Posted by Smiley on April 23, 2001, at 10:43:32
In reply to withdrawal from zoloft - need advice..., posted by missy77 on April 22, 2001, at 16:54:29
Hi Missy,
-It sounds like you are going through a living hell. I am not a shrink, or a doctor, and I can only hope that my words will help you in some way. I took Zoloft for a year-and-a-half. I started at 25mg and by the time I went off cold-turkey because I didn't have the co-pay to pay for my prescription, I was up to 150mg. I only weigh 92 lbs. Number one, if your therapist doesn't work for you, you need to find a different one.
-This is my experience on Zoloft. I am normally a really patient person, and do not blow up real easy. But of course, I had problems in my life that would make me want to just blow up at someone. Zoloft took that edge off for me. By the time I got to 150mg, even if I was angry, I couldn't tune into it. I was completely numb to all feelings, all emotions, including happiness, and enjoying the sunshine.
-I stayed on this medicine because my psych doc felt the smaller doses were not working for me, and just kept upping the mgs. everytime I would see him.
-Having severe ups and downs is trying emotionally, I know, been through that somewhat. But, ad medicines are supposed to help level you out. I too got fed up with the medicine, and wanted to stop taking it, but I could not tolerate the Zoloft withdrawals. I had extreme headaches, got nauseous, got dizzy, etc... My doctor told me to go back on it, and slowly wean myself off.
-Missy, there is help out there, but, you've got to keep trying. You need to ask a doctor if that is really the right medicine for you. Tell your doctor (therapist) what you've been going through. I honestly do not feel like the Zoloft is doing the trick for you, but like I said, I am no MD.
-After 2 years, I just started a different medicine, after trying so many others, and it may be doing the trick for me. I'll just have to wait & see. Please don't stop taking the medicine just because your boyfriend wants you to.
-Yes, I did feel like I could feel again after I stopped taking the Zoloft. Life almost returned to normal. But if you are experiencing severe highs and lows, sometimes therapy will help. You just have to find the right one.
-I found that my psychriatic doctor knew more about ad drugs than my family doctor did. Maybe this will help for you.-Take care of yourself. Staying on a medicine is a decision you will have to make, but you should only decide to go off it, with your doctor's advice, me I didn't know about the withdrawl effects of Zoloft, until is was too late. Now, I am trying to be more responsible for myself and checking into the information I can find.
-Good Luck
> hello everyone...i'm a 24-year-old female that has suffered from depression for most of my life. i won't go into my entire history, but for the last year, i have been on zoloft. i started taking it after my doctor diagnosed me as having borderline personality disorder. it may have been a premature diagnosis, because i only went to him once (i really didn't like him very much, and i've had a hard time finding a doc that i do like so i kinda gave up and have been relying solely on the zoloft since then.) my symptoms never really improved - i continued cutting myself, still felt lost, empty, and dependent on others to define myself. i continued to drink heavily and i was still thinking about suicide just about every day. about 6 months ago, i began dating this guy - it was really really rough at the begining - constant fighting - but i stuck it out for some reason - maybe i got dependent really quickly and couldn't let him go, no matter how unhappy he made me. i'm not really sure. but recently things have gotten a lot better. we've been getting along great, but it seems like now, when we do have a fight, even if it's about something small or insignificant, i flip out, and become uncontrolably upset. i've been cutting myself A LOT, and have even let him into that part of my life - he's the only person besides my therapist that i ever talked to about that. i'm so scared all the time that he's going to realize that i'm nuts and he can do so much better than me, but he says he cared about me so much and that he wants to be with me in spite of all of this. he's so incredibly understanding. well last week, i forgot to take my zoloft when we went on a trip together, so i decided (with his encouragement) to stop taking it all together. i know this probably wasn't the best idea, but i didn't want to go talk to my doc about it because i don't feel like he really understands me anyway. so i went off cold-turkey, and things were great. we got along better than ever before, i no longer felt the jealousy i used to feel all the time, i no longer got upset about little things, i felt much more relaxed and centered than i had in a long time. the only bad thing was that i was having some weird physically side effects (extreme dizziness, headaches, hot flashes) - but i figured if i could just sweat it out for the next few days i'd be fine. on saturday night we got into a little argument, and i exploded. i was extremely mean to him, and then he left, and i went crazy. i pushed my best friend who was trying to calm me down, i was laying in the middle of the road crying and screaming at the top of my lungs....i have never felt so far removed from who i really am in my life. i wanted to end it - i went home and i was going to kill myself - when i got home, he was there, and i calmed down, and i was ok. but it's so scary for me to think about what would have happened had he not been waiting at my house for me. i am really confused and scared right now - when i'm feeling good, which is most of the time now (the past week) it feels wonderful, but then when i feel bad, it's like the worst i've ever felt in my life. what is causing these extreme highs and lows?? could it just be a withdrawl symptom? or do you think it means i definitely need to go back on the meds? i know i definitely need to start seeing a therapist (i actually got violent with my best friend!! that thought makes me sick - that i could hurt someone that cares about me so much) - but do you think there's any hope that i'll be able to eventually have a normal life without medication? i guess the best thing i can do right now is wait it out and talk to a therapist - but i just wanted to see if anyone had any sort of advice they could share with me. i want to always feel like i felt last week - normal. i most of all want it for my boyfriend and my other "loved ones" - i don't want to keep treating the people that matter most in my life with such anger and rage - i want to be able to make them happy and make them feel good - and i don't want them to have to worry about me like they do. sorry for babbling for so long...thanks in advance for listening :-)
poster:Smiley
thread:60779
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010417/msgs/60849.html