Adjusting to Zoloft

[Joseph Kratz]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum. As a little background I was recently diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. I was in the ER 4 times this year thinking I was having a heart attack or heart failure. After several tests and seeing a cardiologist I've been told my heart is perfectly healthy and my risks for cardiac event is very low. The cardiologist suggested I pursue treating anxiety and gerd.

I started 25mg Zoloft about 3-4 weeks ago. I had some bothersome side effects the first 4-6 days but they subsided. Then I jumped to 50mg and had another round of side effects but they weren't too bad. However now that I've jumped to 100mg Friday I feel like I can't function. I have stomach pain, bad acid reflux, muscle spasms, headaches, head pressure (around temples, and eyes), dizzy, disoriented, light headed, feel like fainting or falling, blurry visions, dark spots in vision, trouble focusing vision, eyes feel heavy / hard to keep open, feel tired all day, drowsy, back/neck pain. I feel completely zoned out and just out of it.

Are these normal side effects? Can I expect them to go away anytime soon?

I've also noticed since starting Zoloft the pulse in my neck feels faint. Maybe I'm just paranoid but most of the time I can barely feel it, or sometimes not feel it at all. Any ideas?

[Exactice]

*Disclaimer* Im not a doctor just giving you my thoughts

Hey Joseph, I hope that you mean .25mg, .50mg and 1.0mg's Anyways are you on a regimen of Zoloft or as needed?

GERD (Acid Reflux) Can cause plenty of those symptoms that feel like a panic attack, Hard to breath, chest pains etc.

The Drowsy, tired, feeling for cure the zoloft will do, It kinda slows you down and makes you tired. So all those blurry, tired feelings are associated with the meds.

The other symptoms of dizzy and light headed are probably from the anxiety itself. So sounds like everything associated to the meds and the anxiety. Nothing out of the ordinary. Now I will say monitor these for a week if nothing changes or gets worse, talk to your doctor ASAP. Sometimes certain meds just dont work well with certain people so you need to adjust to something different. Some people got through 10 different meds before they find the right one.

[RealisticTrain]

Hello Joseph,

I'm pretty close to a doctor -psychiatry resident here
I would recommend switching to another anti-depressant if side effects don't settle down after about 6 weeks. More likely is that your body is just going through another "round" of side-effects now that you've increased the dose. Monitor yourself and keep us updated in the coming weeks.