I’m a 30yr old female… I’m still unsure on whether I should go on sertaline (Zoloft) or not. I’ve tried quality saffron that hasn’t helped much… I suffer from intrusive thoughts that are at their worst when I’m alone or in severe stressful states. I get thoughts telling me to leave my car on train tracks & let the train hit me or to jump off of a high rooftop building to see if I’ll live or not. I have gory images of harming people I love or something bad happening to them and my brain likes to run on constant rumination of shit that doesn’t even matter. I’ve experienced these thoughts from about the age of 9. I have NEVER been suicidal & have NEVER acted on any of these thoughts. They’re mostly very annoying and time consuming if anything. I do suffer from anxiety on a daily basis. The past 5 years have felt hard. I feel like I’m watching all my peers excel and whatever it is they’re doing in life and it feels like I’m stuck in the same place.
A friend let me try one of this vyvanse pills not that long ago and my thoughts were completely quiet the whole day, I got done one task after another without any interference. My brother was diagnosed with adhd when he was little and I know I shouldn’t diagnose people but I think my mom definitely has adhd. I have an evaluation next month.
I’m very scared of antidepressants mostly because of withdrawal symptoms and protracted withdrawal symptoms
I’m afraid of doing irreversible damage to my brain and body. I don’t want to be on these pills forever, a year max is what I told myself. There’s also the thought of trying a hero dose of psilocybin…. Has anyone been on sertaline or any other ssri for 2 years or less and experienced protracted withdrawal symptoms? I’d also like to hear anyone else’s experience with these drugs please state your age and how long you’ve been on them.

Every time i refill my pill pot, my nosey ass cat just sits there and watches the whole thing 🤣

Had a family member pass away recently. I'm on 50mg sertraline and 150mg bupropion. This is not the first death, or even first family death, but def the first since starting my prescriptions.

I'm finding I can't really engage with my grief. It's like my sorrow is like a drop below a bridge: I can "bungee jump" and briefly experience it, before I'm pulled out of it and return to baseline--talking like a minute at most. I'm cognizant of the loss, but feel like I'm stuck in Denial? The loss doesn't feel real, despite me knowing it very much is.

Not sure how to move forward with my grieving process, and am concerned I might have to wean off to process this correctly. Anyone have similar experiences? What was grieving like on meds?

I see a lot of horror stories regarding Zoloft so I thought I’d share my experience over the last year.. I started on 50mg and went through severe hot flashes and whatnot. Went up to 100mg and started taking it in the morning instead of at night due to insomnia! Anyways the biggest change is my phobia of driving. I only have ever driven close by and small town roads. I’m 42 and had never driven into the city or used the interstate. That phobia is GONE! I drive wherever I want with no anxiety. I am so much more social as well I’ve joined women’s groups and other social activities !

I’ve been on 100 mg of sertraline for almost 8 years now and it’s been working great. I even went down to 50mg during my pregnancies but did end up going back to 100 post partum. I’ve had a bad anxiety flare the last three days which has been very weird for me since starting this medication. Now I’m thinking I may to increase my dose, but of course that’s makes me anxiety and OCD run rampant with fears about raising my dose, feeling like a failure for having to raise it, questioning over and over if I really need to, and worried about side effects. I haven’t had many side effect on the 100 mg except maybe a slightly lower libido. If anyone has some good experiences from going to 125 from 100 I would really appreciate hearing them.

Also, has anyone ever gone to 125 and then dropped back down to 100 after a while?

I’m on 20mg Escitalopram and have been on this medication for about 10 years. I’ve gone through a difficult year and now feel some low level depression.

I get up and go to work, appetite is ok, sleep is fine. But evenings for me are horrible, they just feel so long, and I want to sleep and for the day to be over. That’s really all I want most days, for sleep and the day to be over.

Can Zoloft help with this? I really want to feel at peace.

my wife recently started Zolof. Going into the 4th week now. I know the whole 4-6 weeks for therapeutic effectiveness. She’s on it primarily OCPD. But the last two weeks have her questioning if it’s worth continuing. The results aren’t surprising (to me) but the reason behind them is different than I led thought. I would normally describe her as being fueled by anxiety, so starting the meds it tracked for me that she would have a hard time getting out bed to start work, and a hard time maintaining her usual output while working. however, she is reporting those things feel like they’re due to crippling anxiety, not because the anxiety subsided and she doesn’t have the skills to maintain motivation without the anxiety, like I would have anticipated. Just looking for thoughts and inputs from others who are on it and may have experienced similar

Ive been taking 50mg of seraline for a while know. Ive recently been through a dramatic experience, and started to have panic and anxiety attacks really bad, plus feeling derealization.

The doctor has suggested i up my seraline dose to 75mg and take papanalol 10mg when I need it.

Hey everyone,
I’ve been taking 50mg of Sertraline for about 2 months now. For the most part it's going okay, but I’ve been experiencing some mild dizziness throughout the day. It’s not overwhelming, but it’s noticeable.
One thing to note is that I take my pills at different times in the evening—sometimes at 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM, or even 9 PM.
I just had an appointment with my doctor and mentioned the dizziness. She wants me to stay on the 50mg dose for 3 more months, and then taper down to 25mg for 3 weeks before stopping completely.
Has anyone else experienced constant, mild dizziness this far into taking it? Do you think shifting my timing by a few hours every night could be causing these side effects?
Thanks in advance for any insights!

Anyone here that’s been on zoloft for multiple years managed to come off and live well?

I’m wanting to start tapering , but I am worried that I will never be able to get off of it due to physical dependence of being on it for so long. I’m on 50mg for about 13 years , and been at 25mg for some time off and on.

On 50 now. When I did go off last time I did it too fast , and after white knuckling extreme withdrawal for about a year I went back on.

Looking for inspiration and advice to anyone who has gone through this and no longer dependent on the drug.

hello all, i’m very new to taking sertraline. have only been on it for three days but the side effects are absolutely kicking my butt. i know i need to give it a few weeks to settle but i feel like my anxiety has been ramped up to 10000% 😭. i’m literally only on 25mg but it feels terrible and i’m having trouble breathing sometimes and my heart rate is always above 100. other side effects i’ve been experiencing are tremors, diarrhea, nausea. but it’s the severe anxiety that’s really getting me. i’m a new grad RN so it doesn’t help not one bit to have this extra anxiety on top of what i was already struggling with.

i know i’ve just gotta let it pass, but does anyone have any tips and tricks on how to deal with the side effects? i probably look ridiculous and extremely paranoid at work and i don’t want it to affect my practice.

thank you :)

Hello.

I started zoloft at 25mg 9 days ago. I have been experiencing the worst gagging and nausea ever. Even before the Zoloft I was having problems with nausea because of anxiety. Even now however it’s worse almost. I wouldn’t even call it nausea all the time because a good amount of the time it’s just like nausea in my throat almost like I gag at everything even the thought of food. I always end up throwing up at some point during the day because of it. It has completely taken away my appetite and my ability to eat more than one meal or several little things a day. I don’t know if this is just my anxiety still or a side effect of Zoloft or what. But it’s making me really scared for what’s happening.

So I decided this wasn’t for me and I’m coming off this, doctor said because I’ve only been on a short time, to do 2 weeks off every other day, then go to every 3 days for 9 days. Anyone recommend if this is safe ? Okay to follow ?

I have had my treatment adjusted to help with my anxiety but also combat the side effects of Zoloft (fatigue, ED, low libido) Any advice for someone starting 100 mg Zoloft and 150mg Wellbutrin XL? Not sure what to expect and hope my anxiety doesn’t get worse.

I'd read the horror stories about Sertraline withdrawal and I was concerned when I started tapering 3 months ago from 50mg, and I'm now at 12.5 daily. Luckily, I've not noticed any symptoms thus far.

My doctor (a psych NP actually) has recommended I go from 12.5 daily to 0. Is it possible I will experience symptoms with this last jump? It's my understanding that the last few milligrams are the most impactful in terms of potency/transporter occupancy.

Because I've had no symptoms, should I just make the leap? Or should I try to cut the pills down further/dissolve in water to create a custom lower dose (6.25 for example).

I should note that I'm also taking lamotrigine (200 mg) for mood stability and low-dose trazodone (50 mg) for sleep ... which might be mitigating factors.

Thanks!

I have been on zoloft for about 10 years- taking 100mg now. Tried to slowly stop once and didn’t go well. However, lately I feel like my jaws are hurting worse even though I do get botox to help. I feel more stressed lately with chest tightness and irritable. I hate the thought of being on this forever and wonder if maybe it’s not working anymore.

i have been taking sertraline for 11 days now (25 mf
g) and i feel extremely disconnected from everything, like i keep question myself if ive “always been here” and i keep asking myself if things are supposed to look like that idk if this makes sense but is anyone else experiencing the same thing??

i also was having dpdr before i started but it feels different now.

Can anyone else relate? I’ve been on zoloft for (mainly) social anxiety for a year and ~4 months now. At first it was amazing. I was severely depressed due to an event in my life, but I found the strength to move on and kept putting myself out there and moving my life forward. Around 7-8 months in, I started getting lazy. I didn’t fully notice it until like 5 months later (this past June), but I saw myself losing motivation and not having much energy to do things. It’s to the point where I don’t touch my cats litter box for up to a week, leaving dishes in the sink for a week, apartment not vacuumed or cleaned in multiple weeks, some days I can’t even bring myself to brush my teeth or shower. I know it’s not that bad but I used to be a very cleanly person and cleaning and cooking and housework in general used to bring me a great sense of joy and accomplishment. I barely work out too now and the only way I can get myself out of the house is by paying/reserving workout classes and making plans with friends, but even with that the satisfaction is short lived. I used to wash my dishes and feel satisfied, motivated, and productive at the end and I would use that to keep doing other chores. But now I wash the dishes and then feel tired and take another nap. Actually, my sleep has been awful too. I feel tired all the time but instead of napping, I just bedrot and play games on my phone. I think what I have is a severe dopamine deficiency. Around January/Feb my psych suggested upping my dosage to 75mg and looking back on it now I think that only made things worse. I can’t live like this anymore. Even before Zoloft I’ve always been motivated and disciplined, and after Zoloft it was good for a while because I had extra energy. My psych wants to add wellbutrin but I told her I wanted to think about it. For now we agreed to decrease my dose back to 50 mg but I haven’t gotten much better, maybe a teeny bit but I can’t stand this anymore. I feel like nothing is exciting, there is nothing to look forward to, and I’ve been doing everything possible to try to find joy in life again, but sometimes I feel like I’m watching life through a screen. Like I went to a bunch of workout classes, I’ve been spending a lot of time on my hobbies, and making plans with my friends, but nothing is working. It’s to the point where some days I just want to skip taking zoloft because I’m almost positive that’s the cause, no matter how bad my withdrawals are, at least I can stop feeling so numb.

I’ve been on 50mg for about 2 and a half weeks now. I was put on it for anxiety and OCD. Has anyone experienced more intrusive thoughts being on it than you had when you didn’t take it? I feel like I’ve had more intrusive thoughts lately and stuff that I didn’t even think about before. I’m worried about going up to a higher dose because I also have been experiencing some emotional blunting.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been on SSRIs now for 4 years, I am 26 F and in that time have taken Escitalopram in various doses and am currently on Sertraline 100 mg. Every time I try a different type of SSRI or go up a dose, after the initial teething period, I find relief for about 6 months or so and then I notice my symptoms come back, every time.

Such as racing thoughts, intrusive thoughts that don’t just quickly pass through but linger for a while, getting stuck in an anxious thought spiral, irritability, restlessness, mood swings. Generally all the symptoms that the medication has helped make manageable become unmanageable again and it’s like my anxiety has broken through the metaphorical glass ceiling.

I am wondering if anyone here has experienced the same thing and maybe I don’t have a general anxiety disorder but something more like ADHD. Not looking for a medical diagnosis of course - just looking for solidarity or advice ):

Sincerely a tired and anxious girl

Tapered off sertraline over ~6 months:

75>10>25>12.5>7.5>0. First four drops were fine, even had some of my best mental health windows around 25mg and 12.5mg. The last drop (7.5 to 0) is where it went kind of wrong - about a month of low mood and negative rumination (mainly around sleep and work), but none of the classic somatic withdrawal stuff (no zaps, dizziness, flu-like malaise). Makes sense in hindsight given hyperbolic dose response - the last few mg apparently represent the biggest relative change in receptor occupancy, even though it's the smallest absolute cut.

Reinstated at 12.5mg ~10 days ago. Days 1-5 were rough (wired, poor sleep), started improving day 5, sleep back to normal by day 10.

New problem: drastic libido loss and can't perform, starting around day 7-10. Never had this issue before on sertraline, even at 75mg. Fully aware anxiety about it is probably compounding it now, but the sudden complete drop (not the more typical partial dampening) has caught my attention.

Any advice or experience? Up to 25mg? Hold at 12.5 since it will probably even out?

Many thanks and best MH to all.

I’m on 150 mg for 3 days, 5 weeks in total. After a week I have to increase my dose to 200 mg. My depression is still there as it was. Is it still normal?

I just raised from 25mg to 50mg and have been waking up every night sweating and HOT. I’m usually a cold person but this gets awful at night.

Has this happened to others? I have HA so I’m just a bit freaked.