Tired of waiting on sertraline…….

[PanickedinFL]

I’ve been on several ssri’s, Prozac, Luvox, setraline awhile ago.

I started sertraline from Luvox back in December 2023. Luvox was good for a few years but it pooped out.

Timeline:

12/23/23. Zoloft 50mg Wellbutrin 300mg

1/3/24. Zoloft 100mg Wellbutrin 300mg

1/9/24 Zoloft 150mg 300 Wellbutrin

1/23/24 Zoloft 200mg 300 Wellbutrin

2/28/24 Zoloft 250mg. 300 Wellbutrin

I was on 200mg zoloft years ago and I don’t remember getting on any antidepressants being this bad. I have anxiety most of the day after taking my pills in the morning. I seem to settle down in the late afternoon. I go to sleep and wake up at 4am most of the time and can’t go back to sleep. I have lost 15-20 pounds as I am hardly ever hungry. My psych put me on higher dose as he suspects some ocd as well as my severe anxiety. Looking at the posts, it looks like I went up really fast. I have Klonopin and Xanax, but I hate using it as I don’t want to be dependent. I hit 2 weeks on the 250mg yesterday. The last few days have been rough after having 3 days of pretty calm. I know I need to give it more time, just feeling down and tired of this feeling. Anyone move up this fast or on this high of dose? Thanks

[Barbloki]

I put on zoloft back in 2022 and it caused suicidal thoughts. Dr increased it and I got worse. Dr added Lithium and I got worse. Dr increased Lithium and I had a heart attack. That's my experience with Zoloft and Lithium. I tapered off both and went back on Prozac and that's been doing "so so" but not enough. I still feel down most of the time. I have xanax for anxiety and have needed it more and more as I have been waking up with morning anxiety that lasts until about 5pm. Then the cortisol/adrenaline settle down and I feel almost normal at night until I go to bed. Then I wake up and the cycle starts all over again. This started in December. I have lost my appetite too and have to force myself to eat. I've lost 24 lbs without even trying. I hope you can find a good med combination for you. My best advivce is keep your dr informed and don't let them ignore your side effects.

[PanickedinFL in reply to Barbloki]

How long were you on Zoloft and what dosage

[Barbloki in reply to PanickedinFL]

I started Zoloft/Sertraline on Dec 14, 2022 at 25mg, increased to 50mg, then to 100mg and by Dec 26, 2022 I had the shakes really bad and was seriously suicidal. I had to taper off and go back to Celexa/Citalopram. I will NEVER take that drug again.

[Hidden in reply to Barbloki]

I had suicidal thoughts with Zoloft. Went to psych ward for a week about 10 years back. I'm doing well with Lexapro, Lamictal and Lithium for maintenance. I have blood work checked every 3 months to make sure of no toxicity.

[Kinlay]

Personally, I would have waited at least a month before increasing my dose - did your doctor say why s/he wanted you to go up so fast? Have you told them about the side effects?

If it were me, I'd go back down to 200 (and even better, see if you can cut pills or something to go down 25 mg at a time for at least a month at each dose) and let that normalize. Then if you still have bad side effects, go down again, etc. Low and slow is SO important both when going up and especially when going down on antidepressants! Full effects don't show until 4-6 weeks, so going up faster is jumping the gun, and going down faster is more likely to trigger withdrawal symptoms.

It seems to me that if you feel WORSE on a medicine, then it isn't working correctly and isn't the right med for you.

Was the Wellbutrin not working for you either? Again, if it were me, I'd try getting down to just that to see if it works, and then if it doesn't, trying to SWITCH to something else instead of adding to it. Too often these meds create MORE problems, and then they just throw on another med to "fix" it, creating more problems, etc. Sigh.

I usually research the meds I'm on, especially when I'm having side effects. Medscape is really reliable: reference.medscape.com/ and Mayo Clinic is another good one: mayoclinic.org/drugs-supple...

Good luck - and hang in there! You are not alone.

[PanickedinFL in reply to Kinlay]

Thanks. So I was on this years ago at 200mg and it pooped out. Psych said the therapeutic dosage is 100-200, but with possible ocd and thought rumination’s I made need more. He only goes to 250mg. Wednesday will be 3 weeks, I am going to try to give it six weeks. I hate to quit now as I really want to rule this med out if it’s not going to work so I don’t try it again.