Any Good news?
Question:
Charly thanks for sharing. I upped my dosage to 19mg and started feeling anxiety and hopelessness and crying still. Buts its only day 16 at such a low dose????right???Good times coming right?????Brenda
Response:
Charly thanks for sharing. I upped my dosage to 19mg and started feeling anxiety and hopelessness and crying still. Buts its only day 16 at such a low dose????right???Good times coming right?????Brenda
Brenda – Definately…You are still at a low dose…Like I said, it wasn’t till I got to 100 mg that I was feeling a lot better…At 50 mg, it was noticable though…This is considered the minimum theraputic dose, so you will be shooting for this number…Hang in there! And stay away from caffiene! I am having a worse day than usual after having tea this morning and a root beer (no simple sugars either) for lunch… Charly — Charles Phipps
Response:
Charly thanks for sharing. I upped my dosage to 19mg and started feeling anxiety and hopelessness and crying still. Buts its only day 16 at such a low dose????right???Good times coming right?????Brenda
Most probable. You have to take your time. I know it can be hard. And: there is always *something* that will work. Philip
Response:
Hi Joe, A couple of years ago I took Paxil and it reduced my anxiety, but it also numbed my emotions. I don’t take anything now and I still have periods (sometimes daily) of anxiety, the thing is that if you tell yourself that you’ve coped with this bullsh*t before, when you start to feel panicky and that you can do it again AND without being on drugs. The power of being positive helps. Also you can cut the feelings off at the ankles by distracting yourself from the negative thoughts; reading a book, playing a video game, think about going on holiday, whatever. Also I find when I’m walking down a busy street I get feelings of panic, but I always tell myself. 1. No one knows I’m panicky (it doesn’t show), 2. They probably don’t care and 3. Inside of you is the logical part of yourself who does and always will stop you doing anything dumb. The more you reduce the percentage of time you’re worrying, the less you worry. There are no quick fixes; though it out and be proud of yourself for doing it.. Good look Andy Somewhere in the UK
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, I’m trying zoloft for my anxiety after 2 failed attempts (about a year ago) with Paxil. I just took my 3rd 12.5 mg dosage about 2 hours ago. I’m feeling okay, but last night and tonight I sat and looked at the pill for an hour before taking it, thinking "I don’t want to take any drugs" especially slow acting ones. I worry that it’s going to takes weeks to work and if it doesn’t, some time to wean off. More of my life wasted not feeling good. Can anyone share a truly positive zoloft experience with me to keep me going? What about quitting if it’s not for me? How quickly can I taper off? Thanks -Joe Joe, I read some stats somewhere that the average it took 4 med changes and about 6 months before most PDers found the right med. But, its unlikely that a med will not work at all, most do have an effect, but sometimes its not enough, or some other aspect of the med results in it being discontinued. If you don’t do well on Zoloft you should be able to switch to another SSRI without more than a slight wean both way. You can even change to the tricyclics without too many problems. The only antidepressants that require you to be entirely SSRI & TCA free are the MAOIs. But there are lots of meds to try before you need to start thinking about them (not that they aren’t very effective anti anxiety meds – just have a few, mainly insignificant/irritating diet restrictions) Ian
Response:
Hello, I’m trying zoloft for my anxiety after 2 failed attempts (about a year ago) with Paxil. I just took my 3rd 12.5 mg dosage about 2 hours ago. I’m feeling okay, but last night and tonight I sat and looked at the pill for an hour before taking it, thinking "I don’t want to take any drugs" especially slow acting ones. I worry that it’s going to takes weeks to work and if it doesn’t, some time to wean off. More of my life wasted not feeling good. Can anyone share a truly positive zoloft experience with me to keep me going? What about quitting if it’s not for me? How quickly can I taper off? Thanks -Joe
Joe – I’ve had a great experience with Zoloft…And it only took about 17 days to kick in to a good extent…I’m still not all the way there, but I feel SO much better…Now, a couple of things…I went all out and started at 50 mg the first day…It was bad at first, but I stuck it out, and most of my side-effects (tremors that increased anxiety, diarrhea, dry mouth) went away within the first 2 weeks…At this point my depression was gone and I felt really good when I didn’t have anxiety…Problem is I still had anxiety…So I upped to 100 mg just over a week ago…Within 3 days I felt great…My side-effects returned just a bit at first, but it went away quickly…The only side effect that I retain at all now is slight insomnia…By this I mean that my mind races (about good stuff now!) while I try to sleep, and I find it takes me a bit to get to bed…Nothing terrible at all…Once I’m asleep I sleep fine…So it could just be a product of feeling good again…Anyway, the point is that my story of quick help may not correspond to yours since you are weening more slowly, but it can help and very well nonetheless…Even better for your concerns, Zoloft can be weened off of more quickly than other drugs…This is because it has a much shorter half-life than say Prozac (in fact it’s half-life is around 26 hours compared to a week for Prozac)…This means that Zoloft will leave your body quickly when you stop…You may still have withdrawals (although I have heard mixed things about this – some say there are none some say there are), but they will not last as long…Anyway, hang in there and you will likely do well…The thing about AD’s is that they work in around 70% of people (and well)…And of the 30% in which it failed, half of them quit the studies because they could not handle the side-effects and were not able to take long enough to see results…So, assuming that you are not having trouble with side effects, you have a great chance of seeing results…This is true of most all of the Anti-depressants… Best of Luck, Charly — Charles Phipps
Response:
Hello, I’m trying zoloft for my anxiety after 2 failed attempts (about a year ago) with Paxil. I just took my 3rd 12.5 mg dosage about 2 hours ago. I’m feeling okay, but last night and tonight I sat and looked at the pill for an hour before taking it, thinking "I don’t want to take any drugs" especially slow acting ones. I worry that it’s going to takes weeks to work and if it doesn’t, some time to wean off. More of my life wasted not feeling good. Can anyone share a truly positive zoloft experience with me to keep me going? What about quitting if it’s not for me? How quickly can I taper off? Thanks -Joe
Joe, I read some stats somewhere that the average it took 4 med changes and about 6 months before most PDers found the right med. But, its unlikely that a med will not work at all, most do have an effect, but sometimes its not enough, or some other aspect of the med results in it being discontinued. If you don’t do well on Zoloft you should be able to switch to another SSRI without more than a slight wean both way. You can even change to the tricyclics without too many problems. The only antidepressants that require you to be entirely SSRI & TCA free are the MAOIs. But there are lots of meds to try before you need to start thinking about them (not that they aren’t very effective anti anxiety meds – just have a few, mainly insignificant/irritating diet restrictions) Ian
Response:
Joe I just started Zoloft myself and yes I struggling with the weaning on stage. It has been horrific but thats me. So many people were having a great response so I decided to stick it out to see. You can email me any time. We can take this journey together with some others that are starting up as well. It really helps. Brenda
Response:
Hello, I’m trying zoloft for my anxiety after 2 failed attempts (about a year ago) with Paxil. I just took my 3rd 12.5 mg dosage about 2 hours ago. I’m feeling okay, but last night and tonight I sat and looked at the pill for an hour before taking it, thinking "I don’t want to take any drugs" especially slow acting ones. I worry that it’s going to takes weeks to work and if it doesn’t, some time to wean off. More of my life wasted not feeling good. Can anyone share a truly positive zoloft experience with me to keep me going? What about quitting if it’s not for me? How quickly can I taper off? Thanks -Joe —Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.—
