First Person

It was time to come off anti-depressants – but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next...

It’s peak SAD* season – so maybe it wasn’t the right time for Bibi Lynch to stop taking the ‘happy’ pills she’d been on for eight years, but then is there ever a good time? Here’s how she is feeling a month on…

Saturday 25 November 2023 07:39
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<p>Bibi Lynch felt that anti-depressants weren’t as effective as other tools she learnt to lift her low moods, but she wasn’t ready for how hard withdrawal would be </p>

Bibi Lynch felt that anti-depressants weren’t as effective as other tools she learnt to lift her low moods, but she wasn’t ready for how hard withdrawal would be

Today, after being incredibly sharp with a workman, after leaving a voice note telling a friend I really hate my life, after really hating my life and feeling a terrifying panic rise and try to punch out of my chest, I made my best friend FaceTime me. I was overwhelmed by how out of control I felt – and I needed to see and hear her.

As I spoke with Helen, I catastrophised in real time. I raced through the list of spiralling thoughts I’d written down to talk to her about. After “ex-friend”, “homeless again” and “please let him be alive”, I came to the last note on my notes: “Coming off sertraline”.

“Is this it now? Is this me off the drugs?”

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