effexor xr or zoloft

I have taken effexor xr for 4 years orignally prescribed to me to wean me off ativan.
I have taken it 4 years on and off it work great the first couple of months for my panic issues .
Than I ended up with high cholesterol and weight gain .After a year or so it stoped working and I also began to lose my memory.So I STOPED cold turkey .I am on Xanax wich i dont want to be on I would like to try Zoloft but not sure how I will react to it .If any one has any experiance on Zoloft please share would be very helpfull.oh fyi after stopping effexor xr i lost 40 pounds and my cholesterol improved tremendously .

[pilgrim165]

I've tried efexor too and had many problems with it. I suggest a trial of the drug to see the effects but everyone reacts differently and unfortunately it's just trial and error...

[blunik]

I've never heard of weight gain as a side effect of effexor, but perhaps it made your depression worse and that was why you gained weight. In anycase it sounds like effexor wasn't/isn't working for you. Anecdotally It does seem to work for a while and then stop.

I took zoloft for 2.5 years, but it stopped working for me, then effexor was great for a while but anti-depressants aren't good for bipolar with a mood regulator. Zoloft has a longer "shelf-life" in your system so it takes about 2 weeks to kick in, and 2 weeks (of crap) to get off it.
Ask your medical professional what they recommend - especially if you aren't happy with what you are taking.

[blunik]

BTW - I've been on effexor for nearly 8 years, and my main problem is I only recently been diagnosed with bipolar so it was probably not the best thing I should have been taking!! but I found it heaps better than zoloft for me at the time.