Update: Decided to Take Zoloft Again After Going Cold Turkey in an Attempt to Taper Off

Last thread: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...ateral-tinnitus-what-to-do.28263/#post-326522

After reading all of your amazing advice and having a miniature panic attack, I realized that my best course of action was to reinstate Zoloft and taper off.

Halfway through my prescription I took a trip and forgot to take my pills, which, although short and I didn’t experience massive withdrawal effects or tinnitus, meant I didn’t take any pills.

That means I now have 6 pills left even though my prescription is technically over, I’m planning on going to to my psychiatrist and asking him for a month or so more so I can taper off properly, even though he didn’t originally recommend that.

As for my tinnitus, on Wednesday I took one of my extra pills out of desperation, and the next day my tinnitus was completely gone.

Now it’s Sunday evening, and I can almost barely make my tinnitus out, but it’s there if I focus. I’m not sure how I should taper off, but I’m going to see if my tinnitus gets stronger tomorrow, and if so I may take another pill and just take one every 5 days while I taper off. However, it is clear the Zoloft withdrawal is what’s causing it.

Any tips on how to taper off properly and how to go about asking my psychiatrist for more so I can taper off would be appreciated.

Thanks for all the great advice and I wish you all the best.

 

I don't think it seems to be clear that Sertraline withdrawal is your cause of Tinnitus at all, and could be purely coincidental as you start to feel anxious and other emotions that this AD was masking in the first place.

If you believe that is the case and wish to taper, your doctor would offer the best advice and should support you if that is what you want to achieve.

Out of interest, why did you stop the AD? From my own experience, its very common to stop taking AD's as you believe you don't need them while taking them. That is the AD working its magic and you may end up on a stop/start/stop start cycle.

 

Ending up taking the AD when I was stuck in a bad part of my life. I’ve since moved out and I’m in a new area with new friends and people. I continued taking it so I could acclimate to my environment without worrying about anxiety. Now I’m at a point where my prescription is over and experience normal anxiety that I can manage and I’m not depressed.

 

I'd suggest asking about the taper on another site, survivingantidepressants.org, where there are members with a vast amount of experience with A/D's.

 

You would be surprised at how much AD withdrawal can mess with the brain, stuff like Effexor can even have withdrawals that mirror benzo withdrawal minus the cravings. I think that this was a good idea Kevin, I know I personally had plenty of spikes when withdrawing from antidepressants last year even though I was mentally in a really good place.