Addiction to Zoloft

[angie]

I hate that I'm addicted to Zoloft!!! Can't go without it or the withdrawals are horrible!!! Will I have to be on this drug the rest of my life???!!!!!??!!??

[anxiousmess]

hiya. have you not tried weaning yourself off of it? or have the doctors not tried?

[angie]

No never have...but a couple years ago I went on vacation w my family and I forgot to take my Zoloft w me!!! I was fine while on vacation....but when I got back....I honestly thought I was gonna die!!! Palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, shaking.....once I took my pill it all went away! It was like magic:/ this is how I know I will more than likely be on this the rest of my life....that is so depressing:(

[anxiousmess]

maybe weaning yourself off of them would do good for you.

even if come the end of it, you have only lowered your dosage - it would be a step in the right direction. not to mention beneficial to your health.
staying on any meds constantly can't be good for you.

it is obviously your mind that is creating the addiction - not the med itself. as you said you were fine while you were on vacation. you associated your home life, with the meds.
you need to change the way you think about the meds.

i would definitely suggest going to the docs and get their help to be weaned off the meds. also ask for some self helf tips on dealing with the issues you have when not on the meds.

[anxiousmess]

also, you can't just stop them. you need to be weaned off them. stopping straight away would cause all of the effects you said happened after your vacation.
it's the withdrawal symptoms of it.

[alankay]

Zoloft is not addicting in the medical sense but some form a psychological dependence. There is a right way to stop the med. Some can just drop it but you may need a super long and slow taper down. Unlike paxil, zoloft with it longer half life should not be as hard to taper off. Even at a high dose(200mg) it can be slowly tapered off of with out that much difficulty. Alankay