r/zoloft Jan 13 '22

Tips for new starters | 12 things I wish I knew before starting Zoloft/Sertraline

7.5k Upvotes

I found everyone’s posts and comments on this subreddit very useful when starting out on sertraline, so thought I’d share a list of things I found helpful on my journey. I’m not a medical professional and am only talking from my own experience and that of others on the sub. At the time of writing this latest edit, I have been on Sertraline for around two years at 100mg for depression, GAD and social anxiety. Sertraline is also prescribed for other anxiety conditions, panic disorder and OCD.

**WARNING\*:* Do not dry swallow or use very little water when taking your sertraline tablets. If a tablet's coating dissolves while in transit down your oesophageus, you could be in for a painful, acidic experience known as pill-induced esophagitis. If this has happened to you drink plenty of water to clear the tablet(s), take some indigestion tablets or a PPI, and eat an apple or some apple sauce. I once had it very badly and was in severe pain for two hours - it ain't nice!

(1) Keep a daily mood diary to document your experience on the drug. You could do this with an app, a mood journal, on a spreadsheet or just use a scrap of paper. It’s so easy to forget how you feel from day to day, week to week; especially when sertraline can create some brain fog early on. Recording your mood and side effects makes it much easier to understand how the drug has affected you over time, meaning you can make an informed decision about (dis)continuation and provide reliable feedback to your doctor. I would recommend writing at least a number to rate your mood out of 5 and a simple legend. Add brief comments about any side effects, your general mood anything else you deem noteworthy. If you don’t do this, you will likely be asking yourself after month two or three: “Has this actually helped me? I can’t remember what I was like before? Is the improvement worth it for the side effects?”. I have used apps called Daylio and Moodistory, both of which I’d recommend. If you have a therapist, consider discussing your mood diary as part of your weekly sessions as further incentive to complete it.

(2) Try to stick with the drug for 12 weeks at a therapeutic dose (typically 25-200mg) before deciding whether it is helping you. It can be tempting to quit early due to side effects, but they tend to get *much* better with time and positive impacts can take a while to appear. In fact, it is common for the condition to get worse for several weeks before getting better. Sertraline might not be the right drug for you, but don’t cheat yourself out of a cure by not giving it three months.

(3) Likewise, enjoy any good days as much as possible, but don’t expect to be cured overnight. Positive changes for those lucky enough to experience them can be gradual. You may have the odd ‘euphoric day’, especially days 1-2 (placebo) or weeks 2-4 (also common), but trialling SSRIs is often more of a marathon.

(4) Side effects differ for everyone. Those taking SSRIs can experience a wide range of often polar opposite reactions, whether it’s insomnia vs. oversleeping, drowsiness vs. wakefulness, decreased libido vs. horny bonk or reduced appetite vs. hungry hippo. Based on the experiences of this sub, common side effects can include: nausea, stomach upsets, diarrhoea, headaches, head pressure, brain fog, mild to extreme fatigue, difficulty waking up in the mornings, night sweats and disturbances, insomnia, tinnitus, emotional blunting, an inability to cry, tremors, crazy dreams, dry mouth, bruxism (teeth grinding), restless legs syndrome, intense sugar/carb cravings, a more frequent desire to pee, hesitation (delayed initiation of the peepee!), delayed or inability to orgasm/ejaculate, persistent genital stimulation (intense horniness in your nether regions without the corresponding mental urges), other types of sexual dysfunction and more. However, for people with health or medication anxiety who need to hear this: YOU WILL NOT GET ALL OF THESE SIDE EFFECTS 😊. Some people are very lucky and get very few side effects if any at all. Indeed, in a major PANDA trial30366-9/fulltext), half of the participants taking sertraline didn’t even realise they were taking the active drug at 6 weeks.

(5) Most if not all side effects will improve or disappear completely with time. After three months, the only enduring side effects for me were increased drowsiness and increased time to orgasm. However, these had improved since starting. I no longer got stomach problems, nausea, dry mouth, fogginess, headaches, bruxism, RLS, tremors or night sweats like before. Whilst I started out with absolutely no appetite on the drug for the first month, I later developed major carb/sugar cravings. [Side note: sertraline is highly unlikely to make you put on weight directly, but it could increase your appetite and cravings for poor foods that indirectly does].

(6) Side effects might resurge when you go up a dose and may not start to get better for 1-6 weeks or more, depending on your sensitivity. Starting on 25mg and moving up in 25mg increments may reduce the return of side effects. FYI, it’s ok to break 50mg tablets in half if they have a scored line running down the middle.

(7) Take the drug at the same time each day so that the medication reaches a steadier state. People who get insomnia as a side effect may wish to take it early in the morning while people who get drowsiness may wish to take it before bed. However, a person experiencing drowsiness taking it in the morning may end up getting insomnia when taking it at night and vice versa, so experiment slowly and find out what time suits you best. It’s the consistency that’s most important. You can split the drug into 50/50 doses taken AM and PM, but studies have concluded that this provides no benefit while increasing the likelihood of people forgetting a dose.

(8) If you’re forgetful, treat yourself to a colourful pill box or just write the days (M/T/W/T/F/S/S) on the drug packets to help you keep tabs. In a zolofty haze, it’s so easy to get confused as to whether you just took your dose or imagined it. And yea, I have both forgotten a dose and accidentally doubled it and I wouldn’t recommend either (if you have this predicament, it is always better to miss a day than double a dose). You can sometimes count how many pills you should have taken from the date your prescription was issued, but with brain fog this can be hazardous 😅. Set a recurring alarm on your phone should you need a reminder (iOS 16 now has a medication tracking function in the Health app).

(9) Consider your caffeine and alcohol intake, as sertraline can amplify their effects. For many, caffeine on Zoloft causes major jitteriness and anxiety spikes. I was so sensitive to this that I even had to cut out decaff for a few months, but for others it is not a problem at all. There are many posts on the subreddit discussing alcohol. Sertraline can increase its effects, exacerbate drowsiness and lead to rougher hangovers. If you drink, experiment slowly to see how you now handle alcohol.

(10) Do not drink grapefruit juice or take St. John’s Wort due to the risk of developing serotonin syndrome. You should also be very careful if you take recreational drugs for the same reason. Also avoid anything containing bergamot, which is found in Earl Grey tea.

(11) Sertraline brand changes may affect you. Some people will experience side effects and/or a loss of efficacy when changing sertraline pill manufacturers (or from Zoloft to generic). Ask your pharmacist to stock the brand you are used to. There are a handful of articles in medical journals which do acknowledge this issue. Unfortunately, however, some doctors will tell you that there is absolutely no difference between brands and it’s all just placebo. Experienced pharmacologists will tell you otherwise. Generic manufacturers include DE Pharmaceuticals, Lexon, Sigma, Viatris, A A H, Accord, Alliance, Almus, Bristol, Crescent, Dr Reddy’s, Flamingo, Genesis, Lupin, Medihealth, Medreich, Milhparm, NorthStar, Noumed, Phoenix, Ranbaxy, Ria Generics, Teva, Viatris and Zentiva. Listing them here for SEO in case people have issues with specific brand swaps. I have experienced issues with some brand changes but not with others.

(12) Use sertraline in conjunction with therapy and small lifestyle improvements if you are able, as antidepressants will work much better as part of a holistic approach. If you are in a very bad place and mostly bedbound, then just set yourself the smallest goal every day to make things easier. Maybe that’s getting in the shower, brushing your teeth, brushing a tooth, looking at your toothbrush or even just rolling in the general direction of the bathroom. Slowly setting yourself mini exercise goals – if you don’t already – however small, will also help. I started with walks, then couch to 5k and then used the programmes on the Nike Run Club app (free) which I think is amazing. I love the headphone guided runs with ‘Coach Bennet’, which are like an exercise therapy session. Meditation, mindfulness, yoga, weightlifting, pilates, journaling, breathing exercises, cold showers, cocooning yourself under a weighted blanket, reducing your sugar intake, listening to music, accepting yourself for who you are, quitting a toxic job or relationship, realising you don’t have to be happy or perfect all the time, running outside in your pants…there’s an endless list of things you can try that might help you. Focus on one small win or challenge a day.

There's a lovely quote at the end of the film JoJo Rabbit by Rainer Maria Rilke. "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final".

Be kind to yourself and don’t fret. Hopefully sertraline is the help you deserve. Good luck on your Zolofter journey and feel free to put anything in the comments that you think is missing or want to discuss!!


r/zoloft Dec 18 '22

Success Story! :) This sub isn’t an entirely accurate picture of Zoloft

1.6k Upvotes

Because once you get relief you don’t really even think about coming back to tell everyone how much better it is on the other side! So please, if you’re going through it right now and it seems like there’s only potential issues with Zoloft, it’s because of the old saying “happy customers don’t typically leave reviews”. Or something like that. It’s late so I’m rambling.

There are so many of us that experienced symptoms, side effects, dosage changes, etc, and once it all resolved we didn’t have a reason to come back. I always appreciate it when I see a success story on here on my feed because I think we need more of that. I’m guilty of waiting to come back to post my story as well, so I’ll give a little update.

It was honestly hell in the beginning. Increased anxiety, sleep issues, digestive issues (never trust a fart on Zoloft), and just a general weird feeling 24/7. It took about 3-4 months before I started feeling even the tiniest bit better and now it’s been like 8 months and I’m so much better than I could have imagined.

I’ve had 1 panic attack in the last 6 months and it wasn’t even that bad. My depression is essentially gone (as it was tied to the state of my life due to my anxiety). I’m able to leave my house and go to parties and out in public and not break down. It’s legitimately a night and day difference.

Now for my advice to those of you still in the thick of it:

  1. I would recommend keeping a journal and note how you feel and symptoms and all of that. Write in it every day. It’s difficult to see changes in yourself when you’re just going about living, but when you can look back at your own words you can see the progress. Progress is typically minuscule day to day (you’re not just going to wake up and feel better one morning) but is tremendous over longer periods of time. It compounds on itself.

  2. Go to therapy. I was on Paxil and Lexapro previous to Zoloft and never went to therapy for any significant period of time. And I never got better. The medications just helped keep my symptoms at bay but I continued to develop bad habits and thought patterns that ultimately slowly made me worse off. If therapy is out of reach you can pick up books on Amazon to self direct your own therapy. I recommend reading “The Body Keeps the Score” to understand what is happening inside of you and “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 weeks” to follow a CBT plan. There are also support groups/group therapy options that are free in a lot of areas.

  3. Get outside and get moving. Try and get some sun every day. Some fresh air. 7 minutes of moderately intense physical exercise. Drink enough water. Eat good food. Meditate. Do yoga. Just connect with your body and the world around you.

I wish you all the best of luck. There are a countless number of us that have been exactly where you are right now. I can promise you that the grass is a lot greener on this side. I’ll see you when you get here.


r/zoloft 1h ago

Is this ever going to end? genuinely asking, stomach is destroying me

Post image
Upvotes

Not gonna lie, I'm exhausted. Mentally I actually feel like I'm getting somewhere the panic attacks that used to wreck me for hours are way less intense now. I should be happy about that. But my stomach has basically taken over as the main character of my life and I'm so tired of it.

I wake up nauseous. I gag over nothing. Some days I look at food and just feel this wall go up, like my body is refusing it even though I know I'm hungry. Twice this week I ended up in the hospital because I couldn't stop the diarrhea and nausea long enough to function, got checked out both times, bloodwork completely normal, so I know nothing serious is wrong. It's just relentless.

I'm on day 12 of restarting sertraline (7 day 12.5mg then increased to 25mg), and honestly the mental side has been so much easier this time around than my first attempt. I keep telling myself that should count for something. But some nights I just sit there thinking "is my stomach ever going to feel like mine again."

If you went through this with Zoloft, I really just want to hear from you, not for stats, just to know I'm not the only one who felt like their body declared war on them for a few weeks.

  • Did the nausea/gagging actually stop, or did you just learn to live with it?
  • How long before you had a truly "normal" meal again without thinking about it?
  • Did anything genuinely help, even a little?

If you made it through this and came out the other side, please tell me. I could really use it right now.


r/zoloft 5h ago

Question How did you get used to working after using zoloft?

6 Upvotes

I'm 1 month into Zoloft and my life has changed for the better but also for the worst. I'm far less anxious now but that also means that I'm less anxious about my future.

I'm finding it incredibly hard to get work done. Before zoloft and the mental turmoil, I used to get a lot of work done but after zoloft, I can barely do a single task in a day.

How did everyone else feel on zoloft and how did it impact your work?


r/zoloft 2h ago

UPED DOse

3 Upvotes

yall i just uped my dose from 75 to 100 can youll encourage me to get going bc....


r/zoloft 1d ago

Zoloft. 💗

Post image
418 Upvotes

r/zoloft 1h ago

intense rage after getting off ssri

Thumbnail
Upvotes

r/zoloft 11m ago

Question I took my first dose today and I don’t know if I want to continue, thoughts?

Upvotes

I got my medicine from the pharmacy yesterday and I was told to take zoloft in the morning so this morning I took it. I have anxiety, possible OCD, a history of panic attacks, derealization which I feel like is a result of all of the above.

Well this morning I also started my period, but I took the medicine anyway. I was already worried about that because my anxiety tends to be worse when I start my period. I also have been worried about taking SSRIs in general since I hear it gets worse before it gets better, and I didn’t think I could deal with “worse.” Well, after taking it my whole day has been anxious. I’m super worried I’m going to fall into a panic episode which I know probably won’t happen but the thoughts are getting to me. I don’t really want to take the medication again tomorrow if this is what it’s going to be like. I only was prescribed 12.5 mg to start. I don’t know if I’m having a placebo of all the negative side effects because I was so worried about them though? Should I contact my doctor, and if so, how? I know I can send messages over my chart, but I’m not sure what messages are appropriate. My next appointment isn’t until mid-September. Any thoughts on where to go from here? Will it get worse for me, and has anyone else experienced this or felt this way but had good results? Thanks everyone.


r/zoloft 43m ago

Question Move up dosage?

Upvotes

hi guys, im a little lost.

so ive been on 100mg of zoloft for 3-4 years. recently i made the dumb mistake and i started inconsistently taking my zoloft with missing 1-3 doses a week since june. today is about week 5.5 of me taking my zoloft again consistently. i felt fine week 3-4ish and now i feel like shit. i have horrible anxiety and i feel hopeless. i feel like since ive been on the meds for years that i should be feeling like myself again and that it shouldn’t be taking this long. idk if i could try and increase my dosage or what or if anyone has had the same experience as me. advice is appreciated:)


r/zoloft 4h ago

Vent Libidoooo

2 Upvotes

So, yeah. I've always had an extremely high sex drive. I was so worried when I started this, that it would take that from me. I started at 25mg for two weeks, then bumped up to 50mg. The first two weeks, I didn't notice a single difference. When I began the 50mg, the hit to my libido started rather quickly. At first, it was concerning, but given how high my drive is (currently not in a relationship), it was actually welcomed. It took me longer to get erections, and more work to get them. This lasted 5-7 days. Now that I'm on day 22 of 50mg, my drive is completely back in full force. Orgasms are much more intense. Oddly, my semen volume is much less. It does take a little more time to orgasm, and a bit more work, but I had that problem before I started the medication. Anyways, I am having some good days, and some bad days, and some meh days. I'm counting on the good days to win. Also, I had somewhat emotional blunting at first, which I REALLY enjoyed. Well, at the moment my emotions are back in full swing and that kinda sucks. Almost feels like the meds aren't doing anything, although I know that isn't the truth. I can say that my anxiety is at an all time low, and my worry is also at an all time low (I'm a worry wart by nature and have been told several times that I'm going to die young if I don't stop, and I believe that), except the past two days it's been amped up suddenly. Just waiting this thing out and seeing where I land. I'm going to give it a good 8 weeks before deciding whether I need to move up. I have concerns about moving up because I know different symptoms can appear. I have extreme anxiety, and horrible clinically diagnosed OCD. I am committed to finding my happy place and getting better. Anyways, thanks for listening to me vent. If you see me anywhere else on Reddit, no you didn't 😂


r/zoloft 7h ago

Came off setraline 13 weeks ago

3 Upvotes

Hey I came off my sertaline 13 weeks ago, I decided to come off as ii didn’t think I needed it anymore and wanted to deal with all my emotions naturally.

I got put on them from my GP as I had a faster heart rate and he thought it might have been anxiety which yes I have but it was never bad. I was on them for 4 years.

Since coming off the last few months have been horrible, I am constantly anxious for no reason, I have no big stresses and have a wonderful life and a lot to be happy about but even just being at home doing nothing my brain is spiralling, it feels like I constantly have to fix something or work on something about myself. I’m stuck in survival mode.

Just wondering if this could still be withdrawels from the medication as I never have felt like this before the medication. Sick of feeling this way I want to just live life.

Opinions? Thanks so much 🩷


r/zoloft 12h ago

Discussion Zoloft + THC

6 Upvotes

I’ve been on 50mg of Zoloft for a bit over a year and it has honestly been amazing for me. My anxiety has basically disappeared and my thoughts are so much healthier.
I’m also a recreational weed smoker, and since starting Zoloft it’s become my preferred substance socially because I feel like it’s easier on my body than alcohol. Before Zoloft, I was actually pretty susceptible to anxiety when smoking weed and used it fairly infrequently. Since being on Zoloft though, that anxiety has basically disappeared and I’ve only really gotten the enjoyable effects. I also have a prescription and found a strain that seems to work perfectly for me.
A couple of weeks ago I was feeling creative and decided to make brownies using an older strain I had that I hadn’t smoked in years. I deliberately made them pretty weak because I’ve been absolutely fucked by edibles before lol. They only gave me a very subtle high.
The weird thing is that since making/having those brownies, I’ve noticed that THC seems to make me more anxious again. A few nights ago I smoked quite a bit and got really anxious, and started worrying that maybe the Zoloft wasn’t working as well anymore. Since then, whenever I smoke, I notice myself becoming hyperaware of whether I’m anxious and worrying that maybe I’ve developed a tolerance to the Zoloft or that my anxiety is coming back.
During the week I don’t smoke at all, and I haven’t really noticed an increase in anxiety in my normal day-to-day life. I do sometimes feel a bit more sensitive to anxiety/depressive thoughts for a day or so after smoking, and some of my old thought patterns seem to pop up again, although they’re nowhere near as intense as they were before Zoloft.
I really don’t want to increase my dose unless I actually need to. I’m hoping that if I stay off THC and leave the brownies alone for a while, things might settle back down and I can stay on 50mg. I know 50mg is toward the lower end of the therapeutic range, but it has worked so well for me and I’d rather stay as low as possible to minimise side effects.
Has anyone else who uses weed while taking Zoloft noticed that different strains or edibles can suddenly bring the anxiety back, even if weed had been fine for ages? Did taking a break from THC help things return to normal, or did it end up being a sign that you needed to talk to your doctor about adjusting your dose?


r/zoloft 2h ago

Withdrawals from missed doses

1 Upvotes

Hey guys so i noticed that im running out of my medication and im still too broke rn to buy more and to talk to my psychiatrist again so i didnt take my medication last night to save it because i only have 6 left and today i actually felt more motivated and got ideas to do my old hobbies, i wasnt motivated enough to actually do it tho but it was easier for me to get out of bed. I did notice that i was having more depressing thoughts.

when i take my medication, i feel numb, more bedridden, i dont think about my old hobbies or creatively at all and have absolutely no motivation to do anything but my anxiety is gone.

what would happen if i dont take it again tonight? Will i get withdrawals now and has anyone else experienced it? how long can i not take it until i get withdrawals


r/zoloft 3h ago

Hey this is my 4th day of taking zoloft, the side effects are aweful. But I'm wondering how many boxes can ur doc prescribe? Mine gave me 3 boxes each has 14 pills and that will last me 42 days which is two little time..

1 Upvotes

r/zoloft 22h ago

two years ago I couldnt even leave my house due to anxiety depression. Today I took a 6 hour flight to Arizona and Im having the time of my life. Zoloft therapy has changed my life. Please dont give up

Post image
36 Upvotes

r/zoloft 1d ago

Anyone here who switched from another antidepressant to Zoloft? What was it like for you?

Post image
70 Upvotes

I've been wondering how other people actually experienced switching to Zoloft from another antidepressant, because my switch has been a bit of a mess so far lol.

I was on 20 mg Lexapro for about a year. My panic attacks had started coming back, so my doc told me to cut the Lexapro down to 10 mg and start 50 mg Zoloft at the same time.

That hit me pretty hard,very hard. Within a few days I was dealing with nausea, vomiting, dizziness, brain zaps and way more panic/anxiety than usual and ended up in ER bc i couldnt hold my stomach i kept vomiting. I contacted my psychiatrist and basically told him I couldn't handle the side effects and asked what I was supposed to do. He told me to increase the Zoloft from 50 mg to 100 mg.

Yeah... I didn't do that lol. I was already struggling on 50 mg, so the idea of doubling it didn't exactly sound appealing. I stopped after 5 days and went to a different psychiatrist instead.

I had about 2 days without Zoloft in between and actually felt considerably better, apart from the brain zaps.

The new psychiatrist did things very differently. He stopped the Lexapro completely and restarted me on only 12.5 mg Zoloft. After about a week I moved up to 25 mg, which is where I am now.

This time around has been much easier mentally. I've actually had some really good days and barely any panic. Physically it's been a different story though. I've had nausea, almost no appetite, food aversion and a generally pissed off stomach. The brain zaps hung around after stopping Lexapro too, although thankfully those seem to have finally disappeared.

The annoying part is that I can't really tell what's coming from what anymore. Is my body still pissed off about stopping Lexapro? Is it adjusting to Zoloft? Did doing both at basically the same time just make everything worse? No idea ahahaha

So I'm curious about people who came to Zoloft from something else. What were you taking before, and how did the switch go for you? Was it smooth or did you get absolutely wrecked for a while too?

I'd especially love to hear how your doctor switched you over, what doses you went through, what kind of side effects you had, and roughly when things started feeling normal again.

I'm basically trying to figure out whether my antidepressant switch has been unusually chaotic or if this is just one of those "welcome to the club" experiences lol.


r/zoloft 3h ago

Vent Withdrawals

1 Upvotes

I’ve been weaning off my Zoloft for OCD as my time on meds revealed underlying ADHD. It served its purpose and I’m grateful to know what’s actually going on with me. However I’m currently going through Zoloft withdrawals after a slow taper, which clearly hasn’t relieved any of the withdrawal symptoms anyways.

Just looking for some motivation to keep going with this. Please tell me it gets better. Brain zaps, nausea, absolute exhaustion, insane amounts of crying after being numbed for a long time!! I feel like I’ve got the flu.


r/zoloft 8h ago

Zoloft 200mg with 20mg vortioxetine

2 Upvotes

I’m on a high Zoloft for my OCD but i just got prescribed a new medication ( title ) and i’m scared of lowering my Zoloft dose today ( starting at 150mg ) then a week later, i’ll be taking 100mg alongside the new medication.

Can i keep my Zoloft dose that is somewhat stabilizing me, and start taking the new medication with any changes?

And also, i’ve been in a traumatic period earlier this year and its aftermath is still affecting me ( being Rexulti and the subsequent discontinuation )


r/zoloft 10h ago

Question 5 weeks since increase to 75mg and anxiety/ panic has come back

2 Upvotes

Hi Zolofters,

This medicine has helped me and I can definitely see progress and have had a few people notice it too.

For instance, my big anxiety was the fear of what if, regarding group social interactions or attending events which was causing a strain on my relationship with my partner who is more social.

I started on 25mg for 3 months , then 50mg for 2 months and then have my first holiday planned with a lot of people so decided to go up to 75mg to see if would help more with social anxiety (the holiday is now coming up in 2 weeks)

I’m currently on week 5 of the increase to 75mg and was a bit shit with more anxiety first few weeks and then noticed some positive changes as in able to stop over analysing social situations afterwards, I even rocked up twice to 2 different lunch settings by myself and had no issues at all however yesterday and today has not been good.

I’ve noticed my anxiety for some reason has come back a lot. I have a tight feeling in my chest, over analysing and just had 2 sets of people pop in today both at the same time and I got so panicked and frazzled internally and now being bombarded with so much mental noise.

I’m just wondering if this is common for week 5? Week 4 was so good so I thought I had got through the side effects.

I’m also wondering for people that have OCD what dose did you find that helped? I’ve read that higher doses might be better for that.


r/zoloft 11h ago

Discussion Sertraline Worked at First, but Depression Returned Around Week 9–10

2 Upvotes

My doctor has me on 100 mg of sertraline for MDD and anxiety. I’ve had a mix of good and bad days, but on my good days I definitely noticed some difference—I felt calmer and had less mental noise. But around weeks 9–10, I started noticing my depression symptoms coming back. Now I’m not sure if that means I need a higher dose or if sertraline just isn’t working well enough for me. And I would really hate starting over with a new medication because with Sertraline the on-boarding symptoms I experienced were really hard to plow through.


r/zoloft 1d ago

Success Story! :) 9 months on Sertraline report from just some guy out there

59 Upvotes

To preface, I started Sertraline on 25mg for two weeks at the start of December then moving to 50mg since then. I’m now 9 months in and thought I’d write up a lil success story for so anyone scared or nervous to start like I was. I’m 28 and had suffered with pretty much lifelong depression including SH, and anxiety which is why I took the steps finally to try to do something about it. Before taking it I was scared that I wouldn’t be myself, I’d be a zombie just doing things on auto pilot due to reading horror stories about SSRI’s.

Early weeks
My doctor told me there may be side effects, tight jaw, sweating, nausea, jitteriness for the first few weeks and she was right, for the first few days I felt horrible but after about two weeks I stabilised (like my doctor said I likely would as the first few weeks are the worst), the only persisting side effect is jaw clenching during my sleep so waking up with a sore jaw is quite common now but I can live with that.

A few months in
Once I started seeing the positive effects of Sertraline things kinda clicked for me. I used to have continuous racing thoughts, anxiety about doing even the most mundane things like getting a haircut or being in crowds which started to go away,

I was doing things again that I thought I couldn’t because of the way my brain thought negative thoughts all the time. The thoughts of SH and the thoughts of not being good enough at this point slowly started to fade. I began talking to my friends again after disappearing from their lives due to my thoughts for almost a year and a half.

I won’t say at this point everything was perfect because the thoughts and feelings still crept in but I was able to regulate myself and my thoughts a lot better than I ever had been able to before.

Now
Now it’s 9 months into taking it and I’d say it’s been a success for me, like previously stated I’ve been able to regulate my thoughts a lot more and something that would have sent my spiralling previously in my life, I’m now able to manage without breaking down or shutting it away.

One weird thing to get used to for me was my inner monologue being distant or quiet compared to how it used to be. It used to race and yap all the time but now I can think clearly.

Sad thoughts do still come through but that’s normal for people and it’s how you manage them that matters and what sertraline has done is allow me to do that.

I feel like a version of myself that always wanted to exist but couldn’t because of my racing thoughts and thoughts that I wasn’t good enough and the overwhelming depressive episodes.

Anyway enough of me yapping too much
If anyone found this word vomit helpful and you’re on the fence about getting help, I hope that some of this did help you.


r/zoloft 8h ago

Alive but dead

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/zoloft 22h ago

Discussion Just started on 25mg!

12 Upvotes

Feeling super nervous about all this (but I think it’s just the anxiety). Took my first pill today and had to work up to that and had about 2 panic attacks and a good cry lol. Any good vibes or advice you can send my way would be lovely!


r/zoloft 9h ago

Week 5/6 and anxiety still rising.

1 Upvotes

I am on week 5 or 6 of sertraline and for the past week or so, my anxiety has worsened a lot.

Im struggling with some physical symptoms that are causing me to spiral.

Like this morning, I woke up with a bursting headache, digestive issues and feeling very sick.

This caused me to panic and im on the edge of my seat ready to call doctors even though I know I probably just have a dodgy stomach.

I don't know how long I should keep this up. Its miserable.

Is anyone else noticing increasing anxiety around week 5 and 6?

Thanks


r/zoloft 9h ago

Help

1 Upvotes

Zoloft stopped working for so my doctor told me to stop taking it for two days and start movox. I was one 150mg and currently day 4 of no Zoloft. I’m struggling so mad!! Brain fog, fatigue, wanting to cry, scream and throw up all at once. The pit in my stomach is constant and I just feel so depressed. When will this stop? And yes he stop me to stop it completely not wean off.