@babydoll- When this group first began in 2016 @coloradogirl posted many suggestions to help withdrawal. These might help you, or give suggestions to others:
Posted by coloradogirl @coloradogirl, Wed, Nov 2, 2016 3:34pm
So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully these are low risk for you to try.
1) You may need to ask your doctor for a slower tapering program than other patients. Some people are just more sensitive to dosage changes. Be aware that symptoms will get better, then may reappear each time you taper. AAFMA (practice group of family physicians) says that the symptoms typically last 1-2 weeks and as long as 4 weeks, so I just kept reminding myself that it was temporary.
2) Be watchful for things that make your symptoms worse. For example, caffeine seems to trigger the brain zaps for me (still, even after being off for several weeks), so I cut back my caffeine intake. I didn’t give it up completely (because I still need to function), but cut back on how much real coffee I was drinking, mixed decaf with regular, and switched to tea sometimes. In the end, I probably cut my daily caffeine intake in half, and it did help quite a lot.
3) Ibuprofen or other pain reliever can help with the flu-like body aches.
4) Benadryl helped with the brain zaps.
5) Exercise helped with both. Even if I wasn’t up to a run, a few blocks of walking would settle down the symptoms for a while at least. (Then, when they come back, just take another walk. We took a lot of walks for a while there).
6) Get enough sleep. As I came down off the meds, my normal sleeping patterns returned, which was great, but it did mean that I needed to plan time to let my body rest.
7) Pay attention to your diet. Your brain uses carbs to make seratonin, so now is not the time to go on the Atkins diet. Eat well and make sure you’re getting enough healthy carbs. You may crave sweets; I certainly did. I tried to counteract this by having bananas, graham crackers, and other healthy things I could snack on instead of sticking my head in a birthday cake like I seemed to want.
I went off Sertraline cold turkey 2.8.25 after 12.5mg for just 9, days every other day. The withdrawals have surprised me (they have been pretty bad) because I was on them for such a short time at such a low dose. I also suffer from MDIS - multiple drug intolerance syndrome. Cant take Ibuprofen as a heart patient. Can't exercise because I'm so dizzy. Sleep comes on suddenly from sertraline side effect, so sleeping often. Don't have mush control over my diet because live in a retirement community where they provide the food and it isn't always nutritious or healthy. Why do they continue? Is sertraline still in my system after two months off?