Hey all. I took Zoloft in the past and didn't have any sexual side effects.....My question is, is Lexapro more likely to cause sexual side effects than Zoloft in most people? .....I'm looking for a good antidepressant for someone with generalized anxiety/panic attacks and agoraphobia.

I'm looking for the same thing and am about to start Zoloft. Why did you stop taking Zoloft, if I may ask? On Lexapro I couldn't have the big O. It didn't really reduce my drive/motivation, but I just would get really close and then...nothing..(it was actually a little painful). My male coworker has tried both - he had the same problem with Lexapro (he could get turned on but couldn't finish). With zoloft he says he is able to get to the finish line but it's not completely effortless (versus how it would be if he wasn't taking any medication at all).

That was a big part of the reason I decided to give Zoloft a chance. My problem is that I am nervous about taking any new medicine, so I haven't worked up the courage to try it yet. From what I've read, Zoloft seems to be more effective more anxiety because it is also used for OCD and pmdd.

 

Sorry for the late reply. In my personal experience, Zoloft didn't give me any side effects at all. It didn't effect my sex drive nor cause any performance issues like you mentioned.

I hope it goes well for you. From what I know it's a pretty tolerable medication in the big picture. There are a few cases of people getting side effects they can't tolerate, but by and large after a week or so I think it should be fine.

For me, the first few days, a week or less, I was a little bit sleepy and had an upset stomach. Nothing too alarming. Ironically after the first week those things went away, and after 2-3 weeks it started to be more activating, as in I felt I had more energy and a little more motivation as well. It is well known for being more of an upper, as opposed to something like Paxil that tends to make people tired (Paxil made me tired 24/7).

I stopped taking Zoloft because I was stubborn and felt weird having to take medication every day, pretty much. There weren't any adverse effects that made me stop taking it.

Zoloft has been around for quite awhile and is well studied in all aspects. As far as sexual side effects, it's hit or miss I suppose. I have a female friend who has been on Zoloft for over 8 years and it causes her a reduced sex drive, but it works so well for her that she keeps taking it for mainly depression.

I personally only took Zoloft for about a year and a half. Have no issues with it and will probably be going back on it. Part of being young and dumb, I suppose. I'm still young and dumb but not as much lol.

I learned a lesson, I'm better off on medication, and Zoloft is probably the safest for me in the long term, as opposed to the Klonopin I've been taking for about 9 months which I am going to try to have my psychiatrist taper off of starting at my January 12th appointment where I can hopefully also get a Zoloft prescription.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, I had no problems tapering myself off Zoloft in a period between doctors (I had a bit of a wait period). I always recommend going to a doctor for that stuff, but I didn't have one. I went from 250mg to nothing in 2-3 weeks and had no problems. This is another thing that makes it attractive to me.

Some people claim to have withdrawals, how many of them are hypochondriacs/experiencing a return of their symptoms and how many are actually having withdrawals is uncertain. For me though it is little to none as long as I taper at a reasonable rate.

Every new medication I am prescribed, I will be looking into it to see the side effect profile, rate at which people have withdrawals, etc.

I realize Klonopin is a totally different animal so you can't compare it to SSRI withdrawals because instead of 3-4 weeks it's 3-4 months, but I'm also very scared about taking new medications now. When I started taking Klonopin I wasn't aware it would take that long to get off of and that I'd have withdrawals during that period and a short time after. So I can really relate. I'm really scared to start my Klonopin taper but at the same time I want to get back on Zoloft to help me with this down and out feeling and lack of energy and also get on something to help with my ADD.

Again, you're probably already into the initial phase of Zoloft and I hope it's going well for you.

If you have some side effects and they aren't making you feel like you're dying, try to stick it out for a week or so and they should go away or start to tone down. It's like that with most SSRIs, I suppose. In clinical studies and user reviews, Zoloft is very effect for panic disorder and anxiety disorders. It's actually more effective for those than it is for depression lol. I can attest from both my own and my friends experience that it does help with depression. My friend says she couldn't function without Zoloft.

 

I'd say it's equal to Zoloft.. I don't have much experience with those, but have heard people saying Lexapro completely killing their sex drive. Zoloft also has some dopaminergic properties but it's very mild to do anything, if you're on 10mg of Lexa then maybe it won't be too much of a deal but 20mg will definitely give you issues unless you're the lucky few.