Zoloft · Active · Sep 23, 2026

Tapering: Zoloft

active

140 posts

France

Did my initial fast taper (skipping days) permanently sensitize my nervous system?

September 23, 2026

Hi everyone, I am currently holding at 22.5mg of Sertraline after a recent drop from 25mg. However, my real tapering mistake happened before this: Following old-school doctor's advice, I did a much faster taper previously, which even included skipping/alternating days. I thought I had somewhat stabilized at 25mg after that ordeal and could continue, but my recent 10% drop to 22.5mg hit me incredibly hard with a delayed reaction after about a week. Now I wonder if my nervous system is heavily compromised from the skipping-days method before. I have a specific question about the long-term impact of that initial bad tapering advice. I know this is incredibly hard to answer definitively because we are all highly individual, and obviously, no one can experience both paths (tapering too fast vs. micro-tapering from the very beginning) at the same time to compare the timelines. But I am wondering: By doing that initial fast/skipping-days taper, did I essentially make my nervous system extremely hypervigilant, thereby massively prolonging my overall healing and future tapering journey? My core question to anyone who has personal experience, ideas, or knows of any research regarding this: Does my nervous system now have a permanent "sunburn" that I will have to tiptoe around for the rest of my taper, or will this hypervigilance eventually settle down and reset if I hold long enough and switch to a strict micro-taper? Any thoughts, research links, or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

42 Replies

songbirdSep 23

WelcomerValium · holding

I don’t know much now with that medication outside of it was my first medication I was prescribed at age 9. I have only just become aware of tapering protocols after 2+ decades on psych medications. I have only ever slowly tapered on Seroquel back in 2012 and done cold turkey with almost everything outside of that and a slow taper of Mirtazapine earlier this year upon finally developing an understanding about the importance of tapering. When I mean every other class of psych drug I mean that. I’ve just stopped cold turkey and come off and on multiple times and I’ve never really had any issues with them outside of the benzodiazepine class which I realise is dangerous to cold turkey, but in the past I was given little choice but to stop due to doctors leaving abruptly. But I was okay even the last time I went cold turkey on diazepam for 7 months although it was a walk through purgatory and I felt I was going to die, I didn’t. I cold turkey off SSRIs last year after decades of on and off use for PMDD. Actually, my doctor switched me to venlafaxine and the drug was so awful I was sleeping all day and unable to leave the house on the drug. so I came off it after 3 months and felt like I was sick with a severe influenza and looked into venlafaxine and realised how bad it was supposed to be. I ended up just riding that out for 7-10 days and feeling better after it was over. I know it’s not recommended but that was kind of how I discovered the tapering community. After that I vowed never to touch an SSRI, SNRI or tricyclic again. Ever. I think the power of neuroplasticity is underrated with this and I don’t want to sound invalidating and I think you will be okay, nothing will be permanently “sunburnt” and everything will heal as it should especially if you are resuming a micro taper. If you can find ways to naturally regulate your nervous system, like activate the parasympathetic part of your nervous system, that might be useful. Things like breathing, stretching, light exercise like walks, muscle release, massage, cold water, baths, acupressure and similar can be mildly useful although not a cure. It’s just a way to reduce the state of hypervigilance which is a form of sympathetic arousal.

Valium — 2 years, 2 months — holding | Topamax — 25mg — 3 years, 3 months — actively tapering | other — 3mcg — 3 years, 9 months — supporting others | other — 30mg — 3 years, 3 months — supporting others

Gigi‎Sep 23

LighthouseZoloft · active

Hey @songbird, Thank you so much for your reply. I think I've reached the point where I am now hypervigilant about my own hypervigilance. Just another great side effect of this whole process, I guess. I've actually flirted with the idea of going cold turkey—just taking a month off from life to get it over with. But honestly, I am too scared of the crash. If I were having a severe toxic reaction to the medication itself, I might feel differently, but right now, I don't want to risk it. Reading your thoughts on how "the power of neuroplasticity is underrated" was exactly what I needed today. The power of hope is underrated too. Unfortunately, hope is often the very first thing that gets washed down the drain the second the dread of withdrawal kicks in. Thank you again for taking the time to share this and giving me some much-needed perspective!

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Maria A.Sep 23

LighthouseZoloft · active

Please do not go cold turkey. Trust me, it may be much much longer than a month and possibly years. I’m also tapering Zoloft after a cold turkey and reinstatement three years ago back to 50 mg. I have been tapering for two years now and went from 50 to 22 and crashed. I had to hold for a couple of months and then tapered down to 20. I then started my liquid micro taper in January of this year and was doing great until I crashed again at 14.275. I’ve now updosed to 15 mg and am struggling greatly. All this to say, yes I think your nervous system is more sensitive. I think if I had done it properly the first time, I would have had less issues but since I’ve now moved the dose around so much I’ve become extra sensitive to the point that an increase from 14.275 to 15 mg has severely destabilized me. If I were you, I would hold a good long while here until all symptoms have resolved and then go very slow. You can always speed up the taper later but it’s much harder to slow down once you’ve crashed your nervous system.

Zoloft —50 mg to 15 mg — 8 years with a cold turkey and reinstatement in between— was liquid micro tapering, crashed at 14.275 mg and now holding at 15 mg.

Gigi‎Sep 24

LighthouseZoloft · active

@Maria A. Thank you so much for your insights. "Luckily," my fear of a crash prevented me from going cold turkey before I found this community. Now, reading stories like yours, it is completely off the table. Even though I am desperately longing for a life without this drug. But alas, nothing new under the chemical sun. I am so sorry for what you are going through. Thank you for taking the time to help me despite your own struggles! It means so much to get these messages; it really makes a massive difference.

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

renee jOct 8

NavigatorSeroquel · active

Hi again Gigi, I just wrote a reply thanking you for your encouragement on my taper, but then found your question about doing alternating days dosing. This is absolutely not recommended because when you think about it, one day you put your system in overdose then the next withdrawal, resulting in large swings in the dose. The brain is already sensitised, so this will make recovery worse. Small and equal percentage reductions of the last dose in the same direction is the right idea. My feeling, though not a doctor of course, is that you won't be permanently 'sunburned' so long as you don't keep alternating. If, unlike me, you're relatively young, your brain should have enough of that 'neuroplasticity' that should protect you for the time being. Luckily for me, when I made the mistake of telling my ex-psychiatrist I was feeling a bit (understandably) down one day, she suggested I had bi-polar depression and tried me out on every SSRI she could think of. An hour or so after the first dose of every one I had a paradoxical reaction, felt like I had been shot out of a cannon and got highly agitated, took a day each time to come down. So at least I've been spared the misery of anti-depressant w/d's. Stay positive, things will get better. R. 🙂

Seroquel — 69 mg — 13 years — actively tapering

Gigi‎Oct 8

LighthouseZoloft · active

Hey Renee, haha, I just answered you in your other post! And yes, I second everything you said. I don't think I'm forever sunburned anymore (also due to advice and encouragement like yours here in this forum), though the skipping probably left a bit of sensitivity for now. So my next taper will be 4.4% only, and then I'll see how it goes and if I might slowly increase the percentage a bit. Lesson being, I can't fully know how the taper would have gone without the skipping days advice; but that's okay. I just have to work with what I have. So I came to grips with the idea that I might be on this path for 5 or more years, if I have to. And that alone is good for my psyche.

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Gigi‎Oct 8

LighthouseZoloft · active

"I was feeling a bit (understandably) down one day, she suggested I had bi-polar depression" — @renee j

It is mind-boggling how easily these labels are slapped on people for completely situational problems. Especially knowing what that does to a patient.

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Cosmic1973Oct 8

WelcomerMirtazapine · active

Hi Gigi, From all the extensive posts I've read on various sites including this one and obviously researching the crap out of my condition, my opinion would be that the more times you go on & off meds, taper too fast, and yo-yo doses and add other meds to the mix, the more likely you are too find it harder coming off because you're more sensatised. I think we're all sensatised to some degree, but that's all in the past and there's not much any of us can do about it. I would try and not waste any time thinking about, it's just a crap fact of our life right now. The only thing that matters is how you feel today, how you want to feel tomorrow and how you're going to get there. The past is history, we can only learn from it

Mirtazapine — 0.2mg — 1 year — actively tapering

renee jOct 9

NavigatorSeroquel · active

HI Gigi, I think you are going about this totally the right way, the 4.4% taper looks good, and as for taking 5 years, it takes however long it takes. And get this, me too and I'm 70, so hope I'm still alive at the end of it (lol) I should do, perfect health at the moment except for dodgy knees. Hang in there, R. 👍

Seroquel — 69 mg — 13 years — actively tapering

Gigi‎Oct 9

LighthouseZoloft · active

Hey guys! Thank you for the reminder 🙏 However long, and with whatever we have. ✨‎❤️

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Ani4d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

This is such a good & interesting question. It would be so important to learn about tapering early on to make sure that no injuries happen and make it more difficult in the future. My first fast taper was very bad, second still bad but a bit better, doctor wanted to change to Lexapro, again reacted very badly. Still every change causes severe withdrawal for around 3 weeks, since I reached 5 mg and less. What I ask myself is: if I get severe acute withdrawal every time tapering can I still get a protracted additional reaction later on? No one knows I guess, but I try to see something positive in this situation.

Zoloft — current 2.8 mg — 6 years — actively tapering - tapered from 50 mg

Gigi‎4d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

Hi @Ani! Right? Where is the armada of researchers? I guess they are still too busy dismissing the whole thing. Which reminds me of a sad but fascinating historical fact. Back in 1847, a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis figured out that doctors were spreading infections directly from patient to patient just because they did not wash their hands between exams. The medical community was so insulted by the idea that a doctor's hands could be dirty that they rejected his evidence completely. He eventually died in a psychiatric hospital. When I first learned about this years ago, I remember thinking how lucky we are to live in modern times. But actually, it is the exact same dynamic today. Medicines are handed out without real knowledge. Patients are met with disbelief and contempt. And the few doctors who warn their colleagues are treated like a threat. But hey, everybody ended up sanitizing in the end, so we might see change someday. May I ask, what positive takeaway did you manage to find in all of this? (I don't mean that cynically at all. I really think there is a lot to learn, and I'm just curious what it has been for you!) ⋆˙⟡

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Ani4d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

I read about the brain chemistry stuff & all the other false narratives and informations all the time, in magazines, YT comments etc, makes me angry sometimes. Sometimes I feel lucky to be a more informed person now. Someone that believes other people and their experiences, and listens instead of spreading information without thinking twice. I am more sceptical now, but also more open to new things in a way. And I believe this will make me stronger and better at standing up for myself and others. As my education/training is in mental health I hope I can be helpful to others one day. Still it might be difficult as my believes contradict the general consensus in the medical field and many people will think I believe in conspiracy theories! Once I survive this I believe I will be a very strong person, so that will help me :)

Zoloft — current 2.8 mg — 6 years — actively tapering - tapered from 50 mg

Gigi‎4d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

Oh my goodness! You are going to be part of the change. That is so cool! And yes, you might feel like an outcast sometimes. But I'm sure you will find delicate ways to suggest alternatives. Because ultimately, none of this is about telling people, "quit the drug, do this, do that." It's really just about helping them learn to listen to their own bodies. I love everything you said about being more open and more skeptical at the same time. That is so great to hear, and I can totally relate!

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Ani4d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

"Back in 1847, a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis figured out that doctors were spreading infections directly from patient to patient just because they did not wash their hands between exams. The medical community was so insulted by the idea that a doctor's hands could be dirty th..." — @Gigi‎

Yes!!! I love this example (even though it's sad). Also: we believed other medications (Benzos, opioids...) to not be , addictive, or have negative effects before. Medical professionals were so sure about it until they weren't. Views can change, we don't know everything, we were wrong in the past.

Zoloft — current 2.8 mg — 6 years — actively tapering - tapered from 50 mg

RO4d ago

@Maria A. When you say you cold turkeyed Zoloft, did you reinstate straight away or were you off it for a while and then reinstated? What period were you off between stopping and reinstating? Thanks

Cosmic19734d ago

WelcomerMirtazapine · active

Fun fact no.2 George Washington was killed by his doctors after having a throat infection. Blood letting was the Derigour treatment of the day so they let 40% of the stuff drain out his body and he promptly shuffled off. 😵

Mirtazapine — 0.2mg — 1 year — actively tapering

renee j4d ago

NavigatorSeroquel · active

Having watched a lot of Dr Josef Witt-Doerring's youtube videos concerning how to do tapering (hyperbolic) properly, it seems the real villains are the drug companies, who have deliberately misled the medical professions regarding withdrawal. The latter are now trying to discredit him by calling him a "conspiracy theorist" He actually began his career working for them, and in the FDA for 10 years so I guess he knows what he is talking about. In the 1950's the first anti-depressants were released onto the market, and sales took off, but soon complaints about the symptoms that we taperers have now surfaced and the drug people saw a huge PR crisis coming. So they did a few trials, only lasting 6-8 weeks, putting subjects on them and then stopping, and found (not surprisingly) that the withdrawals if any were mild and short-lived. It takes a lot longer than that for the brain to fully adapt, so of course that would happen. And later on, if people did experience what we know now to be withdrawal, it was regarded as a "relapse" so they "obviously" needed the drug. A very clever way to get people on to these things and keep them there! Today I am looking at a handout from the community mental health clinic where I was thrust onto quetiapine for insomnia, and am now tapering off after 13 years. And it says "quetiapine is not addictive...your symptoms may return if stopped too early... when the time comes you should stop by a gradual reduction in the dose over several weeks" This misleading info has come to the clinic via the District Health Board and taken as gospel by the psychiatrists, and the unfortunate patients who are soon to find out the truth. Even the chief doctor at my GP clinic, who lectures at our medical school, believes the now disproven theory that chemical imbalances in the brain are responsible for depression. So I have to feel a bit sorry for our doctors sometimes, if their own teachers tell them this.

Seroquel — 69 mg — 13 years — actively tapering

Masha4d ago

LighthousePaxil · holding

I was tapered too quickly and suffered horribly.

Paxil — 20 mg — 20 years. Went off now back on — holding
Trazadone 25 mg
Buspar 5 mg two times a day
Ativan .25 at night

renee j4d ago

NavigatorSeroquel · active

Yeah Masha, me too, with valium about 13 years ago as well. My fault I was on it that time, I had started a new part-time job which I wasn't really suitable for, and the stress was so awful I started chomping into some leftover pills I found in my bathroom drawer. Had a 25mg habit inside a fortnight, and accelerating. The doctor had me on a linear taper, then I found Dr Ashton's guide to benzo withdrawal, but it was still so horrible, I never knew until then what true suffering was. I think we are a pretty brave lot you know, having come out the other side even if a bit traumatised. How are you doing now? Good to see you are sensibly holding on the Paxil when things got rocky. Best, R.

Seroquel — 69 mg — 13 years — actively tapering

Ani3d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

@renee j you are absolutely right, I am trying to read the book ,Sedated, (James Davies), the proposal of the book is that economic interests are convincing people that they & their brains are the problem instead of acknowledging life circumstances as a main factor in mental health.

Zoloft — current 2.8 mg — 6 years — actively tapering - tapered from 50 mg

Gigi‎3d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

"regarded as a "relapse"" — @renee j

I can actually understand how doctors fall into that reasoning at first glance. But how do they explain all the new symptoms that show up? The ones that are completely different and far worse than the original issue that led us to the pill. Where does their curiosity go? Defaulting to a "relapse" is just so intellectually lazy. When I speak to my doctor, I am polite and calm. I am not being aggressive; I am simply pointing out that what my body is doing now is biologically different. Even if their medical education was heavily shaped by pharmaceutical marketing, why does their critical thinking just stop? It reminds me of the analogy from Anders Sørensen. It has its limits, of course, but the core logic is perfect: "Imagine you stop heavy drinking cold turkey and go into withdrawal. You go to your doctor, and he says, 'Sorry, but your shaky hands, sweating, and anxiety clearly show you have a relapse because of the alcohol imbalance in your brain. You will most likely need to get drunk for the rest of your life."

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Gigi‎3d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

"Views can change, we don't know everything, we were wrong in the past" — @Ani

--> This is something I would love to hear from my doctor 😅

Withdrawal is not a preview of who you are without the drug.
Zoloft — 10 years, 50 mg — currently 21.5 mg — actively tapering

Ani3d ago

LighthouseZoloft · active

I guess it's a fixed way of seeing and interpreting things. I convinced my doctor that what is happening to me is withdrawal but she thinks I am some kind of crazy exception and she says she only saw one or two other cases of this happening during her career... Once I started asking around I found several people that are unable to stop, tried to stop but had a ,relapse,, tried to stop and got really sick or had to take more or different medications. That's just people I know personally or friends of friends.

Zoloft — current 2.8 mg — 6 years — actively tapering - tapered from 50 mg

renee j3d ago

NavigatorSeroquel · active

Oh, that is such a great quote "you will likely need to get drunk for the rest of your life", I really laughed at that one! Brilliant! Don't let those doctors make you doubt yourselves, we are right, not them. I guess it's just a human characteristic to not want to admit you are wrong especially that many, if not most medical students are led to believe that they are kind-of the elite among us, more intelligent and so on, so how could we possibly know more than them. We are the ones actually living with the results of what amounts to malpractice, not them, so surely we are in a better position to know, right?

Seroquel — 69 mg — 13 years — actively tapering

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