I was recently on Zoloft for about 5 months for depression - it didn't do anything for me except make me feel even worse!
I've now been off it for 2 weeks. I was feeling better but, this week I keep getting these horrible headaches!!! They are terrible, it feels like my head is in a vice! All I want to do it cry from the pain. I was finally beginning to feel like myself again...has anyone experienced this? How do you get through it without having to go back on medication????? This experience was not a good one!!!

I did tell my Pdoc and T that I would be open about another meds if they would at least give me a chance to see how things go on my own.

[Open Eyes]

Hi River, Gee I don't know but maybe it is a withdrawl of some kind as you may suspect. Some of these drugs have a long residual effect and I would think that maybe your brain may be trying to reajust to the lack of chemicals. I had taken Zoloft years ago and though in the begining it did help as you say, it made me feel tired. I finally decided to go off of it on my own. I don't think I did it cold turkey though, I think I just lowered the dose and gradually lowered the chemical in doing so. Did you ask the Pdoc if this can sometimes happen? Usually pdocs don't like a sudden stop in any medication.

I also tried Welbutrin and that made me feel very aggitated as if my brain was playing some kind of proverbial tennis match or something. I finally just couldn't take it and decided to just stop taking it altogether. Within about two days I felt so clear headed and my pdoc didn't like that I just stopped taking it all at once. He was on vacation at the time so I just decided on my own to stop it. But I dont recall having any headaches. Fair warning, a lot of people cant stand Welbutrin, just incase that becomes an option to consider. I had not been on Welbrutrin all that long, perhaps that is why I didn't have a bad withdrawl. But some of these antidepressants can be very hard to just stop, don't fool around, get informed.

Let me know how you make out, but make sure you check with the pdoc and see what he/she thinks.

Open Eyes

[andy013]

Withdrawing from an SSRI took me 5-6 weeks before all the headaches stopped.

Originally Posted by Open Eyes

Hi River, Gee I don't know but maybe it is a withdrawl of some kind as you may suspect. Some of these drugs have a long residual effect and I would think that maybe your brain may be trying to reajust to the lack of chemicals. I had taken Zoloft years ago and though in the begining it did help as you say, it made me feel tired. I finally decided to go off of it on my own. I don't think I did it cold turkey though, I think I just lowered the dose and gradually lowered the chemical in doing so. Did you ask the Pdoc if this can sometimes happen? Usually pdocs don't like a sudden stop in any medication.

I also tried Welbutrin and that made me feel very aggitated as if my brain was playing some kind of proverbial tennis match or something. I finally just couldn't take it and decided to just stop taking it altogether. Within about two days I felt so clear headed and my pdoc didn't like that I just stopped taking it all at once. He was on vacation at the time so I just decided on my own to stop it. But I dont recall having any headaches. Fair warning, a lot of people cant stand Welbutrin, just incase that becomes an option to consider. I had not been on Welbrutrin all that long, perhaps that is why I didn't have a bad withdrawl. But some of these antidepressants can be very hard to just stop, don't fool around, get informed.

Let me know how you make out, but make sure you check with the pdoc and see what he/she thinks.

Open Eyes

I tried making an appointment with my Pdoc...called last week...still waiting for him to call me back.

Originally Posted by andy013

Withdrawing from an SSRI took me 5-6 weeks before all the headaches stopped.

Great...something to look forward too!
It's no wonder why people who suffer from depression feel like crap all the time. Obviously I'm not going to be so open minded to taking anymore of the meds they try to push on me.