So, I was at my osteopath today. He heklps me a lot with my ongoing muscle pain. And then during the session, he told me that usually his clients that are on Sertraline taper over 6 to 12 months. He was almost shocked that my doctor made me taper so fast.

This tells me two things:

1) My taper was too fast. Much too fast, most likely. No wonder I'm experiencing all sorts of weird symptoms. My system needs time and care.

2) Some doctors are actually getting the point about tapering ssri's. That's good news for the community as such. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Tumultarisk said:

Some doctors are actually getting the point about tapering ssri's. That's good news for the community as such. 

Slowly slowly change is happening. 🙂 

On 1/19/2026 at 2:40 AM, Tumultarisk said:

So, I was at my osteopath today. He heklps me a lot with my ongoing muscle pain. And then during the session, he told me that usually his clients that are on Sertraline taper over 6 to 12 months. He was almost shocked that my doctor made me taper so fast.

This tells me two things:

1) My taper was too fast. Much too fast, most likely. No wonder I'm experiencing all sorts of weird symptoms. My system needs time and care.

2) Some doctors are actually getting the point about tapering ssri's. That's good news for the community as such. 

 

 

Definitely slowly is the key to get out even if it take years.

 

See Chris Paige on podcast.  He is still tapering for 9 years now, but got rid of two meds.  He mentioned that if your body is unstable and you continue Tapering, then, the body will have to do two things: 1. Adjust to new dose, 2. Stabilization again.  If you hold long enough until functioning normal then body is only focusing on stability and not on dose changes....

 

I'm holding at 4.79mg since October and waiting for few symptoms to resolve before continuing tapering...

Hi, I just wanted to say I relate a lot to your continual doubting about whether it’s still withdrawal (and I have health anxiety too). I can read your story and symptoms and feel fairly certain you are experiencing withdrawal, yet I can’t seem to apply that to myself! It would be so much easier if the medical professionals had caught up with the reality of lived experience for so many people. Knowing that my doctor doesn’t believe in prolonged withdrawal does affect me heavily, despite all the other solid reasons to believe it is that. Most likely one day we’ll look back and it will seem like it was obvious 🙂

36 minutes ago, sarahw said:

Hi, I just wanted to say I relate a lot to your continual doubting about whether it’s still withdrawal (and I have health anxiety too). I can read your story and symptoms and feel fairly certain you are experiencing withdrawal, yet I can’t seem to apply that to myself! It would be so much easier if the medical professionals had caught up with the reality of lived experience for so many people. Knowing that my doctor doesn’t believe in prolonged withdrawal does affect me heavily, despite all the other solid reasons to believe it is that. Most likely one day we’ll look back and it will seem like it was obvious 🙂

Thanks so much for this message, sarahw! It's crazy that we are son bad at believing that what we are experiencing is WD - while totally buying it for everyone else in here (an in SA and other groups). An official policy of recognizing WD and all the different symptoms would help so much. Hang in there!

7 hours ago, sarahw said:

Hi, I just wanted to say I relate a lot to your continual doubting about whether it’s still withdrawal (and I have health anxiety too). I can read your story and symptoms and feel fairly certain you are experiencing withdrawal, yet I can’t seem to apply that to myself! It would be so much easier if the medical professionals had caught up with the reality of lived experience for so many people. Knowing that my doctor doesn’t believe in prolonged withdrawal does affect me heavily, despite all the other solid reasons to believe it is that. Most likely one day we’ll look back and it will seem like it was obvious 🙂

I feel you on this one.  I hope doctors really open their eyes about WD....also doubting is part of withdrawal as brain heals from different areas.  One thing I have noticed is that I am not doubting as much as I used too.  I guess, I'm healing on that level...

13 hours ago, Raymond said:

I feel you on this one.  I hope doctors really open their eyes about WD....also doubting is part of withdrawal as brain heals from different areas.  One thing I have noticed is that I am not doubting as much as I used too.  I guess, I'm healing on that level...

That doubt can be so heavy and make everything worse. 

5 hours ago, Tumultarisk said:

That doubt can be so heavy and make everything worse. 

It does! This morning, I'm in doubt again...my mornings continue to be the worst....fear sensation again...

2 minutes ago, Raymond said:

It does! This morning, I'm in doubt again...my mornings continue to be the worst....fear sensation again...

My mornings are usually the worst part of the day. I often feel better mentally later on during the day. This may partly be cortisol, I think. Some mornings I literally wake up and my first thought is one of my recurring health anxiety thoughts. Not recommended!

More on mornings: literally the moment after I wrote my last post about anxiety in the mornings, one of my favourite podcasters, Anxiety Josh, posted an piece of advice on his Instagram: basically, to find your default anxious thought (for me: a specific and very scary illness) and then try changing it. So, when I wake up,  I should try to choose a thought beforehand. A normal thought. A thought on what I want to do today. Or a thought about a friend. Or a book I love. Something like that. Thinking the same anxious thought all the time makes our brains think the anxiety and the anxious thought are important and real. And they're not.

 

I'll give it a go!

Hey everyone,

I suspect that I may be experiencing a window. 

Yay!

Yesterday and today, a lot of symptoms have been much milder. Not gone. But much, much less intrusive. Here's today's status:

 

- Painful/tensed muscles. Pain in neck, shoulders, legs and feet. The burning sensation in legs and feet is overall better - and the other muscle pain is much milder. 

- Dry mouth (getting better each day, it seems) - still better. I don't notice it before I think of it. 

- Ulnar nerve issues (most likely related to the muscle tension). Also much milder. 

- Involuntary movement of left index finger. This hasn't happened for more than a week (maybe two weeks?). The "weird" feeling in my hands and fingers are also almost gone. 

- Exhaustion - I've had a pretty active weekend, but I don't feel as exhausted. Just tired at the end of the day. 

- Tinnitus - still the same. But I've had tinnitus for decades - even though it's definitely been worse, I don't know if this is related to WD.

 

So, maybe a window?

59 minutes ago, Tumultarisk said:

Hey everyone,

I suspect that I may be experiencing a window. 

Yay!

Yesterday and today, a lot of symptoms have been much milder. Not gone. But much, much less intrusive. Here's today's status:

 

- Painful/tensed muscles. Pain in neck, shoulders, legs and feet. The burning sensation in legs and feet is overall better - and the other muscle pain is much milder. 

- Dry mouth (getting better each day, it seems) - still better. I don't notice it before I think of it. 

- Ulnar nerve issues (most likely related to the muscle tension). Also much milder. 

- Involuntary movement of left index finger. This hasn't happened for more than a week (maybe two weeks?). The "weird" feeling in my hands and fingers are also almost gone. 

- Exhaustion - I've had a pretty active weekend, but I don't feel as exhausted. Just tired at the end of the day. 

- Tinnitus - still the same. But I've had tinnitus for decades - even though it's definitely been worse, I don't know if this is related to WD.

 

So, maybe a window?

Hey @Tumultarisk sounds definitely like a window, it's lovely to experience it after waves isn't it! 

Very happy for you, enjoy it, hopefully it will stay long.

 

1 hour ago, Tumultarisk said:

Hey everyone,

I suspect that I may be experiencing a window. 

Yay!

Yesterday and today, a lot of symptoms have been much milder. Not gone. But much, much less intrusive. Here's today's status:

 

- Painful/tensed muscles. Pain in neck, shoulders, legs and feet. The burning sensation in legs and feet is overall better - and the other muscle pain is much milder. 

- Dry mouth (getting better each day, it seems) - still better. I don't notice it before I think of it. 

- Ulnar nerve issues (most likely related to the muscle tension). Also much milder. 

- Involuntary movement of left index finger. This hasn't happened for more than a week (maybe two weeks?). The "weird" feeling in my hands and fingers are also almost gone. 

- Exhaustion - I've had a pretty active weekend, but I don't feel as exhausted. Just tired at the end of the day. 

- Tinnitus - still the same. But I've had tinnitus for decades - even though it's definitely been worse, I don't know if this is related to WD.

 

So, maybe a window?

Hey @Tumultarisk

 

Sounds like it could be mate! Good to hear,

 

Chippy

A couple of thoughts on this whole thing from my POV:

 

First of all: when I went to the doctor a little over a year ago, he asked me to fill out a survey. The goal of the survey was to "measure" my mental health. I put it in brackets, because that survey - which I believe is standard practice here in Denmark - was very vague with lots of space for individual interpretation for each question. I don't see how this in any way can form the basis of any kind of diagnose. Mind you, I KNOW I suffer from anxiety - I just don't think the method had any kind of quality and I shudder at the thought that based on this and a single, very short consultation, they prescribed Sertraline. Wow! 

 

Secondly, and this one's a bit more speculative: I'm trying to understand why I could get such a long WD-process from "only" six months on Sertraline. Here's one idea (again, totally not based on science but on some kind of logical thinking) - the very powerful drug changed how not only my brain but all receptors in my body (in my gut, in my lungs, in my mouth, in my skin, in my muscles etc. etc.) deal with serotonin (and maybe more neurotransmitters etc.). This had a profound effect on me. I had many adverse affects not only for the first two weeks (although the first two weeks were definitely the worst) - muscle tension being the most pronounced lingering effect. And then my whole system slowly, but surely adapted to the drug. Now, when I then stopped over the course of 4 weeks, my system couldn't keep up. Who says that our powerful and amazing systems can adapt back as rapidly and forcefully as the drug could induce? I know we have wonderful systems to achieve homeostasis, but who says that our systems can return to a balance so fast? Maybe our systems really need much more time for this process as it's desperately trying to find the balance but the task is simply too big for it to happen over a few weeks? 

 

I'm not sure, of course, but it makes sense to me, that our natural systems might now be built to change back to "normal" in a prompt manner after a forceful, chemically induced change.

 

Let me know what you think! Am I making sense?

On 1/19/2026 at 6:40 PM, Tumultarisk said:

So, I was at my osteopath today. He heklps me a lot with my ongoing muscle pain. And then during the session, he told me that usually his clients that are on Sertraline taper over 6 to 12 months. . 

 

 

Hello @Tumultarisk,

An osteopath that I went to told me that she notices people coming off SSRI's develop a 'drying out' of cerebrospinal fluid. She does cranio sacral work.

 

I have read your story as I am doing a zoloft taper. In my initial too fast attempt,  I too developed the dry mouth, white tongue and extreme burning tongue, pins and needles in arms, hands and mouth. I still have the burning tongue. Flares up in a wave. Oh and zoloft is the only psychotropic drug I have taken but for much longer than you. So yes you can get dreadful wd from zoloft alone. 

 

Glad you are taking Rhodiola. Very well indicated for the physiological stress in the body that withdrawal causes. 
 

I hope you continue to improve. 

Coming up on 7 months off the drug. 

I've had a couple of weeks with a slow but noticeable bettering of the various symptoms. And in that situation, it becomes so much easier to not worry about what the symptoms might also be. 

Over the past couple of days, though, I've been experiencing a worsening of symptoms. Overall, this does seem to align with a windows and waves-pattern.

 

Symptoms today:

 

• Burning feet and shins (may be muscle tension)
• Muscle tension (neck, shoulders arms, legs, pelvic area)
• Dry mouth
• Increased anxiety (though this may be in reaction to the return of the intensity of symptoms)
• Fatigue and lack of energy

 

My biggest wish is not so much to get rid of the physical symptoms (although that would be amazing, obviously) but to achieve a full acceptance of the symptoms being related to WD. 

 

In other news, my therapist is still amazing and helps me so much with the underlying reasons for my anxiety and nervousness. 

 

 

 

 

44 minutes ago, Tumultarisk said:

 

My biggest wish is not so much to get rid of the physical symptoms (although that would be amazing, obviously) but to achieve a full acceptance of the symptoms being related to WD. 

 

In other news, my therapist is still amazing and helps me so much with the underlying reasons for my anxiety and nervousness. 

You're doing great. All normal windows and waves pattern happening here. 

 

I love your able to identify this key coping skill and are working towards it. It's a constant practice for all of us rather than a destination. Dont beat yourself up about acceptance no one is perfect at it!

@Tumultarisk I can relate to what you write. When in a really bade state it is almost impossible to hold on to the knowledge I have, “This too will pass”.

My fear is, that it will never end. Although I have a solid experience that it will. “But not this time”….

I am working on it. Actually I have startet to acknowledge the fear, the thoughts, rumination etc., and thanking it for wanting to warn me of the possible danger. Before I was trying suppress to push it away. Which only made it worse. I practice self compassion and have this mantra I repeat. “It is okay to feel safe”. It often make my nervous system calm down. 

We are all reacting different to the WD symptoms. When I am putting fuel on the fire, (giving the symptoms and thoughts too much attention) my whole system seems to spireling just one way. 
Again, I am working on it…. 
Hope your nervous system soon will settle down.
We are in this together and we are courageous all of os. You too. 
Wishing you a good nights sleep. An🙏💕

15 hours ago, Haa said:

@Tumultarisk I can relate to what you write. When in a really bade state it is almost impossible to hold on to the knowledge I have, “This too will pass”.

My fear is, that it will never end. Although I have a solid experience that it will. “But not this time”….

I am working on it. Actually I have startet to acknowledge the fear, the thoughts, rumination etc., and thanking it for wanting to warn me of the possible danger. Before I was trying suppress to push it away. Which only made it worse. I practice self compassion and have this mantra I repeat. “It is okay to feel safe”. It often make my nervous system calm down. 

We are all reacting different to the WD symptoms. When I am putting fuel on the fire, (giving the symptoms and thoughts too much attention) my whole system seems to spireling just one way. 
Again, I am working on it…. 
Hope your nervous system soon will settle down.
We are in this together and we are courageous all of os. You too. 
Wishing you a good nights sleep. An🙏💕

Thank you for your kind words! The same to you!

On 2/12/2026 at 12:25 PM, Tumultarisk said:

Coming up on 7 months off the drug. 

I've had a couple of weeks with a slow but noticeable bettering of the various symptoms. And in that situation, it becomes so much easier to not worry about what the symptoms might also be. 

Over the past couple of days, though, I've been experiencing a worsening of symptoms. Overall, this does seem to align with a windows and waves-pattern.

 

Symptoms today:

 

• Burning feet and shins (may be muscle tension)
• Muscle tension (neck, shoulders arms, legs, pelvic area)
• Dry mouth
• Increased anxiety (though this may be in reaction to the return of the intensity of symptoms)
• Fatigue and lack of energy

 

My biggest wish is not so much to get rid of the physical symptoms (although that would be amazing, obviously) but to achieve a full acceptance of the symptoms being related to WD. 

 

In other news, my therapist is still amazing and helps me so much with the underlying reasons for my anxiety and nervousness. 

 

 

 

 

congrats on 7 months off 👏 @Tumultarisk you supporting yourself wonderfully and acquiring ways to cope as well as acceptance which is such an important tool, though a big muscle to train (lots of work for me there) it's trainable, luckily you have a good therapist that can help you with that.

just be gentle with yourself, ups and downs is part of the process.

Good luck with the rest of the journey, you are doing really great.