Stopped taking Zoloft now what?

[AJ1984]

Hello, I'm new here and have been reading these forums on and off for a few months. I have a few questions that maybe you guy's can help me out with. I was diagnosed wit anxiety in 2008 my doctor at the time prescribed klonopin 0.5mg and upped it to 1mg once a day or as needed. I started feeling like I needed them all the time and finally decided to stop taking them. I was doing great for a while UNTIL I started school (college course) in 2011. I explained to the doctor my symptoms, sudden dizziness, heart racing, chest pain, which lead to me having to get up during class and go outside for a few minutes and try to calm down. It seemed that the more I concentrated on calming myself down the next time I had an attack it came on 10x's worse and I felt as tired as if I had just run a marathon! Worst part is I was now getting full blown panic attacks while I was at work as an EMT and was able to hide it fairly well until I was afraid to drive to certain hospitals that were farther away due to having a fear of having an attack while driving. My doctor sent me to the cardiologist and ran a bunch of tests and everything came back ok. They decided to put me on a betablocker (meteprolol) which helped a little bit, everytime I started feeling "good" the attacks would start again. My primary doctor decided to put me on sertraline 50mg once a day. After being on that medication for a while I was feeling great! Anxiety disappeared and everything felt perfect. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and things aren't as great, I started feeling very lethargic and it seems no matter how much sleep I get it's never enough. I expressed my concerns with my doctor and he kept me on the 50mg once a day. My prescription recently ran out and I decided to stop taking the Zoloft to see how I'd do and went to see a new primary doctor. It's been about 3 weeks now off the medication and I've had only a few attacks but mostly while I'm sleeping. Tonight while I was driving I had an attack and haven't had one in the longest time, my fulltime job is an EMT and that is also another reason I stopped taking benzo's but also another reason I agreed to take the Zoloft so I wouldn't have an attack while driving. My new doctor told me that he would like to prescribe me Prozac due to it not making you as tired. I'm a little apprehensive taking Prozac because well its a new medication and I don't know if my anxiety is that bad where I need a medication like that. Im noticing day by day my old anxious self is starting to creep its way back into my life and I don't want it! So after all that if your still reading this, first off thank you! Second, should I swallow my pride and take the Prozac or ask my doctor to go back on Zoloft and maybe just get a higher dosage? Thank you!

AJ

[crussellii]

Hello, I'm new here and have been reading these forums on and off for a few months. I have a few questions that maybe you guy's can help me out with. I was diagnosed wit anxiety in 2008 my doctor at the time prescribed klonopin 0.5mg and upped it to 1mg once a day or as needed. I started feeling like I needed them all the time and finally decided to stop taking them. I was doing great for a while UNTIL I started school (college course) in 2011. I explained to the doctor my symptoms, sudden dizziness, heart racing, chest pain, which lead to me having to get up during class and go outside for a few minutes and try to calm down. It seemed that the more I concentrated on calming myself down the next time I had an attack it came on 10x's worse and I felt as tired as if I had just run a marathon! Worst part is I was now getting full blown panic attacks while I was at work as an EMT and was able to hide it fairly well until I was afraid to drive to certain hospitals that were farther away due to having a fear of having an attack while driving. My doctor sent me to the cardiologist and ran a bunch of tests and everything came back ok. They decided to put me on a betablocker (meteprolol) which helped a little bit, everytime I started feeling "good" the attacks would start again. My primary doctor decided to put me on sertraline 50mg once a day. After being on that medication for a while I was feeling great! Anxiety disappeared and everything felt perfect. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and things aren't as great, I started feeling very lethargic and it seems no matter how much sleep I get it's never enough. I expressed my concerns with my doctor and he kept me on the 50mg once a day. My prescription recently ran out and I decided to stop taking the Zoloft to see how I'd do and went to see a new primary doctor. It's been about 3 weeks now off the medication and I've had only a few attacks but mostly while I'm sleeping. Tonight while I was driving I had an attack and haven't had one in the longest time, my fulltime job is an EMT and that is also another reason I stopped taking benzo's but also another reason I agreed to take the Zoloft so I wouldn't have an attack while driving. My new doctor told me that he would like to prescribe me Prozac due to it not making you as tired. I'm a little apprehensive taking Prozac because well its a new medication and I don't know if my anxiety is that bad where I need a medication like that. Im noticing day by day my old anxious self is starting to creep its way back into my life and I don't want it! So after all that if your still reading this, first off thank you! Second, should I swallow my pride and take the Prozac or ask my doctor to go back on Zoloft and maybe just get a higher dosage? Thank you! AJ

I would see a pdoc and not a general practitioner. Giovto someone who specializes in these conditions. It's never good to stop SSRI cold turkey though. You have to wean off them. You can get nasty withdrawal symptoms. Don't let your pride keep you from feeling normal.