Please help me calculate the half-life of this drug. Brains + Math = Enter

zak88lx

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Ok, guys without getting into too much detail I have been sick since the end of November with what started off as a nagging cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, and the feeling of fluid in my lungs.
After a month of this I went on heavy antibiotics with no resolve, so I finally went into urgent care in early January as they thought it could be COVID.

I was tested with the Nasopharyngeal swab (brain tickler) and the result came back negative, so they put me on an oral steroid (Prednisone) which I thought was working, but a few days after taking the last pill all symptoms returned.
I can no longer sleep in a horizontal position (bed), as I can't breathe and my lungs feel like like they are filling up with fluid throughout the night, and by morning I am coughing up phlegm for hours and my breathing and wheezing get significantly worse, so I have been sleeping in a chair for the last two months which has brought on new symptoms including, insomnia, night sweats, cold chills, itching, anxiety and depression.

The Doctor prescribed an SSRI anti-depressant named Zoloft (Sertraline) in 25 mg pill form to help deal with the chair sleeping which I reluctantly took every 24 hours, but I did not react well to the drug with feelings of full-body numbness, feeling stoned, heavy headedness, extreme ear and sinus pressure and increased anxiety, so I stopped taking it cold turkey after 5 straight days and told my Doc that it was not for me.

I took my first 25 mg pill on Monday the 8th at Midnight, and took my last pill on Friday the 12th at Midnight (125 mg total).
I am still getting waves of the drugged feeling every afternoon, and I am trying to determine when this ****ing drug will be completely out of my system.

The mean half-life for Zoloft is 26 hours so that is what I have been using for my calculations.
At first I believe I was doing the calculations wrong as I only accounted for when I took my final pill (25 mg) on last Friday and calculated the half-life from that, but I don't think that is correct as the pills would have a cumulative effect which would change the total amount of drug in my system for proper half-life calculation.

Can someone please run the formula and try to determine when this drug should be out of my system?

Took one 25 mg pill every 24 hours for 5 straight days for a total of 125 mg.
Every 26 hours the cumulative amount of Zoloft in my system would half-life (50%).

Thanks guys!
 
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SolarYellow

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You don't just go by the half life. Each dose takes five or so days to completely leave your system.

Edit: 25mg is a low dose but what you've said isn't surprising if this is your first step in anti depressants.
 
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velocicaur

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First off, it sounds like you should see a different/better doctor asap.

Zoloft takes weeks for it to kick in but you could have acute issues with it.

Half life wise using 24 hours for easy math.

Edit: Math fail, see below.

I hope you feel better soon.
 
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Dusten

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First off, it sounds like you should see a different/better doctor asap.

Zoloft takes weeks for it to kick in but you could have acute issues with it.

Half life wise using 24 hours for easy math.

Day 1) 25 Mg (.5) = 12.5
Day 2) 12.5 (.5) = 6.25
Day 3) 6.25 (.5) = 3.125
Day 4) 3.125 (.5) = 1.56
Day 5) 1.56 (.5) = .78
Day 6) .78(.55) = .39
Day 7) .39 (.5) = .195

It's negligible by day 5 already with it at .78mg. If you were to look at it from a 26 hour standpoint, you would be fine in 6 days. It'll be basically out of your system after a week (.195mg).

I hope you feel better soon.
That math is for only 1 pill

Fwiw that's a crazy reaction to 25mg. I take 50mg and feel nothing.

The total half life is a little less than 3 weeks. Remember, each day the day priors dose gets halved, but you add the new days does.
See excel spread sheet

half life.jpg
 

zak88lx

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Thank you guys, I really appreciate you doing the calculations.
I knew it was more complex, and using my math it should have been out of my system by Noon today, but I can still feel it so this is promising that it could be up to 21 days.
 

ShelbyGT5HUN

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Have you had a chest xray, ct scan, or MRI? Not trying to freak you out, or play doctor, but you have EXACTLY the same symptoms as a friend (39 years old, male) who just got diagnosed with Hodgkins disease! I would find another doctor, and mention this post!!

He had fluid in his lungs, lingering cough since November, lost weight, low energy, night sweats, itchy skin. His primary physician did an xray, last week, and found a small mass in his lung area. Immediately (next day), send him for a ct scan. Immediately the next day he had a biopsy done, and was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease! They said it was rapidly growing, and might have only taken 3 months to get to this point. Your symptoms and his are identical. Good luck with recovering and feeling better, regardless of what is ailing you !!
 

JAJ

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Ok, guys without getting into too much detail I have been sick since the end of November with what started off as a nagging cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, and the feeling of fluid in my lungs.
After a month of this I went on heavy antibiotics with no resolve, so I finally went into urgent care in early January as they thought it could be COVID.

I was tested with the Nasopharyngeal swab (brain tickler) and the result came back negative, so they put me on an oral steroid (Prednisone) which I thought was working, but a few days after taking the last pill all symptoms returned.
I can no longer sleep in a horizontal position (bed), as I can't breathe and my lungs feel like like they are filling up with fluid throughout the night, and by morning I am coughing up phlegm for hours and my breathing and wheezing get significantly worse, so I have been sleeping in a chair for the last two months which has brought on new symptoms including, insomnia, night sweats, cold chills, itching, anxiety and depression.

The Doctor prescribed an SSRI anti-depressant named Zoloft (Sertraline) in 25 mg pill form to help deal with the chair sleeping which I reluctantly took every 24 hours, but I did not react well to the drug with feelings of full-body numbness, feeling stoned, heavy headedness, extreme ear and sinus pressure and increased anxiety, so I stopped taking it cold turkey after 5 straight days and told my Doc that it was not for me.

I took my first 25 mg pill on Monday the 8th at Midnight, and took my last pill on Friday the 12th at Midnight (125 mg total).
I am still getting waves of the drugged feeling every afternoon, and I am trying to determine when this ****ing drug will be completely out of my system.

The mean half-life for Zoloft is 26 hours so that is what I have been using for my calculations.
At first I believe I was doing the calculations wrong as I only accounted for when I took my final pill (25 mg) on last Friday and calculated the half-life from that, but I don't think that is correct as the pills would have a cumulative effect which would change the total amount of drug in my system for proper half-life calculation.

Can someone please run the formula and try to determine when this drug should be out of my system?

Took one 25 mg pill every 24 hours for 5 straight days for a total of 125 mg.
Every 26 hours the cumulative amount of Zoloft in my system would half-life (50%).

Thanks guys!
Someone I know had something like that - same symptoms, etc. It was finally diagnosed after two years after one doctor and another as a bacterial infection in the sinuses that had migrated to the lungs. It turned out that they had a broken nose when they were a kid, and an infection settled into their sinuses in a little pocket that was created when the break healed slightly crooked. As their immune system aged, the infection was able to grow and move down into the lungs where it produced the exact symptoms you're reporting. Surgery to clean up the sinuses and a round of antibiotics cleared it up.
 

zak88lx

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Have you had a chest xray, ct scan, or MRI? Not trying to freak you out, or play doctor, but you have EXACTLY the same symptoms as a friend (39 years old, male) who just got diagnosed with Hodgkins disease! I would find another doctor, and mention this post!!

He had fluid in his lungs, lingering cough since November, lost weight, low energy, night sweats, itchy skin. His primary physician did an xray, last week, and found a small mass in his lung area. Immediately (next day), send him for a ct scan. Immediately the next day he had a biopsy done, and was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease! They said it was rapidly growing, and might have only taken 3 months to get to this point. Your symptoms and his are identical. Good luck with recovering and feeling better, regardless of what is ailing you !!

I have had 2 chest X-rays, Echocardiogram, 2 EKG's, Heart failure blood test, urine test, blood test, pulmonary function test.
The Hodgkins disease sounds scary, sure hope it's not that.
Thanks for the well wishes.
 

zak88lx

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Someone I know had something like that - same symptoms, etc. It was finally diagnosed after two years after one doctor and another as a bacterial infection in the sinuses that had migrated to the lungs. It turned out that they had a broken nose when they were a kid, and an infection settled into their sinuses in a little pocket that was created when the break healed slightly crooked. As their immune system aged, the infection was able to grow and move down into the lungs where it produced the exact symptoms you're reporting. Surgery to clean up the sinuses and a round of antibiotics cleared it up.

I broke my nose twice, once when I was 12, and again at 18.
Both times healed naturally with no surgery, so this does sound somewhat similar.
I will mention it to the Doctor.

How did they ever figure this out?
 

ShelbyGT5HUN

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Good to hear about the xray. Really hope you get this resolved. I can't imagine sleeping in a chair. I've flown on some long international flights, 12 hours long, couldn't sleep a minute. Gotta be laying flat. Good luck!
 

zak88lx

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Good to hear about the xray. Really hope you get this resolved. I can't imagine sleeping in a chair. I've flown on some long international flights, 12 hours long, couldn't sleep a minute. Gotta be laying flat. Good luck!

lt is absolute hell.
I get restless leg syndrome for the first hour in the chair, then random itching which starts as a tick and by 2 AM I am itching like a schizo over my entire body, cold chills and shakes where my entire body is freezing even though I have a heated blanket on MAX, and then I go full alert and can't sleep anymore like I just drank a pot of coffee.
 

velocicaur

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Ah true, math fail on my part. The additive part is very important but fortunately it doesn't make that much of a difference with such a short half life. Not that this
matters but I'm just disappointed in my skills... haha.

Wish you the best OP.
 

SolarYellow

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Have you had a chest xray, ct scan, or MRI? Not trying to freak you out, or play doctor, but you have EXACTLY the same symptoms as a friend (39 years old, male) who just got diagnosed with Hodgkins disease! I would find another doctor, and mention this post!!

He wants to get off the Zoloft rather than back on an anti depressant.

Edit: Those symptoms cover a range of issues. Lets jump right in and tell him he has cancer? JFC!
 
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MG0h3

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lt is absolute hell.
I get restless leg syndrome for the first hour in the chair, then random itching which starts as a tick and by 2 AM I am itching like a schizo over my entire body, cold chills and shakes where my entire body is freezing even though I have a heated blanket on MAX, and then I go full alert and can't sleep anymore like I just drank a pot of coffee.

That all sounds like withdrawals.

Any sort of infection should cause an immune response and you’ll see elevated white blood cell count in a blood test.

Any chance some bitch in your life is poisoning you or something?

Any other irritants in your house or place of work that you are around regularly.

My coworker owns a pecan farm and accidentally breathed in some herbicide and it cooked his lungs. Thought he had cancer and problems similar to yours lasted for months.

It did clear up though.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app
 

JAJ

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I broke my nose twice, once when I was 12, and again at 18.
Both times healed naturally with no surgery, so this does sound somewhat similar.
I will mention it to the Doctor.

How did they ever figure this out?
They were in Kelowna and after years of tests and unsuccessful treatments, the medical professionals there finally gave up and referral them to an ENT in Vancouver. The Vancouver doctor had seen this problem before, and they finally got treatment that worked.
 

zak88lx

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That all sounds like withdrawals.

Any sort of infection should cause an immune response and you’ll see elevated white blood cell count in a blood test.

Any chance some bitch in your life is poisoning you or something?

Any other irritants in your house or place of work that you are around regularly.

My coworker owns a pecan farm and accidentally breathed in some herbicide and it cooked his lungs. Thought he had cancer and problems similar to yours lasted for months.

It did clear up though.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

Nothing came back abnormal on my blood tests, but I did have a high Leucocytes reading (10.6 10E9/L).
I ordered a bunch of Levoit HEPA air purifiers back in December for the primary rooms that I'm in, as I also wondered if something was irritating my lungs, or if it could be undiagnosed allergy.
They are supposed to clean the air 5x per hour.

Good to hear about your friend, I kind of feel like the lungs may have been possibly damaged from COVID even though I tested negative.
Hoping maybe they will just clear up as I have noticed that they are extra sensitive to cold air, dust, etc.

The wife has been a little sketchy lately. ;-)
 

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