Antidepressant withdrawal: reviewing the paper behind the headlines
Note: Not off-topic but not directly related to this exact article. Just sharing my personal story of withdrawal from an anti-depressant as I am in withdrawal <i>right now</i>. I figure it might be helpful to anyone else about to or in the process of coming off an anti-depressant. Feel free to get in touch if you want to talk outside of HN. See profile.<p>It has been almost three months since I stopped Sertraline (Zoloft) and it has been hard but I think harder for my wife. I have been a really moody, angry bastard. Withdrawal otherwise hasn&#x27;t been too bad. Headaches and bowels for the first two weeks or so but nothing <i>awful</i> just unpleasant. I think I am lucky there.<p>I had been on Sertraline for over 9 years at 200mg&#x2F;day for most of that. I decided <i>two years</i> ago I was ready to come off them so I spoke with my doctor (UK NHS) and we designed a reduction programme. Initially I had hoped to be off them in ~12 months but with some life events I decided not to &quot;rock the boat&quot; as it were which is why it is one month shy of being two years since I first start to reduce my daily dose.<p>I was on 25mg&#x2F;every-other-day when I stopped fully. Things were a <i>little</i> more complicated as I moved to [redacted] in August of this year so I am not under the care of my lovely NHS doctor however we discussed this at length and she and I agreed I should continue with the plan to come off them and I am glad I did. Worst case I would start taking them again (she gave me two months supply before I moved) and make an appointment with a [redacted] doctor.<p>Anyway I am happy to say so far everything is excellent. I feel much more awake. I am not tired <i>all-the-time</i>. Honestly I hadn&#x27;t realised just how tired I have felt for the past 9 years. I am not complaining as in many ways Sertraline saved my life, it is just a realisation that in order to get better part of my brain was being kept not-quite-awake-not-quite-asleep.<p>However the anger has been an issue. And still is an issue. Before needing anti-depressants I was pretty chilled out and on them I was much the same. But now the smallest thing can piss me off like never before. I am <i>aware</i> of this though so I am trying to process the anger rather than explode. Not in a violent way just as a miserable asshole. I <i>know</i> I am a moody bastard at the moment and my wife has been an angel. I know I am not easy to live with at the moment. But I am trying by being acutely aware of my thought patterns and emotions. It is hard to stop myself getting in a serious mood though.<p>However things are getting better. I don&#x27;t get in a mood for the <i>whole</i> day because I dropped a fork when loading the dish washer (this seriously happened back in September!). I am getting better at managing when something angers me. I think part of it is a recalibration of how my brain reacts emotional to events.<p>My doctor did mention the anger issue but put more emphasis on things like headaches, dizzy spells, diarrhoea, etc. and obviously relapse of depression so while I was casually aware anger might be an issue it ended up being much more of an issue than I thought it would be.<p>As my doctor did not go into much detail over the anger related side-effect I have read up on others personal experiences and it seems it can take up to six months to be &quot;back to normal&quot; (for want of a better term) which is fine. I am already half way :)<p>I have been keeping an (almost) daily withdrawal journal that I plan to edit and send to my doctor (in the UK). Not sure if she really wants it but maybe it will offer some insight into withdrawal. Who knows but I figure it can&#x27;t hurt to help. Plus it is quite helpful for me to document it all as I can track the number of &quot;anger events&quot; and I can see a steady downward trend which is extremely reassuring!