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Avatar universal

Zoloft and Xanax

I have a history of depression/anxiety and have been taking antidepressants for 7 years. I saw my doctor on Saturday because I felt that Lexapro wasn't working for me anymore and I was starting to have panic attacks again.

She switched me to 50mg of Zoloft and .25 mg of Xanax, 1/2 pill in the morning and afternoon and one full pill at night. This is my first experience with Xanax by the way. Anyway, I began the therapy on Sunday. Well yesterday evening I started feeling heart palpitations, like irregular heartbeats. I called my doctor this morning and was told not to take the Xanax anymore and to call them tomorrow and let them know how I'm feeling. I'm still feeling the heart palpitations and it's making me feel anxious of course because it's not normal. How can an anti-anxiety drug cause heart palpitations? I hope there is something else she can give me for anxiety that might not be as intense. Is this a normal side effect?

The only other medication I take is birth control pills and I drink a lot of caffeine. Don't smoke either. Please help!
5 Responses
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Avatar universal
Ohh and beaware of the internet- you can worry yourself to death trying to self-diagnose....best wishes for a happy, healthy life--and just breathe.....................

Good advice, but its also good to hear other stories. Maybe this has convinced me that I'm better off without zoloft and trying other (non-medication) avenues.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
For the past two months I've had numb weak arms and legs, I seriously thought I had ms or als, the fatigue was unbearable, and I started getting worse with hot skin , dizziness, and twitches. My simple neurological tests came back ok, and the doctors told me it was anxiety and panic disorder, I had suffered a few panic attacks in the past and Im under a lot of stress in my life right now(school, not working, death of family member). My doctor gave me zoloft 50 mg to try and I hated it, tried it for two days and it brought on 3 panic attacks in one day, I was shaking uncontrollably, pupils way dilated and I saw distorted images guess I was to sensitive to the drug, I tried cutting the dose in half and same thing happened but a little milder. Finally said no to it, and lived with the symptoms until one day I had to go to the ER because I was so weak, they put me on a 10 day cycle of clonazapam and I feel like I can conquer the world, no more physical symptoms, get a little tired, but it helped me so much with my panic disorder.I really didn't realize that anxiety and panic can be so severe it can mimic a neurological disease.--Ohh and beaware of the internet- you can worry yourself to death trying to self-diagnose....best wishes for a happy, healthy life--and just breathe.....................
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
zoloft can cause terrible weight gain.

I m on it for a couple of month and i ballooned.

Helpful - 0
110220 tn?1309306861
I took Xanax for a few months and only 1 zoloft pill .50 mg and I never had a palpitation using xanax but I sure felt horrible taking Zoloft.   I prayed that if this pill ever got out of my system I would NEVER take another.  Xanax calms your nervous system and I have a history of heart palpitations and when I had a panic attack and experienced palpitations, the xanax would stop/mask them and I couldn't feel it.  You better look at the Zoloft closely...I believe that is the reason you are experiencing the palpitations.

Good Luck
Helpful - 0
242532 tn?1269550379
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
You should ask your doctor about the following. Zoloft has a stimulating effect, especially in the beginning, which may be the cause of your palpitations. Its more likely that you would want to stop the zoloft and keep the xanax
Helpful - 0

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