Exercise tolerance

September 26, 2026··

Has anyone else experienced a sudden drop in exercise tolerance during withdrawal? I’d been back weight training consistently and had built up my training over several weeks without major issues. About six weeks ago I had a pretty nasty wave/flare after a bigger session, and since then my tolerance seems completely different. Even after backing right down and gradually reintroducing weights, I seem to get increased activation, louder symptoms and sensitivity after relatively small sessions — sometimes showing up more over the following 24–48 hours. Before this flare I could tolerate considerably more. Has anyone had their exercise tolerance suddenly drop like this after previously doing well, and did you eventually find you could gradually build it back up again? Exercise was my life before all this 😢

Sertraline for 2 years, successfully tapered off. 8 months later 1 week of Pristiq, stopped due to bad side effects.
Quetiapine low dose 1 week.
Suspected kindling injury.

7 Replies

Anton13h ago

WelcomerZoloft

Hey Troy! This sound very familiar to me. Last January I dropped my dosage to low(40mg to 37.5) and experienced heavy withdrawals. Updosed to 40 and the withdrawals settled but I got bad exercise intolerance after that. Gym and lifting weights was a thing I loved, but that went out of the window Increased activation, louder symptoms and sensitivity after any session. Also I thought id mention that the day before my most recent withdrawals phase(that Im in), I had my hardest session since christmas and then boom, strep infection and full blown severe withdrawals.

⭐

Catina13h ago

Community AnchorEffexor

I'm sorry @Troy, that sounds frustrating. I personally haven't dealt with this, but it's actually very common during psychiatric drug withdrawal. Exercise takes a lot of effort from our bodies, and withdrawal creates a temporary vulnerability that can make it more difficult. Try to honor your limitations and not push yourself too much. I know it's not want you want, but realize it's only temporary and you'll be able to build back your strength again.

Venlafaxine (tapering) - Current dose 17.92 mg
Trazodone - 50 mg
Levothyroxine - 25 mcg

“Your brain and body know how to heal. Trust the process and keep going.”

Please Note: I am not a healthcare professional. Any advice given is based on personal experience and that of others in the lay withdrawal community.

Troy8h ago

@Anton yep, I have been pretty much tolerating gym before my latest wave, now I can't go because it makes me flare. It's so confusing because I have no idea what changed, going from 3-4 days at the gym to not tolerating it 🤷 I've been training my whole life including Muay Thai, it's, the one thing that was helping me through this journey, now I can't even workout, even taking my sensitivity in to account. I really greive this part of my life that has to stop. I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing the same thing, it's a cruel process.

Sertraline for 2 years, successfully tapered off. 8 months later 1 week of Pristiq, stopped due to bad side effects.
Quetiapine low dose 1 week.
Suspected kindling injury.

Troy8h ago

@Catina thank you. I often think that if I could just get the gym it would make getting through this journey easier. Training is part of my identity so suddenly losing it is really hard!

Sertraline for 2 years, successfully tapered off. 8 months later 1 week of Pristiq, stopped due to bad side effects.
Quetiapine low dose 1 week.
Suspected kindling injury.

⭐

Catina7h ago

Community AnchorEffexor

You're welcome @Troy. You might have to alter the way you do things for awhile, but the person you are is still there. ❤️

MamaLa6h ago

WelcomerProzac · holding

@Troy - I feel for you and understand how difficult the exercise intolerance is. I was a 5 days a week heavy lifter amongst other things like hiking long distances on the regular ,who is now able to walk( much shorter distances)and do some yoga as long as I don’t push myself too hard. This happened to be in about March of 2026 and got worse after a too large decrease. It is so difficult when exercise has always been a staple to my mental health and at the time when I needed it most, it got ripped away. It seems that my tolerance is slowly increasing again so I remain very hopeful that my true active self is still in there. I believe We will get back to being ourselves, hopefully sooner than later. But for now, this has been a really big lesson in patience as well as listening to my body.

Prozac — 2.4mg — 4 — holding

Peggy Wallace1h ago

WelcomerCymbalta · holding

I keep going daily through this withdrawal knowing that It is temporary. self-care that requires patience is very difficult. Persevere! I’ll do that too!

60 mg — 2 yr — holding | without clinician

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