starting Zoloft

[anxietyadvice]

I am on my 4th day of Zoloft.  I am jittery and more anxious than usual.  Will this go away?  How long before I can benefit from this drug?

[Jigsore]

From my experience, the anxiety of starting a new med can make you feel like your heart is pounding. It is the anxiety, and this has happened to me more times than I would like to admit. I rush to the ER, and they tell me I'm fine. The reason is, I'm fine, and if the EKG is normal, you are too. You just have to remind yourself that it is the anxiety trying to take over, but you are okay. Anxiety can't hurt you, it can just make you feel like it will. I'm on my third week of Zoloft, and I took it for about ten years before weaning myself off of it. Deja Vu. Now I have to get it back into my system. It is trying, but worth it. You will feel much better with every day that you stick with it.

[sarah2105]

I am on my 5ht night of taking zoloft. can zoloft cause your heart to feel like its pounding and cause palpitations? i went to the ER and my EKG came back fine. but im still freaking out.

[Feelingfree88]

I have had anxiety and depression for 4 years. I was put on Paxil 4 years ago and I became a walking zombie. I was then put on Cymbalta and suffered for 6 months with awful side affects before finally coming off all meds (the Cymbalta and Paxil withdrawals were worse than the anxiety). After battling on and off anxiety for 2 more years without meds it finally led into Depression. Although I had been scared off all meds I decided to give Zoloft a try since I was ruin my family and work life without it. I am on day 6 and notice a marked improvement already. I keep reading that it takes 14 days to truly kick in and if this is the case, I can't wait because that means I will be back and better than before. So far so good!!!

[M8MR]

Thank you for your positive insight!  New to zoloft, trying to stick out the side effects of feeling dizzy and tired, nervousness...hope things taper off and get better.  

[tyler7178]

    I have been on sertraline (Zoloft) for about 3 1/2 weeks now. I noticed I was just a little depressed before I even thought about starting any kind of medication because I've had anxiety issues in the past and that was about 5 years ago and I was on nortriptyline which cured my anxiety problems. I really wasn't depressed at the time I just had really bad panic attacks all the time.
    In the months leading up to my decision to start Zoloft I noticed that I was a little depressed, but nothing major but I wasn't motivated at all. I went to the doctor and she prescribed me Celexa, and that only lasted 2 days because my anxiety spiked sky high the moment I started taking them. I called her back and she prescribed me Zoloft and she wanted me to start off small 25mg daily for the first 7 days, and then increase it 25mg every 7 days after that till I reach 100 mg daily. I'm currently at 75 mg but I start 100mg tonight. I've noticed that I'm more calm and not as jittery anymore when I first started it and I'm starting to have good days but my depression is really high right now.
    I take a Xanax here and there now just because when I'm depressed I get scared so it kind of calms me. For the second week I took Xanax regularly because my anxiety was all sorts of wacked out. Now it's too the point to where its like I'm having a really good day and I'm full of energy and happiness and then I get tired and all of a sudden I become really depressed and anti-social to the point that it hurts and I have a heavy feeling on myself. I was told it takes 3 to 4 weeks to start seeing results, which I believe, but to be honest I'm getting impatient now because I'm tired of having these really depressing feelings and thoughts go through my head all the time. I was just curious if anyone else has experienced this and can tell me its worth the wait because it's just all part of it. I'm being as patient as I can but it really ***** as many of you know.
Side effects I experienced:
Insomnia (still can't sleep a full night since starting it, but I do manage to get about 4 hours of good sleep here and there), depression, nausea, headaches, nervousness, cold sweats, hot flashes, dizziness, anit-social

[RobinMcM]

When I 1st started taking Zoloft i was taking it in the am with my coffee.  it made me gittery and sweaty - took me about 3 weeks to realize that I shouldn't take it with coffee :-) since then I've been feeling way better- i wait an hr or so before my coffee and only need the xanax .25 to .5 once or twice a week - wondering if anyone else has had the same experience?