Stopped taking Zoloft.. help?:(

Hi I'm 15 years old girl and suffer from anxiety and depression I sometimes have panic attacks I recently started taking Zoloft and they're not as bad.. in the beginning of June of this year (2012) I was taking 25mg but at the beginning I was only taking half of it (12.5mg).. but then I decided to take all of it completely. So the problem is 3 days ago I stopped taking it because I think I'm ready to quit it. But just now today this afternoon out of no where I started feeling nauseous, dizzy and as if I'm not here? Like everything is not real, like a dream and when I'm talking to my family I feel like they're just saying things to agree with me.. idk I'm just afraid of going nuts! I hate this feeling.. it's making me cry I wish I could stop feeling this way.. my question.. is this normal at all after taking Zoloft? I don't want to go back to it.. but I hate feeling this way.. and yes I have started going to a psychologist.. I started going about 2 weeks ago and I go once a week.. and I'm actually going this week. but I would like to know form an of you who have taken Zoloft if this is normal after trying to quit it? Thank you so much for your time I appreciate it.

Sorry about your troubles. As other have said, abrupt stopping can cause a host of problems. Why may I ask do you want to 'quit it'? Was this at the behest of the doctor? You should always fill your doctor in on what is going on, and only discontinue medications by his order or during an emergency.

I hope you feel better!

Yes I visited my doctor on July (about 2 weeks ago) he said I can stop taking it as soon as I feel that I'm ready or feel better.. but I guess I wasn't :( I have an appointment this month ( August)

misterkatamari said...
Sorry about your troubles. As other have said, abrupt stopping can cause a host of problems. Why may I ask do you want to 'quit it'? Was this at the behest of the doctor? You should always fill your doctor in on what is going on, and only discontinue medications by his order or during an emergency.

I hope you feel better!

Hello Anon,

I was on Zoloft as well, but after a month,or month and a half, I stopped talking it cold turkey (without weaning myself off of it) as well. My reason for going off of it was because it seemed to make me more nervous than I was. A side effect of that drug is that is will actually cause anxiousness. It doesn't in everyone, but for me it did. I was originally prescribed 50mg, but I only took half the whole time I was on it. Medication makes me nervous anyway, so I didn't want to over do it unless I was having a bad experience with anxiety.

I can relate to the feeling of nothing seeming real around me. I used to feel that I was in some sort of fake reality. It always came out of no where too, like I was in a daydream state. I also know the feeling of feeling as if I was going nuts. Having anxiety causes us to think we are crazy, when in actuality we are not crazy, we simply have anxious thoughts.

Like the others stated, sometimes stopping the medicine too quickly can cause us to feel all sorts of things. Since you stated that your doctor said you can stop taking them when you feel ready, trust his judgement, but don't be afraid to talk to him about how you feel.

Everything will be okay :) You're not alone in this and know that we are here to help.

Sounds like you may have stopped the med too fast. These medications should tapered very slowly to avoid withdrawal symptoms. What you are feeling is bit of depersonalization disorder which sometimes comes with very high levels of anxiety. It may be good to resinstate the zoloft and come off very slowly. If you have already been off for a over a couple weeks and don't want to resinstate it and come off again... I certaintly don't blame you. Just try to excercise a bit, yoga, deep breathing, and keeping stress down. What you are feeling is related to the withdrawal of the medication and it should pass over a period of time. hang in there.