Cracked out on Zoloft

[ZoshaMosha]

Hi, my GP prescribed Zoloft for general anxiety and depression. 50mg dose, but she told me to start on half-pills at 25mg to start.

I took my first dose yesterday and I am totally cracked out!!! I feel like I drank 50 pots of coffee at one time. I was up until 3 am last night, forced myself to try to sleep a little (didn't really) and was up at 5. I'm still speedy the next day and I don't feel tired. I feel very strange.

Clearly, I should stop taking this right? Or is this normal for the first dose?

[mom0810]

It's totally normal. Your doctor should have told you this would happen. It's normal to have faster heartrate (or to feel like it), insomnia, heart palpitations, nervousness, anorexia, agitation, diarrhea, upset stomach, fatigue, drowsiness... any and all of these can be totally normal when you start any ssri. Stay at 25 mg for a while, and it will go away. This is why they have you start at a small dose. You may find that 25 is fine for you to stay on.

Tonight should be better, and each night after that progressively better. When do you take it? If it makes you jumpy, take it in the morning so that you can sleep at night. If it makes you tired, take it at night.

Call your doctor and just double check, but in my experience what you had was totally normal. You really should be seeing a pdoc, though, because they are the experts on these meds.

[ZoshaMosha]

mom0810 thanks so much. I skipped my dose today because it was too much for me to take. Is it ok to try a half pill every 2 days? And, yes, you are right, I will def. see a pdoc.

[mom0810]

It's really not okay, and here's why... zoloft has a very low half-life. It clears your system by half in 24 hours. So if you do that, you will just be up and down and all over the place. Your body will never get what's going on.

You are better off to taper back to 12.5 mg, and do that EVERY DAY for a week. Then go up to 25 mg for a week. Heck, you can stay at 25 mg for months and see if it helps you. But do NOT skip days and do NOT start and stop taking it. Once you start, stay on it.

Also, whenever you are ready to stop, I don't know if your doctor told you this, but you also have to do THAT very very slowly. But you should stay on it (and should do therapy) for at least a year.

Hope this helps!