Mornings: Good morning, I’m hoping to hear... - Anxiety Support

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Mornings

Mongea profile image
36 Replies

Good morning,

I’m hoping to hear from others who have been on Zoloft for more than a couple months. I’ve been on Zoloft for almost four months. Starting out at 25 mg and now am at 150. I find my mornings to be extremely difficult. I’m out of it, spacey, anxious, etc.. the interesting thing is I didn’t feel like this before taking Zoloft. While the Zoloft has helped me in many areas- this seems to be one that keeps persisting. I take 100 in the evening at 8 and 50 in the morning. Hearing others success stories on Zoloft makes me wonder if I’m on the right med or if this is just a side effect I have to learn to live with.

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Mongea profile image
Mongea
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36 Replies

This is how I feel, too. Ugh

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

Did you feel like this before taking the Zoloft?

in reply to Mongea

Not really :-/ I’m also finding that the mood of my dreams are making me wake up really depressed and I went on Zoloft for anxiety and panic :-/

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

Yup. I’ve had depression since starting Zoloft as well. I was not depressed beforehand.

in reply to Mongea

Gah. What are you gonna do? Judging by the side effects you get, I feel like we are reacting similarly.. it sucks.

in reply to

Also - I’m not sure if I’m even describing this right but I’m curious if you get it. In the mornings especially but sometimes randomly, I feel like my brain is so out of it? Like it’s stuck in dream mode almost (but not quite). It’s like space but like just feels weird. It sucks!!

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

I know exactly how you feel- I am very detached from myself most of the morning, even after 3.5 months of treatment. This side effect has me thinking about going off of Zoloft. While I’m thankful for the things it’s helped me with, but this side effect is very disturbing and causes me to be even more anxious.

in reply to Mongea

Me too!!! I legit feel like my memories are mush sometimes. The bladder issues are really bothering me, too. I’m gonna see about getting off of it this week. It’s unbearable!

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

Be sure you talk to your doctor about tapering... don’t go cold turkey!

in reply to Mongea

Hey so my boyfriend’s friend had shitty experiences on Zoloft, too, and suggested betablockers. I’m gonna ask about this

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

What was his experience with it?

in reply to Mongea

He said that if you don’t suffer from depression, the point of the beta blocker is to block the symptoms of anxiety. That would definitely help me. I do obsessively think but he said they do not affect your mood, just help alleviate the anxiety symptoms.

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

I may have to talk to my psychiatrist about that as well. The Zoloft doesn’t seem to be helping as much as I thought it would for the anxiety.

in reply to Mongea

Same :-/ It’s hard to tell if it’s me just being fed up, but instead of anxious, I was/am SO depressed today. This isn’t fun. I was also getting muscle aches again. Has anyone in your family taken Zoloft? My sister did and said it made her depressed... Seems I should have listened to her.

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

No, no one in my family has ever taken any antidepressants.

AlexCalig profile image
AlexCalig in reply to

I was in the hospital for my anxiety a couple years ago and was put on a beta blocker. The beta blockers block Adrenaline. My heart rate would be between 150-180 at resting which is why they prescribed it. It did help lower my heart rate, but I would end up sleeping the rest of the day and hated having to take them.

Vectron profile image
Vectron in reply to Mongea

You always will feel more anxious in the morning due to a fall overnight of serotonin

Vectron profile image
Vectron

I came off Zoloft after 4 years and have gone back on Lexapro much cleaner drug

Platesofmeat profile image
Platesofmeat

Hi,

I came off Paroxetine (Paxil) after 20 odd years when my panic attacks started back up again with a vengeance.

I then went on to Sertraline (Zoloft) 50mg and my god I don't know if it was coming off the Paxil or starting the Zoloft, but my anxiety was through the roof. I had intrusive thoughts, really bad guts and like you in the morning I noticed the anxiety before I even opened my eyes.

I could 'feel' the anxiety in my stomach and chest.

It was counter intuitive but the Doc told me to up the dose to 75mg and then 100mg.

Luckily the bad guts stopped but even now a year later, even before I open my eyes I feel anxiety coursing through my body and it feels like I am in a light stage of sleep.

I didn't have this on Paxil but saying that am really glad to be off that.

Sorry for the long reply and I don't really have an answer except to say we must weigh up the pros and cons of being on the medication.

Changing meds can be an exhausting, hit and miss business.

Best wishes.

Ragdoll15 profile image
Ragdoll15 in reply to Platesofmeat

Hi. Could you tell me why you came off paxil. It's just that I was thinking of changing to this from venaflexine . Thanks.

Platesofmeat profile image
Platesofmeat in reply to Ragdoll15

I began getting panic attacks and anxiety again after being on it for over 20 years, so think it just stopped working?

Also I read the horror stories about withdrawing from Paxil and was very aware of been on it a long time.

Also quite a few doctors had said over the years "generally we don't prescribe that anymore for anxiety".

Sorry it's not a very clear answer, I wish you well.

Ragdoll15 profile image
Ragdoll15 in reply to Platesofmeat

Thanks for you help, I just don't know what to take next as usually I get very bad side effects but I feel I have to take something.

Vectron profile image
Vectron in reply to Ragdoll15

Try Lexepro

AlexCalig profile image
AlexCalig

I’ve been on Zoloft for several years and am also on 150 mg. At one point I told my primary care doctor that it was making me tired so he suggested splitting my dose between morning and evening. It caused me to go into a downward spiral of anxiety and a lot of other symptoms. When I went to see a new therapist I told her what was going on and she said that I shouldn’t have ever split up the dosage. She suggested taking the full dosage a couple hours before bed and It’s made a huge difference.

Hi there I been on sertraline for 6 months and apart from bad stomach pains starting off no real affect I'm on 100mg also 50mg elvanse maybe 150 is to much my sons on 50mg and my daughter is on 300 mg sertraline we all have differant doctors so I'm sure there not that skilled in delivering right amount trial and error me thinks

Wizardsmom profile image
Wizardsmom

I was on Zoloft for almost 20 years. I dont remember having those side effects but we all respond to antidepressants differently. Have you discussed this with your doctor?

Hey how are you feeling now?

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

Good morning! I actually had a fantastic week! Very few moments of anxiety and/or dizziness.

How are you doing? Did you stay on the Zoloft?

in reply to Mongea

Good!! My anxiety actually started to subside when I started to wean off. I’ll be on it a total of a month, and I just started taking 12.5mg every other day!

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

Wow- good for you! Are you trying something else or just going med free?

in reply to Mongea

Thank you!! I’m honestly scared of trying anything else. I have been trying so so hard to not think of health anxiety. The effects of Zoloft seriously freaked me out and triggered my health anxiety worse! I’m gonna take it day by day.. I have my Lorezepam if there’s an emergency but I find they make me so tired, even when I take just a little. I’ve been seriously freaking out that I won’t stop getting the weird psychological side effects Zoloft brings (today feels very foggy but I do feel quite positive). I’m hoping to squash the last of my health anxiety as I wean off but that’s def hopeful!

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

Has the dizziness subsided for you? I still find times when I have serious brain fog and feel unsteady on my feet. I believe pretty firmly it’s the Zoloft and not my anxiety. I don’t feel much anxiety at all until I start to feel off, then it kicks in! I’ve been on Zoloft for four months now. Noticed improvement with the dose reduction two weeks ago. Psychiatrist said I can cut another 12.5 and I hold steady at 125 for a bit....

in reply to Mongea

The dizziness was baaaad the other day when I was on day 4 of 12.5mg. It was like out of nowhere. When I tapered off the first day, I legit thought I was gonna faint from dizziness. It sucks!! Today, there’s no dizziness but I feel very .. zoned out, foggy, odd? This is the first day with no Zoloft in weeks, as I go every other day. I’m excited to go back to not feeling this way. I’m sure your dizziness is from the Zoloft. It really does seem to effect us similarly!!

I actually had a question! I was talking to another girl this happened to on SSRIs. It’s super weird and my therapist wasn’t concerned, but since Zoloft, I notice like total strangers will remind me of people I know..? Like my brain is working in overdrive and is like “oh their nose is similar to this person!” It’s so weird!! I legit thought I was losing it! Just curious if anything similar happened to you!

Mongea profile image
Mongea in reply to

I’ve never had that symptom... but, I have started kicking ass when my husband and I play wheel of fortune! My brain seems to be working in different ways!

in reply to Mongea

Ya, sometimes my memory feels suppressed, and others it feels like it’s in overdrive! It’s super crazy!

Demeter1975 profile image
Demeter1975

I see this is an old post but wondering how you are doing? I was having side effects when I split my dose and it didn't stop until I took them in the morning. I think this is because the way the Zoloft reaches steady state in our bodies.

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