Antidepressants: side effects and withdrawal
Started back on sertraline in February 2024, but honestly, my anxiety wasn't that bad to begin with. Now, the dizziness frm those pills was a real bumer. So I ditched them after a few weeks when the side effects were driving me nuts. The wooziness lingered for about a week or two post-stop, assuming it was withdrawal. Then switched to fluoxetine in March 2024 and boom-dizziness again. Stayed on those until June/July and felt pretty good then decided to stop. Dizziness came and went, but after I stopped everything seemed fine for around five weeks. Then the dizziness crept back in. Maybe it was withdrawal symptoms? Anyway, because of the dizziness coming back, I figured it must be my anxiety acting up again so tried fluoxetine once more. Side effects were worse than ever before-I mean, how do you top dizziness with more dizziness? So after a mere ten days on it, I called it quits and now it's day three without any meds. Still dizzy as can be. Wondering if the whole cycle of going off and back on is screwing me over-or maybe I'm just stuck in this weird side effect loop because I haven't been completely clear for long enough?
22 Replies
Withdrawals suck. Takes weeks or even months afetr stopping antidepressants before feeling normal again. Currently on Sertraline, wonder why I restarted it. Shrug
It feels endless, dealing with side effects when taking the medication and experiencing withdrawal symptoms when stopping it. It's very difficult.
Yeah, honestly, I totally get that. Like, I've been thinking about how maybe I should've never even started with these things in the firsst place. It's like this voice at the back of my head constantly saying, "Hey, you need to do better, figure yourself out again." Sometimes it feels so draining!
You know, every time I think about it, I can't help but wonder why I even bothered in the first place. I've been dealing with this for around five years now, and honestly, I wish I never gave it a chance. At one point, I thought I couldn't function without them, but when I look back, I really believe my life was better before all of that started. It's just that lately, since being on tehm, everything feels wosre than ever.
yeah totally been feelin like dat 4 abt 10 yrs now. staying busy & doin stuff u enjoy keeps ur mind off the bad stuff. istg, ngl it rlly hellps me stay positiv
You know, there are days when things aren't completely terrible, right? Like last year and a half where I was all like, "Yo, no meds for me!" And honestly, I felt pretty good. But then you know how it goes-things can take a turn in the blink of an eye, and here I am back on them. I'm really trying to stay off this time though, I mean, I wish I never started taking them in the first place, seriously.
i'll just stay busy & hope these withdrawals go away soon...
Thanks! Honestly, I really hope it works for you too and brings some relief with that sertraline stuff.
Hope it works, my vision and focus suck right now. Might be the Sertraline.
Just a couple of weeks since I hoped back on-same as bfeore!
Oh man, been at this for about 12 weeks now and still feeling pretty rough. Sleep is a real challenge and my eyes aren't doing much better either. But fingers crossed that these last couple of weeks have just been a weird dip in an otherwise okay journey-I'm keeping everything positive!
Side effects suck. Tried anything else besides sertraline? They say 6-8 weeks, but it takes way longer. Had vision changes too, sucks.
So, I've been on escitalopram for what feels like foreever-more than a year-and it seemed to be doing its thing. But then, I figured maybe I could do without it because everything felt manageable without the meds, and I stopped. So now I'm curious, are you currently not taking anything?
No, I'm not taking anything right now. Just hit day five of stopping, and man, I'm still dealing with all these fluoxetine side effects-it feels like it's stck in my system. I know it's gonna be tough, but I really want to try getting back to how I was before the antidperessants kicked in. You see, I started on them after losing my dad, and ever since then, I've been trapped in this endless loop. Citalopram seemed less harsh with side effects for me, though it didn't do much for anxiety. Sertraline worked well that first time around until I felt I could handle things without meds anymore. The second round on sertraline was just awful. Fluoxetine has been a nightmare from the sttart. But hey, I still have propranolol as needed and think I'll stick with those for now.
Prop-planol helps me chill out.
For me, it's like a bandaid for the physical stuff when I have panic attacks-it helps with the racing heart and sweating and all that-but mentally, nothing changes really. Honestly, I've noticed I tend to get more of these freak-outs when I'm on antidepressants compared to when I'm not.
Tried them before? Did you taper off your meds or quit cold turkey? Tapering helped me with the side effects
Didn't taper this time, only back on it for 9 days. Hope no bad withdrawal stuff since fluoxetiine stays in system longer. Expecting worst-case scenario though. Came off sertraline without taper before and had a week or two of withdrawals when I switched to fluoxetine. That sucked
Hope you get better and can handle things wihtout meds
I hope you feel better soon.
Perhaps consider asking your doctor to monitor you while taking the medication. If the dizziness occurs, they can adjust your prescription accordingly.
Phew, fingers crossed! So far so good-I've been off my meds for a whole week now, and surprisingly, no dizzy spells today at all. That's gotta be a sign of improvement right? Fingers crossed it stays that way-really hoping this is the start of better days ahead 🏼