My Antidepressant Withdrawal experience (Zoloft | Sertraline)

Why did I stop taking Sertraline and did I experience discontinuation syndrome or any side effects?

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⏰ Timecodes ⏰

00:00 - Introduction
02:16 - Reasons for stopping Sertraline
03:19 - Process of Withdrawal from Antidepressants
04:34 - What were the side effects of stopping Sertraline?
05:53 - How are things without Sertraline?
06:20 - The importance of Therapy
07:12 - Continued Improvement of my Mental Health
07:28 - What’s next for me?

My reasons for stopping Sertraline were relatively straightforward. I felt more in control of the emotional highs and lows that come with being human. Increasing my dose from 50mg to 100mg daily had really helped me through the most challenging bits of the last few years and I had the urge to see if I could cope. Whilst I know that curiosity killed the cat, I really wanted to know if the progress I knew I had made was part of me or a side effect of taking Sertraline. I was very kind to myself in that I knew that I might decide that actually I needed to continue taking my dose; so wouldn’t see failure to withdraw as a failure in life. It would just mean I needed more time on the medication. I was OK with that.

I spoke to my GP and whilst they felt some further time would be useful, they recognised that I wanted to stop taking Sertraline and supported my decisions. Together we devised a plan to gradually reduce my dosage from 100mg, through 75mg and 50mg over a couple of weeks. It was a relatively straightforward process but I didn’t tell anyone I was stopping my medication. Whilst I had come to terms with the potential that this experiment might not work, I didn’t want to announce anything as I would feel a little embarrassed. Anxiety, eh?

I didn’t feel any particular side effects of withdrawal from Sertraline, except anxiety ironically. I was anxious that after all this I would still be the same nervous wreck once the dose was out of my system. This did make the process a bit challenging as it was hard to tell if I was experiencing nervousness because of withdrawal or whether I was just worried about failing. I reminded myself, it didn’t matter too much. I could simply start taking antidepressants again.

I also didn’t want to make this video until I was a couple of months clear of Sertraline. Simply because I didn’t want to act like it was great and then have to make another “Day 0” video. Haha, maybe one day? Anyway, I have no had around 2-3 months without any Sertraline in my system and things are going well. I still suffer from bouts of anxiety but no way near the extremes I was experiencing this time last year. In order to get better I have undertaken new Therapy with TalkSpace and it’s a game changer. I cannot express how great it is to be able to message a trained therapist 24-hours a day and offload. Getting the notification that I have a new message is so reassuring. I highly recommend that if you don’t have therapy in place already you give TalkSpace a go - they have given me a link that will get you your first month for about half price and is the most cost-effective approach to therapy I have seen.

Talking about antidepressant withdrawal is positive in some respects. When I started using this Channel to document my use of antidepressants it was to keep myself accountable and to get me through the first 2 weeks without quitting. That was a year ago and since then the Channel has grown beyond my wildest imagination, finding a community of amazing mental health advocates who have seen their own health improve in tandem with mine.

This video is all about my decision to stop taking Sertraline and I will talk about the reasons for this decision alongside, the process of withdrawal from antidepressants, side effects of stopping antidepressants and my next steps for my own mental health and continuing this channel.

Firstly, let me say. I still have bad days. In fact the last few weeks have thrown up so many challenges that I did on occasion wonder if I was premature in stopping taking my medication. The thing that has gotten me through is Therapy. I no longer use TalkSpace so have removed the affiliate link but many options are available.