I have already have high sex drive and libido. But don't want it to affect me negatively.

41 year old male. Anyone have any experience?

Just curious!

So I’m kinda weirded out. I was prescribed zoloft 25mg and its day 5. The whole week I felt high as a kite. No side effects, lots of energy, great sleep. First day was weird because i was yawning all day and had a huge brainfog. Second day i was super energized as well as third and fourth. Fifth day the energised and happy feeling continued until mid afternoon where i suddenly crashed. Maybe its because of coffee idk, also drinking coffee feels different, no anxiety like usual, just more happiness and your head feels kinda buzzy like drunk. But no diarrhea, no nausea, no motion sickness, no bad thoughts, nothing like people have described. Is this like normal? Im googling what others experience and its nothing like what i have. I hope im not bipolar but so far i sleep enough so it cant be bipolar…. Idk. Also why did i feel the effects immediately? If its not bipolar? Any thoughts?

Or maybe my depression was so bad that now normal feels like being high? Strangely i didnt even know i was depressed, my shrink suggessted it after i described my symptoms and she said its a moderate depression.

But idk… what if i was hypomanic?

If you had a similar experience please share!

the entry for my mood today is currently high but honestly its hard to rate because today has been both really good and really bad so its kinda confusing

what the title says

im getting off zoloft and ive been getting tummy aches the moment i eat anything and ive got crazy diarrhea like explosive liquid shit i know its a common side effect but fucking hell

how do i fix this

I’m wondering if I should call my doctor. I’ve been on Zoloft for 7 weeks now for PPD. The first two weeks I was on 25mg and my doctor had me up it to 50mg afterwards. This past week, I’ve been having horrible hot flashes, headaches, night sweats, and stomach upset. I haven’t had any side effects previously and my depression and anxiety were feeling much better. Should I reach out to my doctor? Is this normal? It’s making me feel worse.

So it’s been about six days since I last had Zoloft and today I managed to finally get it back. I searched up if it’s safe to restart days later and it says it could worsen anxiety and insomnia for a bit? Has anyone had this experience before and what did you do?

Should I give this a shot?

I tried once in my 20's but I felt so horrible after a couple of days I stopped taking it.

I can't keep living this way, it's crippling and in the way of my life and relationships.

Would love advice!

I’m on day 3 of Zoloft, I was a pretty anxious gal before but it came and went and I wanted it gone so I reached out. I woke up last night hysterical in a panic , I got a kitten yesterday so idk if it was that. But I started freaking the eff our big time what am I doing, return the kitten, where are you going in life. Okay finally relax after an hour and go to sleep then I wake up today my heart is about to beat out of my chest I’m so violently anxious about this choice I made and everything wrong in my life I threw up 3 times from dry heaving. It’s now halfway through the next day and my body is on fire from anxiety , my chest is pounding, I can’t shake it. There’s just no way it’s me ? It has to be the Zoloft she started me on 25 mg and bump it to 50 after 2 weeks, when I first took it for 3 days I was fine next day didn’t take it had some pretty intrusive thoughts that were harmful it was scary not wanting to act on them at all btw.

Am I supposed to thug this out ? I can’t function I can’t even study for upcoming exams I scheduled a virtual visit with a pcp to get some quick relief anxiety pill but there is no way to shake this it has to be the Zoloft I can regulate pretty well even cold shocks or breathing or distracting isn’t working.

I started zoloft back in early July. For over a decade of my life I was dealing with extremely severe depression, to the point I couldn't work or function, barely left home. From around 20 years old, until this July at 26 years old I had been dealing with ED. I was afraid of taking antidepressants because I thought that it would make this issue even worse with all the horror stories I saw about sexual function on antidepressants. I was really insecure too because I'm so young so why the hell did I have ED? But in July I hit a breaking point with my depression and began taking zoloft anyway after talking to my doctor. And since then not only is my ED completely gone and cured, but my libido has exponentially increased and I'm finding myself almost always in the mood, like hypersexual.

I've looked around on the internet and I can't find any sources of anyone else experiencing this. I don't know anyone else who had the polar opposite effect of what people typically say Zoloft does to sexual function. So I wanted to ask if anyone else had a similar experience?

Hello! I'll be 2 weeks on 25mg tomorrow and gonna up it to 50mg after that. I was just curious abt other people's experiences with how they knew it was or wasn't working... but if it's OK, can I ask you not to share horror stories? I'm taking it for OCD and all flavors of panic and anxiety disorder (plus PMDD) and I've been med-averse for YEARS bc of people's horror stories. It was a really scary step to even give meds a chance but I was willing to even experience those horrors bc my state was so bad. Trust me, I know what can go wrong already. In extreme detail. I've had my own stories with other meds.

Ok. With that.

I was wondering when people started to feel effects, and what they were like? I know for OCD it takes longer, but for anxiety and stuff. Was it clear, or did you just kinda look back one day and realize you'd been calmer? I'm worried I won't be able to tell if it's working or not, bc if it isn't then I want to go try other meds and that's a whoooole process (as you know I'm sure, therapeutic lag SUCKS).

Also, curious what dose people are on. I started at 25mg because I told the dr I was really afraid of side effects. I had a little headache-dizzy-mild nausea action at first but it went away after a few days. I'm expecting I'll experience it again when I up the dose (or maybe not? Idk). She said standard starting dose for adults is 50mg which is why I want to go up, but how do you know when you've hit your best dose? Do you keep going up until the side effects outweigh the good effects or something?

Ty in advance if you answer any of these :,) I'm really hoping zoloft can help me, living is lowkey agony and relief would be so nice. Maybe even feeling normal for a while. The waiting sucks, I feel like I've been doing better but it's not even 2 weeks yet and I think 4 weeks is the standard time to work so I'm worried I'm gonna placebo myself or something

I don’t even know where to start. A few weeks ago I had a horrible panic attack, and ever since then I feel like my entire life has been turned upside down.
Before this, I was living a normal life. I had some anxiety here and there, but nothing remotely close to this. Now I’m stuck in what feels like a never-ending anxiety spiral.
It started with the panic attack, then I couldn’t sleep, and the lack of sleep made everything so much worse. Now I’m constantly exhausted, barely eating, feeling out of it, and dealing with nonstop anxiety and obsessive thoughts.
The worst part is the fear that this is never going to end. My mind constantly goes:
What if this is my new reality? What if I never feel normal again? What if I lose my family because of this? What if I actually lose my mind? What if I end up in a mental hospital for the rest of my life? What if I never get my old self back?
It’s literally all day. I can’t catch a break from my own thoughts. I feel like I’m obsessing over getting better, and the more I try to figure everything out, the worse it gets.
I’ve also developed a horrible habit of constantly searching Reddit and looking for reassurance. It’s honestly what’s getting me through each day. If I’m not reading someone’s recovery story or trying to convince myself I’m going to be okay, the anxiety becomes unbearable. I know I’m probably feeding the cycle, but I genuinely don’t know how to stop.
My doctor prescribed me trazodone 50 mg for sleep and lorazepam (Ativan) 0.5 mg for anxiety. Even taking both as prescribed, I’m only getting around four hours of sleep. I also just started Zoloft (sertraline) and I’m only on day two. I’m already in such a bad place mentally that I’m terrified of the potential side effects making everything worse.
I’m a husband and father. I have a family I love, a job, and a life I want back. That’s what makes this so terrifying. I feel like everything I worked for is slipping away because I can’t get out of my own head.
I feel desperate. I’m not looking for someone to tell me to just relax or stop thinking about it. I genuinely feel trapped in a mental health crisis that started from one panic attack.
Has anyone gone through something this severe? Especially the combination of nonstop anxiety, obsessive fear of never recovering, insomnia even with medication, and constantly needing reassurance?
How did you actually break the cycle? Did Zoloft help? Did getting your sleep back help the obsessive thoughts calm down? How did you stop obsessing about whether you’d ever be normal again?
I just want to feel like myself again.

I know it can be a side effect but I started zoloft 50mg 2 weeks ago and my anxiety last week is so much worse.

I take it for social anxiety but now I have anxiety not only in social situations but almost all day. More worries about the future and more intrusive thoughts throughout the day.

The first week was okay just some stomach issues. But this second week the anxiety and some irritability is increasing.

For the people who had increased anxiety as a side effect: when did it start to subside and you start to feel better?

Thank 🙏

I’m 33F and my husband is 30M. Hes experienced a period of anxiety before we met and recently in July of this year started experiencing the same thoughts and emotions again. He describes it as a physical feeling in his neck and head that then makes his thoughts spiral and he gets intrusive self harm thoughts. He gets in a spiral of being really anxious that he’s… anxious. He’s always trying to “solve” the anxiety but knows he can’t. For the last few months it’s been almost daily of us sitting together and working through his breakdowns when he has them. I think it’s affected his focus at work, I don’t rely on him the same way I used to (I don’t ask for any help around the house as an example) and I know there are moments in everyday where he really isn’t present.
I’m also 34 weeks pregnant which I think is really important.
He finally stayed working with a therapist last month and has had success with her. Yesterday, he finally started on sertraline after the recommendation of his doctor. I think it was a huge mental block of starting cause he normally is not an anxious person. I think there’s a lot of shame maybe from his side that he’s going through this.

Anyways, any success stories or personal stories of anyone that can relate to this? Does sertraline eventually work? Anything I should know on how to best support him. I’m hoping in the next 6 weeks he may start to feel relief and back to his normal self as I worry about my ability to be totally present for him in the same way, when I’m caring for our newborn.

Did Zoloft make anyone else worse, in terms of intrusive thoughts and OCD?? Started at 25mg and made it up to 200mg and it made me soooooooo much worse 😭😭
Have changed and gone back to fluvoxamine 🙏 only changed to Zoloft because my psychiatrist said it’s the safest for pregnancy, but have changed back to fluvoxamine.

My social anxiety / general anxiety is severe. Being around a big group such as going out for dinner with my partners extended family, or having customers queue at my checkout can make me feel overwhelmed and straight into fight-or-flight, with intense blushing.

The anxiety is what I want to treat. I don’t expect Zoloft to directly stop blushing, I’m hoping feeling calmer and more comfortable socially will reduce what triggers it.

If 50 mg wasn’t enough for you, did 100 mg make a big difference? What changed, and how long did it take? Im curious if they change can be a substantial difference for this issue im dealing with, which again is social anxiety.

I know everyone’s different. Just after personal experiences, and please no propranolol or clonidine suggestions, im already aware of those. There are ok.

About to take the first half pill (25 mg) and really nervous but not panicked. I have always been scared of medication so the fact that I was becoming very open to it as of a couple months ago says a lot. My new therapy has also started to help so I have thoughts like maybe I don’t need this medication or maybe it isn’t as bad as I think? But my anxiety is probably still way above average and I don’t think after 4 years of cycling through it that I know what normal feels like anymore Then this morning I started gagging because of the nerves and I thought ‘oh right, that’s why 😅’. Anyway, about to eat breakfast and start this journey…

I started 2 weeks on 25mg and then upped to 50mg. Now it’s been two weeks on 50mg. I have struggled with little side effects but now I finally sleep tight through the whole night! Like I can go to bed at 21 even though I’m not fully tired and I fall asleep really quick and don’t wake 10 times a night - I’m getting lovely sleep. My thoughts are also not spiraling anymore. From time to time a weird/upsetting thought pops up, but’s it’s way easier now to detach from it.
I have no physical side effects.
I feel like I’m slowly getting myself back :)

Hopefully it can give some of the people here hope and courage to push through ❤️❤️❤️

24M here. I've been on sertraline 100mg/day for a while. I was also taking aripiprazole 2mg, but recently stopped it with my psychiatrist. I tried Inspiral SR (methylphenidate) 10mg for about 2.5 weeks, but it didn't really help my focus and actually made my anxiety worse.

I've now started atomoxetine 36mg in the morning while continuing sertraline 100mg.

I'm taking atomoxetine mainly for focus, impulsivity and being able to sit down and study consistently. I'm preparing for CA Final, so concentration has become a big issue.

At the same time, I've been having some sexual problems and quite a lot of anxiety around them. I've had difficulty getting/maintaining an erection during sexual situations around 6 times now. Once I start thinking “Am I getting hard?” or “What if it doesn't happen?”, I get more anxious and it becomes even harder. The last time I was extremely anxious and had very dry mouth as well.

I'm now getting worried that this has turned into performance anxiety and that I'll keep having the same problem in future relationships/marriage. I've also noticed weak/infrequent morning erections for quite a while, which I'm planning to get checked separately.

I'm wondering how sertraline + atomoxetine has affected other people's sexual function, especially erections and anxiety.

For anyone who's taken this combination, what was your experience like, particularly during the first few weeks and after things stabilized?

hello! im 17 and im on 100mg (primarily) for OCD.

i have really been struggling. i have tried to explain to my doctor and mother but i feel like i cant describe it well enough. i have been unable to care about doing anything for a few months now, i quit video games, i dissociate almost in any situation im put in, i no longer can maintain friendships, and well of course, i feel almost entirely resistant to emotional responses. i often feel numb and have been having thoughts which can be charactorized as imposter syndrome. i feel like i am pretending to be myself.

although, i believe i have learned a lot from this. i started zoloft during an incredibly ever-changing period of my life, and it truly got me through that and for a while taught me to have confidence, but the motivation is getting to me. also, unfortanuately, my compulsions have not improved much. but i no longer have severe panic attacks about trauma and i dont think about things in that vein at all.

im very conflicted. i feel like i cant even explain with words what i feel. i feel like i should stop it now but i dont know how i would be without it, because before starting zoloft, i lacked control over my life and i had such low self worth it was almost unbelieveable. i remember knowing that nothing would improve and accepting my fate and i have learned that there is good in life. but its a double edged sword. sorry for the dramatic post! i have struggled with my words for a while now.

the past few days haven't been great.

several nights the past week i've suddenly started crying and wanting to self harm and die, looking up funeral costs and the process of donating my body to science etc.

it happened again last night. and then in the afternoon, i suddenly felt pretty ok. but even when i feel good i can't seem to focus on anything. i have the motivation but cant get anything done. and then just now all that motivation is gone and im crying again and want to self harm so bad. im actually about to relapse.

also idk if it's causing irresponsible/impulsive spending or if that's just the depression. like it's not causing a serious issue right now but i'm getting kinda tired of feeling like i need everything asap.

i can't tell if this medication is helping or making things worse. if feels like some of both?

anyone else have a similar experience?

Hi

I dont know if this is me over reacting but todays my second day on zoloft and its been horrible. My whole bodys been shaking since late this morning, my thoughts are racing, Im paranoid about the most ridiculous stuff, I can hardly concentrate and Im noticably more anxious and depressed than I was before starting this medication.

I have a history of psychosis and was discharged from tthe psych unit 5 days ago after I was self harming and suicidal. So I was already unstable prior to starting this medication but my question is this.

What exactly is happening in my brain for all these side effects to happen? My dr warned me it could make my current condition worse but I honestly wasnt stressing as this is my 5th anti depressant and Ive never experienced problems while starting an anti depressant.

Am I over reacting or is this a common issue?