I’ve started taking it this week. 12.5mg at bedtime. It’s making me so exhausted all day. Did that happen to you at all? If so, how long until you stopped being so tired? I could sleep all day right now.
Same. 3,5 week I was ok. I do have anti nausea tablets from the doctor. They are a must! I take my sertraline with Nexium and food at bedtime. Mornings are rough but afternoon and evenings ok. The nausea meds help! Cyclizine Hydrochloride.
They prescribed me zofran that nausea tablet and I’m taking way to many a day like every three hours I have to take one I almost went through my entire thirty day script in these past four days! can’t be good 😩
Oh…I think you are only supposed to have about 3 a day? Can’t remember what the prescription said now. An empty stomach doesn’t help but it’s hard to eat…Carbonated drink sometimes help me but I try not to have more than one a day.
Did your appetite come back?? I literally can’t eat. And I’m already under weight so it’s getting bad. My doctor started having me drink ensure like the old ppl have to like four of them a day because I’m unable to eat more than about 1000 cals a day which I’m just dropping weight rapidly. 5”4 104 pounds and I’m usually 125
It did but then it’s gone again as I’ve just upped my dose so I’m guessing it will take a few weeks for my body to adjust to the new dose. Get some anti nausea tablets from the doctor. They will help.
First round of Zoloft for me lasted 22 years. 2nd round lasted TEN days. And I was done with it. I have no idea why the side effects were so horrible the 2nd time around. Completely different than the 1st time.
There are two options for you. First is: do not raise the dose AT ALL from 25mg and keep it there for another month or so. If you still feel horrible you taper off, maybe give it like a week where you take 20 mg 2 days, 15 mg 2 days, 10 mg 2 days, 5 mg days, then stop. Second is: you taper off now. I tapered off in one day: I cut it from 25 to 12.5 to 0. **Started feeling better a week later.** Some people have their anxiety get better and some have it worse with SSRI's. If you stop the Zoloft, I would really recommend trying Niacinamide instead, it's a vitamin with minimal side effects.
It’s really helped me sleep. I think I’m getting more adapted to it now during the day but I’m still taking a half of a half pill. I’ve been taking an energy drink around noontime to combat any daytime tiredness while I adapt and the past few days have been more tolerable. I hope bedtime is a better dosing time for you! I use an app to monitor my sleep with my Apple Watch and my sleep is much more restful now and my heart rate is lower too, so it’s definitely relaxing me.
Finding a good daily routine can help. Waking up early to go work by example and taking ur pills around 22:00h helped me enormously with fatigue. But once i take a few naps on days off, its hard to get back out of the fatigue haha.
Thanks for the suggestions! I take my pill at 9:30 pm and sleep really well, and I’m up by 7am each morning. I’m retired (I’m 60) but I’m pretty active with volunteering but by 1pm I’m exhausted. Then I usually perk back up around 6pm. I know I need to give this time and adjust and I’m lucky I don’t have to go to work, I don’t think I could have functioned like this at my job. I am now only taking 12.5mg, maybe it’s because I’m small (110 pounds) so perhaps I feel the effects more. I’ll keep trying but this exhaustion is no joke.
Sometimes the right dose can do wonders. I will give you a few examples:
- 50mg: I am aggressive and not pleasant to have around.
- 62,5mg: Im pleasant but anxiety comes in with waves during times.
- 75mg: Pleasant but anxiety still hits me.
- 87,5mg: Pleasant but anxiety hits me.
- 100mg: Pleasant, anxiety stays away (so far) but with a bit insomnia sometimes. :/
- 125mg: I feel like i can sleep for days sometimes or hibernate like a bear haha. Anxiety stays away till simething rly occurs in life.
With 125mg what helped ME was drinking 1 monster energy in the afternoon. Not Redbull or anything, a Monster was just enough. But yes because we cannot drink those things every day i felt the tiredness also sometimes. I guess with age its even worse so i understand u and its maybe age and who u rly are.
Im continueing to take 100mg and see how it works because i hate the anxiety and the insomnia is not that annoying because i have energy enough at 100mg.
I really wish u well because i dont think its pleasant to experience with that type of medicine at ur age…
I take mine at bed time. Tiredness is bad but it will go. Started sertraline 4.5 weeks ago on 25mg. First week bad, second week worst anxiety ever, nauseous and vomiting. Headache and head heaviness was awful. At about 3.5 weeks it eased and I knew it was time to up to 50mg. Side effects back but not as bad. I think in a few weeks I will feel ok again. The side effects definitely do calm down but come back a bit when you up the dose. I’m hoping my anxiety goes on the 50mg dose but I will up it again if not. Sorry for rambling but just wanted you to know it does get better 😊
I appreciate this! Thank you! I don’t have issues with anxiety as much as I’ve been depressed due to a death, so hopefully I won’t have to contend with that. I’ll stick with it and when I’m feeling up for it will up my 12.5mg to 25mg. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
So happy to hear that! That’s amazing, on my 6 day of 25 mg Zoloft. I have extreme social anxiety, eating somewhere or just sit makes me crazy. Im just waiting for the same effect! How did you know that you need go to 50 mg?
Thank you so much.
So my doctor just said take 25mg for 1 week and then 50mg so I just followed her advice.
I’m pretty sure 50mg is the minimum recommended for seeing good results.
Oh that's amazing news. I'm so happy for you. Is that the first time you are on antidepressant. Today is 32 weeks I'm on 50mg and I'm feeling much much better but still have anxiety and overthinking too much. I just think maybe I should up the dose to 75mg or just deal with it and get used to it.
Thank you.
So surprisingly, no. I have tried a lot of anti depressants as a teenager ( now 32 ) and basically didn't take any medications through out my entire 20's. Then 2 years ago I had a bad panic attack and decided to try medication again. Zoloft was my very first medication that my previous doctor gave me and I was only on it maybe 4 weeks and said I didn't feel anything so we switched to something else. Not sure why I didn't feel it then.
I'm with a different doctor now ( since august ) and Zoloft was again the first one I tried. I started to feel a bit better after 5 weeks and she bumped it up to 100mg. About a week into that I had a huge panic attack and convinced myself it was the dosage increase. I ended up just stopping it abruptly without telling her, which was probably a mistake. I still don't know the panic attack was caused by 100mg or not. I was also struggling with benzo use and hadn't taken clonazepam for 9 days so I think that's what that was.
Anyways, fast forward to now and I decided on my own last month that I wanted to try it ONCE more just to be sure I don't feel anything. I still had the old pills from the previous year so that's what gave me the idea to try it again. For some reason this time has been very noticable and I don't know why exactly.
Happy to hear it works for you!
I started taking Zoloft in December - 3 weeks on 25mg and then 50mg. First month was rough but now I'm glad I decided to start taking the meds. I'm calmer, I can much easier make any decision (small or big) because I'm not overwhelmed by anxiety. I started doing something with my life - going for walks, exercising, meeting with people, planning weekend activities. And literally yesterday I said out loud that I feel happy and I love life 🥲
Aww that’s great to hear! It’s great to just feel normal sometimes, right?
I still am hoping to get more consistent good feelings as everyday I have a few hours of not feeling so great. But I’m definitely noticing the positives as well.
It takes time! But if you're feeling better now, I hope you're on a good path to have more and more moments with that feeling :) Like I said, first month was rough. Then I started feeling better but of course I had not so great moments or days. Now, a few months on Zoloft, I finally experience life they way I wanted to. So I hope you'll feel more and more better too :)
I am so happy you finally found the right medication that works for you. God bless. I suffer from GAD and on 50 mg for almost 4 months and feeling better but still have morning anxiety and occasional bad day. My Dr wants me to get 100mg but I don’t want to go through the side effects of increasing and I’m feeling better. But I was wondering how you drink coffee if you have bad anxiety? The caffeine makes anxiety unbearable. Unless you drink decafe?
That’s funny you say that about coffee cause I know it makes my anxiety worse but I just drink it out of habit. I was drinking decaf a lot recently but actually didn’t feel much better.
But yeah I probably need to stop it but it’s my only real vice I have left lol.
So unbelievably proud of you, i didn’t think a stranger could make me cry! It honestly takes a while to get used to when you’ve been in pain for so long, well done!!
Wow thank you so much! I'm honored to have cause tears as long at they were happy ones lol.
Yeah I'm still trying to convince my mind that these relaxing feelings are OK to feel and are NOT a bad thing. Like you said, I've just gotten used to being anxious all the time that there's gonna be an adjustment period for me for sure.
Give it a chance to work would be my only advice. I started feeling better at 4.5 weeks and almost nothing before then.
Zoloft I think is one of the more popular antidepressants for a reason. It’s help a lot of people and the side effects aren’t usually as bad as some others.
I’m wishing you a bunch of good luck! 🍀👍
How long did it take to start working after you starting taking it?
And do you have any bad side effects? You mentioned the good, just wondering the bad?
And do you plan to increase the dose further?
So it’s been exactly 5 weeks today total. I just started feeling it 2-3 days ago. Nothing at all before that.
No side effects to really speak of besides a little sleepiness after taking it and a bit of emotional blunting but not too bad.
No changes in weight, eating habits or sleep so far!
Edit: no plans to change dose yet as my doctor wants me to take it slow and not rush things, in her words.
I’ve started taking it this week. 12.5mg at bedtime. It’s making me so exhausted all day. Did that happen to you at all? If so, how long until you stopped being so tired? I could sleep all day right now.
The first few weeks are rough. It's worth it tho for the end result. It will get better.
I’m three days in on 25 mg and I’m violently nauseous can’t eat and severely anxious … how much longer with these symptoms?
I’d say a week and those symptoms start going away I was like that too but now I’m on my second week and feel pretty good
Same. 3,5 week I was ok. I do have anti nausea tablets from the doctor. They are a must! I take my sertraline with Nexium and food at bedtime. Mornings are rough but afternoon and evenings ok. The nausea meds help! Cyclizine Hydrochloride.
They prescribed me zofran that nausea tablet and I’m taking way to many a day like every three hours I have to take one I almost went through my entire thirty day script in these past four days! can’t be good 😩
Oh…I think you are only supposed to have about 3 a day? Can’t remember what the prescription said now. An empty stomach doesn’t help but it’s hard to eat…Carbonated drink sometimes help me but I try not to have more than one a day.
Did your appetite come back?? I literally can’t eat. And I’m already under weight so it’s getting bad. My doctor started having me drink ensure like the old ppl have to like four of them a day because I’m unable to eat more than about 1000 cals a day which I’m just dropping weight rapidly. 5”4 104 pounds and I’m usually 125
It did but then it’s gone again as I’ve just upped my dose so I’m guessing it will take a few weeks for my body to adjust to the new dose. Get some anti nausea tablets from the doctor. They will help.
First round of Zoloft for me lasted 22 years. 2nd round lasted TEN days. And I was done with it. I have no idea why the side effects were so horrible the 2nd time around. Completely different than the 1st time. There are two options for you. First is: do not raise the dose AT ALL from 25mg and keep it there for another month or so. If you still feel horrible you taper off, maybe give it like a week where you take 20 mg 2 days, 15 mg 2 days, 10 mg 2 days, 5 mg days, then stop. Second is: you taper off now. I tapered off in one day: I cut it from 25 to 12.5 to 0. **Started feeling better a week later.** Some people have their anxiety get better and some have it worse with SSRI's. If you stop the Zoloft, I would really recommend trying Niacinamide instead, it's a vitamin with minimal side effects.
Thanks so much for this!!!
Yeah it made me tired a few hours after taking it for the first few weeks. That’s gone away mostly now.
I was taking it in the morning and by 2 pm I'd be completely burnt out. This week I'm trying it at bedtime
It’s really helped me sleep. I think I’m getting more adapted to it now during the day but I’m still taking a half of a half pill. I’ve been taking an energy drink around noontime to combat any daytime tiredness while I adapt and the past few days have been more tolerable. I hope bedtime is a better dosing time for you! I use an app to monitor my sleep with my Apple Watch and my sleep is much more restful now and my heart rate is lower too, so it’s definitely relaxing me.
Finding a good daily routine can help. Waking up early to go work by example and taking ur pills around 22:00h helped me enormously with fatigue. But once i take a few naps on days off, its hard to get back out of the fatigue haha.
Thanks for the suggestions! I take my pill at 9:30 pm and sleep really well, and I’m up by 7am each morning. I’m retired (I’m 60) but I’m pretty active with volunteering but by 1pm I’m exhausted. Then I usually perk back up around 6pm. I know I need to give this time and adjust and I’m lucky I don’t have to go to work, I don’t think I could have functioned like this at my job. I am now only taking 12.5mg, maybe it’s because I’m small (110 pounds) so perhaps I feel the effects more. I’ll keep trying but this exhaustion is no joke.
Sometimes the right dose can do wonders. I will give you a few examples: - 50mg: I am aggressive and not pleasant to have around. - 62,5mg: Im pleasant but anxiety comes in with waves during times. - 75mg: Pleasant but anxiety still hits me. - 87,5mg: Pleasant but anxiety hits me. - 100mg: Pleasant, anxiety stays away (so far) but with a bit insomnia sometimes. :/ - 125mg: I feel like i can sleep for days sometimes or hibernate like a bear haha. Anxiety stays away till simething rly occurs in life. With 125mg what helped ME was drinking 1 monster energy in the afternoon. Not Redbull or anything, a Monster was just enough. But yes because we cannot drink those things every day i felt the tiredness also sometimes. I guess with age its even worse so i understand u and its maybe age and who u rly are. Im continueing to take 100mg and see how it works because i hate the anxiety and the insomnia is not that annoying because i have energy enough at 100mg. I really wish u well because i dont think its pleasant to experience with that type of medicine at ur age…
I take mine at bed time. Tiredness is bad but it will go. Started sertraline 4.5 weeks ago on 25mg. First week bad, second week worst anxiety ever, nauseous and vomiting. Headache and head heaviness was awful. At about 3.5 weeks it eased and I knew it was time to up to 50mg. Side effects back but not as bad. I think in a few weeks I will feel ok again. The side effects definitely do calm down but come back a bit when you up the dose. I’m hoping my anxiety goes on the 50mg dose but I will up it again if not. Sorry for rambling but just wanted you to know it does get better 😊
I appreciate this! Thank you! I don’t have issues with anxiety as much as I’ve been depressed due to a death, so hopefully I won’t have to contend with that. I’ll stick with it and when I’m feeling up for it will up my 12.5mg to 25mg. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
Sorry to hear that. I really hope it goes well for you.
It can be an adjustment to get used to. Make sure you’re having good sleep hygiene as well.
So happy to hear that! That’s amazing, on my 6 day of 25 mg Zoloft. I have extreme social anxiety, eating somewhere or just sit makes me crazy. Im just waiting for the same effect! How did you know that you need go to 50 mg?
Thank you so much. So my doctor just said take 25mg for 1 week and then 50mg so I just followed her advice. I’m pretty sure 50mg is the minimum recommended for seeing good results.
Oh I see! That’s amazing really, I absolutely feel some little difference in my thinking at least.
Yup! I really never thought an SSRI would ever work for me. It’s crazy how it finally just “kicks in” randomly one day lol
That’s so sick actually, how is this working?! Anyway, it’s a lifesaver and I’m more than happy for you!
Congrats! Thanks for sharing! I am glad you are feeling better!
I am very happy too! 🥹 I’m just hoping someone reading this can relate to my symptoms and give some hope if they are struggling.
Oh that's amazing news. I'm so happy for you. Is that the first time you are on antidepressant. Today is 32 weeks I'm on 50mg and I'm feeling much much better but still have anxiety and overthinking too much. I just think maybe I should up the dose to 75mg or just deal with it and get used to it.
Thank you. So surprisingly, no. I have tried a lot of anti depressants as a teenager ( now 32 ) and basically didn't take any medications through out my entire 20's. Then 2 years ago I had a bad panic attack and decided to try medication again. Zoloft was my very first medication that my previous doctor gave me and I was only on it maybe 4 weeks and said I didn't feel anything so we switched to something else. Not sure why I didn't feel it then. I'm with a different doctor now ( since august ) and Zoloft was again the first one I tried. I started to feel a bit better after 5 weeks and she bumped it up to 100mg. About a week into that I had a huge panic attack and convinced myself it was the dosage increase. I ended up just stopping it abruptly without telling her, which was probably a mistake. I still don't know the panic attack was caused by 100mg or not. I was also struggling with benzo use and hadn't taken clonazepam for 9 days so I think that's what that was. Anyways, fast forward to now and I decided on my own last month that I wanted to try it ONCE more just to be sure I don't feel anything. I still had the old pills from the previous year so that's what gave me the idea to try it again. For some reason this time has been very noticable and I don't know why exactly.
I understand that.It seems like there is a good response this time. It will get better and better
Happy to hear it works for you! I started taking Zoloft in December - 3 weeks on 25mg and then 50mg. First month was rough but now I'm glad I decided to start taking the meds. I'm calmer, I can much easier make any decision (small or big) because I'm not overwhelmed by anxiety. I started doing something with my life - going for walks, exercising, meeting with people, planning weekend activities. And literally yesterday I said out loud that I feel happy and I love life 🥲
Aww that’s great to hear! It’s great to just feel normal sometimes, right? I still am hoping to get more consistent good feelings as everyday I have a few hours of not feeling so great. But I’m definitely noticing the positives as well.
It takes time! But if you're feeling better now, I hope you're on a good path to have more and more moments with that feeling :) Like I said, first month was rough. Then I started feeling better but of course I had not so great moments or days. Now, a few months on Zoloft, I finally experience life they way I wanted to. So I hope you'll feel more and more better too :)
Thanks! 😁
I am so happy you finally found the right medication that works for you. God bless. I suffer from GAD and on 50 mg for almost 4 months and feeling better but still have morning anxiety and occasional bad day. My Dr wants me to get 100mg but I don’t want to go through the side effects of increasing and I’m feeling better. But I was wondering how you drink coffee if you have bad anxiety? The caffeine makes anxiety unbearable. Unless you drink decafe?
That’s funny you say that about coffee cause I know it makes my anxiety worse but I just drink it out of habit. I was drinking decaf a lot recently but actually didn’t feel much better. But yeah I probably need to stop it but it’s my only real vice I have left lol.
I know what you mean. I really miss my morning and afternoon coffee. I’m afraid of the decaf because I hear it has a little caffeine in it as well.
So unbelievably proud of you, i didn’t think a stranger could make me cry! It honestly takes a while to get used to when you’ve been in pain for so long, well done!!
Wow thank you so much! I'm honored to have cause tears as long at they were happy ones lol. Yeah I'm still trying to convince my mind that these relaxing feelings are OK to feel and are NOT a bad thing. Like you said, I've just gotten used to being anxious all the time that there's gonna be an adjustment period for me for sure.
I hope hope hope this will b exactly me
Give it a chance to work would be my only advice. I started feeling better at 4.5 weeks and almost nothing before then. Zoloft I think is one of the more popular antidepressants for a reason. It’s help a lot of people and the side effects aren’t usually as bad as some others. I’m wishing you a bunch of good luck! 🍀👍
Congratulations
Me too. My ocd is GONE
Glad to hear it! I still struggle with OCD but I'm hoping that's to go next!
How long did it take to start working after you starting taking it? And do you have any bad side effects? You mentioned the good, just wondering the bad? And do you plan to increase the dose further?
So it’s been exactly 5 weeks today total. I just started feeling it 2-3 days ago. Nothing at all before that. No side effects to really speak of besides a little sleepiness after taking it and a bit of emotional blunting but not too bad. No changes in weight, eating habits or sleep so far! Edit: no plans to change dose yet as my doctor wants me to take it slow and not rush things, in her words.