Has Zoloft really worked for anyone?

[rawrboy64]

This is my 9th day on Zoloft, my first SSRI, and I'm on 50mg. So far I've had the following side effects: headache, restlessness, extremely tired (like at the beginning of the day), lowered libido, weaker erection, and without that much help for anxiety, in fact, I think it might have made it worse. I feel like any euphoric feeling I get is just placebo of me wanting it to work. I'm beginning to really hate this... Will the sides go away after a few weeks of use? Has Zoloft been worth it for anyone?

[supersoshychick]

Originally Posted by rawrboy64

This is my 9th day on Zoloft, my first SSRI, and I'm on 50mg. So far I've had the following side effects: headache, restlessness, extremely tired (like at the beginning of the day), lowered libido, weaker erection, and without that much help for anxiety, in fact, I think it might have made it worse. I feel like any euphoric feeling I get is just placebo of me wanting it to work. I'm beginning to really hate this... Will the sides go away after a few weeks of use? Has Zoloft been worth it for anyone?

I've been on zoloft for about 3 1/2 weeks now, it's my first SSRI too. I'm on 25mg, my doctor wants me to take it for a month then she said she'd prescribe me 50mg. Well i'll agree, i'm like tired as hell all the time, even once l wake up, i fall right back to sleep. I'm like lost of energy.

It has made me less depressed i think. For anxiety, idk it's like it helped, then again it hasn't helped. Like i've been socializing alot waaaay more than usual, but i've been more anxious when socializing...like sweating, itching, shaking etc.

[rawrboy64]

Originally Posted by supersoshychick

I've been on zoloft for about 3 1/2 weeks now, it's my first SSRI too. I'm on 25mg, my doctor wants me to take it for a month then she said she'd prescribe me 50mg. Well i'll agree, i'm like tired as hell all the time, even once l wake up, i fall right back to sleep. I'm like lost of energy.

Ya it's made me soo much more tired too, it freakin sucks so bad. Also, I was stupid and did 100mg the first two days so that probably made it worse lol.

Originally Posted by supersoshychick

It has made me less depressed i think. For anxiety, idk it's like it helped, then again it hasn't helped. Like i've been socializing alot waaaay more than usual, but i've been more anxious when socializing...like sweating, itching, shaking etc.

I sort of feel the same way about my depression and SA. I asked my psychiatrist to prescrib me klonopin for SA. Unfortunately, it'll probably make me feel even more tired and pass out before I even socialize.

[Forza Italia]

9 days is just too soon to say anuthing. Side effects will go away after 10-15 days. If not, talk to your psych.

And ssri's work after 4-6 weeks for social anxiety.

And it is important that you stick to the prescribed amount of dosage. 100 mg after only 2 days is waay too quick.

[MavenMI6Agent009]

Zoloft worked wonders for my depression but Lexapro has been a better choice for both anxiety and depressed mood.

[HTF]

My gf is an RN and one of her fellow nurses had anxiety, and she zoloft completely cured her of her anxiety.

[Traci]

Zoloft didn't work for me at all.

[HTF]

i was thinking of trying it, but i don't know.

[euphoria]

3-6 weeks is the usual time 'til results. My experience with SSRIs was that the effects switched around the 2 week mark from negative into positive, then built from there.

One weird thing was that with morning dosing I always felt best in the evening & night, kept waiting for it to spread to 24/7 but it never did. Taking the morning pill always took away the positive effects. Maybe this is just me, but I get the feeling that timing the dose right could help other people with this effect. I'm sticking to night time dosing now.

[Guide 4 Dummies]

euphoria,
I wonder why did you include Zoloft in your regimen instead of Prozac? You mentioned that you had a positive experience on Prozac. Did it poop-out?

Originally Posted by jim_morrison

I don't understand why fluoxetine always scores so averagely compared to other SSRI's for depression and SA, I mean it's an atypical SSRI in that it increases concentrations of norepinephrine and dopamine as well as serotonin, I would have thought that this would have given it an advantage.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/p53vulufbqqyqy9r/

"Rationale: The selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine has been shown to not only increase the extracellular concentrations of serotonin, but also dopamine and norepinephrine extracellular concentrations in rat prefrontal cortex."

"Results: Fluoxetine, citalopram, fluvoxamine, paroxetine and sertraline similarly increased the extracellular concentrations of serotonin from 2- to 4-fold above baseline. However, only fluoxetine produced robust and sustained increases in extracellular concentrations of norepinephrine and dopamine after acute systemic administration. Fluoxetine at the same dose blocked ex vivo binding to the serotonin transporter, but not the norepinephrine transporter, suggesting that the increase of catecholamines was not due to non-selective blockade of norepinephrine uptake. Prefrontal cortex extracellular concentrations of fluoxetine at the dose that increased extracellular monoamines were 242 nM, a concentration sufficient to block 5-HT2C receptors which is a potential mechanism for the fluoxetine-induced increase in catecholamines. "

"Conclusion: Amongst the SSRIs examined, only fluoxetine acutely increases extracellular concentrations of norepinephrine and dopamine as well as serotonin in prefrontal cortex, suggesting that fluoxetine is an atypical SSRI. "

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/...86/index3.html

[RockiNToM]

Zoloft always works almost euphorically for the first week for me, then after (probably because my brain has adjusted) it quickly declines. Then the longer I'm on it I start to get bad apathy and everything becomes less interesting and dull. Plus I have no idea why but I got a god awful amount of headaches while on it.

[rawrboy64]

Update 11/20/09: It's been nearly 2 weeks since I've started Zoloft and so far it hasn't really been any help for my anxiety. In fact, I feel it has made me more lazy and apathetic making it hard for me to do my homework in which I've already had a hard time with before. Also, I feel really tired and have frequent headaches...I find myself sleeping or resting on my bed for most of the day. I'm growing impatient, 3-6 weeks seems like an eternity for something that might not even work *sigh* I'll keep this post updated if anyone even cares.

edit: luckily I have klonopin which helps well w/anxiety, it's just that going outside is a pain in the #@$@ since I can't drive with it in my system... even worse considering its long half-life

[hightimes2]

Originally Posted by rawrboy64

Update 11/20/09: It's been nearly 2 weeks since I've started Zoloft and so far it hasn't really been any help for my anxiety. In fact, I feel it has made me more lazy and apathetic making it hard for me to do my homework in which I've already had a hard time with before. Also, I feel really tired and have frequent headaches...I find myself sleeping or resting on my bed for most of the day. I'm growing impatient, 3-6 weeks seems like an eternity for something that might not even work *sigh* I'll keep this post updated if anyone even cares.

edit: luckily I have klonopin which helps well w/anxiety, it's just that going outside is a pain in the #@$@ since I can't drive with it in my system... even worse considering its long half-life

you don't drive at all while on klonopin? how high of a dose are you taking?

[rocknroll714]

Originally Posted by hightimes2

you don't drive at all while on klonopin? how high of a dose are you taking?

I believe it's illegal to do so in the US, correct me if I'm wrong..

P.S., Julz, sign on AIM more often!!

[namowrepus]

I started taking Zoloft 7 days ago. My symptoms are slightly different than everyone elses. I'm on 50 mg but I'm supposed to go up to 100 tonight. I'm really nervous about it...I don't feel very good on this stuff.

For some reason this is causing my nose to constantly run down the back of my throat and my stomach just always feels full. There's constant ringing in my ears and it feels like there's a lot of pressure in my head...not quite a full blown headache, though. Light bothers me. I feel dull or like there's insulation between me and the world.

It has very slightly helped my SA so far in that I care less. It's harder to work up the energy to want to do things...I feel tired a lot.


I also want to know if these symptoms are going to go away...at least the ringing in the ears and the nose/stomach problems.

[rawrboy64]

Originally Posted by hightimes2

you don't drive at all while on klonopin? how high of a dose are you taking?

.
1mg. It impairs your "ability to operate heavy machinery", much like alcohol, i believe. You could easily get a DUI if you were pulled over.

Originally Posted by rocknroll714

P.S., Julz, sign on AIM more often!!

sorry buddy, gotta finish my hw with no distractions

Originally Posted by namowrepus

I started taking Zoloft 7 days ago. My symptoms are slightly different than everyone elses. I'm on 50 mg but I'm supposed to go up to 100 tonight. I'm really nervous about it...I don't feel very good on this stuff.

For some reason this is causing my nose to constantly run down the back of my throat and my stomach just always feels full. There's constant ringing in my ears and it feels like there's a lot of pressure in my head...not quite a full blown headache, though. Light bothers me. I feel dull or like there's insulation between me and the world.

It has very slightly helped my SA so far in that I care less. It's harder to work up the energy to want to do things...I feel tired a lot.


I also want to know if these symptoms are going to go away...at least the ringing in the ears and the nose/stomach problems.

I'm feeling similar symptoms. My depression seems to have gone down a little despite the sides. Interesting you would be bumped up to 100mg so soon. Is this your first antidepressant?

[mistermet]

i've been on it for nearly two weeks now and i'm still only taking 25 mg. i was supposed to bump it up to 50 mg on Tuesday, but i got sick then (wasn't sure if it was a sinus problem or a side effect). anyway, the doctor told me to stick with 25 for another few days. so far it seems to be working...i feel a lot looser around people and i wonder what 50 will do. i still feel anxious at times, but only when i am really thinking about it, as opposed to being anxious all of the time.

starting on 50 and moving to 100 sounds like a lot...if it is your first antidepressant, i wouldn't suggest moving up yet. this is my first as well, but my doctor made sure to tell me that my brain has to get used to it. it is important to take it slow.

[lucey]

Zoloft has worked really well for me so far. I started almost 2 months ago. I weaned off celexa and started with 25mg of zoloft. (Celexa was my first SSRI) Bumped up to 50mg of zoloft after a week. Stayed on 50mg for 2 weeks, now I am at 100mg. I have to say I felt positive results from zoloft almost immediately. Celexa made my anxiety and panic attacks much worse. I even got on a plane and flew across the U.S. without needing to take a xanax- which was a miracle! I haven't had a panic attack since I've been on zoloft. I will say I felt amazingly well on 50mg. When I started 100mg, I felt like I had a little tiny bit of anxiousness there at times, but I think now it has almost completely diminished. Overall, I feel pretty calm, and with hardly any side effects so far!

I do still have anxious feelings sometimes- like in stressful circumstances, if I have to give a speech, or in group meetings, but I don't full blown panic like I used to. I even gave a presentation without taking a benzo last week and I did pretty well! I stumbled a bit at the beginning, but overall I felt pretty good about it. I also use propranolol to help in those cases.

I've heard that for some people it can take almost 2 months for medications to kick in. Hopefully the zoloft will work, but if not, check with your doctor and maybe you can try another. Celexa didn't work for me, but it helps others immensely. It's just a matter of finding the right one. Good luck =)

[namowrepus]

Yeah after reading quite a few posts I got the impression 100 was a lot to jump right into after the first week. This is the first anti-depressant I've ever tried. I had told my regular doctor about my issues and he sent me to this nurse practitioner psychiatrist. She met me for half an hour and I walked out with a prescription for Zoloft and Xanax. I think I better give her a call before I up the dose. Despite the side effects I still want to see how this will affect me after two months...I'm going to stick with it.

[jim_morrison]

Originally Posted by hightimes2

you don't drive at all while on klonopin? how high of a dose are you taking?

I don't think it's illegal to drive on benzos in my country, however it very well may be in the united states.

Anyway, in my experience, if I take klonopin before bed I can easily and safely drive the next morning, however I've never attempted to drive directly after taking it because this seemed a bit dangerous. Depends on tolerance I guess, it can make some people too drowsy to drive.

And correct me if I'm wrong but it's my understanding that alcohol additionally works as a direct glutamate antagonist, which is responsible for alot of it's discoordination, slurred speech, staggering etc. According to this article http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1319880. "Many negative effects of alcohol such as automobile fatalities due to drunk driving are the result of the loss of coordination caused by alcohol's effect on the glutamate receptor." So I'm not sure if this property would carry over to benzodiazapines, which are alot 'cleaner' than alcohol, and mostly target only the GABA system directly.