I just stopped taking Zoloft. For better than a week or two, my anxiety went through the roof and my stress level multiplied by a horrendous factor. I had insomnia and ungodly amounts of tension. And the shits. I just stopped this weekend and I still have the shits. I also had achy joints and was easily fatigued.

Any of you have similar experiences? This was by far the worst experience I have had with an SSRI. It's disconcerting because it was also one of the few that I haven't tried (well, up until now). I keep telling myself something's gonna work worth a damn (or at all), but no such luck so far.

9/27/2011 9:50:25 AM

Please don't take this the wrong way because I know a little about what you are going through... but being mentally well is mostly a decision on your own behalf.

Ask yourself if you want to feel better, or do you want to be in a state of disrepair? It sounds like you want to be happy and free, start there.

9/27/2011 1:35:51 PM

Come over for a drink or six. That seems to help.

9/27/2011 2:27:49 PM

5htp ftw

9/27/2011 2:29:41 PM

Quote :

"Please don't take this the wrong way because I know a little about what you are going through... but being mentally well is mostly a decision on your own behalf. Ask yourself if you want to feel better, or do you want to be in a state of disrepair? It sounds like you want to be happy and free, start there."

I'm not gonna take it the wrong way; just realize that you telling me this is akin to preaching to the choir priest bishop pope.

Nothing I haven't heard before a couple thousand times. I appreciate it though.

9/27/2011 2:45:12 PM

Don't these make it impossible to ejaculate?

Bust a nut > anxiety

9/27/2011 2:48:15 PM

I've never had any bad sexual side effects from any SSRI or SNRI. In fact, I usually bust a nut waaaay too fast. Like in 30 seconds or less, so I usually go a couple rounds, and they're much better.

The only one that actually seemed to delay it somewhat was Effexor. But I never had a problem not having an orgasm.

9/27/2011 2:57:20 PM

When I quit, I tapered off. I started with 3/4 of a pill for a week, and then half, and then 1/4. I had no withdrawal symptoms from Zoloft. Quitting the drinking that led to the depression, however, was a different story.

9/27/2011 3:38:01 PM

if SSRI and SNRI do not work for you, have you considered that maybe your initial diagnosis could be wrong? maybe you should switch to drugs that affect dopamine.

[Edited on September 27, 2011 at 4:03 PM. Reason : effexor withdrawal was the worst for me. i was half-asleep for like 6 months after that. good luck!!]

9/27/2011 4:02:34 PM

Did you just stop taking them cold turkey? If so, I'm going to assume that you didn't do this at the direction of your doctor. You shouldn't just stop taking SSRIs. You should ween yourself off them over several weeks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome

9/27/2011 4:22:32 PM

Quote :

"I'm on the Zoloft to keep from killing y'all."

[Edited on September 27, 2011 at 6:52 PM. Reason : ]

9/27/2011 6:51:08 PM

I first started with Zoloft 8 years ago and went on and off of it a few times and toyed with my dosing before I realized that my quality of life is better on it. I've been on it continuously for 3 years now.

Like everyone has mentioned, you shouldn't quit it cold turkey. If I miss my medication for some reason, I feel very sick. I experience vertigo, I become light headed, I have headaches. . .I just feel awful until I get the meds back in my system. I don't have as much difficulty when I taper my dose off like I did with one of my pregnancies.

Off of Zoloft, I suffer from panic attacks and "major recurrent depression." Zoloft changed my life. It seems like when it works, it really works. I know of a few people who it didn't work for, but the people I know that it worked for consider it life changing like I do.

While quitting Zoloft cold turkey feels awful, it's nothing like Paxil. Nothing. Paxil is the devil's medication.

9/27/2011 8:43:15 PM

Have you guys tried placebo? I have heard it works wonders.

9/27/2011 8:56:38 PM

If you feel you are ready to try and go without antidepressants I say give it 30 days, and cold turkey is the way to go. Screw all that discontinuation syndrome noise. I took antidepressants for 10 years before quitting cold turkey this past year. I didn't have the same anxiety and diarrhea issues that you're having, but I wasn't on Zoloft; I was taking Lexapro and Remeron. My doctor (actually an NCSU psychiatrist at student health) and I settled on this combination and it worked wonders for me for about 6 years. About 5 years ago I had tried once to go off the meds (cold turkey), and very soon after discontinuing them I fell back into a deep depression. After 3 weeks I couldn't do it any more and decided to go back on them and not to rush coming off the meds. Last year I decided to give it another shot. The meds were still working fine, I just wanted to try and see if I could do it on my own without them. And this time I was okay. Things were a little weird physically and emotionally at first but by the time a month went by I was amazed at how well I was doing. The voices in my head were gone for the most part, and I've gone through some pretty emotional shit in the last year (loss of a girl I loved, a tough job transition, death of my grandma) and I've still held it all together very well. For me, the litmus test was if the voices came back. By voices I mean that part of your psyche that beats you down, that makes you feel awful no matter what decision you make cause you must have made the wrong choice, that voice that just makes you miserable any time you start thinking about anything that has gone wrong. The voices are still there a little bit, but they don't tear me down and berate me like they used to. And they certainly don't keep me from enjoying life now like they did 10 years ago before I started on them. I feel like I have the ability to control them now and silence them when I need to. Antidepressants likely saved my life, and they enabled me to make it through college like a normal person. While I'm grateful for all of this, I now hope to live a life where I can be in control without the assistance of daily medication and regular counseling, and so far it's working. If you can tough through 30 days, the side effects will wane, your brain will re-wire, and then you'll be able to really evaluate the status of your mental health. But if you can't make it through daily life without the Zoloft, it's okay, it just means you're not quite ready yet, so don't be afraid to go back on it and try again down the road.

9/28/2011 2:14:13 AM

have fun with your relapse... they always come eventually

9/28/2011 3:01:28 AM

the ONLY thing I've found to work for me is Klonopin. Everything else (daily and PRN) has just made me a foggy zombie that still had anxiety/panic attacks.

9/28/2011 8:14:50 AM

For the record, all the side effects were when I was taking the Zoloft (was on it for about a month). I've had a long history with SSRI's and SNRI's...I first started taking them in '94 with Paxil, then Prozac, which I took for quite a few years. I even took a Prozac/Wellbutrin cocktail for some time. Since then, I've taken Luvox, then Lexapro, then Effexor, then Pristiq. And I have even tried augmentation with Abilify. Add to that Deplin, which is L-methylfolate, a form of folate that is much more readily able to cross the blood/brain barrier. I've also taken a whole slew of other stuff as well...Seroquel (which was horrible shit), Depakote, and most of the benzodiazepenes.

After years of taking all these, I had my doubts of their efficacy, and weaned myself off of Pristiq last year to see if in fact the difference was quantifiable...and it wasn't very quantifiable at all. There was very litttle difference. So I've gone about a year on nothing at all. But the high levels of anxiety and chronic depression have remained. For the most part, I've managed to maintain a certain degree of functionality, and the anxiety I've always managed to adjust to somewhat, with the exceptions of the acute anxiety episodes. Shit started ramping up and hitting the fan this summer, and this was when I decided maybe I'd better try the med route again.

I've never experienced such side effects as I did with the Zoloft. I had moments where I felt like I wanted to crawl outta my skin, the anxiety was so bad. Sometimes I wanted to just damn near shoot myself in the head. The insomnia was as bad as I've ever encountered, and I was so tense that I could not physically relax enough to go to sleep. I tried taking diphenhydramine (Benadryl, 50mg) to get to sleep, and I could drift off, but inevitably I'd find myself waking frequently at night at least once an hour and never really getting into a deep sleep. My fatigue level shot through the roof.

My doctor told me to stop immediately, and since then, my anxiety level has dropped considerably, and I can actually sleep somewhat with the aid of Lunesta (though I'm taking stupid amounts of it).

There are a lot of external factors that do come into play here, and I'm sure when I resolve some issues, my anxiety and depression will drop even more. But even so, they're still a pervasive influence on me daily (as they were before hardships) and will likely continue to be so unless I can find some sort of solution that at least allows me a better foothold in managing them.

9/28/2011 10:44:26 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_htp

seriously, folks

9/28/2011 11:56:59 AM

Have you thought about trying therapy with it? I've been on a wide variety of medications (I was told this morning by my doctor that I have very resistant chronic depression to go with my anxiety) and CBT has been recommended to me. While I haven't tried it yet and I'm not sure that's the route I want to go, I know it's an option and has been helpful for people with depression and anxiety. It might help and there are people that it's been beneficial enough for that they no longer need medication at all.

9/28/2011 12:39:11 PM

I've gone the therapy route too. LOTS of it, including 3 years of group therapy.

9/28/2011 1:43:04 PM

I participated in a module of dialectical behavior therapy in conjunction with medication and it was extremely helpful. Personally, I think that everyone could benefit from going through the DBT series because it just teaches healthy life skills that all of us aren't fortunate enough to come equipped with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behaviour_therapy

9/28/2011 2:38:20 PM