Well, turns out that all those worries about every car idling by the road waiting to hit me, and not sitting where I can't see doors, etc. aren't normal. So I've been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, lovely.

I just started Zoloft today, 25mg for a week, then up to 50, and we'll see at the end of the month whether it has started having an effect. Has anyone taken Zoloft here know if it ever starts acting sooner then 4 weeks?

Furthermore, does anyone know why an SSRI would have this "first week causing extreme anxiety?" I don't see how chemically that's possible, but I take their word for it. Right now, I've spaced/zoned out a few times and I'm feeling really tired, but I just ate after having woken up 2 hours ago, so being tired is not surprising.

Your experiences?

Thanks.

Effexor worked on me immediately, 20 minutes. Doc said I have "repressed anxiety" I think he made that up, he's ADHD himself. My dad had a weird thing that he could not sleep in a room with the door closed, even in a hotel he needed to leave it ajar. I'm not sure what that was about but your door thing reminded me of it.

K,
Have you called your Dr or pharmacist re: this "first week causing extreme anxiety?"
Are you saying that is what you are expecting to happen or that is what's happening?

I was just reading up on Zoloft www.pdrhealth.com (http://www.pdrhealth.com/)
"Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, inform your doctor as soon as possible. Only your doctor can determine if it is safe for you to continue taking Zoloft"

I would definitely call ASAP if any mood change occurred with an INCREASE of anxiety. I think this drug is expected to dull/decrease our emotions but NOT increase any anxiety. It takes days or weeks though to 'feel' this med so that's the tricky part, is it the meds or dx that's causing anxiety?

That's the same dosage I've been taking for about 3 weeks now. The first time I took it I was so sleepy the front of my head felt so heavy I finally gave in and napped.

After reading/searching this forum I went ahead and took my meds from second day on at bedtime-worked much better for me.

I have noticed a lessening of my lows (and highs, darn it) but the meds do seem to dull my reactions to stressful situations now. In fact a few days ago a public set-down @ work that would've previously had me fighting tears I made a joke about "guess I got TOLD" It felt great to be able to laugh it off.

But I've also noticed that Zoloft is wearing off about 4 hours too soon, and found myself snapping/irritable/angry before days end. So called Dr and have permission to up meds by 1/2 a pill 3/4 thru my day.

I am concerned about having to rely on any drug ever long term. Also concerned that either this drug is not yet working as well as expected or that I'm developing a tollerance already.

Hoping that weaning myself from this will not be too painful. My hope/plan is that using under Doc supervision while getting counseling will help me figure out how to cope drug free!

Good luck to both of us!!!

"That's the same dosage I've been taking for about 3 weeks now. The first time I took it I was so sleepy the front of my head felt so heavy I finally gave in and napped."

That is definitely the case right now...drowsiness does not begin to describe. And because I'm so tired, I don't feel _anything_, so extreme anxiety? Yeah right.

The Dr. told me that it was likely that during the first week I should feel a lot of anxiety, and then after that I should balance out and be fine. However, that is not mentioned at all in any of the official documentation, except under the "tell doctor immediately if you have mood swings," so he might have been mistaken.

I'm not feeling any anxiety at all, just a sense of tiredness, and kind of a euphoria resulting from disengaging...but nothing _near_ a negative emotion or anxiety.

I did not take my Ritalin today, so the tiredness could be a combination of the new medicine causing drowsiness and the old medicine not being there to cause alertness.




So yeah, in summary: I don't have any anxiety right now, but I was told that I might. I do have a lot of "drowsiness" ie I could fall asleep right here and now, and I have a sense of euphoria just from the fact that I am not worried about anything. A rock could come slamming through my window right now and I probably wouldn't care, heh.

That said, I check in with my Dr. sometime next week to discuss results. I'm beginning to think the "slow response to build to effectiveness" is the same way I was told Ritalin would take 2 weeks to show a response: It didn't, but they say that because in some people with medicine resistances, it takes a while, and they don't want people discontinuing based on one try...

cool Keith
I won't worry about you-- no anxiety;)
you may want to think about taking Zoloft at night, you could research...there's something about 1/2 strenght in 12 hrs or some such, but that's fine with me as long as I can Function!
I knew there was no way I could function normally if I took in the mornings.

Here's a Zoloft Progress Report kind of thing: I went to sleep soundly at 11:30 after having been very tired, all day long. I slept well until 2:30, at which point I awoke and was having a pretty extreme anxiety attack...but I managed to talk myself down, and went back to sleep, at which point I slept soundly until 8:00, and then 10:30. All in all, it was a good night's sleep for once. I assume that the anxiety attack I had was what the Dr. was talking about: it's not while I'm on the drug, it's the first couple times I withdraw from the drug.

I have now taken Zoloft along with Ritalin for the first time, because I have homework I need to get done, and I need the Ritalin to do that. Will report how that works.

Ritalin and Zoloft together worked as they should: I didn't get tired, and I was still able to focus. The Zoloft, of course, is not showing much effect, but it's not causing me anxiety in and of itself either...so it must just be the withdrawal. I am still worrying about stuff, but I trust that will start to go away gradually as the week wears on.

It is 11:30, and I am going to go to bed I think. Will report tomorrow after first day of classes on both...

I can't wait for Zoloft to have an effect, I'm excited to live in a world where not everyone I meet is waiting to kill me, and not every car idling on the road is waiting to hit me. Should be great.

Thanks for a place to vent, everyone.

I started on Celexa for my anxiety and I felt a calmness almost immediatley. Of course it just about put me to sleep for the 1st week or so when I took it. I think it took a couple of weeks before I really began to notice a lot improvements in my every day activity.

I know take Lexapro which is made from the Celexa. Lexapro is also FDA approved for GAD. I have had pretty good results from the Lexapro. I do take it at night though since it does tend to make me sleepy.

Day three, still no major side effects, but no major effects either. I can feel myself coming off of it, but it hasn't effected any noticeable changes while I'm on it yet, either. I'm still on half-doses for another 3 days, and then I go to a full dose.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be the big day for it to kick in: I can feel it working inside my head (can anybody else do that? feel drugs working or feel neural firings in different areas? heh), so I know it's starting to have an effect, and I know when I withdraw at night it's been pretty bad...

Oh well, I'm pretty confident it'll work, I'm just impatient for it to reach maximum efficiency. It's a lot different from Ritalin, I guess, since it's more of a "build up to working" than a "take it, it works, then it stops..." I think I said that in an earlier post though...

Ok, that's all. I hope it's not a problem that I'm kind of keeping personal notes, etc. on this as I go here. Maybe in the future though someone will be in the same situation I am, and wondering what it's like, so I guess this serves some purpose...

...: I can feel it working inside my head (can anybody else do that? feel drugs working or feel neural firings in different areas? heh), so I know it's starting to have an effect, and I know when I withdraw at night it's been pretty bad...
....in the future though someone will be in the same situation I am, and wondering what it's like, so I guess this serves some purpose...

Keith,
Yep I feel it in my forehead.
First time I took the Zoloft it felt almost like alka seltzer in my forehead.

Glad things are looking up for you!

I appreciate the detailed reports very much.

7PM now as I am writing this, and still no major effects...I can feel it kick in in the morning, and kick out at night, for the most part. I have 2 more days on 25mgs, and then up to 50mgs. I am hoping tomorrow it will actually have an effect of some sort that I can monitor...

The problem is, I am taking it for anxiety, which means I can't really tell if I don't have anxiety until I'm having anxiety, and if I'm worried about whether or not I am not having anxiety, then I am worrying and therefore having anxiety. So I can tell by that logic that it is not having a major effect yet.

That said, when going to Psych class today for the first time in 6 years I entertained for about half a second the notion of not sitting against a wall. That is incredible. Even though the anxious part of my brain kicked in and said "no way Jose" right away, even having that thought means something is looking up. Maybe tomorrow will be "the day..." That would be cool, I have an Appt. with my Psychologist at 10am, and it would be nice to be able to report that.



As an aside, while talking about children's speech development in school-age years in HSLS108 (Intro. to Commo. and Speech Disorders), I remembered the first time I had to give a public "speech," today, in either 1st or 4th grade (can't remember, I want to say 4th though honestly because it was a Hardy Boys' book report); I had opted to do the report type where you dress as the character and talk about the book first hand...I stood up, froze up, and then curled into a ball in my chair and cried for a long time. Couldn't even start the report, let alone finish...and the prescribing Doctor thought the Ritalin was causing my anxiety. LOL no I think I win for prior, consistent demonstration of symptoms, heh.

That said, I think I will use that exact event to explain to my parents my Dx, provided I decide to tell them at all. I think I may have to soon, as I can't cover a Zoloft Rx out of pocket, and I need them to do the work with the Insurance company...heh. Dang. Now I am worried about that, so I guess we can say the Zoloft doesn't have too much of an effect...but at least the Ritalin has my brain slow enough to inhibit me from acting on it right now...

Ok I am rambling. Should I copy/paste and move this whole thing to the Journalling section at this point? It's all GAD related, so I thought it could stay here, but now it's beginning to take a life of its own...

Well the Zoloft certainly isn't have a serious effect yet...I just had an anxiety attack set on because someone corrected me in grammar because I asked someone if they liked using a certain adjective a lot, and it turns out that it was really an adverb, and someone pointed that out, and for some stupid reason that got me frustrated enough that now I'm back in my room (the good news is that more anxiety driven MSPaints are on the way, heh).

So I guess that means that when I thought the Zoloft was dropping off earlier (a weird fuzzy feeling, heh), I was right. EXCEPT that right now I can feel the same kind of buzzing feeling along the outside of both of my frontal lobes, so there is _something_ in action right now, which means that at least it's building up, even if it's not stopping things right now...

...Ritalin, right now, on the other hand, is at least giving me time to think this through and observe how goofy the whole situation is...I'm just afraid if I go out there again someone will point out that mistake again, or something...I dunno...

...Oh well, this, too, shall pass. Tomorrow will be better, it'll be 5 days then, any drug should start having marginal effects then...besides, I'm sure this is just from withdrawing, or something. Heck, the optimistic thinking I'm doing right now is evidence in and of itself that the buzzing in my frontal lobes is probably the Zoloft at work for the first time...wow. Huh. Well that was interesting...still anxious, but a little ray of light out of that anxiety attack shows that the Zoloft is doing something...

And that makes me happy. Ok. I can end with a smiley face. :)

Ya, too much trouble to move it now.

So I saw my Psychologist today; he gave me some techniques to deal with anxiety attacks, etc. and I came to the realization that I am entirely too hard on myself. Pointed out something important...which is that that "disabled" thing, as much as I hate that, is true. That I was yelled at for 18 years of my life for "making stupid errors" and "not paying enough attention to the task at hand" doesn't mean I'm stupid, and those "stupid errors" don't count as "stupid" anyways: I am wired differently, and so I don't have a choice...

That said: Zoloft report has not too much to say...I have not noticed myself "come down" off it tonight, which is a good sign. Tomorrow is my last day on 25mgs, and then I kick it up to 50mgs and we see how it goes. Psychologist says I really shouldn't expect too too much for at least another 3 weeks or so, though, so I guess I'll have to be patient (whatever that means, hehe)...

...more reports as they come. Thanks once more for a place to vent.

Tomorrow I start the 50mg. I did not feel a drop off today...in fact, 5 hours or so after taking it, I actually felt an eerie kind of worriless calm...I'd even call it happiness. I actually laid down by the sidewalk on a bench-type stone thing near my dining hall while waiting for people (couldn't bring myself to close my eyes though, heh). I'm not sure though that it is medication related, simply because it's so soon, though 6-8 hours is supposed to reach maximum plasma composition in 200mgs, so 25mg should reach it in about 5 hours, makes sense...

I guess we'll see how the 50mg goes, should be interesting. If what I got earlier was a glimpse at a worry free future, I can't wait, heh.

All that said, I hate insurance companies. BCBS and Medco Health are still trying to screw me on my Methylphenidate (though apparently they'd love to be the provider for my Zoloft, and I should be able to fill that Rx without prior authorization, which is nice).

That's tonight's update. Thanks again.

Well, I took 50mgs today, we'll see how that goes...I feel like a grandma, taking 4 pills in the morning, and 2 throughout the day...that's ridiculous. I live on pills now, heh. 6 a day, geeze.

At any rate, I will report back with how the 50mg goes, if it's noticeable or different at all.

Currently evening of the second day on the 50mgs, first day with 50mg and no Ritalin. I can see minimum effects in inhibiting my fears, and I've been able to be a little more socially adaptive. I don't know how much of that is the drug or the treatment, however. Otherwise, I feel good.

Today took a while to get "started." I took my medicine at 1000 and went back to bed (I was up until 0400 the night before), then I woke up naturally at 1130. After that, I laid in bed without moving until 1300, but I wasn't asleep. Then I did laundry, and after finally getting started, wrestled my room until I have it up to scratch again where people can live in it, heh.

I'll now be reporting in only as I notice effects, or at least weekly. As always, thanks for a place to do this.

End of the third night taking Zoloft 50mg: I was flat most of the day, and mad tired, basically after my Ritalin ran out. It also seems to be mildly leveling my mood...I have been worried about this speech I have to give on Thursday, but I wasn't worried enough to actually do it yet...that's tomorrow's task, heh.

Like I said, updating as I notice changes.

can anyone tall me if celexa interferes with the eficiacy of stimulants?. and i need to no if stimulants can stop working,as these questions are connected because i am trying to work out why my meds dont seem to work the same anymore.is it because i have been takeing citalopam (celexa) or can stimulants just stop working.my does of ritalin used to work at 15 mg x 3 daily for a few months then i always had to increase the dose because it would become less effective. i ended up on 40 mgs x 3 daily and in the end that didnt realy work..... does anyone have any similar experiances.

Celexa is an SSRI. As such, it should not have any major affect on the functionality of stimulants.

Well, it's 2 weeks, and I have only had a few anxiety attacks, and they were much less powerful than ones before...I'll let you know when I'm "cured" though, heh. 2 weeks seems to be "relatively effective" mark. I can tell I am happier, and my mood is much better (most of the time): I am happier and can be happier easier, which is awesome. I am worrying less, which is awesome. This is two weeks, so I look forward to the "maximum effectiveness" in another week or so...

No side effects? Is 50mg a full dosage?

50mg is a full dosage, yeap. No side effects that I can tell, actually, no. _Possibly_ tiredness and lack of energy, but the Ritalin counters that...

Tiredness 1, Zoloft 0. I'm way tired today because I got 4 and a half hours of sleep last night, and I've been in a weird floating pseudodepression all day...I've been feeling down like if I were having an anxiety attack, but not really...like I feel like I should be feeling down, but I'm not...well, I wasn't. Now I am, and I'm strangely comfortable with it, since I know it's just because I'm tired. Before, I felt like I should be, but I couldn't. It was weird, kind of nice...

...ok anyways this post was kind of random. I am tired and a little bit down...expect some art to come out of it, heh. Zoloft is doing good, I think, since I don't feel that down...it's weird. Anyways, within the next week or so it should hit peak effectiveness...I can already tell it is working now....heh.

Significantly less anxiety these days...I think it's beginning to take effect in full... :)