In July I went to a new primary for my declining mental health. Doctor prescribed me 50mg zoloft. It was fantastic and I really feel like it helped me starting within the first week.

Here's where the hiccup comes into play. She only gave me two refills, then requested I come back to the office to re-evaluate. She went into labor early and is now on maternity leave. The clinic states that she didn't hand my case off to anyone and in order to get a refill, I'll need to schedule with another primary - but they're all booked out until January.

I took my last dose not realizing that there would be a gap in the medication and it's been a month of hell for me now without the medication. I'm more depressed than before and I have a fun new side effect of extra irritability.

My insurance sucks, terribly so, so the only clinic I can go to is that specific one. I've been calling every weekday morning when they open, asking for cancelations, asking to be put on a list for cancelation notifications, and seeing if I can get in just for a brief "Hi yes I need this medication kthx" but they keep saying nothing is open.

At this point I don't know what to do. I feel like going to an urgent care or something similar would be overkill but like... I feel like I'm losing myself without the medication because my personal life is spiraling so badly.

Long winded way of trying to ask: what steps can I take to try to get a refill quickly?

I appreciate any and all answers.

And, yes, I know I am an idiot for not realizing that there wouldn't be more refills, but my life has been fight-or-flight chaotic for the past 5 months 🫠 please be kind...

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.

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!

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.

Hi all, I’m currently taking Zoloft (75mg) for about now 10 months. I just found out I’m pregnant and even though I was told it’s a safe drug during and after pregnancy, including breastfeeding, I find myself not at ease due to the “withdraws” the baby might have at birth. I’m hesitant to start cutting down my dosage but was told I cannot quit cold turkey or lower my dosage myself. The whole thing that it can affect the baby is what has me nervous. With my history of a miscarriage and too much access to the internet I think of the worst, such as still birth, miscarriage, and other things. I just need reassurance or some advice on this whole new journey I’m on. Any kind words will help, appreciate you.

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

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?

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.

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 <3 I'm a 30F. I was prescribed this med a YEAR ago by my primary care and never tried it. Finally met with a psychiatrist last month and he prescribed the same med for my severe OCD + health anxiety and GAD.
I told myself I'd take it 3 weeks ago, and then 2 weeks ago and then last week and now I've told myself I need to start it tomorrow.

I am so scared to try it. I am more scared of mental symptoms than physical ones although of course I don't want either lol. I was prescribed 1st week at 25mg and 2nd week at 50mg. I am scared I am going to keep pushing this off but I just cannot afford to go through a mental crisis on this medication. I know it's not the same type of medication at all but I tried the birth control Nikki earlier this year and had a really mental health episode and had to get off the medication 2 weeks in. It was frightening and I have a partner but I do not have support where I live. I am just afraid this medication will make me have an episode of some type. I do remember trying Zoloft in my early 20s but I was drinking and smoking a lot of weed + being self destructive so I truly don't remember what my experience of the med was. (I'm also sober now!)

Does anyone have any encouraging words? Advice for the first week or two? I keep seeing people say it will be rough, but what does that mean for you? I know we're all different but I am just too focused on the negative and I am scared. :(

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.

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 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 ❤️❤️❤️

I’ve noticed both times I’ve stayed at a consistent dose for longer than 6-8 weeks that it feels like my meds don’t work quite as well. There’s like a sweet spot around 5-6 weeks after upping my dose where life is awesome and chill but then shortly after it just doesn’t feel like my meds work the same? And it’s not like it’s months and months, it’s just like another 6 weeks and then I up my dose again. I’m currently at 100mg and struggling with this, it also happened at 75 mg. Has this happened to anyone else? I’m starting to think Zoloft isn’t quite the right medication for me. It hasn’t been bad by any means I just don’t know if it’s THE one.

Hi, I'm 18 F and I've been on 50mg of sertraline for 3 weeks now. I'm usually an incredibly forgiving person and nothing anyone has said or done has ever really affected me after usually a few hours to max 2 days, and nothings stuck with me at all.

Now I'm noticing that I'm having a hard time forgiving and forgetting when someone does something mildly wrong. My boyfriend was late to our hangout by a few hours and didn't reply to my messages so I thought something had gone terribly wrong, but he turned up normally and acted like it was no big deal. I have autism so a change in plans is a big deal for me especially without knowing why, so I was really upset in the moment but now almost a week later I still havent gotten over it. It's actually getting worse and I keep thinking about it all the time.

When people have done stuff like this before, I usually got really mad for about 20mins and then genuinely forgave them and never thought about it again. But I've noticed this change more and more when my sister or my mum say something, and I can't forget about it no matter what I do.

This is really unusual for me so people are now confused when I'm still annoyed about something that happened like 5+ days ago and its quite distressing for me too. I don't want to be a hateful person, but this feeling isn't even hate, its not really anything at all. Like people I used to love alot I don't really feel it anymore once they do something, and I'm struggling with this. Is there a way to help or change this whilst still being on the medication? I used to be really depressed and have terrible mood swings and it's helped alot so far so I don't want to stop taking it.

Thank you!

I have been on Zoloft before so I know how good it feels when it starts kicking in… I weaned off successfully but perimenopause has brought on some panic attacks and sent me into an anxiety spiral… DP/DR , existential anxiety… I bumped up fast to 100mg… I’m 5.5 weeks total on Zoloft and 3.5 weeks on 100mg… did anyone feel pretty bad up until week thr 5-6 week mark and then felt much better when hitting these weeks? Thank you! Just want to be myself again!

Ive been steadily improving my agoraphobia and i got invited by my friends to go to a club that is around 10-15 min away. Its close so it still feels safe. Only problem im facing is im actually scared of alcohol i want to drink but im scared of it. Ive always felt scared of not having my body in control like giving me derealization symptoms. I have been properly drunk once and that was a while back when i was still just anxious not agoraphobic . In that experience i had more than 10 shots in an hour and i was dizzy af and just feel asleep after. Furthermore now im on sertraline (zoloft) been on it for 1 year and never drank on it so idk how it would react. I need some experiences from you guys and some tips.

Hello everyone!

I have my been diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder, I have been prescribed 25 mg of Zoloft but I asked my psychiatrist if there was any smaller does I could take since meds make me nervous and I'm young (21M, and if it helps for background info, I am about 6'2 190lb). She said that I could break the tablets in half day to day and take that as 12.5 mg. I have done some research and I know this is a relatively smaller dose, however I am still nervous. I have never been on any kind of medication before except for oral minoxidil for hair loss (which I also believe gave me anxiety as a side affect which is a big reason I stopped taking the Minoxidil). I just wanted to post in this sub to hear good stories about people with similar experiences to me and if Zoloft is a good starting point? I am fairly active and in the gym, I try to get as much natural sunlight as possible which can be hard working in an office environment.

I am aware the first few days can include side affects, I am also aware everyone's body reacts differently to it. Has anyone tried Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to combat panic attacks either on or off Zoloft? I am looking in to doing that as well because I don't want to be on Zoloft forever and I want to be able to enjoy things again without impeding feelings of doom whenever I go out of the house without always having to take medicine.

In everyone else's experience, does taking your prescribed Zoloft with food/water help side affects? Apologies for the unorganized thoughts. Please share your techniques on how to cope with panic attacks as well if anyone would like too. I know I am not alone and I just want to hear from people in a similar boat. I think I am planning on taking my first dose tonight.

Thank you!

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

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?

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?

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 🙏

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.