Does anyone have any opinions on Zoloft, is it helpful or not? Any ideas??

Personally, I took Zoloft for about 2 years and it did not help my depression even after increases in dosage. Also it made me impotent and caused excessive weight gain. I was 24-25 at the time which made that even worse. Both my weight and sex-drive/ability returned to normal after use stopped. I was also prescribed Paxil which is similar about a year ago and it did the exact same things. I was on just about every anti depressant there is at one time or another and those were the worst.

As I said this is personal experience. Others might be helped by Zoloft. But I have heard from alot of people who hate Zoloft.



[edit on 10-6-2005 by Veltro]

Kind of the same side effects. Zoloft didn't help at all. I was on it for about a year. I noticed that my temper was worse when I was on it. One reason I took myself off of it.

I've gained 100 lbs in three years. 25 lbs of that is all water. My feet are huge now. I'm 29 years old. I'm on a slew of other meds, but I have no choice in the matter. If I accidentally miss a dose, I get the shakes.

Most psychiatric meds cause weight gain and loss of libido. No comment from me regarding the libido aspects

But, like I've said countless countless times, it sure as ehell beats being who I used to be. The irony is that if I question my Team about tapering off, they will write it off as another symptom of my illness ("PT. MISTAKENLY BELIEVES THAT SHE IS CURED")

sigh.

I'm on Zoloft, and so is my friend. It was either the quitting school that made me wake up earlier and extremely refreshed and having tonnes of energy looking forward to the next day, or it was the Zoloft.

All the psych drugs I've been on have sucked in one way or another. I'm real sensitive to side effects so that doesn't help. I even had ECT's which also proved useless. Lithium has helped some but my body metabolizes it and my levels are always around 0.5 even though im now on 1500 MG. I'm also on Lamactil.

Been having a bad time lately, getting very angry and having bad mood swings. I can hardly interact with anyone because I'm either blowing up for no reason or acting like a spaz. At least I'm not cutting yet. Next option is to add Abilify which I have already taken. My options are just about gone.

Oh and Paxil, even though I weened myself off of that horrible crap, I had horrible side effects. I've heard some people liken it to heroin withdrawls. Sorry for going off-topic.

[edit on 10-6-2005 by Veltro]

I was on Zoloft for about 6 mons, and I grew breasts (I'm a guy). The only positive prescription experience I've ever had has been Valium.

I ran out of Zoloft on a friday, and the health department was closed for the weekend. The only thing I remember is not being able to control my facial movements. Ted said I looked like I was coming off of heroin, also.

On the following Monday, I went in twitching, shaking, and crying. They gave me a "little helper" and a full months' supply of Zoloft. Poof! Back to "normal."

Even though I'm still on it, I know it's bad for me. But like you, I am out of options. My body is falling apart, but everyone keeps saying that my brain is more important.

Dot.

I was on the stuff for about a year and I hated every minute of it. I gained weight and lost interest in sex all together. I didn't see any emotional changes that were worth the pain. I got off of it slowly and went thru withdraw and hated that just as much. Now I am finally free of zoloft and my life is much better.

Thanks for all the information all. I've been taking Zoloft for anxiety and I thin it has helped. But I have gained like 22 lbs. But I also eat a ton of pizza (I am in college). But I wanted to ask about it because I know drugs are bad for me. I had a friend on Paxil and it was the worse thing ever.

I hear that the best anti anxiety medication is Paxil. It's supposed to be a wonderdrug. I've known some people on it, and they swear by it.

I would encourage anyone who is not on Paxil to not take it unless as a last resort.

I've been on it, and it did work for me. But the side effects on withdrawl are awful, even worse than I was before I started. I was never suicidal until I tried to get off the Paxil. If you miss a couple days, you start getting electric jolts through your body, like when you touch your tongue to a 9 volt. Uncontrollable shaking, mood swings every 5 minutes, crying for no reason.

The best thing is that most doctors don't believe you about the withdrawls. I had to bring in Health Canada reports to prove I wasn't losing my mind.

For some it is. Not for me and for many people I know. It was the worst drugs I've taken aside from Haldol which made my eyes not able to focus leaving me nearly blind for a week. Thats was fun. And another one which made my feet swell up so badly I had to go to the hospital barefoot. It's sad when you've been on so many drugs you can't even remember which one it was without looking at your papers.

The Paxil also caused breast growth which still hasn't totally gone away. And the withdrawls caused hallucinations, weird eye movements, paranoia and other fun stuff even though I was brought down slowly off the stuff. My withdrawl experience on Zoloft was similar but not quite as bad.

I think that people with light depression might feel some benefits from it and I also believe that many of the rave reviews of this and other anti depressants come from people with light or moderate depression.

I think the people like myself that have been through the alphabet of psychiatric meds and are still really messed up might give a different response. But my opinion of the whole psych field is pretty dismal.

That is EXACTLY how I felt when I had to go for a weekend without Zoloft. The docs didn't believe me, either, when I told them it was DT's. So they sedated me and (like I said) gave me more Zoloft.

I posted a pic of what my meds have done to my feet in Blog #2. I didn't want to gross out the people who like to read Blog #1.

I dunno...should I post it here?

Dot.

[edit on 10-6-2005 by dotgov101]

Doctors can be such idiots sometimes. When I complained of withdrawls, mine said 'well, maybe you should just keep taking it'. No, maybe we should try something that doesn't make me want to kill myself, and shake like an alcoholic coming off a five day bender. I finally found a doctor who switched me to Prozac to ease the withdrawal from Paxil, and then weaned me off that. It really made a big difference.

I don't mind seing the picture, but if you're concerned, maybe just post a link. Then people can decide for themselves.

Okay, for all you foot-fetish people.....here's my feet...it's called edema. I find the cirrhosis and nephrotic syndrome worth noting.

this started two weeks ago..maybe a month:

Megan's Feet!

Oh, you poor girl. That looks so uncomfortable.

Can the doctors help, or are you stuck with it? I know exactly diddly squat about edema.

I'm not gonna look , but I know what that is and I feel for you.

Different people will respond in different ways to anti-depressants.

The key though, is not only giving them long enough to kick in (6-8 weeks, usually), but to NOT come off them cold turkey. Of course you'll feel lousy if you do that - they're meant to be tapered off (I ended up going cold turkey with Paxil - I was having surgery, and the medical team simply missed the order to keep giving me the darn things - and it's not pleasant).

And bear in mind - most people who do well on the SSRIs don't have a reason to knock 'em on messageboards....for every person who's had a bad time, there'll be at least one more who've had no problems.

So...if your friend has nasty side-effects, it doesn't mean you'll go through the same thing. Also, some people are unfortunate enough to require trying 3 or 4 different meds to find the one that's right for them....it's very frustrating, but it's worth being patient.

(besides - they're generally meant to help in tandem with therapy. These drugs won't cure depression, per se - but they'll often help while you're in therapy trying to get to the cause)

What does your medical team recommend? I'd generally trust their opinions a little more than those you'll find on a message board (with all due respect).

Good luck, either way

Doctors rely heavily on drug company reps, and the reps, like all salesman, want to push their new products. Some of the stories I've heard would make the hair on you head stand up striaght. Like drug companies offering prizes to doctors who write the most prescriptions for a hot new med. It can range from a new computer, to a Bahama vacation "seminar".

Since doctors are overworked, they rely on the handouts from the drug comps, and the drug comps don't like to give the downside of their own merchandise. So when some thing hairy happens, doctors are often un prepared.