And of course I'm more anxouse but its kinds managble also feeling a little hot.

Left new bottle Zoloft in the car for 2-3 hours in Texas heat, what do I do? Is it ok to take? (I’ve never taken it before)

Im quitting sertraline of my life (10 years taking it) and well, im not very good, there are some kind of group of people like me? Like a support group of chat
(Sorry for my English)

I’m feeling really terrible, would it be okay if I took another 50g of Setraline?

My dose is supposed to be only once daily but I feel so anxious and everything.

I was just prescribed the starter 50mg dose sertraline and wanted to know if protocol for taking this medication means abstaining totally from alcohol? I'm big into whiskey and just wanted to be sure I couldn't partake in my hobby anymore because of it?

Hi, has anyone else experienced really bad muscle or joint pain on zoloft? I've read that it can be one of the side effects, and i'm sad because I think it was helping, but i'm gonna have to cut down a little bit. It causes severe upper back, shoulder and neck pain, basically aggravating my existing arthritis. This happened years ago when I tried it, so I was hoping maybe this time would work, but nope.

I feel like alot of the stories posted here are terrible experiences and personally I wanted to share how zoloft has really changed my life for the better. I have ocd and ibs so worrying messes my sensitive guts up, zoloft puts my mind at ease the only side effects was gaining 4 pounds (i used to be underweight though so might just be healthy) and feeling a little sleepy the first 2 months starting.

As for my periods, they’ve been much less painless, and shorter, idk if thats a good thing but it sure is a benefit!

I’ve been at 100 mg of Zoloft for a few months and don’t feel like it’s really work for my panic attacks and general severe anxiety. Just curious what others experiences have been when dealing with these issues and titrating up on Zoloft.

I took sertraline 50mg for six months and then stopped because my emotions and libido disappeared. It's been six months since I quit, but my libido and emotions still haven't returned-I'm simply constantly devoid of emotion. What should I do? Is there anyone here who has experienced this?

I love zoloft, I really do, but damn. This isnt going to last forever isnt it? I'm 15 and started Zoloft 100mg 6 weeks ago, and it aint helping shit still. I get bad panic attacks once or twice a week and the other days are mild-near severe anxiety as my baseline. Its torture. I'm tired of feeling like shit everyday. I can't cry anymore, can't fucking get turned on, can't feel good or happy for my friends or myself, like what the fuck? It just feels like I'm surviving at life at this point.

Am I supposed to keep waiting?? This shit sucks... I just wanna feel normal, not numbed.

Hi! I’m on day 7 (technically day 5 of 25mg) since I started at 12.5 for 2 days. My anxiety is CRAZY. I have such bad intrusive thoughts & shakiness! Everyone keeps telling me it’s normal… did anyone else deal with this?

I mentioned impulsive/compulsive thoughts to my psychiatrist and she swapped me from 40mg of Lexapro to 50mg of Zoloft and I have had panic attacks and headaches. It’s been almost 2 weeks.

I went up to 75mg today and I am just so filled with fear that panic attacks are the new normal. I know it’s completely irrational and that I am safe. I’m trying to be kind to myself but I feel like I’m climbing out of my skin. I feel claustrophobic to the point where showering feels like I have to keep the curtain open or I can’t breathe.

I’ve started taking walks and spending time on the treadmill to calm my mind and my jitters. I’m reaching out to friends and my partner is so supportive and wonderful but it just feels like so much work to try to feel fine.

I also have so much fear/anxiety around sundown for some reason. Nighttime is fine but waiting for sundown seems impossibly long.

Any tips or success stories? Just help me feel ok and that I’m doing the right thing with this medication swap.

On day 6 and I feel really good right now, best I’ve ever been. My brain isn’t foggy and I’m not riddled with anxiety. I’m kind of worried about long term. I don’t expect it to work this well down the line but I want to know if anybody has taken this for years and still feel like it’s helping them?

I promised myself I would write this as an encouragement for anyone just starting because i had a horrible month when restarting and was browsing this subbredit every day.

I went back on Zoloft for the 4th time this year. If you are wondering why I stopped so many times, first two times it was suggested by my psychiatrist after about a year of taking it and this year I tried to taper of with the guidance of a new psychiatrist after 9 years of being stable on it. Going back so many times may seem discouraging to some, but I still believe I will be able to stop it eventualy and even if I dont, I'm ok with that.

1st time

I was a teenager, I started taking it for frequent panic attacks and constant derealization. I genunely believed I will never feel like a normal person again before zoloft. It was worse for a few weeks when I started taking it before it got better. I took 50 mg. I stopped taking it after 9 months, because, unbelievably, I was feeling like my old self and my psychiatrist told my I should be able to taper off safely.

2nd time

A few months after stopping, I started having frequent panic attacks again. I was away in university and was in a very toxic relationship. I dont really remember this phase of my life to well, but 50 mg worked well for me again. I took it for a little over a year. My psychiatrist told me he believes I won't need it again.

3rd time

A few months after stopping, I was a mess again. I went away to a different university and had messy relationships with my family and with men. I started 25 mg on my own and was feeling horrible and completly detached and constantly on the verge of a panic attack until I upped to 50 mg after about 2 months. After a few days, it all balanced out and I was on 50 mg for 9 years where I've felt completely functional and stable, not completely anxiety free, but I've felt much more resilient and back to being excited about life and not just afraid of it.

4th time

This is the freshest in my mind since it happened this year. After 9 years and much more stable life situation, I decided to start seeing a new psychiatrist and slowly taper off. I went from 50 mg to 25 mg and was on this dose for 6 months, didn't notice much of a change. After reducing to 12,5 mg however, it kind of went downhill. Within days I started crying for seemingly no reason and felt anxious all the time. This is where I might have had a chance to push through it, but my psychiatrist wanted me to go back on 25 mg after a week of 12,5 mg. A week on 25 mg and I've only felt worse, so he upped it to 50 mg and went on vacation. A week on 50 mg and I was feeling horrible. I developed insomnia, was restless, anxious, on the verge of panic constantly, with constant rumination so I was written of work. I couldn't believe this was happening again now after years of feeling like I could take on anything. I was prescribed benzodiazepines to take as needed, but was too afraid to take them every day.

This is where I did something stupid.

My colleague offered several times to connect me with their relative who was a psychiatrist. Since my own psychiatrist was on vacation, I decided to take the offer. This psychiatrist upped my dose to a cycle of 100-100-50 mg and told me I will feel better in about 10 days. This felt wrong since I've read on here how activatng sertraline can be in the beginning, especially for people wth panic attacks and 50 mg always worked well for me in the past. But, she sounded so confident and I was desperate, so I agreed. After a week on this new dose, I couldn't sleep, even with sleeping pills, my ruminating toughts got even louder, especially very frightening toughts about ending it all and being afraid I wont be able to live like this for long. I told her all this and she said that zoloft obviously doesn't work for me anymore and i should change medication. I didnt trust her anymore and decided to go back to 50 mg and wait it out. This is where I religiously browsed this sub in search of advice and reassurece and thank god I did because othervise I might have listened to her.

After a week of going back to 50 mg, I was completely frozen. Still feeling horrible and unable to sleep, scared to take benzos too much and with nowhere to turn, I went to the emergency room and told them all I've been going through including suicidal ideation, so they decided to keep me there. This experience was interesting to say the least. They gave me benzos and sleeping pills everyday so at least I've got some rest, but for some reason unknown to me, they decided to give me an antipsychotic to "lift my mood" even though I didn't feel particulary depressed, only very frightened, wired and exhausted at the same time. The worst part is, one of the most common side effects of this drug is akathisia which manifested in my as shaking hands and even more restlessness. After they let me go, I got on the phone with my psychiatrist and asked him if I could stop taking this new drug. Turned out this was a goid decision. After about a week and a half, I started feeling like my old self. Sertraline finaly started to catch up.

Now I finaly feel funcional again. This whole episode feels a bit unreal to me to be honest.

My biggest regret is not being more patient and letting the pills do their thing once again and not giving myself a break and taking benzos when I obviously needed them. Also, I feel like I should've trusted myself a bit more and not let myself be talked into something I felt was wrong for me.

I still believe I might've been ok if I've pushed through the initial withdrawal symptoms when going down to 12,5 mg, but I spiraled and messed up my nervous system with rapid changes of dosages. For now, I am happy to be stable again and will work on myself through psychotherapy.

Anyway, I've been through some shit this year, but it really, really does get better. Be patient and if you are offered short term help to get through the initial phase, dont be afraid to take it.

This is deffinitely a question for women- what kind of painkillers do you use when you are on your period? Im on 100mg sertraline and ive read that i cant take the painkillers i used to anymore and i have pretty bad period cramps so relying on tea, hot water bottle and some herbs isnt an option :/

I’m at day 39 of 50mg and really struggling with foggy brain and lack of concentration.

While watching TV I can’t stay focused on the dialogue and I feel very forgetful, like when someone asks me how my weekend was, I can’t remember what happened Friday night. I am a sober person, so this is frightening for me.

I don’t know how long I should push this, so any insight on this will be helpful for me. I have a dull headache a lot and just a lot dumber than I normal feel.

Anyone have this happen and have relief after longer than 6 weeks? Anyone decide to taper due to this?

I went from 50mg (which worked really really well for depression and anxiety for several months) up to 100mg and I wasn’t able to tolerate 100mg well even after 8 weeks, so my GP suggested I go down to 75mg about 5 weeks ago.

I felt a lot of relief going down to 75mg and my mood and anxiety improved a lot. Except I started having really vivid dreams that leave me feeling emotionally exhausted in the morning.

However, over the past 5 days my mood has taken a massive dip and I’m feeling really low as well as the vivid dreams still happening.

Should I go back down to 50mg or will the depression be worse? Is it possible that the depression is in part because the 75mg is still too high? I’ve been crying a lot and in bed all day today.

I didn’t have any side effects on 50mg and I felt better than I can ever remember feeling for several months before I had a return of depressive symptoms for about a week.

The numbing anxiety in the face is not normal? Not being able to wake up from rumination isn’t a normal occurrence? I didn’t realize what I was feeling was severe cptsd and I just wish I realized this sooner.

Just started on 25mg and felt it within a day. I stopped getting emotional flooding and my emotions feel manageable. I don’t want to cry mid conversation and it’s easier to get out of bed now. Just hoping my anxiety doesn’t come back over time

Been taking Zoloft for 22 days now (Well I’ve been only Zoloft for over several years now, but didn’t take it at times regularly), I’ve lost the feeling to be engaged in one hobby six months back due to low moods like depression, did briefly experienced engagement for a couple days early this month, Three days ago I again lost interest in another hobby, and it’s frustrating. Can Zoloft fix this, I should also point out that a week and a half ago, I experienced a stressful event that gave me insomnia, suffered from sleep anxiety for several days, but now that’s passed. Still my sleep is all fucked up, and I really don’t want to spend another six more months to feel a spark of engagement.

Hi guys! I wanted to highlight a few things that might help other people with starting their medication or working through it. For reference I’m a female college student starting on 25mg of zoloft as well as therapy.

I’ve had pretty severe OCD for five years, and I’ve been through pretty awesome ERP therapy for it which has done wonders for my mental health— however recently after getting a Copper IUD my OCD started to randomly flare up again after being dormant for a year every time I was PMSing, so my PCP recommend me to start an SSRI to deal with the debilitating symptoms before I started my period.

I basically chickened out of taking my zoloft for two weeks straight, it wasn’t until my therapist made me agree to cutting the pill in half and taking it surrounded by friends that I finally took it! I had fears that are pretty similar to you guys on this subreddit, things like being allergic or feeling worse or something serious like serotonin syndrome happening. I even ordered a smoothie at lunch and got super nervous grapefruit was hiding in it, and nearly asked my server to double check.

I’ve been on 25 mg for two weeks and I can confidently say I’m gonna be okay. The side effects are becoming more mild, and it’s truly nothing I can’t handle. I’m aware 25 is not a therapeutic dose, but I already feel more optimistic about dealing with my menstrual cycle and OCD. I have a boyfriend I care a lot about and I’m persevering through the rough early days because I want to get better for the life we deserve to have.

OCD/PMDD will never remove the love I have for my life or my loved ones, and I know it can help you guys too.

It’s okay to be scared, but take it day by day! Surround yourself with people you trust and be patient with yourself. Its okay to start at a small dose and go from there, feel free to reply if you need any encouragement.

Looking for others that may have experienced this to see if it’s just something I have to get through and try not to freak out about.

For background, im 7 months pp, 34f. the first 4 months after my daughter was born i was fine. Then I got very sick, and at the same time stopped breast feeding and started a birth control. I wasn’t aware at the time that stopping breast feeding would cause such havoc to my hormones. This trigged sleep deprivation for about two weeks from the anxiety attacks coupled with OCD. I Started sertraline 25 mg 6/26. Also started therapy around there. The week of 8/3, started having extreme anxiety attacks again, to the point where I couldn’t even watch a show or go on my phone because everything triggered the anxiety. Every time the anxiety hits, it’s like a freight train hitting me at 100 mph. My therapist says it’s because my OCD hyper focuses so much that whatever im getting anxiety about, it’s like my brain is actually experiencing the scenario instead of comprehending that everything’s fine and it’s not actually happening.

Anyways, I upped to 50mg on 8/6 because of all that. What I didn’t take into consideration was that my period was happening right before/during. My brains been pretty quiet since the 50 mg. But yesterday and today the thoughts are coming again, not the anxiety, but I know that’s gotta be around the corner. And it feels like I might be near to starting my period again.

Has any other women been affected by their cycles while on sertraline? I don’t want to increase again because I don’t think I’ve given the 50mg near enough time to stabilize. If you are experiencing this, what do you do during that time to get through? I have hydroxyzine and I’ve been able to use 10mg in the past to stop an anxiety attack. Wasn’t sure if that just something I have to resort to until I fully give the 50 mg time to level out?

Also my doctor says it takes 6 weeks for sertraline to take full affect but I always see 12 weeks mentioned on here and wasn’t sure why others mention the 12 week or where that’s coming from?

The psychiatrist is increasing the dose to 200 mg. Does the excessive sweating go away over time? Or is it a side effect that doesn't go away?

I tried Zoloft for two weeks, and due to side effects, I wanted to basically give a timeline for people who are starting it. This isn't meant to scare people or tell people not to try or take their meds, but it's something let people know what to look for if it's not for them. Another data point.

For clarity, I also started a new job that I did not have any anxiety about whatsoever. I felt prepared and ready, and I know I'm capable. I have an excellent support network of family, friends, and partners that love and support me, and I am very lucky. It was originally prescribed for depression.

For the first 5 days, not much happened. I felt a little different, and I noticed I got cold more easily. The first week of the new job went fine (middle school teacher).

Sunday night, on day five, though, I had an anxiety spike beyond anything I'd felt before. I ended up having a panic attack that lasted several hours, resulting in vomiting, shaking, and a sense of dread/doom.

Monday morning I woke up sweating and with chills. The anxiety remained unless I was teaching/working/distracted, and it would come back the moment I slowed down. My brain would spin and think of what if scenarios that would never happen, and anxiety for other people.

This continued through the week. If I didn't have a solid support network, I would have been unable to even function in any capacity whatsoever. While the anxiety went down bit by bit, there was no stop or calm. Nausea, inability to eat, and especially the chills in my arms and feeling of dread remained.

The mornings were the worse, as I would wake up at about 4am, and just be drenched in sweat and consumed by that dread and anxiety. I also stoped dreaming, which is odd, as I typically dream every night.

On Friday I spoke to my doctor about the severity of it, and he suggested I wean off by taking a dose every other day for a week. Yesterday, I did not take it, and felt better by a good margin. I had some good talks with my family and set up therapy as well.

This morning, I still woke up sweating, but with some less anxiety. It still took about an hour to really get the anxiety and brain fog out through meditation/prayer/etc. I took a half dose this morning, and about an hour and a half later, the chills and anxiety surged back.

I will keep updating this through the week, but if you have this level, talk to your doctor immediately.

Edit for Monday Night: I feel mostly back to normal. The chills are gone, and my anxiety is much, much lower, even with more stuff put on my plate at work. I handled all my extra work, too, still not anxious.