Hi, I'm patricia

Hola, @patricia from Spain! I'm Gigi from Germany (currently living in France). Welcome to the group! Seeing you mention words like "liquid" and "hyperbolic tapering" tells me you've already covered some ground on the road to zero. I'd actually be really interested to hear about your experiences with sertraline, since that's my drug of choice (my very uninformed choice, that is!). You have definitely found the right place to learn and feel less alone. I found both here, and I am quite sure you will too.

Hi @patricia, welcome! It sounds like you're already prepared and ready to go. We're happy to have you here! Catina 💜

thank you so much 💙🙏

Hi Gigi, so nice to meet you! I live in Spain and my English isn't great, but I want to be consistent with this app: replying to your messages, writing my own posts and sharing how I'm doing. About the liquid and hyperbolic tapering: yes, I started learning about tapering about five years ago, but it's only this year that I've started using a liquid formulation. All this time has been a search for information, and also a kind of recognition when reading other people's experiences, but also confusion, fear and not really knowing what to do. I've been taking antidepressants for 13 years. I think I've been on about ten different ones, and I've gone through many withdrawals, but it's only now that I'm determined to do it properly, because every previous time I did it far too fast. My experience with sertraline was similar to the others, although better than with paroxetine and venlafaxine. I was on it for a while, and when it stopped working I switched to another drug. I didn't do those switches well: I reduced it and immediately started another one, escitalopram I think. To be honest, I have many gaps in my memory when it comes to my medication history and how I went from one drug to another. Now I'm on fluoxetine, because I thought it was the one with the fewest side effects, but I'm not sure that's true. I feel a bit lost with all of this. I want to do things right and start feeling good about myself. I've been in this since I was 20, and now, at 33, I want to do it properly, because I don't want my life to go by like this. I'm sorry I can't tell you more about sertraline. Since I switched straight to another antidepressant, it wasn't a real taper, so I can't share how that went. But I'm sure that if you taper very gradually, you'll do well. A big hug, Patricia

Hi @patricia, so nice to meet you, too! First of all, your English is great! And don’t worry about the stupid Sertraline; I’m just glad you didn’t have to get to know her too well. We, on the other hand, have a long road ahead together with our fellow taperers, it seems, so I'm looking forward to getting to know you!

"I want to do things right and start feeling good about myself" — @patricia

Since I’m a few years older (just a feeew 😅), will you let me flip that around for you? Please feel good about yourself already today, and worry about doing the right things later. I really admire your mindset, truly. But after surviving 13 years of this mierda, you already deserve to feel damn proud of yourself right now.

"Now I'm on fluoxetine" — @patricia

I’m no doctor, of course, but I saw a ranking of the worst SSRIs to come off of somewhere, and fluoxetine actually has a longer half-life than the others, which can be a help when you taper. So hopefully this will work in your favor! A big hug and un abrazo enorme right back to you, Gigi

So glad you’re here. Welcome. My story is being taken off two SSRI’s while in the hospital. I was sent to rehab after 24 hrs where I crashed big time. 12 days later, home in my apartment. That was 5months ago. I’ve documented my journey while I am researching. This site has helped me know that I can recover from the horrendous side effects I’ve suffered. AND, I am recovering. With the encouragement of folks here, I’m speaking clearly, I’ve almost stopped feeling like I will shake out of my skin, and I can think clearly for the first time in years . Whew!