Free of zoloft at last - 20 years of being hooked (w/response)

[Guest guest]

" bbrodley " writes:

<<I first joined this group in 2008. At that time I could not do the tapering

because life was too hard with a special needs child and moving to another

state, etc. This group was still an inspiration to me and I learned from

reading the notes and files. Well, it's 2012 and I am proud to say I am no

longer on zoloft. It has been four weeks since the last dose. No zaps.

Depression around my period, some anxiety during that time too, but nothing I

can't get through.

How did I do it? Slow tapering over lots of time. I was on 50 mg and I had

taken it for 20 years. I started by splitting the tablets. I went down by about

25 percent each time and I waited a long time, many weeks between each

reduction. When my mother died, I waited awhile. Eventually I got down to 12.5

(as low as I could really get using the 25 mg tablets which is the smallest they

come). Then I stopped altogether. I did not use liquid as I found it too

difficult for figuring out how to use it.

I had to get my therapist's approval to reduce so I could get the smaller

tablets I needed for further reduction and splitting. But once I insisted, she

allowed it.

Everyone has to do it the way it works best. The message I got here was to go

very very slow and never accept the zaps or bad side effects because that means

you went to fast. That's the key message I got and it helped me design my own

program. I know I didn't do it the exact way it might be recommended by the

moderator, but still I did it successfully. The key is taking a slow slow slow

approach.

When the time is right ... you can do it!>>

** Congratulations! But you did do it exactly as is recommended. You

listened to your body and modified your program for discontinuing based upon how

you felt after each decrease. That's how to do it. Most people find 25%

decreases too much (usually these larger decreases are okay for people on many

other psych drugs or who have been on only one for the most part). Most people

would have negative effects from large cuts.

The recommended reductions are 5-10% for initial cuts of antidepressants and

benzodiazepines and 2-5% on antipsychotics and " mood stabilizers " .

Regards,