Two Days on Zoloft

I posted about this on the Health Anxiety board, but I thought maybe it would go better here. I hope it isn't considered spamming the board.

For anyone who has already read my woes on the other thread, I apologize.

Anyhow, I have night body vibrations. I wake up between four and six AM with terrible internal vibrations in my upper body. I have recently gone for blood work and a 24 hour urine test. I don't know the results yet. I also take B12 injections. I am on Synthroid, Ativan and Zocor.

My body processes medication moreso than normal people. While someone may get a little drowsy from a medication, I'd be out for two days. Therefore, my doctor prescribed 25mg of Zoloft. I break the tablet in half.

I began taking it on Christmas night. I woke up as usual with the vibrations but fell asleep. When I finally got up yesterday, I felt great -- more normal that I have felt in months. I had no fear of taking the half pill again last night. Woke up again with the vibrations and fell back to sleep. When I got up, I experienced horrible dry mouth, nausea, light headedness and a trancelike (fuzzy) feeling.

Those of you who are taking this pill and had side effects, does this sound like the pill is doing this? I know some people have been lucky not to have side effects, and after yesterday I though maybe I was one of the lucky ones. I guess I should have known better.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Hi, I've not been on this stuff for very long and I've not really noticed any side effects because I was in such a deep pit of illness, anxiety and depression before I started taking them that I was already suffering too many things to tell. I'm now better than I was, probably because I've been getting more sleep and being on medication has made me feel like I will get somewhere. Anyway, it's day 9 of Zoloft/Sertraline at 50mg for me.

Antidepressants usually have no effect when you first start taking them. 12.5mg of Zoloft is unlikely to have any noticable effect on your mood or in terms of symptoms. I think it's more likely that the symptoms you got were due to not sleeping well, or just a continuation of anxiety symptoms you were feeling before. Anxiety can cause all kinds of symptoms. It is possible that there was a placebo effect from the new medication that made you feel better the first day.

I have no medical training and the advice I give is based only on my own experiences and those of people I know, and the research I've done into SSRIs. Keep taking the Zoloft unless it is clearly making you a lot worse. You have to stick with it for at least 4-6 weeks.

hi hon.
i think its prob just the new meds making you feel like this. again i am only speaking from experience but when i started on citalopram i began to feel better but i did get some new symptoms, i sort of think it was maybe my body starting to relax or maybe just getting used to the medication. these feelings did settle gradually over the first four weeks.
if youre worried get in touch with the dr.. or speak to a pharmacist about the meds.

take care

andrea x x

Hi Corinne,

You mentioned in your other thread that you experienced the vibrations before you took the Zoloft if I remember right? Can you tell me if your sleep pattern was out of kilter at all? I know that as ive got older, if I don't get alot of sleep...and by that I mean reading in bed til 3-4am because I can't sleep, so that if I only manage 3-4 hours sleep after the reading then I feel my body vibrating inside the following day, a sort of buzzy feeling. If I manage to sleep better with say around 6 or 7 hours then I don't get the vibrations...unless ive had too much wine before bed that is! But if this is not your problem then it could be that you have to give the zoloft time to work properly, and maybe after a few more weeks on it the vibrations will disappear.

Going home xx

Thank you both! As the day wore on, I began to feel somewhat better. I take the medicine around 10:30 at night. I was told to do this by a friend who is on Zoloft. She said that the side effects would be less by taking it before I go to bed.

I will keep it up for at least a few weeks to see if it helps. I know that the 12.5mg isn't much, but with my metabalism, I can't handle more right now. I have such weird body chemistry!

When I first started taking taking It was horrid - my anxiety went throw the roof and I woke in the night with panic attacks. Im now up to 100mg and take in the morning as it was easier to deal with the side effects fully awake than waking with them half a sleep. I've been on months and still have dry mouth, but other than that most side effects have gone. It did take over 6weeks for the side effect to settle with me tho - every1 different.

Going Home-- I missed this in your post before. Yes, the vibrations started before the Zoloft. The doctor thinks it's anxiety, yet is testing me for adrenal and pituitary tumors. Last night was horrible. I couldn't get to sleep. Finally fell asleep at almost five. The dog heard something outside at six and barked her head off waking me up. My sleep pattern is a mess, but I really think something is wrong other than anxiety. My body is vibrating during the day now too, but not as crazy as when I awaken from sleep. I hate nights. This is not normal. I'm not doing well today.

Panic33 -- If this is going to last for six weeks, I don't think I can do it. Between the legitimate health problems I have, and the anxiety on top of it, I just don't have a lot of fight left.