Zoloft (sertraline) [SSRI]

[Helena_SAS]

The medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are generally psychiatrists’ first choice prescription drugs for Social Anxiety Disorder. Zoloft is an SSRI that is commonly used and approved by the FDA specifically for the treatment of SAD. It works in the body by regulating the serotonin levels in the brain, which in turn regulates mood.

Zoloft, like other SSRIs, is commonly used to treat a wide range of disorders, including depression and generalized anxiety. Many SAD patients report positive results and relief from their social anxiety symptoms and, generally, patients tolerate Zoloft well. Some side effects are quite common, with the medication affecting sexual function and appetite in many patients. Headaches and nausea are common but minor side effects, but these normally do not last a long time.

More info:

• Drugs.com
• eMedExpert.com
• Wikipedia

User ratings/reviews:

• AskAPatient.com
• Drugs.com
• DailyStrength.org
• WebMD
• RXList.com
• Revolution Health

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by dontcare

Social Anxiety Background
Severe social anxiety.

Other Treatments
Cognitive behavioral therapy.

Treatment Experience
As Zoloft is the only medication I've ever taken, I cannot compare its effectiveness with other drugs. However, taking this medication is what turned my life around. Just a few weeks after moving up to the standard dose, 100 mg, I found myself able to think rationally when around other people and to open my mouth. I also felt much better about myself in general. Not content with that, I went on to halve my dose--and 6 months later I am regretting that.

Zoloft may not work for everyone. But I experienced few side effects while taking the drug--just some headaches and insomnia for the first week or so--and it gave me the strength to make a life for myself.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by Ospi

Social Anxiety Background
Specific to "nights out" or any occasion which involves "letting your hair down" so to speak. This includes parties, clubs, pubs, road trips or pretty much anything where the idea is to actually enjoy yourself. Anxiety is non existent in professional environments.

Other Treatments
Valium is used when required thanks to is fast acting, reliable and helpful effects at significantly reducing anxiety and panic attacks.

Treatment Experience
Zoloft is the only drug I have taken for my social anxiety in conjunction with Valium when required. I have had success with this drug in the form of less general anxiety through day to day living and it has helped me to take steps towards overcoming my anxiety properly by seeking therapy and using the drug in conjunction to help make positive progress.

Side effects are minimal for myself, first few weeks I suffered from mild insomnia and lack of appetite however these effects diminished completely after the first month of use.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by Dothan

Social Anxiety Background
intense fear in fornt of unkown and little known people.
not able to do normal conversation, always trying to stay in backround, so nobody recognize me.
feeling uncofortable meeting people, and so on and on

Other Treatments
prozac (a year before zoloft)

Treatment Experience
i started zoloft on 25mg, the half recommend dose, and like instantly i get in a mania the first week. i was able to talk very open and honest right out of my heart and be very loving and giving to others, which they seemed to be enjoying. usually i'm considered cold, shy and not very warm because i'm holding my affect back because im fearing to make myself ridicouls.
as the time goes by, the mania resolve. i remember being very high energy all the time, wanted to do this and that, fear was improved, but socially there was definatly something left. sometimes i did things where fear or the counsiouness of risik would have been not bad, like i was crossing streets as if i am a tank, or just doin other things that could end very badly.
i acutally dared to start talking to others by my very self just for fun, without any need to do that. this was also a nice new experience, i seemed also to worry less.

sometimes i behaved ridicouls in fornt of others like i was drunk or something, at the time it was the most normal thing to do for me. however when i was alone, i felt often really bad and emotionall pain. so if you take it and are still often alone you have to keep this in mind.
i stopped it because i got to unstable and the positive effects wore off, as time went by. but it was a good time that i enjoy remembering.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by TC4

Social Anxiety Background
Found out I have SA in August of 2008. Ever since I was a child I was scared to death to make new friends. I hated school with a passion and because I hated school and was so afraid to speak in class or even ask for help, I fell very far behind. I felt like I was stupid, dumb, ugly and couldn't measure up to anyone. Starting in high school, I started to break out of my shyness and was able to make some friends and speak in class. My hatred towards myself however, deepened. I started believing that I was no good, and tried to compare myself to everyone else. My social anxiety wasn't because I was scared to be "social" instead it was all internal for me. I was too busy thinking I had to be someone else and that I was no good. Until lately once I learned about SA and started to seek therapy I have been able to really break free from my SA. I still have a lot of things to work on, but I'm doing pretty good.

Other Treatments
Sertraline is the only medication I've tried. Therapy with a qualified Psychologist is a must in my opinion. It's soo much harder to heal yourself alone, find a Psychologist that will help you and truly cares about your healing process!

Treatment Experience
I've been taking Sertraline (generic Zoloft) since August of 2008. It was then that my Psychologist and family doctor explained to me that I had SA. I was definitely very nervous to start taking this medication as I was not educated enough to fully understand that it was okay. I take 25mg once a day, which is half of a normal dose. When I first started taking the medication my stomach was very upset for a few days. I was also a bit sleepy during the day. After about a week those side effects went away and right at a month after taking my first pill I started to notice a difference. I am definitely more relaxed and at ease in situations that would normally cause me great anxiety. Its like before my anxiety was shouting at me, but now its just a whisper.
A few other side effects that I have noticed are a little bit of weight gain and some loss of sex drive. I learned that these were common side effects, neither has effected me enough to make me want to try something else. I still have a sex drive and I have no problems having an orgasm, but I've noticed that my desire for sex is a little less than it was before the medication. Overall, I'm very happy with this medication, I feel it has set me free in being held back by my SA.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by lilly

Social Anxiety Background
I come from a dysfunctional background particularly in the formative years. I feel a lot of social anxiety is formed from a base of anxiety which my mum has and a few of my brothers are also worrying types.

I remember running away from kindergarten and having a hard time when around groups of kids. I was okay with one or two children around.

I've been quiet and shy in the classroom at school and then at college. Didn't know how to cope at work with teatimes in the staffroom.

I don't feel so much shy as panic-struck at the thought of joining into life again. I just used to do what I had to do when I was younger but at times suffered badly from anxiety and inability to cope with the workforce and life itself.

Other Treatments
Therapy; beta blockers; xanax. When I was young I was on serepax - I think it's called oxazepam - I used it for sleep then became addicted and had a horrible withrdrawal. I discovered recently this is used as an anti-anxiety drug and I remember actually almost coping with life on this yet it is dangerous due to the addictive quality of it. Would not recommend it to anyone. Only use benzos. sporadically or prn as they are definitely addictive.

Treatment Experience
I had a situation at the start of this year with crises at home and didn't particularly care if I walked in front of a car. This drug shook me out of this frame of mind and calmed me down - it slowed down my thoughts and made me feel more able to cope with what was going on in my life.

At the beginning I had several side-effects including excessive sweating; insomnia; 4 days straight of a headache as my body was acclimatising to the drug - this was at about week 4-5.

It's was worth the wait to almost totally eradicate the side-effects. Overall my sleep is a bit better although I still am dependant a few nights a week on sleeping medications. I feel in a more even mood - and I'm dwelling less on problems.

I didn't start zoloft for social anxiety - it was more to try and control generalised anxiety and mood problems. I forgot to add something about how it affects social anxiety. From day one I felt less anxious about people in my periphery. Another thing is I'm a little bit calmer once I get to a gathering. I'd probably have to add xanax if I had to go somehwere like a function. I don't think it makes you talk more amongst people but it does relax you a bit.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by Keith

Treatment Experience
Zoloft was a horrible experience for me, it gave me some serious stomach problems and made my panic attacks worse. I wish i could get back the 4 weeks i was on this drug.I switched to prozac and things got much better.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by Foh_Teej

Treatment Experience
No libido. Didnt do jack for anxiety. Brainshocks 2-3 hours after dose. I did manage to stay on it long enough to figure out it sucks worse than Paxil, which isnt saying much.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by UltraShy

Social Anxiety Background
Severe SA for as long as I can remember.

Other Treatments
Too many total failures to list.

Treatment Experience
Zoloft was the 4th and last SSRI I ever tried. I started at 100 mg (largest pill they make) and was up to 200 mg (max recommended dose) within a week. I stayed on it for a full 13 weeks. For the final month of this test I went to 300 mg, 50% above max recommended dose, so I really beat this dead horse in terms of both dosage & duration.

I think it's fair to say that if Zoloft doesn't work even at 300 mg and even after 3 whole months it's never going to work.

Zoloft does differ from other SSRIs, like Paxil. With Paxil I couldn't orgasm, but I had a sex drive so I really wanted to. With Zoloft I could still orgasm, but it killed my sex drive so I had no desire to. Now that's a cruel irony, isn't it.

SSRIs royally SUCK!!! Any doctor who dares suggest another SSRI to me will likely end up in the ER to have my size 13 foot removed from his ***.

As for my rating, I had to select 'Poor' as they don't have a rating called 'totally useless garbage'.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by Skaz

Social Anxiety Background
Been SA since elementary school, really kicked into high gear when I was around 12-13 years old although I remember an episode when I was around 8 years old. Has continued to haunt me and cause me difficulties in my adult life. Really didn't socialize as a teenager, and to this day I don't have anything of an social life or love life for that matter. I'm diagnosed with the generalized type of Social Anxiety.

Other Treatments
Paxil, Cipralex, Effexor, Klonopin, Xanax and I've done group CBT.

Treatment Experience
I was prescribed Zoloft after coming down from a whirlwind experience with Paxil. So I was depressed, more anxious than ever and in a new job. So basically the effects Zoloft had on me were that it made me quite apathetic and it had the slightly embarrassing side effect of making me gassy.

So it didn't work for me.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by bitofajungle

Other Treatments
none

Treatment Experience
I took a really high dose of Zoloft for like... a year? The only thing it did for me was lesson my panic attacks - where my heart would race and I'd feel like throwing up. It never helped with anything else.
When I went off of it, I basically stayed the same. It's like, once I learned what it felt like to -not- have a panic attack, I could just do it on my own, without the medication. Usually.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by dmjb69

Social Anxiety Background
Had all my life including ADHD, Depression, and crohns disease.

Other Treatments
inderal and zoloft

Treatment Experience
It sucks dont waste your time and money.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by angelgail

Treatment Experience
I have been on Zoloft for a few weeks now and it seems to be helping me. I am up to 100mg and will probably go up to 200mg. I know it is the only AD that does help with my depression and anxiety.

[Helena_SAS]

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by rustybob

Social Anxiety Background
Had social anxiety pretty much forever from growing up in a racist town. Definitely not the textbook social anxiety case, as I did have friends, played team sports, worked since I was 10 years old, did sales jobs, etc etc. I never realized I had it until I finally decided to fix my sleep problems.

My whole life I've been unable to get more than 1.5 hours straight of sleep (unless I was sick). So even though I got 8 hours I still felt like crap. This is what initially got me into trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Once I seen the list of symptoms for seratonin deficiency I knew that was my problem. My whole life have suffered from a lack of energy and motivation.

Other Treatments
Ativan (although this was initially prescribed for sleep)
Valium (not obtained through a doctor, worked great though)
Wellbutrin (Still using, working great with Remeron)
Remeron (Amazing, has me feeling like a normal person)
5-HTP (Helped mood slightly, sleep was just as bad due to crazy nightmares)

Treatment Experience
Zoloft was the first antidepressant I tried. I still to this day wonder if I might be bipolar, and the first three days of Zoloft are a good reason why. With the current treatment I'm on, 300mg of Wellbutrin and 45mg of Remeron, I haven't had any swings like I did before. There have been times where I'd go 3-4 weeks full of energy and with no social anxiety, to times of depression for no real reason, and others with basically no feeling at all.

Back to those first three days... absolutely amazing. They were better than any of the possibly manic swings I'd had before. My jaw was getting sore from how much I was smiling. Sleep was great. Social anxiety non-existant. Then reality set in. The next week I started to turn into a zombie, and the sexual side effects started to kick in.

I did decide to keep on trying Zoloft to see if the side effects would wear off over time, and we also increased my dosage from the starting 25mg to 50 and 75mg. For a while I was sleeping 14 hours a day. For most of the time I was at the higher dosage, if someone called me up and said "lets go out" there'd be no problem, but the anxiety was so bad that I couldn't get myself to call anyone myself. I'd say in general I was feeling pretty good about myself, but didn't want to be around anybody. I'd say Zoloft would work great if I was someone who was going through a tough time and needed something to help me through it. However, I've been screwed up my whole life so it was really bad for me.

The sexual side effects were just brutal. During the first three days it kicked my libido into overdrive. Then it killed it for a few weeks. But the worst part of all was when it kicked it back into overdrive, but left me impotent to the point that neither Viagra nor Levitra helped. Made it about as hard to orgasm as the times I've done MDMA.

For me at least, it seems that any drug that blocks seratonin reuptake always ends badly for me (see my Effexor experience), although norepinepherine and dopamine reuptake blocking is fine. A combination of Remeron and Wellbutrin turned out to be exactly what I needed, and that combination has completely changed my life.

[foxy]

Originally Posted by Drew

(Copied over from old review system)

Posted by rustybob

Social Anxiety Background
Had social anxiety pretty much forever from growing up in a racist town. Definitely not the textbook social anxiety case, as I did have friends, played team sports, worked since I was 10 years old, did sales jobs, etc etc. I never realized I had it until I finally decided to fix my sleep problems.

My whole life I've been unable to get more than 1.5 hours straight of sleep (unless I was sick). So even though I got 8 hours I still felt like crap. This is what initially got me into trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Once I seen the list of symptoms for seratonin deficiency I knew that was my problem. My whole life have suffered from a lack of energy and motivation.

Other Treatments
Ativan (although this was initially prescribed for sleep)
Valium (not obtained through a doctor, worked great though)
Wellbutrin (Still using, working great with Remeron)
Remeron (Amazing, has me feeling like a normal person)
5-HTP (Helped mood slightly, sleep was just as bad due to crazy nightmares)

Treatment Experience
Zoloft was the first antidepressant I tried. I still to this day wonder if I might be bipolar, and the first three days of Zoloft are a good reason why. With the current treatment I'm on, 300mg of Wellbutrin and 45mg of Remeron, I haven't had any swings like I did before. There have been times where I'd go 3-4 weeks full of energy and with no social anxiety, to times of depression for no real reason, and others with basically no feeling at all.

Back to those first three days... absolutely amazing. They were better than any of the possibly manic swings I'd had before. My jaw was getting sore from how much I was smiling. Sleep was great. Social anxiety non-existant. Then reality set in. The next week I started to turn into a zombie, and the sexual side effects started to kick in.

I did decide to keep on trying Zoloft to see if the side effects would wear off over time, and we also increased my dosage from the starting 25mg to 50 and 75mg. For a while I was sleeping 14 hours a day. For most of the time I was at the higher dosage, if someone called me up and said "lets go out" there'd be no problem, but the anxiety was so bad that I couldn't get myself to call anyone myself. I'd say in general I was feeling pretty good about myself, but didn't want to be around anybody. I'd say Zoloft would work great if I was someone who was going through a tough time and needed something to help me through it. However, I've been screwed up my whole life so it was really bad for me.

The sexual side effects were just brutal. During the first three days it kicked my libido into overdrive. Then it killed it for a few weeks. But the worst part of all was when it kicked it back into overdrive, but left me impotent to the point that neither Viagra nor Levitra helped. Made it about as hard to orgasm as the times I've done MDMA.

For me at least, it seems that any drug that blocks seratonin reuptake always ends badly for me (see my Effexor experience), although norepinepherine and dopamine reuptake blocking is fine. A combination of Remeron and Wellbutrin turned out to be exactly what I needed, and that combination has completely changed my life.

remeron is deadly ,i only have to look at the box an i put on a stone in weight//you just carnt stop eating//so who wants to have sex with a fat guy//zoloft calm,s down after a while im ok for sex on 100mg ,a little slow on fireing the white mice but hey

[foxy]

i have been on sertraline about 6months now 100mg //i dropped to 50 because i thought it a cool idea//but i was wrong //started to feel rough so went back to 100mg now it dont seem to want to kick in an im getting worried//how long should the 100mg take to stableize me again or have i reached poop out ,ofr mabye need 150 mg// i dont want that or i will be liveing on the toilet if you get my meaning

[bowlingpins]

I took Sertraline 25mg once a day in the morning for a week.

The side effects (insomnia, decreased appetite, restlessness and involuntary movements, dizziness especially the first 4-5 hours after taking the pill) were too much for me, so I did not take it longer than a week. I did not notice any benefits during this period.

[foxy]

25mg for a week an you gave up/// all you had were start up side effects that go in time//i put up with what you said for 12 weeks before it kicked in// you have to give the med a real go or your wasteing you an your docs time//it was 100mg before i got benifit//no pain no gain

[MandyC]

caused bad stomach problems. did absolutely nothing for SA or depression.

[foxy]

Originally Posted by MandyC

caused bad stomach problems. did absolutely nothing for SA or depression.

sertraline is known for gut pain a diarrhoea is the main side effect// it eases in time //150mg is my limit before its to much//again how long did you take the med//i was on the toilet constant for a month// if you ill enough you will see a trial out,they all have some kind of side effect ,there not cure all meds//your never going to get above %70 on any