Started Zoloft 4 days ago, not doing too well.

[MrBlack95]

So the past 4 weeks I’ve been going through possibly the worst phase in my health anxiety yet, I went from brain tumour to bone cancer, then lymphoma to leukaemia, which I’m still currently fixated on. I had a blood test 3 weeks ago, which showed I had elevated wbc, doctor reassured me that at 12.7 this was indicative of infection, lining up with my at the time cough and on off fevers, mainly low grade. A week later after a course of strong antibiotics, I go for another blood test at my gp (first was at ER, I know…) this blood test showed that my wbc was still raised, but lower than before, and I also have elevated liver enzymes…fun. They want me to do another blood test in 4 weeks. So a week and my mental health has deteriorated every day, thinking my next blood test is gonna be a mess. I quickly realised that I’m not gonna mentally make it through the next 3 weeks so I went back to my gp who prescribed me 50mg of Zoloft. I’m aware of the side effects, but my problem is it’s literally cranked everyone of my already existing anxiety symptoms up to 100, the dizziness, the sweating, the heart rate, the worrying over every body sensation, and on top of all that I feel exhausted but can’t seem to sleep. I just can’t win it seems, I haven’t been to work in 3 days because I can’t leave the house without profusely sweating out my forehead. I’m really struggling on what to do next, do I keep taking the medication? Do I go back to my gp about my health worries? I just feel so lost…desperate for some advice if anyone can spare the time.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Sorry you're going through this! I had to stop Zoloft after a week because I just couldn't handle the side effects. That said, my anxiety got really bad again a few weeks ago and I contemplated trying something like it again. And then decided against it and worked hard on putting into practice all the tools I already had. But it comes and goes in cycles.
I can't really tell you what to do. Your HA is really bad and you really need to do something about it, but medication takes a while to work and the side effects can be really bad. Can you ask your GP for a temporary prescription of something like Xanax, which can help counter the side effects for the first few weeks?

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[panic_down_under]

I went back to my gp who prescribed me 50mg of Zoloft. I'm aware of the side effects, but my problem is it's literally cranked everyone of my already existing anxiety symptoms up to 100, the dizziness, the sweating, the heart rate, the worrying over every body sensation, and on top of all that I feel exhausted but can't seem to sleep.

Unfortunately, these are all typical initial SSRI side-effects caused by an increase in serotonin activity. They usually ease after a while as bio-feedback mechanisms kick-in and reduce serotonin synthesis and expression. The high starting dose also did you know favours. While 50mg is the usual starting dose for depression those of us with anxiety disorders often do better starting on 25mg. However, as you've been on it for nearly a week there is no point in cutting back the dose now.

Talk to your GP about the symptoms as their severity can be eased. You really should get something for the med induced insomnia as lack of sleep will often make the other side-effects harder to cope with.

I'm really struggling on what to do next, do I keep taking the medication?

I would as you're now nearly a week closer to the side-effects diminishing and also the med working. The issues your taking it for probably haven't gone away.

Do I go back to my gp about my health worries?

As per above, talk to your GP about the side-effects as they can often be eased to tolerable levels.