Zoloft Withdrawals: Update

If my doctor had told me when I was in her office, slumped in a chair holding my 3-month-old boy, that Zoloft HAD withdrawal symptoms, I wouldn't have taken it.

And I would have only survived the following year by breathing, eating and sleeping. I mean, the fact was, my hormones caused me to have intense Post-Partum Depression. There's no denying that.

So, do I regret taking Zoloft? Absolutely not. It gave my brain a boost and helped override the post-partum & nursing hormones that left me mentally & emotionally dead.

Around the time the boy turned 2, I felt my mind fighting for control, whispering, pleading to come back to life. Zoloft at this point just made me ridiculously drowsy. So, I talked with my doctor and we decided it was time to be done with it, thank goodness. I HATE taking medicine in general anyway.

Since my last post on weaning off Zoloft, I lowered my dose to 25mg for about a week, until I felt stabilized and healthy. Last Saturday, I stopped taking Zoloft completely.

I've been off Zoloft for 5 days now. There are definite pros & cons.

What stinks? Yesterday. It was definitely the worst day so far. I had no appetite. Every time I shifted weight, I had these electrical zaps to the brain, which just made me dizzy for a moment. None of it hurts. It's just annoying if I pay attention. I found that if I just kept moving, I barely noticed my physical symptoms.

Here are some more symptoms I'm dealing with:
A. I'm super tense. I'll notice that I'm holding all of my muscles tightly. So, I take a lot of deep breaths and try to relax. Warm baths at night with a few drops of lavender oil help calm my body so I can fall asleep.
2. Bowels. I kinda hate this topic, so I'm gonna leave it there. Message me if you want more info, in which case, I'm going to interrogate to make sure you don't just have some weird fetish with, well, you know.
D. Cotton-head. It feels like my brain is stuffed full of cotton. Totally relatable, right? Ha. But, that's the only way to describe it.

What's better? TONS!!!! Holy crap, energy! Welcome back to my life. Interest. Motivation. I love you, too. And, night sweats are gone! Yeah, super gross, but it totally happened after I got up to the max dose of 200mg. Every night. Talk about ruining a good night's sleep. On the up side, I'm regular about changing my sheets, finally. Haha. Gross, again.

I've been getting pretty impatient with these withdrawals. After tons of research on internet forums, I'd almost come to the sad conclusion that it's not possible to wean off of Zoloft. I mean, people who had only been on 50mg for 6 months would give up after 4 days. It was really discouraging. I've struggled to find anyone who records their entire weaning experience to have it end in success.

So, that's why I'm recording this. Maybe I can help someone else know what to expect. I'm pretty hardcore, so, yeah, I won't be giving up. I want my body back. I want my mind back. I want my life back.