New medication ...Zoloft...

What can you tell me about Zoloft?

I was on Zoloft for 5 years. It took awhile to kick in and for the first two years it was fairly effective. In fact, I wrote four novels and three novellas during that time, enrolled in college, maintained a good job without problems, and rented a house with my cousin. Adult things! I still had problems however but that is the nature of my illness, it's a hormone thing I believe now so I can't blame the Zoloft. I was also, and this is important, receiving therapy at the time. Antidepressants are a way to jumpstart the healing process. They are not the answer to your problems. If I had realized that five years ago I might not be in my current predicament. Therapy is important. What is more important is lifestyle changes. What is WAY MORE important is changing your way of thinking while the medication is working so that when it stops working you can taper off of it and live a drug free, doctor free life. Cognitive therapy, meditation, keep a thought record... Anyway, after a few years of being on Zoloft it stopped being effective. Only I didn't really realize it. I figured because I wasn't feeling anything, it was working. I still had panic attacks. I didn't really have any desires or hopes or highs. My lows were not too intolerably low. So I stayed on it. Then I started having neurological problems. First just little things like my fingers would go numb and tingly. Over the years it spread up my whole arms. My nose and lips would sometimes go numb. And my legs. I started having tremors and my hands shook alot. I thought I was really sick which made me pretty depressed so the doctors kept upping my Zoloft which made things worse. When symptoms got worse they added new medications until I was on so many drugs that I didn't know what was causing what and was nearly bedridden. It was an awful time. I eventually weened myself off of most everything. Zoloft was the last to go. I'm grateful for the first two years of happiness it gave me but wont be going back anytime soon.

Hey there.

I was on Zoloft a few months ago, and it did not work for me. I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and the first medication I tried was Prozac - which made me manic with psychotic features and I had to come off it. The second (and last) medication I have tried was Zoloft. I was on it for about 1 and a half months before it took any effect, and then it caused me to be very anxious, I found it hard to sleep, and I was feeling very irritated. I knew after 3 months on the medication that it was making me manic and I went off it again. I was on the lowest dose when this all happened.

However, it is important for me to say that everyone reacts differently to antidepressants. What might be a very bad medication to one person, might be a life saver for someone else. If you are looking into trying Zoloft - don't let mine or anyone elses story put you off!

Good luck!

Tara.

Getting By,

At this very moment I am not on anything. This is a transition weekend. I've been off Zoloft for four months of unending chaos. I was finally able to secure a psychiatrist last month who prescribed me Lamictal, a moodstabilizer. Two weeks later my hair was falling out and a rash was spreading across my face and neck so I was taken off of it and left to die. A doctor in an urgent care hospital had pity on me and prescribed me Prozac three days later. I ended up in the ER yesterday after a week of unrelenting panic attacks, hot flashes, and blind irrational terror had me hiding in relatives houses and pacing back and fourth howling, "Oh Oh, no!" over and over (which isn't normal even for my madness). I'm still a bit freaked out to which I can only attribute to the prozac. But after the ER and an emergency psychiatry visit in which I broke down into a sobbing mess of unheeded pleas and was passed on to a concerned case worker for possible hospitalization (Again) then a visit to my therapist where I also sobbed uncontrollably... I am now off of Prozac and valium and on Lexapro and Ativan. So we'll see how that goes. I pray to all that is holy that it will work better than the last medications. I am freakishly sensitive to any unnatural substance. Medication just does odd things to me. I'm sure it will be fine for many of you so fear not!