Withdrawal on Zoloft/SSRIs?

[green_momma2007]

I've been taking Zoloft for about 2.5 years now. There were a few times when I stopped taking it but I'm back on it. Right now I take 25 mg daily (I cut a 50 mg pill in half). Back in August I woke up one day feeling very dizzy and nauseous. I spent about 3 days feeling like that. It happened again a few weeks ago. I figured out that it probably had to do with my haphazard way of taking my medication. Some days I'd take it, some days I'd forget, for two or three days.

So I was being really careful about taking it every day, but I forgot to take it Saturday and Sunday. I took a little over half a pill yesterday (the bigger of the two halves). I woke up feeling HORRIBLE today. I was walking sideways when I got out of bed and then when I sat down the room started spinning. I threw up twice. I spent the rest of the day sleeping in bed. I feel a bit better now.

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the Zoloft, but I want to know if this has happened to anyone else?

[Surfacing]

I am not an expert or anything and am not venturing to diagnose, but to me it does sound like your body is reacting to a shift in the levels of medication and you are having side effects from the inconsistent dosage.

I wonder if you could take the meds at the same time everyday, like when you wake up in the morning with breakfast, or just before bed? So if it becomes a routine then you're less likely to forget to take it, yk?

I hope you are feeling better today.

[Oubliette8]

This is VERY common with SSRIs. I did experience it myself on a related drug, Cymbalta, which is a SSNRI. When I stopped taking it I felt like I had the worst flu of my life. It took several weeks to pass, the first few times I gave up and went back on the medication. I also got the brain zaps (its an odd, often described feeling like something is zapping your brain) It is often recommended that people who wish to go off an antidepressant due so incrementally by stepping down the dosage under a doctors care. Some people take months to do so, and need special formulations so they can decrease in very small increments. Some people are never able to get off them. Its very, very common.

[mom0810]

zoloft has a very short half-life, and it washes out of your system quickly.  So you must be sure to take it at the SAME time, the SAME amount, every day.  If you go up or down in dosage, you must do so very slowly, because it can cause issues like the ones you describe.