Do you hit a wall with Sertraline (Zoloft)?

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I've been taking it since around October/November last year, so 7-8 months.

I can't take more than the lowest dose (50mg) because of bad side-effects (they tried 100mg and I had to drop back down), and the last few days I feel so depressed. I'm being treated for anxiety with it, not depression.

I just wondered whether if you take it too long, it makes you get depressed, stops working or anything?

I feel that our bodies can adapt to what ever we consume. I have no scientific data to back that up in this case.

From what you have mentioned in you other thread recently, I suggest it may be possible that your increased levels of stress at the moment are overpowering the effects of the medication.

I have been taking the same at 100mg, for around 18 months up until December, at which point I felt good and was so frustrated with the side effects that I stopped taking them cold turkey. No withdrawal effects. Within 3 months I was back down in the deepest, darkest hole. It has taken me another 3 months to get back to some sense of normality taking 50mg but the side effects were magnified. Enough for me to change medications.

The only explanation I have is my physiology has changed over this 2 year time period.

Hope you find a solution soon.

That's the thing though, I'm under stress but not any more than I have been. It's been a long road of stress since before I started taking them, hence going on them.

I'm kind of "stuck between a rock and a hard place", because I need a higher dose but my body can't take it as I'm so sensitive to medication side-effects. I can't even change meds because having tried a variety of others in the past at other difficult times/low points I had side-effects then as well.

Because of my anxiety, I may have tested as depressed when I wasn't, I was just really stressed and anxious. But this is something different, I feel so low and because there is no more reason for it than before, I wondered if it was the Sertraline. Maybe it's a sudden reaction to all the long period of stress despite the Sertraline instead.

Thanks for your answer.

I used to use Zoloft but it effected me. My psych changed me to Citalopram. Much better results. For anxiety I take Clonazepam, a benzodiazipam, A time release of the Xanax family. A small amount wipes my anxiety and funky thoughts.

Some antidepressants can stop working after a time, or if you go off of them and try them a second time. It's referred to colloquially as "medication poop-out" and officially as "antidepressant tachyphylaxis".

I would discuss what's happened with your doctor and consider altering your meds (either switching or adding something); even if you've tried a bunch, you may have to try more. There are all sorts of classes of antidepressants and you can use meds for other psych conditions for depression. You probably haven't exhausted them all. If you have, then I am truly sorry.

There is actually a 25mg dose of Zoloft, too, so you could always try 75mg Zoloft instead of going all the way up to 100mg and see if you could tolerate that.

I've had to try roughly 15 different medications (10 antidepressants, 3 antipsychotics, and 2 different benzodiazepines) to get to a combination that I can both tolerate and works at all. If you go to forums about psych meds there are people who have had to try quite a few more than I have. Autism spectrum stuff complicates responses to medications, and it's not uncommon to have to do a lot of switching to find relief.

Here's a link about poop-out and what doctors usually do: http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com ... 288-1.html

It could be just stress though, or maybe you are experiencing new symptoms. If it doesn't go away I would definitely still talk to your doctor.

Zoloft just didn't do anything for me. It made some things just a hair worse. For my depression I take escitalopram (Lexapro) and for my anxiety and mood "issues" I take the highest dosage of ziprasidone (Geodon).
My depression is still pretty bad, and my anxiety skyrockets. I refuse to take the extra Geodon that I'm supposed to take "for severe anxiety" because I have to have something caffeinated or I can't stay up, and the caffeine added onto the drug just makes my anxiety shoot through the roof. So no extra Geodon for this kid

I wish you well with your medication! Hope it works out

Stress can have a cumulative effect, sometimes you do not always register the effects. It does sound like you have been pushing yourself for a fairly long time. We are very resilient under pressure but a constant grind gets to us all after a while.

Assuming you are eating well, you can try to increase portions of healthy food.

If you don't mind, what side effects do you experience on the 50mg dose?

I'm not suggesting this without consulting your doctor, there is the option to increase the dose by splitting tablets, eg. 75mg dose.

You could consider increasing the dose by tapering up.

I saw someone post here who was also very sensitive, they increased the dose by 12.5mg per week.

I had a similar problem a year ago, when the citalopram I was taking slowly stopped working (I had to keep increasing the dose until it finally stopped working entirely), which does happen when taking the meds long-term. I was switched to an SNRI, mirtazipine, to help with sleep, but the side effects were pretty bad and it didn't really help much.

Recently I was changed onto sertraline which is working better. I'm still only on the 50mg dose as well.

My doc said that, the reason you can still have periods of depression while taking anti-depressants, is because the SSRI group (citalopram and sertraline) work by inhibiting the serotonin reuptake in your brain - but if you don't have that much serotonin to start with, the effects are limited. Stress can inhibit the amount of serotonin your brain produces, so that might be why. Aside from dealing with the source of your stress I'm afraid I'm still looking for a way to get around this problem.

I hope you feel better soon.

I haven't tried Zoloft, but my doctor just put me on Buspirone today for General Anxiety Disorder. I've been having headaches in the evenings that let up in the morning and afternoon. My doctor noted how stiff my neck and shoulders were with tension, and that he suspects the headaches are due to anxiety. I've also been a bit depressed lately too, so I'm praying this treatment works well for me.

Thanks servicedogrights25, Grevesy and Verdandi.

Hopefully this is just the breakthrough depression that won't last that Verdandi describes, and won't last. It's hard enough dealing with anxiety that affects day-to-day life and restricts you, if you throw depression on top it's just impossible.

All doctors are human and have their preconceived ideas of what works and what does not. Although this is gained from experience, hopefully, GP's can still be as stubborn as the rest of us.

My current GP is stuck in the concept that X drug will take N number of days to work. I have a ultra fast metabolism and also register the effects almost immediately. My doctor does not consider this possible. I have to incorporate that when I see her, as I do not want her to consider that I'm presenting psychosomatic symptoms. She also reacts much more positively, as in open to discussion, to me when I say that her treatments have had some positive effects. This is a game I would rather not have to play but I've found it's the only one that works.

My side effects were very similar to yours, and much more pronounced during the second session on a lower dose. I was feeling so stressed that I was permanently walking around with clenched fists and making my teeth loose during to jaw clenching.

Not that I would wish depression on anyone, but 7 to 8 months, or more, of stress is likely to push you in that direction. Please speak to your doctor about your feelings.

It makes me angry when doctors are like that, I don't know how you stand it. Can you not see another one at the practice?

Yeah, the teeth clenched thing I can understand as I think I had that too, it kind of makes your whole body so tight and rigid, it's scary because it's not you doing it and you can't get rid of it. You must have looked like you were about to punch someone walking around like that! The increased dose also gave me massive panic attacks and super-strong anxiety - which is stupid when it's meant to treat anxiety in the first place. I was in the midst of my assessment at the time and the clinician noticed I was really strung out and I didn't know what it was at the time, but I was on the edge of the seat and couldn't relax. I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times, I'm too stressed to focus enough to put 2 and 2 together. When it did dawn on me, I checked the instructions in the box and that's when I realised that all the symptoms I had were in the contraindications.

Well if the depression doesn't go in a while I will consider seeing my GP again, I don't like him though, and I've had a lot of trouble with the surgery recently fighting for reasonable adjustments and it's made me want to avoid them like the plague.

It would be useful to hear of anyone's experiences or knowledge of beta blockers.

I hope it goes away quickly. My last episode lasted for a bit over a month. At my worst I was seriously considering voluntarily hospitalizing myself due to intense suicidal ideation, but things started to get better shortly after reaching that point.

I hope things come under control soon. If it continues to not work, hopefully you can find something that will.