... for 8 years then weaned off and the anxiety came back. So i restarted 25mg for 1 week, then 50mg for 6 weeks and was in a 6 week long panic attached and lost 20lbs. My doctor said this drug seems to be taking me in the wrong direction and told me to reduce to 25mg for the 7th and now the 8th week then stop. Today is the 1st day of the stop and i feel less anxiety like the pill is causing the anxiety. My questions are: does the doctors advice seem accurate to reduce 2 week to 25mg then stop? is it too soon to know after only a one day stop if this pill is actually causing the anxiety? is this too fast of a stop? after all of this 8 weeks time shouldn't of the Zoloft started to reduce the anxiety? maybe this pill doesn't work for me anymore? is this too soon to tell if the one day pill stop to know of the anxiety was caused by the pill? Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Sertraline - this is an update to an earlier post and I am looking for advice. I was on Zoloft...
Question posted by Jonut on 8 Feb 2022
Last updated on 9 February 2022 by Catholicmom
Answers
I withdrew successfully from Lexapro over a long, slow period. I did not have any side effects doing it that way.
I have seen many people withdraw too quickly and suffer terribly.
Jumping from 25mg to 0 is a big jump. You may be lucky and not suffer withdrawal and I hope that is the case.
There is liquid Zoloft which is much better for withdrawal. It is easier to take when cutting your dose by 10% which is what most experts suggest. So in with withdrawing from 25mg cut by 2.5mg and hold till stable then continue.
What I believe you have experienced is a negative response to withdrawing too quickly then reinstating I’m not Sure how long you were off meds but reinstatement of 25mg then back to 50mg it is likely too much too soon. From what I have witnessed from others a reinstatement needs to be done carefully . The expert psychiatrist who specialise in reinstatement and withdrawal suggest starting at a very low dose and slowly working back up.
I hope that you continue to do well and feel better. If for any reason you start to feel worse then please consider liquid Zoloft at a low dose then slowly work up. Obviously talk too your doctor but slow and steady is my advice.
So overall you were back on zoloft for 8 weeks with maximum dose of 50 mg. The 50 mg dose is considered the lowest potentially effective dose. At that dose it usually takes a month to see full results. Of course all of our responses to medication are different. If the medication was worsening your symptoms you will probably need to wait a few weeks to see how you feel then. Going on and off of antidepressants is hard on our systems and you are correct. Sometimes one medication doesn't work, or can have negative effects. Keep us posted on how it works out.
Hi Jaky
Thank you for your response. I think what I am asking is my doctor had me on for 8 weeks and said this is killing you and he said drop 25mg for a week then stop, So dropped 25mg for a week and stopped today and don't feel anxious. Its like this sertraline is creating the anxiety, Is this normal to stop and have no anxiety? which is the very thing I am taking it for?
You know I'm not sure, but if I was feeling that much better after tapering off I'd be thrilled. Hopefully you will continue to feel better and can take it from there.
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zoloft, anxiety, panic disorder, sertraline, drug
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