Should i decrease zoloft

Most medications have some side effects. Antidepressants are no different, particularly when taken in the long term. According to a review article , those who take a common type of antidepressant, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs , can experience physical side effects, such as:. These side effects were reported with long-term use of antidepressants and could worsen with age.

Antidepressants can cause sexual side effects that range from lessened sexual desire to difficulty achieving orgasm. An estimated 25 to 80 percent of people who take antidepressants will experience some change in their sexual function within the first 2 to 6 weeks after starting an antidepressant.

Symptoms will usually go away by week 12 of antidepressant use for about 30 percent of those who experience sexual side effects. Many people who take antidepressants report gaining weight.

However, those who take the antidepressant bupropion Wellbutrin may also experience weight loss. If you decrease your daily calorie intake as a result, you could potentially lose weight by stopping your antidepressants.

On the other hand, if you experience loss of appetite with depression, and your depression comes back after stopping antidepressants, you may also lose weight.

Some medications can affect your ability to feel emotions for example, make you feel numb. Someone may also be at greater risk for experiencing withdrawal or discontinuation symptoms the longer they take the medication.

This can vary based on the medication s being taken. If you suddenly stop taking antidepressants, you may experience discontinuation symptoms, which is similar to withdrawal symptoms , but refers to stopping the use of medication rather than addictive agents.

You may notice a rapid onset with some medications, such as paroxetine Paxil , while other medications may take a few days for symptoms to arise. This can be true too if you skip doses, or refrain from taking full doses.

These include:. Most healthcare providers will recommend gradually tapering antidepressant doses over the course of several weeks. However, some medications may require longer periods of tapering, such as paroxetine and venlafaxine. Medications with a longer half-life such as fluoxetine may not require an extended tapering schedule.

The symptoms from weaning off antidepressants are, for the most part, mild and will go away over time. Sometimes an SRI will stop working — a phenomenon called "Prozac poop-out" — which may necessitate increasing the dose or adding another drug.

Discontinuation symptoms can include anxiety and depression. Since these may be the reason you were prescribed antidepressants in the first place, their reappearance may suggest that you're having a relapse and need ongoing treatment. Here's how to distinguish discontinuation symptoms from relapse:. Discontinuation symptoms emerge within days to weeks of stopping the medication or lowering the dose, whereas relapse symptoms develop later and more gradually.

Discontinuation symptoms often include physical complaints that aren't commonly found in depression, such as dizziness, flulike symptoms, and abnormal sensations.

Discontinuation symptoms disappear quickly if you take a dose of the antidepressant, while drug treatment of depression itself takes weeks to work.

Discontinuation symptoms resolve as the body readjusts, while recurrent depression continues and may get worse. If symptoms last more than a month and are worsening, it's worth considering whether you're having a relapse of depression. Neurotransmitters act throughout the body, and you may experience physical as well as mental effects when you stop taking antidepressants or lower the dose too fast.

Common complaints include the following:. As dire as some of these symptoms may sound, you shouldn't let them discourage you if you want to go off your antidepressant. Many of the symptoms of SRI discontinuation syndrome can be minimized or prevented by gradually lowering, or tapering, the dose over weeks to months, sometimes substituting longer-acting drugs such as fluoxetine Prozac for shorter-acting medications.

The antidepressants most likely to cause troublesome symptoms are those that have a short half-life — that is, they break down and leave the body quickly. See the chart "Antidepressant drugs and their half-lives.

Extended-release versions of these drugs enter the body more slowly but leave it just as fast. Antidepressants with a longer half-life, chiefly fluoxetine, cause fewer problems on discontinuation. Besides easing the transition, tapering the dose decreases the risk that depression will recur. In a Harvard Medical School study, nearly patients two-thirds of them women were followed for more than a year after they stopped taking antidepressants prescribed for mood and anxiety disorders.

Participants who discontinued rapidly over one to seven days were more likely to relapse within a few months than those who reduced the dose gradually over two or more weeks. Source: Adapted from Joseph Glenmullen, M. If you're thinking about stopping antidepressants, you should go step-by-step, and consider the following:.

Take your time. You may be tempted to stop taking antidepressants as soon as your symptoms ease, but depression can return if you quit too soon. Clinicians generally recommend staying on the medication for six to nine months before considering going off antidepressants. If you've had three or more recurrences of depression, make that at least two years. Talk to your clinician about the benefits and risks of antidepressants in your particular situation, and work with her or him in deciding whether and when to stop using them.

Before discontinuing, you should feel confident that you're functioning well, that your life circumstances are stable, and that you can cope with any negative thoughts that might emerge. Don't try to quit while you're under stress or undergoing a significant change in your life, such as a new job or an illness. Make a plan. Going off an antidepressant usually involves reducing your dose in increments, allowing two to six weeks between dose reductions.

Your clinician can instruct you in tapering your dose and prescribe the appropriate dosage pills for making the change. The schedule will depend on which antidepressant you're taking, how long you've been on it, your current dose, and any symptoms you had during previous medication changes. It's also a good idea to keep a "mood calendar" on which you record your mood on a scale of one to 10 on a daily basis.

Ideally, you should take them for at least six months after you start to feel better. You may want to taper off antidepressants because you feel better, but that could also mean the medication is working for you. Tapering off too soon makes depression more likely to return. How long your taper takes depends on many things , including:.

Everyone is different and reacts differently. A mood calendar can help you track how you feel as you taper. Keeping track of your daily moods can help you talk to your doctor if you have any withdrawal symptoms, and can help you determine if your depression is returning. Maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and reduce stress as much as possible.

This can not only help reduce your risk for taper symptoms, but can also help reduce your risk for depression in the future. For example, a review of 25 studies found that exercise can help people manage their depression. Moderate to vigorous exercise was particularly helpful. Tapering can cause a lot of emotions. One analysis showed that only 20 percent of people taking antidepressants also undergo psychotherapy.

However, a meta-analysis of studies on antidepressants and psychotherapy found evidence that undergoing talk therapy during and after tapering off antidepressants can be helpful in preventing a relapse or recurrence. Whether or not you have withdrawal symptoms during your taper, you might want to add talk therapy to your treatment. Finishing the entire process is important. Remember that your doctor is there to help the entire time.

It also depends on the type of medication. All medications take a certain amount of time to leave your body since they build up over time. If you do feel withdrawal symptoms, they often start when the drug is about 90 percent out of your body. The table below shows the amount of time it will take common antidepressants to leave your body. Some ways to tell the difference include:.

Tapering off your medication can help you avoid both physical and mental side effects. Remember to take it slow. Tapering takes time. The most important thing to do is to talk to your doctor about the best way to wean off your antidepressant.