Anxiety/Depression - Zoloft doesn't seem to be working any longer

[Inquiring from Nebraska]

My husband,age 51, started taking Zoloft, 50 mgs, about 5 years ago.  It worked great until he was in a car accident a year ago.  He had whip lash and had considerable pain for several months.  He received cortisone injections x 3 in his spine and was on skelaxin 1600 mgs and neurontin 600 mgs for 9 mos.  He slowly went off these drugs and is off them completely about one month.  Over the last 2 - 3 months he has felt his zoloft quit working.  He tried increasing it to 100mg and then 150 mgs, for several weeks each with no appreciable decrease in symptoms.  He said what he notices is a feeling of anxiety around his mouth and eyes and in his hands.  He also said it feels hard to smile.  All of those symptoms are the same as before he started on zoloft.  I don't understand why the zoloft has quit working for him but I'm not sure what would be the next thing to try.  Would it be something from another antidepressant category, like Effexor? or adding Klonopin?  What would you suggest and why do you think the zoloft is no longer working? I need to tell you also that he had a problem with alcohol 28 years ago and has not used alcohol since.  He avoids any kind of addictive medication. He is currently on Celebrex, 400 mgs, Lipitor, 10 mgs, and Omnihist.  He is active physically, has a good diet and is in the normal weight range.  There have been no large recent stressors.   Thanks.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Nobody knows exactly why a drug stops working but it is a very frequent occurance. Its a time to reevaluate. I suggest you try the following. Go to your doctor for supervision, but try lowering the dose instead of raising it. The medication itself can cause some of this tension. If that not work, then start on new antidepressant..there are many to choose from, and Effexor is one of the better ones.

[goldiealg]

I had a similar experience with antidepressants.  My doctor kept increasing the Zoloft and I kept feeling worse.  I was up to 200mg of Zoloft a day and then finally decided, that was it.  I have been tapering off and am at 50mg Zoloft a day at present and feel better than I have in years.  Also, I have been prescribed Klonipin and I am almost completely off of that!  If your husband has an addictive personality, do not take benzo's like Klonipin.  He will live to regret it.  I only thank god that I do not have a stong addictive personality so I have been able to taper myself off, however, I know a lot of people need to be hospitalized to get off this type of drug.  My best suggestion, grin and bear it!  One must learn to tolerate negative emotions...they are not abnormal as my shrink led me to believe.  I believe she just wanted to keep me in the "patient" role.

[jjjjbass]

I am currently newly tapered off Zoloft. I was up to 150mgs and gradually went down to 25mgs for 2 weeks and then down to 0mgs. I'm feeling a little more then usual tiredness and I'm lightheaded and have some dizziness. I wanted to get away from Zoloft because I've not seen any change in my depression or anxiety due to meds. The only time I felt better is when I learned behavioral modifications. Which you can easily learn from books, 12 step programs and some therapy. I look forward to the days when the withdrawl symptoms wear off. I'm willing to stick it out because the doctor, meaning well, kept just increasing my dosage everytime I felt a little blue or had some mild anxiety, which I think is common. These doctors are pushing these pills. I don't even think some realize what they are doing. They have so many patients who want help. What are they supposed to do? Give him/her a pill. That's what the patient wants anyway. It's too hard to fight the depression with tools that are taught to us. Even spirituality does help. Be open-minded and have courage and faith. The drug companies got us taking pills and they want to keep it that way. You've seen the commercials on T.V. Take a pill and everything gets better. Not all the time. I believe one really has to look inside themselves to see if it's the way of thinking or the pill that changes things.
That's my two cents.