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This post is all about how to wean off SSRI.
As someone with severe anxiety, I’ve been on and off an SSRI anti-depressant medication since I was about 21 years old.
That’s when my anxiety went from your average everyday worry to full blown insomnia, obsessive thoughts, and lack of appetite which lead to weight loss.
Luckily though, over the years, I’ve learned to manage the symptoms of anxiety and I’ve even been able to successfully taper off of SSRI antidepressants for several years.
If you’re reading this and think you may be capable of weaning off of your antidepressant and managing anxiety without medication, it’s definitely worth looking into.
However, if you want to be successful, it’s important to do your best to avoid the dreaded SSRI withdrawal period that most people go through when they try to go cold turkey.
By avoiding SSRI withdrawal, this means your chances for rebound to medication management lessens.
That’s why I put together this list of steps for you to follow if you want to get serious about coming off of SSRI’s (minus the nasty withdrawal period).
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, and all the information given in this post is strictly what worked for me personally and should not be substituted for professional medical medical advice.
If you’re ready to try managing your anxiety without medication, read on for how to taper off SSRI and how to wean off SSRI.
What is an SSRI?
Before we get into it, let’s first address what an SSRI actually is.
SSRI stands for Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitor.
In layman terms and according to Healthline.com, SSRIs prevent your blood from absorbing some of the serotonin from your brain which leaves a higher level of serotonin in the brain. Why is this helpful?
Apparently serotonin is known as a “feel-good chemical” due to the feelings of relaxation in provides.
Some of the most common SSRI’s include Celexa, Lexapro, Zoloft, Paxil, and Prozac.
Why Wean Off an SSRI?
While it is technically safe to remain on an SSRI longterm, it is definitely more ideal to use SSRI’s only on an as needed basis to re-balance during or after times of crisis.
If you stay on an SSRI longterm, there’s something known as “lag” where the body can stop responding as well, requiring a dosage increase. Even if you only go a year or two without, it’s still beneficial to take breaks from using.
Step 1: Determine if you are actually ready to wean off SSRI.
Just because you want to come off your SSRI, doesn’t necessarily mean you should. It’s important to evaluate whether or not you are actually in a place where you can successfully taper off your SSRI.
So when is the right time?
For starters, it shouldn’t be during a time when you have any major life changes coming up. You should also feel stable in most aspects of your life (relationships, work, etc.).
Additionally, you should have a plan in place for when and if your anxiety symptoms worsen or you experience some withdrawal. This step should also include consulting with a medical professional.
Step 2: Inform the people in your life you will be weaning off your SSRI.
It’s always best to let anyone close to you know that you are planning on tapering off your antidepressants. Coming off of SSRI’s can cause many unwanted symptoms that can range from mood swings to actually feeling physically sick. Accordingly, it’s best to have supporting, encouraging people in your corner who are ready to step in and help if needed.
Trust me, making sure you have a strong support system in place will no doubt make this process 10 times easier. My husband provided emotional support for me during my SSRI withdrawal period by giving me foot massages each evening, being more understanding of my mood swings, and being there for reassurance when I start to get overwhelmed.
Step 3: Come up with a dosage decrease plan to wean off SSRI.
While quitting some things in life might be best to go cold turkey, coming off SSRI’s is not one of them.
One of the best ways to set yourself up for success when weaning off SSRI’s is to go super slow. It’s not about how fast you can wean off. It’s about being successful with the least side effects as possible.
While I am obviously not a medical professional and can’t provide medical advise to you, I can share with you exactly what I did that worked for me.
What I did to wean off SSRI:
I began weaning off my SSRI by decreasing my dosage by 25% (from 75 mg to 50 mg). I did this for 2-3 weeks. At the end of the 3 weeks, I assessed how I felt to see if I was ready to move forward with decreasing more.
On the 4th week, I went ahead and decreased by another 25% (from 50 mg to 25 mg). I continued this for another 2-3 weeks. Like last time, I re-assessed how I felt and given my anxiety still felt manageable, I moved forward.
On the 7th week, I began experimenting with skipping 1 day in between taking the lowest dose (25 mg). For 2 weeks, I took a pill every other day.
On the 9th week, I spaced my pills out to 2 days in between taking 25mg. For 2 weeks, I took a pill every 2 days.
After this, I began taking only 2 pills per week (one pill every 3 days). I did this for about a month.
The last phase was one pill every week for a month and then one pill every other week for a month.
Remember, the key to successful SSRI weaning is listening to your body and checking in frequently with how you feel. If you start to notice some withdrawal symptoms, go back to the previous phase and extend that out for a couple more weeks.
Step 4: Be prepared for weird symptoms when you wean off SSRI.
For many, along with being an anxious person comes being extremely aware of how your body is feeling at any given time.
If this is the case for you as well, be prepared to feel a range of weird symptoms that may at first seem unrelated. For instance, when weaning off SSRI’s, it’s not uncommon to experience things like increased yawning, brain zaps, and a fever.
Obviously, a slow taper off SSRI’s should decrease these unwanted symptoms significantly. But don’t be alarmed if they still occur to some degree.
Step 5: Track your progress when you taper off SSRI.
So you’ve come up with a dosage decrease plan, now it’s important to track your progress. It’s easy to forget what dose you are on and how long you have been on that dose. Make sure to keep track of it either by jotting it down or downloading an app like MyTherapy.
I didn’t even know about MyTherapy when I was weaning off my SSRI, but if I had, I would definitely have used it. It lets you track your intake, discover patterns in symptoms, provides inventory tracking and refill reminders.
Step 6: Incorporate stress reduction techniques daily.
In order to increase your chance of a successful wean off SSRI, it’s best to take on stress reduction techniques.
This could mean eating healthy, drinking enough water, meditating daily.
Be sure to check out my post on things to weekly to improve your mental health for specific things to incorporate in your day to day life for better mental health.
In an ideal world, you would already have a healthy lifestyle in place. This will reduce your chance of rebound. So if you are wanting to wean off SSRI, the first step is learning anxiety management technicques either through therapy or educating yourself.
This book was extremely helpful for me in learning to understand and master stress reduction.
Step 7: Be patient with yourself when you wean off SSRI.
If I haven’t already stressed this enough, having grace and patience with yourself is essential to being successful weaning off an SSRI.
If you are starting to feel like the withdrawal symptoms are becoming too much, sit for a while longer at a decreased dose.
Let your body set the pace for you. While some people can successfully wean off in 3 weeks; it is perfectly okay to spread it out over 3 months. Also remember, you are not a failure if you end up deciding that you can’t or don’t want to stop your medication all together.
Step 8: Celebrate your achievements.
During my SSRI weaning period, I looked at every day and phase of the weaning as a win.
If I was able to reduce my dosage and/or days in between and still feel okay, that was a major win in my book.
This post wall all about how to wean off SSRI and how to taper off SSRI.
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