nausea lasted a month. The depression came back quickly.
Just make sure there is someone to watch you when you discontinue, just in case you have a bad reaction and try to do something permanent.
Im currently on 50mg zoloft. Works good so far, along with wellbutrin. Its not a baby dose, its what the original trials showed as an 'effective' dose. Still enough to be difficult to quit.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » creepy

Posted by Phillipa on January 13, 2011, at 21:15:57

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by creepy on January 13, 2011, at 15:35:30

Creepy seems lately low doses are prescribed more often than trying to keep upping doses. Think could be related to discontinuation syndrome? Phillipa

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by creepy on January 14, 2011, at 8:57:53

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » creepy, posted by Phillipa on January 13, 2011, at 21:15:57

For OCD it sounds like the higher doses are used more often. For PTSD and depression, maybe a little more than the recommended 50mg.
There are a lot of variables that play into it, I think most docs will escalate the dose and see if the illness responds.
My doc is going extra slow since I had a bad reaction to sertraline last time I tried it. So far so good though.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years » creepy

Posted by Phillipa on January 14, 2011, at 20:29:11

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by creepy on January 14, 2011, at 8:57:53

Sounds like the right thing for you to do. Phillipa

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by 49er on January 15, 2011, at 8:31:38

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 11, 2011, at 13:32:20

Hi Sanguine,

As an FYI, I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if I am missing something relevant.

If you decide in the future to taper again, you might want to consider tapering very slowly. As an FYI, I successfully tapered off of a cocktail of psych meds after 15 years by tapering going mostly at the rate of 10% of current dose every 4 weeks.

Good luck to you.

49er

> Thanks to everyone who offered information and support over the last few days. I went back to taking 25mg after visiting my doctor and being (gently) reprimanded. I am very sensitive to medication and this may have something to do with the extremes of my withdrawal symptoms. The reason for all of this was I had just hadn't been drug-free in so many years I wanted to see if I was functional without anything, if only for a short time. I admit it was stupid. I am also aware there are people far worse off than me and there is no cause for hostility.
>
> For what it's worth, I was started on Zoloft when I was 14 for 'social anxiety disorder'. I do not recall what dosage I was on at that time. This was about the time I started self-mutilating. Then after one attempted overdose I started seeing a different psychologist specializing in teens (the previous one specialized in children and had a penchant for napping during out sessions; my psychiatrist was some geriatric pseudo-Freud that only seemed to want to know about my sex life). After one session where I apparently made a statement that was cause for concern I was admitted to a treatment center and my Zoloft was upped to 150mg and I was put on Lithium (again, I can't remember the dose, just two pink capsules). I was on that for several years until I decided that I was tired of being in that shaky, sensory-deprived limbo and that perhaps a psychiatrist who used mood lighting and incense and couldn't remember my face or name had misdiagnosed my condition. I did ween myself off of that very slowly so I did not have major withdrawal issues, although I have been left with an enlarged thyroid from taking it and I am being observed for any problems that may eventually stem from that. I also stopped seeing my psychiatrist as I was no longer covered by insurance. I had another attempted overdose at 21 and was Baker acted and admitted to a local hospital. Since then I have gradually dropped my Zoloft dosage to the 25mg I was at before this episode. I also began taking Xanax within the last two years for anxiety on an as needed basis; I have also had problems stopping this if I have taken it for more than a few days at a time and have been given Valium to help me come off of it (though it really made no difference for me personally.) At this point in my life, the anxiety is a much bigger problem for me than anything else, and I hope to someday be able to obtain insurance so I can find a therapist. I may try again to come off of the Zoloft, but my family has seen me at 12.5mg and thinks I am better at 25mg, so if that's where I'm at, that's fine. Depression and anxiety do run on both sides of my family, so I cannot deny that this is probably a lifelong issue for me. Again, I thank you all for your support, guidance, and perspectives. I hope my information in turn holds some value for others.

 

Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years

Posted by PrettyLady on February 11, 2013, at 18:55:23

In reply to Re: Quitting Zoloft After 15+ Years, posted by Sanguine on January 11, 2011, at 13:32:20

I have a very similar story to yours and really feel for you. Being put on meds at a young age is so infuriating, especially if your environment could have played a factor. But on the same token, making yourself sick to get back at those around you isn't healthy either. I've done the same thing, and felt very defeated when I went back on everything. But in the end, I just want to be happy and heathy. I hope you are feeling better, please post on your progress if you can.


This is the end of the thread.


Show another thread

URL of post in thread:


Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ


[dr. bob] Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD, bob@dr-bob.org

Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.