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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Diarrhea And Joint Pain While Withdrawing From Zoloft?

I take sertraline HCL (zoloft) 100 mg two tabs each day. I have started to ween off of it by reducing to one tab per day. Now I am experiencing things like restless legs at night, lose stools, joint pain, sore muscles. I am 72 years old and in January I will turn 73. I have generally experienced reasonably good health, however I have high blood pressure (under control with 5 different meds) and a heart attach 7 years ago. I look 10 or more years younger than my age. My weight is 195 pounds and 5 foot 10 inches. Can my recent issues be caused by withdrawal. I am 70% disabled from the military, depression, anger, Iam also experiencing a mental alertness decline.
posted on Fri, 29 Dec 2017
Twitter Thu, 15 Mar 2018 Answered on
Twitter Fri, 23 Mar 2018 Last reviewed on
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hello,

When antidepressants that affect the brain chemical serotonin are suddenly stopped, the body may respond with physical and emotional symptoms caused by the sudden absence of increased serotonin levels that occur while taking the antidepressant.

About one in five people who take an antidepressant for six or more weeks may experience discontinuation symptoms if they suddenly stop taking the medicine. Tapering down your medication gradually under the supervision of your health care provider can help avoid or minimize symptoms.

However, it is still possible in those who decrease their dose too rapidly or sometimes even slowly quit medicine. So I would suggest you decrease the dose in the presence of the doctor as still, your body requires more of the drug


Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Medhavi Agarwal
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What Causes Diarrhea And Joint Pain While Withdrawing From Zoloft?

Hello, When antidepressants that affect the brain chemical serotonin are suddenly stopped, the body may respond with physical and emotional symptoms caused by the sudden absence of increased serotonin levels that occur while taking the antidepressant. About one in five people who take an antidepressant for six or more weeks may experience discontinuation symptoms if they suddenly stop taking the medicine. Tapering down your medication gradually under the supervision of your health care provider can help avoid or minimize symptoms. However, it is still possible in those who decrease their dose too rapidly or sometimes even slowly quit medicine. So I would suggest you decrease the dose in the presence of the doctor as still, your body requires more of the drug Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Medhavi Agarwal