A question about Zoloft/SSRIs and their effectiveness for anxiety
Posted , 6 users are following.
Scroll to the bottom for my main question, I'm going to give a bit of my history first. It's kind of ironic that I'm making this query, because I was on Zoloft myself for a while several years ago. There were myriad other factors going on in my life at that time that make it difficult for me to discern if the Zoloft was genuinely helpful or not. I eventually entered a pretty prosperous phase where I no longer needed any meds, and I discontinued it.
Well I've have a resurgence of anxiety as of late, partially triggered by interdose benzo withdrawal due to a daily script I was given by my doctor (that's another issue).
The main point is, I'm struggling badly with anxiety right now, and am at the point again where I am having difficulty accepting my symptoms are due to anxiety. I can spend all day fixating over the way my veins look, or the appearance of a vein I never noticed before. I check my pulse compulsively, and often feel lightheaded and out of sorts. I've had a decent amount of medical tests done recently (blood counts, metabolic panels, thyroid tests, magnesium testing, ecgs, x-rays, etc., all normal) and I'm seeing a cardiologist next month to give me peace of mind.
I guess my question is, have any of you found Zoloft, or another SSRI, to be helpful for anxiety? I have had three health professionals try to convince me to take it now, but I'm kind of scared to be honest. I know it's going to make me feel sick and probably worsen my anxiety the first week or so, and I'm afraid it's going to change my mood, personality, and cognitive functioning.
Has anyone found it helpful in managing obsessive thoughts, health anxiety, and panic attacks? They've recommended I start at 25mg a day until I adapt to it, and then up to a final dose of 50mg.
0 likes, 13 replies
marleen85993 steven47549
Posted
Hi Steven Zoloft is probably the first SSRI that doctors prescribe for anxiety and does work well for some people however therapy is also necessary for the best results for health anxiety especially.Everyone is different so l can't advice you which medication would be best for you.lf you are tapering off a benzo your anxiety will be sky high so it may help you get through.
marleen85993
Posted
Forgot to say it won't change your personality etc.l think ànxiety does that more than any drug could.
steven47549 marleen85993
Posted
True. And I'm definitely pursuing cognitive behavioral therapy, it was beneficial in the past. Thanks for the input =)
heather52246 steven47549
Posted
I had the worst experience on that drug and I just can't accept doctors putting folk on it for Anxiety. It made my anxiety worse and a never even thought that couldn't be possible as it was already horrendously before. So really think about it before hand and try everything else first. It gave me really bad side effects as well and with me also suffering health anxiety wasn't good. I do a lot of what you do as I get so many symptoms
it really is a horrible mental battle everyday. I've noticed when I cut out the checking pulse and constantly telling myself there's nothing wrong I am having a lot more good spells through the day than bad. Although I still do daily have to continually fight it.. half of today for example a felt good and then it came creeping back in and started to feel light headed which in turn started to heart pounding 
sometimes it's the heart pounding for no reason just from getting up of my seat.. so a really know how bad your suffering.. since taking those drugs and now coming off been off them 9 weeks now it's disturbed my sleep and it's still not back to normal a wake up constantly and sometimes can't even sleep at all when before the drugs even with the anxiety a couldn't sleep fine.. so yeah really think about it..
steven47549 heather52246
Posted
Thanks for your reply, and I'm fearing that I could have an adverse reaction to this medication (I know everyone is different). I definitely can relate to your struggle and know what you're going through, my anxiety can be pretty intense, and usually manifests with weird physical symptoms that I focus on.
I took it in the past, but it was a low dose for a year-ish, I don't really know what effect it had on me because I was trying other medications and therapies during that time and eventually came out the other side without the need to continue taking it, but my situation has deteriorated again as of late.
heather52246 steven47549
Posted
edwina97301 steven47549
Posted
Hi. Agree with Marleen, if your coming off a benzo your anxiety could be overwhelming, hope you get replies as have seen other discussions here similar to yours and their concerns about meds , if someone out there relates and replies hope you you're reasured, everyone reacts to meds differently but it's good to get opinions, would defo discuss with your gp again but may just tell you to persevere as things take time to work. Know it's scary anticipating bad side effects but lots of us have been there and lots going through it now, anxiety is a stinker , you're not alone, hope you get more replies??
steven47549 edwina97301
Posted
I am considering holding at my current level of benzo, introducing the SSRI, and getting stable on that with some therapy before I continue to taper down. The benzo was helpful, but it's short acting and the doctor shouldn't have had me on it every day. I'm not taking a huge dose, but definitely enough to cause me discomfort when it wears off. Thanks for your response. I suppose my GP hasn't been very helpful with this issue, and I had a meeting with a mental health professional, but it turns out it was just a screening and an introductory session, and now I have to wait until later next month to see them again because of the wait for new patients. I will for sure be doing cognitive behavioral therapy with them though.
edwina97301 steven47549
Posted
Sticking with Benz is then tapering seems sensible, great your looking into therapy, try everything others sujest, ( others that are coping much better now) their advice is great and so reasuring, keep a positive outlook, know it's hard sometimes, I still after years have days of racing heart, thoughts and tension etc, but they always pass and I'm not as afraid ( once people reasured me I wasn't the only one like this. Glad you're being pro active, it's frustrating, hard, but worth it??
steven47549 edwina97301
Posted
Thanks so much =) This forum is definitely a very helpful place. I've pretty much had anxiety issues my whole life, and right now I'm locked in an irrational panic mode. I've gotten out of this loop before, so I'm being optimistic that I'll be able to do it again. Talking to others who understand really helps.
heather52246 steven47549
Posted
helena_fena steven47549
Posted
Anyways 3 weels later i gor all results back and everything came back ok.
Since this i am a wreck but still too scared of taking sertaline/zoloft that my doctor prescribed last week. Also i am paranoid about the brand,i got sertaline krka and now i thing that i want Zoloft as its the original and not a generic form..Just so mush health angiety!!!Really want to start but so scared. Gp prescribed 250mh of xanax for the first week but i am used to higer dose to get rid of my angsiety so also worried that will not work. I moved country resently so new Gp
steven47549 helena_fena
Posted
Glad to hear that everything turned out okay with the lump. An event like that definitely would be traumatic for me, so I can understand how you must feel.
The doctors had me taking daily Xana x and while that helped for a while, it's ultimately made things worse because now I have to wean off of it. I think starting Zoloft while weaning off of it could make for a bad experience, or maybe it could help. Like you, I'm afraid to take the medication.
Let me know how it goes if you do decide to take the medication. Either way, I hope you feel better! This anxiety can be so difficult to cope with.