To Jim S............
 

I saw your post under EJ, and was happy to see you were here! I have a question about Sertraline, which is what my zoloft was replaced with (generic). Are you familiar with it, and have any comments about it?
Also, I did not know one needed to taper off of Vicodin, and was wondering what the side effects were, if one did not taper correctly? And why did I not know this? No one told me it could not be stopped suddenly. Anyway, thanks for any help you can give.
Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,

Since Sertraline is the generic of Zoloft, *theoretically" it should be the same as Zoloft for you, but it all depends on the quality of manufacturing in the generic drug company that made it. If they used 100% of the amount of active drug on the label, and the same filler and expedients as the brand, then you should not notice any difference. If they cut corners by cutting back or using inferior ingredients, then you may feel it doesn't work as well and need to adjust to it - or get your doctor to specify Brand Only on the script. All I can say is try it, and hopefully it is well made, and you won't notice any significant difference.

Vicodin is an opiate (hydrocodone) with tylenol added, so it has the same general withdrawals as any other opiate such as oxycodone (percocet, oxycontin), morphine, etc. When stopping ANY opiate you need to taper off slowly to avoid withdrawal symptoms, and your doctor should have made this clear to you. Do a Google search for Vicodin on the web and you'll find plenty of references to withdrawal and the need to taper off. Stopping it suddenly will give you severe flu-like symptoms for about 3 -7 days (classic opiate withdrawal) - the severity of which depends on the dose, frequency and length of time you've been taking it, plus your own personal sensitivity to changing levels at the opiate receptors.

Good luck and TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR!

Jim

Thanks, for the info, Jim! I did get out my pharmacy pamphlet, and it did say do not stop taking the vicodin suddenly. The thing is, my PM handles the zoloft and my other health issues, and the Ortho and Pain doc handle the pain meds. I went from about 6-10 vocodin a day, to 2, to 1 in about a week. I did not get the flu, but I got very depressed. I saw my PM today, and he is having me take just 1 vicodin a day for a week, and then a half for another week. The depression is much better than it was, I was just wondering if this was a normal taper for vicodin, and if one of the withdrawals from stopping too suddenly was depression? I did google it, and found info on the flu-like symptoms, but not the blues.
Anyway, thanks for the help and the info!
Carolyn

No - that is not a normal taper for Vicodin - it's much too fast. And Yes - depression and lethargy ("Blues") are common effects of withdrawal along with the flu-like symptoms. Hopefully the zoloft will help the depression.