Can SSRI dose reduction cause severe anxiety?

Question

I'm trying to get off Zoloft as it hasn't helped my anxiety. Dose was reduced from 50mg to 25mg 4 days ago. Taking Xanax for the increase in anxiety, but it's not helping. I tried benadryl as I'm restless and it works for Akasthisia, but it's not helping. MD says to stick it out, but this is pure h**l. Could this be my new baseline ?

Answer 1

Yes there can be many side effects with SSRI, especially anxiety when reducing your dosage. You should never go "cold turkey" off SSRI's. Instead, you should talk to your doctor about slowly decreasing your dosage. You may not want to cut the dose in half right away. Although not recognized as addictive, some SSRI users who have discontinued the medication report withdrawal-like symptoms and even nerve damage when the drug is removed too suddenly.