anxiety/anti-depressants make you tired/zombie feeling?

[TheTops]

hey everyone. This is my first post. I'm only 22 years old and my issues Began on Christmas by having a crazy panic attack while having dinner with the family, and since then had a bunch of panic attacks, went to the ER about 4 times fearing I had a brain tumor or heart condition. So after having EKG's, numerous blood tests, Brain catscans, blood pressure tests, Brain MRI's (for possible MS), and being told I was perfectly healthy I was sent to a psych u perscribed me 150 mg of Zoloft every day and 1 mg of lorazapam (ativan) every day as needed. It's been about 5 weeks since starting the Zoloft and my panic attacks have basically stopped, but I'm having major fatigue/tiredness all day, and my vision is all staticy and unfocused. Almost feels like I'm in a dream and I'm not connected to my body. Could it be because of the drugs, or the anxiety/depression issues? (BTW: I have a horrible diet problem, I've been eating fast food non stop for months because of the depression).

[Robbed]

All the things you mention (drowsiness, visual problems, and unreality) are common side effects of antidepressant medications. At this point, you have a couple of choices. You can try a different medication to see if you have fewer side effects. Or you can try to treat this anxiety by nonpharmaceutical methods (ie CBT, ACT, etc). Honestly, I would go the second route. Drugs will, at best, mask some of the symptoms of your anxiety disorder. But they will NEVER make you TRULY better.

[lifeconfusion6179]

robbed is right. Meds will only mask the problem. Those are definitely side effects from the meds you are taking. Find an alternative that works for you and slowly ween off the meds. dont just stop cold turkey on the zoloft or activan or beware lol. Just make sure you do things the right way. good luck.

[Robbed]

Here's another thing to consider. If you tell your doctor about these side effects, there is a good chance that he/she will blame it on depression/anxiety symptoms and increase your dosage (this certainly sounds sadistic, but it's true). But here's the question you REALLY need to ask yourself: did these symptoms exist BEFORE you took the drug? And if they DID exist, were they as strong as they are now? If the answer to these is NO to either question, then they are side effects.

[284284]

I'd be careful with any treatment types. You could try lowering the dose of Zoloft slightly. If it were me I would take tiredness and slight vision unclarity over anixety/depression. When I took Lamotrigine (Lamictal) it made me very tired all day. Sometimes I'd have to take 2-3 hr naps in miday. I'd start logging the rates of your syptoms now and try to remember your serverty of symptoms before.

[Robbed]

If it were me I would take tiredness and slight vision unclarity over anixety/depression.

Alot depends on the severity of the depression/anxiety, as well as the severity of the side effects. For instance, if the depression/anxiety is only mild/moderate, then the side effects can easily be worse than the depression/anxiety. Even if the medication is beneficial in many ways, if the side effects get in the way of doing things you truly enjoy doing, then taking the drug is a lose-lose situation. A good example of this would be a drug that causes drowsiness to the point that you are too tired to hang out with friends or get exercise (I have a friend who was always too tired to hang out when he took Paxil). Or causes feelings of detachment and unreality to the point that you no longer enjoy going to places you previously REALLY liked. I don't know about you. But I would MUCH rather have to deal with a few panic attacks every now and then than deal with THIS sort of thing. There ARE worse things out there than anxiety disorder.

[TheTops]

thanks for the replies everyone. I think I might just stick with the zoloft, since I've only been on it for barely 6 weeks. The only thing that comforts me with the side effects is the fact that I was ALOT worse before the meds. I was having constant panic attacks and was catastrophizing 24/7. The Zoloft has made me more social, nearly erased my panic attacks, and the anxiety never escalates to an attack. Yeah, I'm still feeling tired all day, and sometimes feel detachment feelings, but i feel now that i just observe the weird sensations rather than go into panic

[284284]

Alot depends on the severity of the depression/anxiety, as well as the severity of the side effects. For instance, if the depression/anxiety is only mild/moderate, then the side effects can easily be worse than the depression/anxiety. Even if the medication is beneficial in many ways, if the side effects get in the way of doing things you truly enjoy doing, then taking the drug is a lose-lose situation. A good example of this would be a drug that causes drowsiness to the point that you are too tired to hang out with friends or get exercise (I have a friend who was always too tired to hang out when he took Paxil). Or causes feelings of detachment and unreality to the point that you no longer enjoy going to places you previously REALLY liked. I don't know about you. But I would MUCH rather have to deal with a few panic attacks every now and then than deal with THIS sort of thing. There ARE worse things out there than anxiety disorder.

That's true. True but not for me. I'd take those side effects any day. Wouldn't matter if I was tired since I don't socialize or execerise because both give me painful depressing panic attacks. Robbed, please read my introduction post under welcome section. You'll see if you were me you'd rather take just about anything else.

[lifeconfusion6179]

Well i can tell you the tiredness is from the ativan. That slows the brain down. i know when i take even a .25 of klonopin i start yawning a few minutes afterwards. people are quick to say no meds but if you have tried therapy and its still severe then by all means use it. just dont think its gonna solve your problems, its only gonna mask them.

[PittsburghCounseling]

Yes! When I was taking prozac, I was so tired that it was a struggle to do even the small things.