Good Story About Quitting Zoloft

Hello everyone,

I was a person who was terrified to start Zoloft (10 years ago!), and I was also a person even more horrified of quitting Zoloft (just now). I wanted to share my quick story to hopefully encourage others who are thinking about starting or stopping Zoloft.

Quick background: I’m 35, male, been on Zoloft since 25, I have panic attacks, and I have been “restricted” to my neighborhood only by way of agoraphobia/hoDophobia. I have experienced a terrible depression episode that had me suicidal (in thoughts, not action) which is what got me on Zoloft to begin with.

I started quitting Zoloft about 6 months ago. I was on 100mg for the previous almost 10 years. My method, contrary to my doctor, was to cut my pills in less amounts than the half marks. I cut them into eighths. I went one month at an eighth less, one month with another eighth less, and so on until my current dose of 12.5mg. For the last seven days, I haven’t taken any Zoloft. No brain zaps/dizziness/panic attacks/depression/head fog at all so far.

I just wanted to let the worriers out there know that if you are slow and patient, you can remove yourself from Zoloft with relative ease. Throughout this 6-month period, I have only had a very slight increase in anxiety. That increase has seemed to level out to a “normal” range, where I feel about as anxious as I did when I was on Zoloft. I also feel more emotions now than I did while on Zoloft.

I am a person who absolutely felt 1,000% dependent on my medication. I’m so incredibly surprised and happy to learn that I can can live on SO much less and now none at all.

Anyway, it seems to me that the only people searching on the internet and posting are those that have issues coming off their meds. The folks that don’t have any problems probably just don’t even think to search or post anything about it, so that’s my purpose. When searching myself for people who got off Zoloft without a lot of side effects, all I found were those who have mild or severe issues with it, so this is why I’m posting about my own success with it.

If you’re quitting an SSRI/psychotropic med, just remember SLOW AND STEADY! Slower than your doctor says, almost certainly.

By the way, I’m still agoraphobic, I still have panic attacks, and I still need to see a therapist for CBT therapy. I’m so elated to just learn that Zoloft basically hasn’t done much at all for me on those issues and I can live without it! It did have a very key purpose for about 2 years though. It isn’t an evil medication as some would lead you to believe.

Cheers!

Thanks for sharing your story.

Hibee

don't be afraid of Zoloft. it really saved my life when I was at my lowest point. I stayed on it for 6 years till it stopped working. I then went med free for 3 years with little problems