Increased dose- panic attacks

Hi, I restarted 50mg Zoloft last week to which I felt it hadn’t really helped or caused any side effects. I was increased to 100mg on Tuesday I take my medication at night so it’s been 15 hours and I have started feeling panicy and a bit spaced out. Is this a coming side effect? It’s a horrible feeling .
Thank you

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Originally Posted by Hco

Hi, I restarted 50mg Zoloft last week to which I felt it hadn’t really helped or caused any side effects. I was increased to 100mg on Tuesday I take my medication at night so it’s been 15 hours and I have started feeling panicy and a bit spaced out. Is this a coming side effect? It’s a horrible feeling .
Thank you

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Antidepressants (ADs) can heighten anxiety, or trigger panic attacks in the beginning due to the increased serotonin activity. After a few weeks bio-feedback mechanisms kick-in and reduce serotonin synthesis and expression and the heightened anxiety begins to diminish.

For sertraline (Zoloft) the recommended starting dose for those with anxiety is 25mg for the first week, but many with depression alone can tolerate 50mg.

Did your GP tell you to increase the dose to 100mg after only a week?

I'm not surprised that it hasn't helped so far. ADs typically take 4-12 weeks to kick-in. They work by stimulating the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampal regions of the brain. It is these new cells and the connections they form which produces the therapeutic response, not the med directly, and they take about 7 weeks to grow and fully mature, although some improvement may occur earlier.