Coming off Zoloft?

[hub1176]

I have not been feeling well in the last week or so -having dizzy spells a feeling of vertigo. It comes and goes. Could these be associated with coming off Zoloft? Has anyone else had a similar experience? DH asked if I thought I needed to take any tests:rolleyes: but I don't think it's that.

I do have a Dr's appt on Wednesday

[Rose]

I am not familar with Zoloft but I many anti depressants have similar side effects as you stop taking them. Are you cutting your doses or did you just stop? Just stopping can cause a lot of side effects and be harmful.

[Angelfish]

Dizziness was a major side effect for me of coming off Paxil. I cut back to half a pill every other day (alternating with a whole pill), and then half a pill every day and then no pill every other day, and then I was taking them every two or three days--basically whenever I felt dizzy. It was as if I needed the medication to control dizziness, when it was really withdrawal from the medicine that made me dizzy in the first place.

Mention it to your doctor on Wednesday and see if you can come up with a more gradual way to wean yourself.

[udsweetpea]

Did you go off "cold turkey"? If you did, that could cause some very dangerous short-term and long-term side effects.

[KarenS]

DH takes Effexor-XR and has had very similar symptoms when he's not taken his pills for a couple of days (not that he does it regularly, but we forgot to pack them for one trip and it took 3 days to get his doctor to call in a prescription to a local pharmacy). I have heard that it's fairly common to experience dizziness, vertigo, nausea, etc., from going off of anti-depressants. I also agree that you shouldn't go off of them cold turkey - your doctor shoudl be able to help you with ramping down your dosages and weaning yourself off of them.

Karen

[hub1176]

Oops, I did go cold turkey:o My doctor had assured me that Zoloft wouldn't cause problems if I didn't take it for some reason for a few days (I specifically asked about if I forgot it while on vacation or something) The good news (for me, at least) is that emotionally I feel better:) Hopefully it is just a withdrawel (sp). Thanks!

[KarenS]

Yeah, see the thing is with most anti-depressants is that their effect is cumulative - meaning that the dosage builds up in your body over time. If you miss a few days you might suffer minor symptoms, but it's generally not a huge big deal as long as you start taking your regular dosage again as soon as you can. But going cold turkey is really not a good thing to do because your body is used to having a fairly stable level of the drug in your system and when you just *stop*, you put your body into a state of withdrawal as the old drugs clear your system.

Starting or stopping any drug w/out the advice of your doctor is not a good idea - just for future reference. :)

Karen

[princesse]

I have tried to go off of the big blue "Z" a few times and have gone right back on because of that spinny feeling, like you are being whirled around. I even tried cutting my dose (I take 50 mg) in half and experienced the same thing. I'm now taking Topomax for migraines and it is also used as an antidepressant so I'm hoping that I will be able to get off of the Zoloft and just be on one thing. Sorry I didn't mean to make that about me :rolleyes:

SO to answer your question fo sho I have felt the same thing. If you cut the dose in half and then take half every other day you should be just fine. Good luck!

[Aimee]

I quit Lexapro cold turkey and had the same experience - dizziness, cold sweats, etc. It was a stupid thing to do, to go off it without medical supervision, but I hated the way I felt on that stuff, and the weight gain that came with it. I had such severe withdrawal, I was in bed for 2 days and all I did was sleep. And that was only after 4 months of being on the stuff.

I eventually would take tiny slivers of my pills to get over the spinny feelings and such. After a week or so, it was out of my system and I was more normal.

[hub1176]

Maybe I should try to have them halve the dose? I just hate to be on meds when the reason I was on them isn't a factor any longer. But I'm wondering how long I'll feel like this?

[Sophia]

You can't stop cold turkey. I recommend this book: The Antidepressant Solution (http://www.prozacbacklash.com/antidepressantSolution.html)

It's written by a doctor whose patients experienced similar problems. He recommends slowly stepping down your dose, based on how you react. And he recommends at least 2-3 weeks at each new dose so you can adjust. If you look on the website, he also has PDF checklists of symptoms so you can track your progress.

I used his method this summer to get off antidepressants. I had tried going cold turkey before with awful reactions (even though I was on a very small dose), and I also tried to taper off myself, but I didn't give myself enough time at each level.

[PG-rated]

I went cold turkey by accident from Zoloft once and had a *very* bad reaction, so I definitely don't recommend it. What you can do is either cut the pills in half or else take one every other day for at least a week (two is better). The best thing, in my experience, is to step down even more gradually - take half a pill every day for 2 weeks, then half every other day for another 2 weeks. This worked very well for me. If you're unsure, call your dr. and ask how best to do it.

[nawsgirl]

I took myself off of Wellbutrin SR earlier this year because I decided I did not want to be on medication for the rest of my life, as my psychiatrist thought I should be... anyways, what I did was I progressively halved my dosage, and would stay on that amount for 2 weeks before halving again. So I started out at 200, cut them in half and took 100 for a couple of weeks, cut that in half and took 50 for two weeks, then took 50 every other day for 2 weeks, then stopped taking it period. I experienced no side effects of any kind. While I agree that doing this without medical supervision is not the best, my therapist (who was a LCSW so couldn't prescribe meds) and family supported me... it seems as though a lot of psychiatrists like to push meds on people.

[linda_loo]

I forgot to take Zolaft for 3 days recently... and man, oh man. The wooziness was scary. Uck.

[Toonces]

Bumping this up...

I'm on 100mg of Zoloft. I started off on 50, then 75, and now 100. I've been on 100mg for 3-4 weeks. The last few days I've been experiencing pretty bad vertigo. I haven't fallen or anything, but many times/day I feel like the floor is rushing up at me. It makes me nervous b/c I have two kids who I carry around.

Is it common to have vertigo from Zoloft, but not b/c I'm weaning off it it?

[jesvet]

catgirl- I did initially. I would call your doctor and ask what they think, just to be safe.

Did anyone experience weight gain on Zoloft? I know it's listed as an AE for some of the other SSRIs (my sister gained 60 pounds on Celexa), but *according to my doctor* not for Zoloft. A little google search seems to show otherwise (as does my own experience.) Just curious if others have had the same reaction.

[Toonces]

Thanks, Jes! I will call and ask her about it. If it's temporary it's no biggie, but I don't want to have this the entire time I'm on it.

I haven't gained any weight on Zoloft. I've actually lost a few pounds, but I don't think that's from the med either. The RN who runs my PPD support group did say that weight gain can be a side effect of Zoloft.