Oh, man you are 14?! I have been diagnosed with severe panic disorder and moderate anxiety. I refused to take a daily pill till I was 30. Since then I have been on an ssri. It sucks but eventually you get to the point when you realize that it's a chemical imbalance in your brain. You are not screwed up or misguided. You have a chemical imbalance. Don't feel alone. There are so many people who truly understand what you're going through. Life is worth living; even for people like us.
Thank you for your kindness and encouragement. I am in the final stages of weaning off antidepressants. Amidst the unpleasant discontinuation symptoms, it's comforting to know I'm not alone. I, too, believe in God and will join you in prayer. God can bring a greater good out of our suffering. We can choose to let it be an occasion to love and to trust Him to lead and guide us and to heal us. I'm glad you're going into a field where you can do so much good. God bless you and your work!
Could someone who has gotten past the withdrawl symptoms write and indicate how long it took them to get there? Much appreciated. And also, to those claim permanant brain damage, is there any proof or even a medical report that would indicate this as possible? Something to back up your claims?
I was hoping u will read this... my grandson was put on a generic zoloft at age 6 for anxiety. It was going amazing until the pharmacy changed the company without telling us. I noticed something major wrong the day he started the new drug. He couldn't sit still. We shortly had to take him off it. He has not been the same since. He does things that we have to pin him down. He doesn't remember what he does during these episodes. The Dr wanted to hospitalive him, but I'm taking care of him. Can a drug permently damage his brain? We had to stop school too. We're lost. We're getting him tested for autism on Tuesday. I really believe this drug did something to himake though... please let me know if you are aware of anything like this...
Can you give me some advice. Please. My name is Karin. Thank you in advance.
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Hi
I've been on Sertraline (generic Zoloft) for close to 7 years now. I started with 50m and have gradually moved up to 100m. It took me a good 3 to 4 months to get past the initial side effects. I was jittery, anxious, mood swings, felt like I was in a daze, couldn't recall things. However, these gradually decreased over time and disappeared completely. I recently increased my dosage from 75M to 100m. Its been about two months, and I'm feeling some of the side effects again. Especially the memory loss. I'm hoping these would subside in the next couple of weeks/months. I have no plans of stopping the medication and I'm not sure of any long term side effects. I've asked my DR about this and she said that there are no long term side effects.
I do have to say that with the negatives, there are more positives. Personally, I feel like this drug changed my life. Before taking it, I would have depression episodes followed by bouts of anxiety and in between i was very angry at everyone. Depression was a part of my life for as long as I can remember and now that is not the case.
Depression is the worst illness of all. If you have it, you don't feel like wanting to get better. Unless you've gone through it, you don't understand what it feels like to be depressed. The fact is Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Just like any other medial condition, if you can treat successfully with medication, than why not try it? If you feel like you can manage it through other means, then go for it. There is no right or wrong, just do what you need to do to get better and moving on with your life.
Best of Luck
I've been on Sertraline (generic Zoloft) for close to 7 years now. I started with 50m and have gradually moved up to 100m. It took me a good 3 to 4 months to get past the initial side effects. I was jittery, anxious, mood swings, felt like I was in a daze, couldn't recall things. However, these gradually decreased over time and disappeared completely. I recently increased my dosage from 75M to 100m. Its been about two months, and I'm feeling some of the side effects again. Especially the memory loss. I'm hoping these would subside in the next couple of weeks/months. I have no plans of stopping the medication and I'm not sure of any long term side effects. I've asked my DR about this and she said that there are no long term side effects.
I do have to say that with the negatives, there are more positives. Personally, I feel like this drug changed my life. Before taking it, I would have depression episodes followed by bouts of anxiety and in between i was very angry at everyone. Depression was a part of my life for as long as I can remember and now that is not the case.
Depression is the worst illness of all. If you have it, you don't feel like wanting to get better. Unless you've gone through it, you don't understand what it feels like to be depressed. The fact is Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Just like any other medial condition, if you can treat successfully with medication, than why not try it? If you feel like you can manage it through other means, then go for it. There is no right or wrong, just do what you need to do to get better and moving on with your life.
Best of Luck
Been on it 10 + years at 250 mg. Also on Effexor 150 mg. I used to be a skilled guitarist and musician, had an amazing girl, and had a personality like no other. It's gone now. I'm typing this while I sit at my house alone, eating pizza and completely in darkness. This is my life now: dullness, anxiety, social phobia, suicidal thoughts daily. I know the risk of getting off the meds and the Hell I could face from my OCD but I so badly want my personality back.This is Hell on Earth.
I am 36 years old and took Zoloft 100mg for 15years! I quit cold turkey two different times. I quit cold turkey a year and a half ago. I am feeling the same way but at least ten times worse. It’s very scary feeling and I don’t want to live my life this way. It’s not me and there’s no escaping the super short term memory loss and losing everything around you. I’m OCD, the organized nice and neat freak kind. Having this brain and memory issue is the most frustrating thing for someone with OCD. It’s caused my anxiety and panic to go through the roof and I’ve lost interest in everything. I have major anger issues and get fighting mad over the stupidest things. But it seems to happen daily and it’s wearing on me. I was never this way on Zoloft or before Zoloft. Just after. 15 years is way too long to be taking that type of medicine.
I too am getting zaps
Please tell me, does this state (brain fog bad memory) improve over time?
It’s been over 2 years for me and I am starting to think this is permanent as I don’t there is a way to fix the brain damage!!!
It’s been over 2 years for me and I am starting to think this is permanent as I don’t there is a way to fix the brain damage!!!
My daughter is 12 years old and has been suffering from depression for over a year. She is in 7th grade, it is a very difficult age. I reluctantly requested ZOLOFT on April 7th, 2018. She gets her doses at night. On April 18th she forgot to take her dose. On April 19th at 10:30AM, while she was at school, she began "ticking". At the time, it was a shoulder tic, it was every 5-7 seconds. I rushed her to the ER. She ended up at CHOP, then to her pediatrician the following Monday. She got a CT scan. Her tics are now vocal and physical. they are non stop. The doctors (none of them) believe it is from the ZOLOFT. I DO. This is NOT a coincidence that she missed a dose of ZOLOFT, and developed tics the next day. I ordered an MRI with and without contrast. They did not believe it was necessary - but I DEMANDED it. It was done at Cooper on Thursday, May 3. Yesterday, Friday, May 4th I received the results of that MRI. My daughter has a 4mm lesion in the left inferior frontal lobe gyrus. The appearance is 'nonspecific'. She has a neurologist appointment on Wednesday, May 9th. I will keep you posted....
Hi there. Your prayers and advice are welcome! My son is 19 years old and suffers from low self esteem, OCD, anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia (he is diagnosed with Aspergers as well). My son was placed on Zoloft 50 mg for the first week and then up to 100 mg. From day one my son was having negative effects. His depression worsened. My already underweight son lost his appetite and lost 7 pounds in the first two weeks. This psychiatrist who prescribed the zoloft is supposed to support people with eating disorders and I called to let him know the negative effects and that he lost weight. He told me to have him keep taking it and that it takes atleast 3-4 weeks to start working. I called him several times throughout the month with the negative symptoms my son was having and he even suggest upping the dose. My son went in to see him and he told him to keep taking it. Finally after about 5 weeks and no improvement my son took himself off and starting really feeling much worse. His father told him to go back on the meds. So he started taking them again. The going off and then on seemed to make my son even worse with his depression and suicical thoughts. One minute he would say the zoloft makes him feel worse but after he would take the pill he would feel better for a bit. Overall this has not been a good fit for my son. It made his depression far worse. He became emotionally flat and lost even more weight. He was 105 pounds at the doctors last visit. Finally he believed us that he needed to get off the zoloft. We decreased from 100 to 75 to 50 to 25 then off. My son is suffering from symptoms of depersonaliztion. He says he feels he has brain damage, feels disabled, like he can't concentrate and has lost him memory. He doesn't know who he is any more. I was so desperate I even looked into medical cannibis throughout this entire process which my son thought initially helped (we tried CBD oil to releive his anxiety and depression and bad effects of the zoloft). We are scared to take anything now as we just want his brain to go back to normal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!:) Thank you!