Sertraline may also interact with other medications or supplements and increase the risk of having side effects. A person should talk with a doctor before taking sertraline if they are currently taking :. It is not uncommon for people to mistake discontinuation symptoms for symptoms of relapse.
This is particularly important to know about antidepressants as discontinuing an antidepressant can increase the risk of relapse for anxiety and depression. Stopping antidepressants can result in rebound depression , or symptoms returning worse than before.
It is important for a doctor to closely monitor and determine the difference to help prevent relapse and treatment failure. A person should always discuss coming off antidepressants or changing dosages with their doctor before making any changes to their dosage.
It is important to talk with a doctor immediately if withdrawal symptoms are severe, concerning, disabling, or last longer than a few weeks. Additionally, it is important to seek help if a person experiences suicidal thoughts, thoughts of self-harm, or any other unexpected or concerning symptoms.
When a person decides to discontinue an antidepressant such as Zoloft, they should speak with their doctor and follow their advice on discontinuing, such as following a tapering schedule. There is a moderate risk for people experiencing withdrawal symptoms while reducing their dose of Zoloft.
Common symptoms may include agitation, tremors, and headaches. In addition to tapering their dose, people can also try self-care tips, such as exercising, getting regular sleep, and having a healthy diet, to reduce potential discontinuation symptoms further. Prozac and Zoloft are two types of antidepressant. In this article, we compare the uses, dosages, and side effects of the two drugs. We also look at…. Doctors say that people should not drink alcohol when taking Zoloft.
In this article, we look at the risks, research, and effects of mixing Zoloft and…. Serotonin is a chemical that transmits messages between nerve cells.
Known as the happy chemical, it may help prevent depression. Read on to find out…. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.
Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance.
Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs are fairly well known for having a discontinuation syndrome when the medication is stopped suddenly or if it is rapidly weaned. This is more notable with SSRIs with shorter half-lives such as Paxil paroxetine and Zoloft sertraline and less common with long half-life medications, such as Prozac fluoxetine.
Zoloft has a half-life of about one day. That means that for every day that passes without taking the medication, the level in the blood falls by 50 percent. After one day, the level is reduced to 50 percent of the original level, after two days to 25 percent, after three days to Because Zoloft leaves your body so quickly, stopping it too abruptly can cause discontinuation syndrome to develop. Among the symptoms that may be experienced are nausea, tremor , dizziness, muscle pains, weakness, insomnia, and anxiety.
Most people also experience a sensation that feels like electrical 'zaps' that go through the brain. It is very common, but it can also be very disconcerting. While many people coming off Zoloft have none of these symptoms, some people do have one or more.
You may notice that you sleep better and get on with people more easily because you're less anxious. You'll hopefully take in your stride little things that used to worry you. Sertraline will not change your personality or make you feel euphorically happy. It'll simply help you feel like yourself again. Do not expect to feel better overnight, though. Some people feel worse during the first few weeks of treatment before they begin to feel better.
You may see an improvement in your symptoms after 1 or 2 weeks, although it usually takes between 4 to 6 weeks before you feel the full benefits. That's because it takes around a week for sertraline levels to build up in your body, and then a few weeks longer for your body to adapt and get used to it. Do not stop taking sertraline just because you feel it is not helping your symptoms.
Give the medicine at least 6 weeks to work. If you have been feeling better for 6 months or more, your doctor may suggest coming off sertraline. Your doctor will probably recommend reducing your dose gradually over several weeks, or longer if you have been taking sertraline for a long time.
This is to help prevent any extra side effects you might get as a reaction to coming off the medicine. Do not stop taking sertraline suddenly, or without talking to your doctor first. Once you're feeling better it's likely that you'll continue to take sertraline for several more months. Most doctors recommend that you take antidepressants for 6 months to a year after you no longer feel depressed. A few people may get sexual side effects, such as problems getting an erection or a lower sex drive.
In some cases these can continue even after stopping the medicine. Speak to your doctor if you are worried. Taking sertraline for more than a year has also been linked to a small increased risk of getting diabetes. You'll be regularly checked for this. Sertraline is not any better or worse than other antidepressants.
Sometimes people respond better to one antidepressant than another. Sertraline can make you feel more or less hungry than usual, so you may lose or gain weight when you start taking it.
If you start to have problems with your weight while taking sertraline, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Sertraline will not affect any type of contraception, including the contraceptive pill or emergency contraception. There's some evidence that sertraline can reduce the quality of sperm. This should reverse once you stop taking the medicine. It's not known whether this reduces male fertility.
Talk to your doctor if you're concerned. There's no firm evidence to suggest that taking sertraline will reduce fertility in women. But speak to a pharmacist or your doctor if you're trying to get pregnant. They may want to review your treatment. The positive effects of sertraline may, after a while, improve your sex life as your mood lifts and you become interested in life and relationships again.
Sexual side effects usually pass after the first couple of weeks. However, very rarely, they can be long lasting and may not get better even after stopping the medicine. If these happen and are a problem for you, go back to your doctor to see if there's another treatment you can try. Some people cannot concentrate properly while they're taking sertraline. It might be best to stop driving and cycling for the first few days of treatment until you know how this medicine makes you feel.
You can drink alcohol while taking sertraline, but it may make you feel sleepy. It might be best to stop drinking alcohol until you see how the medicine makes you feel. Grapefruit juice can increase the amount of sertraline in your body and increase the risk of side effects. Antidepressants, including sertraline, are just one of several approaches to treating depression.
Cannabis with sertraline can give you a fast heartbeat. It's been shown that people are far less likely to relapse after recovering from depression if they exercise three times a week or more.
Exercise makes serotonin more available for binding to receptor sites on nerve cells, so it can compensate for changes in serotonin levels as you taper off SRIs and other medications that target the serotonin system. Seek support. Stay in touch with your clinician as you go through the process. Let her or him know about any physical or emotional symptoms that could be related to discontinuation.
If the symptoms are mild, you'll probably be reassured that they're just temporary, the result of the medication clearing your system. A short course of a non-antidepressant medication such as an antihistamine, anti-anxiety medication, or sleeping aid can sometimes ease these symptoms.
If symptoms are severe, you might need to go back to a previous dose and reduce the levels more slowly. If you're taking an SRI with a short half-life, switching to a longer-acting drug like fluoxetine may help. You may want to involve a relative or close friend in your planning. If people around you realize that you're discontinuing antidepressants and may occasionally be irritable or tearful, they'll be less likely to take it personally. A close friend or family member may also be able to recognize signs of recurring depression that you might not perceive.
Complete the taper. By the time you stop taking the medication, your dose will be tiny. You may already have been cutting your pills in half or using a liquid formula to achieve progressively smaller doses. Some psychiatrists prescribe a single milligram tablet of fluoxetine the day after the last dose of a shorter-acting antidepressant in order to ease its final washout from the body, although this approach hasn't been tested in a clinical trial.
Check in with your clinician one month after you've stopped the medication altogether. At this follow-up appointment, she or he will check to make sure discontinuation symptoms have eased and there are no signs of returning depression. Ongoing monthly check-ins may be advised. To learn what you can do to get the sleep you need for optimal health, safety, and well-being, but the Harvard Special Health Report Improving Sleep: A guide to a good night's rest.
As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift. Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.
0コメント