Having trouble with Zoloft anxiety what do you think I should do?
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi my name is Alexandra. I have been on Zoloft for two weeks. I feel more anxious on it. My anxiety is worse. I have sweaty palms and in the beginning I felt very irritable but that has gone away. That was only for the first five days. But my anxiety is worse than ever I feel like I am in fight or flight mode a lot. I don't know what to do there are only a handful of SSRIs. And I have a heart condition where my heart races very fast i'm standing in with anxiety. By the way I used to be on anaphora know because I have OCD anxiety and depression but I recently got off of it about a month ago. I had to stop taking because of it could be making my heart condition worse. back to my heart condition It's called postural orthostatic to tachycardia syndrome. So I look at a lot of these antidepressants and the ones I want to try such as Lexapro can give you heart problems it says online. I tried Prozac for a little while hardly three days and it made me extremely agitated. Also if I stay on the Zoloft which I'd like to change that on to something else. I need something for my anxiety. I was given Sarah cold it just knocks me out even on the lowest dose. I even break it in half . My Clonopin is even working because my anxiety is so bad. If anyone can give me advice on what has worked for them let me know. Or any advice. I know not everyone is a doctor. But I am trying to find to see if there's anything else that I can take. Again there are only a handful of SSRIs. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I apologize for any spelling errors I am using voice on my mini iPad
0 likes, 6 replies
alexandra71441
Posted
BellaLuna alexandra71441
Posted
I don't know anything about your heart condition so I apologise if my advice is a bit limited but I do know that Zoloft commonly causes an increase in anxiety in the early weeks of treatment which should settle down and you should start to feel the positive effects after about 4-6 weeks.
Some people can ride it out in the knowledge that things should improve so generally I would advise you to try to stick it out for a few more weeks if you can tolerate it.
There are other types of anti-depressants but those would need your doctor's approval especially as you have a heart condition and I don't know if they would be safe for you to use.
Klonopin is a benzodiazepine, that class of drug can indeed be very useful but all benzos have limits and can only cut through so much, some people become tolerant to them fairly quickly too and that means they no longer work and you need a higher dose, this wouldn't be so bad but tolerance will build again and of course there is the issue of addiction.
I take Diazepam aka Valium, I am on 22mg per day, even though I have only recently increased the dose it really isn't very effective now because that is what happens withdrugs in the benzo group.
One option would be to stick with the Zoloft and ask your doctor if you could increase the klonopin on a short term basis to help cope with the side effects until it works and they settle down but that could be another 2-4 weeks yet and you would need to taper the klonopin back down gradually because reducing benzos can be really hard if you do it too quickly.
alexandra71441 BellaLuna
Posted
Thank you for your reply. I looked online to see how long it might take for those feelings to subside. I just talk to my doctor because I was feeling really awful on his emergency line. I told him I wanted to lower the Zoloft. I really don't know how long it takes for the Symptoms to subside. Just wondering but how do you know that commonly the early weeks for Zoloft can have anxiety? Just wondering. I don't know if there's a place with information about it and the anxiety part. Because I will wait if I have to to be honest.
BellaLuna alexandra71441
Posted
If you go to google and typ in Zoloft side effects it comes up with that as one of them, it's very common with all SSRI medications and your doctor should have warned you to expect that, most people find it subsides after about 4 weeks, some are lucky and it settles after 3, for others it can take about 6 weeks.
I have been on Zoloft myself, years ago now and it spiked my anxiety for a few weeks, it did help but when I tried going back to it sadly I could no longer tolerate it.
I have just been prescibed Celexa or Citalopram as it is called here in the UK, it's another SSRI and my doctor took great care to warn me that the early weeks will mean higher anxiety until it starts to work because it's a SSRI, just trying to get the courage to start taking it now.
Judyp alexandra71441
Posted
It takes about 3 weeks i beleuve to work
Most if these drugs exaggerate the symtoms at first , hard to get on . Good Luck
Have you tried counseling and working through it ?
vanessa45115 alexandra71441
Posted
I am on sertraline and the increased anxiety is a definite side effect of increasing. If you can stick it out, it works very well once your body and brain adjust. Stay on this forum, there is awesome support here and it's how I get the encouragement to stay on them until they fully work.