Does Zoloft make you feel loopy?

[chichona]

Si I picked up my first presciption for Zoloft, (I am 6 weeks post partum) and Finally had a nice long sit down with my husband last nihgt. He was very supportive the entire time I was talking to him about how I feel. I am also going ofr counseling since I belive a combination of the two will be best. I really need support right now, my husband works 80 hours a week and I dont have any family in the area.

My husband called me this morning as I was in walgreens parking lot about to fill the scrip, when he was like no, dont get it! HE thinks it is going to turn me into a couch potato and make me feel completely out of it and loppy. Not ok aince I also have a just turned two year old. Can anybody else tell me their reaction to it?

[KoalaMommy]

I wouldn't not fill it because of your DH's fears about how you'll feel. I've not personally taken Zoloft before, but I have taken SSRIs, and I can tell you they made me anything but loopy. I couldn't sleep on them very well, the serotonin makes me hyper. But that's me, and your response will be different. And you can't know what that will be until you try it. If you hate it, you don't have to take it.

Studies are showing that any depression has a lasting impact on your brain and it's important to get it treated. So try it. And speaking from experience, PPD is really very difficult. I had mine fully for a year and didn't seek treatment, I regret that now.

Other things you can do to help: increase your B6 intake to somewhere between 50 and 75mg daily. Take fish oil. Increase your fat intake in general. Lower your carbohydrate intake (no sugar or white bread at all). Add vitamin D (particularly D3, which most of them are) to your vitamin routine.

My DH had a very strange response to my PPD. And even though he's a great guy, I love him, and he gets mental health issues, I really regret listening to him to the extent I did. He didn't know what he was talking about!!!!

[diamond lil]

I've been taking Zoloft since the birth of my DD in September and I do not feel loopy at all! Keep in mind that anti-depressants affect everyone differently.

You should give it a try. You really won't know how a medicine is going to affect you unless you give it a week or two. If you want, try weaning up. Depending on your dose, try taking half pills and see you you react. If you feel comfortable enough, try the entire dose and then see how it works. That is what I did and I feel fine. I actually really like the Zoloft after having been on Lexapro for many years prior to my pregancy and birth of DD.

Don't let any one person's opinion of a medicine affact your decision. I can only tell you my experience, but you should give it a try.

Good luck and lots of hugs to you!

[georgia]

AntiD's in general made me loopy/spacy, but I would not discourage another mother from trying to get relief from PPD just because of temporary side-effects. IME, I really believe that PPD was a life-threatening situation.

I think it's an understandable concern, but personally, I'd much prefer loopy couch potato than suffering. Individual reactions to medications are so varied, and I would definitely echo the advice to at least try it. It might be the right medication for your needs. I would at least give it a try. If not, you can change or go a different route! When I look back at the time I spent suffering (and my family suffering), I wouldn't wish that upon anyone.

[chichona]

thank you for your advice so far ladies. I think I will just try taking a hlaf pill tomarrow and see what happens.

koala moomy- I do already take VitD ( i live in wisconsin, and my ped/lc recommened it) but I didnt know about the others possibly helping. Carbohydrates are going to be hard to not eat as many though, I eat rice or pasta as a base for evey meal

Does anybody know anything about Zoloft being excreted in breastmilk? I will be exclusivley bfing for the next year or two, and it said on my prescrition info that it is unknow if it is in bm or not..?

I figure it cant be worse to try the meds right? at least I will know I am trying to better myslef and be the better mom my kiddos deserve.

[ananas]

Why does he have that idea?

Honestly, I felt high the first three or so weeks. Possibly because I went from being totally numb to suddenly having emotion, I had some crazy experiences the first few weeks. But, everybody is different, and I haven't had anything like that since.

[KoalaMommy]

Zoloft is the anti-depressant of choice for nursing moms. It's probably excreted in breastmilk, but it's the best of the bunch.

Don't take half a pill, take the whole thing. Don't mess around with this, you're just prolonging your illness. Depression is like any other sickness, something is going wrong in your body and you need to take care of it. If you had strep throat, would you take half an antibiotic pill because you were concerned about gastrointestinal side effects?

The worst part of depression is that because it affects how you think, it's self-perpetuating. You come up with all kinds of worries preventing you from getting treatment. You rationalize how you're feeling. You resist talking about it because others might not understand and then when they don't you feel like they're right. Please take care of yourself, I spent a whole year feeling miserable and there was no need. That's a year my babies can never have back, and I was not very much of a mother.

You really should try cutting out the carbs, sounds like it could be a real factor for you. Blood sugar spikes and crashes can cause all kinds of symptoms including anxiety and depression. At least eliminate the pasta and only use brown rice. You're not getting much from those carbs besides calories. I've done some experimenting after reading the Mood Cure by Julia Ross. She recommends a full-fat, low carb diet in her book and I found she was right. I tried full fat for several months and then switched to low fat for 2 weeks and was miserable.