zoloft causing anxiety?

[kallie0509]

hi, i'm new here. i've been on zoloft for 6 days now for my depression and panic disorder. doc started me out at 25mg to see how it will work for me but i feel my anxiety has gotten worse in the past couple of days and i can't sleep. the anxiety is keeping me up at night. wasn't this bad before the meds. i get so tired i go to bed at 8p.m. when i used to stay up til midnight or so, but then i wake up at 1a.m. and with throat tightness and i can't breathe well and can't go back to sleep which sucks because i have to get up at 6 for my job and then i'm just tired at work all day and full of anxiety and my hands shake really bad. it's almost 3a.m. here and i've been up since 1:30a.m.....this is what i'm talking about.....

does it get worse before it gets better?

[Panic33]

My anxiety went through the roof for about 10days when I started taking - was awful, it does die down but I still get spells of headache tiredness and brain fog which I think is from the meds and im in week 6.

[sue.b]

Hi Kallie


Sorry to hear you are having a rotten time at the moment.

My anxiety got much worse at first when i start with sertraline as it did when i had to increase my dose. It gradually died down after 2 weeks though.

Yes I felt much worse before i started to feel better. It can be quite a slow process, so don't get disheartend (says she)..lol. My psychiatrist told me "you have to get to the right dose for the right amount of time for you".

Hope you have a better day today.

Take care

Sue

[S.J.]

Hi.
I was prscribed 50mg of sertraline in 2004 and it made me much worse too so I went back to my doctor after suffering for about 4 months and was put on something else. However, long story short, and due to having a negligent doctor, I was recently put back on it only this time I had to up the dose gradually to 150mg. This made me severely ill, major panic attacks, anxiety levels through the roof and it brought about aother symptom, Agrophobia. I put up with it for 4 weeks (and was off work for 4 wks due to it too) but by then I was very close to being admitted into hospital. As I'm sure you know, you do have to be patient before deciding if it's the right drug for you or not but my advice would be... If your symptoms are still getting worse after 4 weeks then maybe you should go and ask about an alternative. by 4 weeks the side effects should definately be easing off. I know it means starting from scratch with another med but I can't stress enough how close I was to going into hospital because of that drug. Everyone is different and hopefully the side effects will ease off soon for you. Good luck with it, I hope i've helped a bit with my experience? Take care.S.J

[Panic33]

Im in week 7 now and all side effects have gone, Im 99% back to my normal self at the mo. I would give it time - I went through hell for weeks, far worse than when I started the meds, but now I nearly back to norm

[kallie0509]

well i've been on for 2 weeks now and still anxious. it's frustrating. a friend of mine says that i seem alot calmer and i guess i do feel a little calmer and no panic attacks...just terrible anxiety that lasts for hours and hours (dizziness, trembling down to my bones, tight throat, hard to breathe). i'm only on 25mg and go back to the doc this week so she'll prolly increase the dose. i dunno...it's just frustrating cause i was so proud of myself for finally making the move to get help after suffering for 15 years and just wanted instant gratification i guess.

[Panic33]

I was like that - the strange thing is only since I was up'd from 50mg to 100mg have I felt better.

[BexieB]

Hi Kallie

I'm afraid instant gratification is not something that these meds deliver. Far from it. My anx also went through the roof when I first took this meds, took 3 weeks before panic attacks stopped (i didn't have PAs before the meds). Depression also set in because progress was SO slow. It was three months before i felt that i had rejoined the human race.

One thing to note is not only is progress slow but it is also very subtle. Don't expect to wake up one morning with everything back to normal. Each day brings TINY improvements and then every so often you slide backwards. But the overall recovery will happen. As I said it was three months before i had a 'fully normal' day.

We all know how AWFUL you feel, no other illness compares to mood disorders. But the meds are good, they WILL work.

How is your sleep now?

[kallie0509]

my sleep is ok. i guess i see what you mean about subtle, tiny improvments everyday. what gets me most days is the constant trembling and tightness in my throat all day, everyday. i will be so happy when those two symptoms are gone.

[BexieB]

Hi Kallie

Glad things are improving. Remember you really are in the very, very early days of this med. And well done for sticking with it, many bale out too early.

I won't say you're through the worst of it because the days and weeks just seem to drag at this stage, each day seems the same as the next. Until you look back at a week, two weeks or maybe even a month previous and see improvement. But this improvement is never good enough for us as we yearn to be our normal selves, 99% recovery doesn't cut it. But that self will return, probably in a few months time.

Try and do whatever you can to make yourself feel a little bit better in the meentime, but the illness will run it's own natural (and frustratingly long) course.

Believe me you're doing great