So I went to the doctor about 12 days ago or so to address some issues with anxiety that I have been having. She prescribed me 50 mg of zoloft (broke them in half for 5 days to start, then took the full 50mg). Well, after about a week and a half of taking it I had a horrible anxiety attack. I first became really dizzy, had extreme cold flashes followed by my skin feeling like it was going to melt right off me, my entire arm/hands and my face tingled like crazy, my tongue hurt (kind of weird I thought)...and all of this while I was in a mall! Oh, and it lasted for three hours! So I sat on a bench in the mall, for all this time...was probably the scariest thing thats ever happened to me, as I have never really had a real anxiety attack before.

Now I know adderall can cause anxiety attacks too, but I have been on that for a couple months now and has done nothing but good things to me, if anything has lowered my anxiety a little bit. I did not increase the dose of the adderall either, so I am certain it had to be the Zoloft.

The thing is I am still experiencing some similar feelings of anxiety that I had a few days ago (much less severe) even though I have stopped taking the zoloft. I begin to notice it about when my adderall generally kicks in. This worries me though because I have never had any problems like this before with the adderall, and I hope I don't have to stop taking it because I'm in college and need it right now. Before the zoloft, when the adderall started to work, I would feel more relaxed, especially mentally but slightly physically as well.

Do you think I still feel the anxiety because the zoloft hasn't completely left my system yet (stopped taking it 2-3 days ago)? Do you think a break from the adderall would help in letting my body right itself again, and then resume in a few days? I have a appointment with the doc in 6 days but curious to what you think, or if someone has experienced something like this...

Anti-depressants cause anxiety in me as well. Not sure how long it will take to wear off, but could be a couple of weeks in my experience (since you didn't take it very long). So try not to worry if you're still feeling the effects. Just ask your Dr about when you see them.

Some people have increased anxiety, as a side effect from Zoloft and other SSRI's initially, until their bodies adjust to the medication. Zoloft can take up to 8 weeks for the side effects to dissipate and to reduce your anxiety and/or depression.

I was diagnosed with generalized and social anxiety with depression. I take 100mg of Zoloft and 50mg of Vyvanse daily. Zoloft has been very effective in treating my condition, but it took a full 8 weeks to become effective. My anxiety level increased during this time, especially when my dosage was increased from 75 to 100mg. My pdoc prescribed Xanax to help with anxiety while I was adjusting to the Zoloft. Currently, I have no side effects from the Zoloft or Vyvanse.

I took Adderall SR and XR in the past and found it too stimulating, so I had my pdoc switch me to Vyvanse. Vyvanse is not as stimulating and hasn't caused an increase in my anxiety.

You might ask your pdoc to prescribe a benzo, like Xanax or Klonopin, to help with anxiety while your adjusting to the medication.

You might ask your pdoc to prescribe a benzo, like Xanax or Klonopin, to help with anxiety while your adjusting to the medication.

I'm not sure though if my doctor would prescribe me that, being that I am already prescribed a very addicting drug (adderall)...but I'll see what she says next week. And there is no way I can go through that level of anxiety without something like a benzo but I really would prefer to try something else that may agree with me better.

I trialed Zoloft, once again, a couple weeks ago while simultaneously being on adderall and in addition to feeling sort of zoned out on it I also became hyper sensitive/irritable, which are pretty much symptoms which correspond with anxiety. This same feeling is similar to what I feel when I'm off of adderall.

Adderall makes me feel over stimulated as well but it helps so much with my social anxiety panic attacks and general confidence/positivity that I'm hooked on it. I tried dexedrine (vyvanse) in place of adderall along with my usual dosage of lexapro a while back and while the overstimulation and free floating anxiety diminished greatly my impatience and irritability rose rather significantly and I stopped because me being irritable=socially rejected= massive social anxiety.

It could happen I suppose...although they tell you there is no difference with the generic brands. I would certainly call your Dr. or Pharmacist to get their opinion. I certainly would'nt ignore the new symptoms.....

I'm not sure though if my doctor would prescribe me that, being that I am already prescribed a very addicting drug (adderall)...but I'll see what she says next week. And there is no way I can go through that level of anxiety without something like a benzo but I really would prefer to try something else that may agree with me better.

I have anxiety and depression in addition to my ADHD. To treat the depression, I've tried a variety of antidepressants - including Zoloft. Unfortunately, they always have the same effect of increasing my anxiety/irritability and REALLY increasing agitation - jitters, etc. So then I was given Klonopin, which I take every day, to combat the anxiety and increased agitation. It brings it to a tolerable level.

Unfortunately, my moods still swung up and down wildly (shouldn't really say "UP", more like mildly depression to severely depressed to intensely irritable, ect). So now a third medication - Lamictal - to level out moods and help more with depression. Finally, I'm starting to feel better. I can react calmly to things without the crazed irritability, I can talk to people without trouble, my moods stay pretty level. But I must say, that if I miss a Klonopin - my anxiety increases greatly, even into the next day.

I'm not on ADHD medication, because the pdoc thinks it will only increase my agitation/anxiety (which is finally at a manageable level).

Just wanted to let you know what worked for me - and that there are other options out there other than antidepressants. The mood stabilizer has helped me more than any antidepressant ever did.

My pdoc explained to me that once an anxiety pathway is activated, it can take a while for it to shut down. I was on Daytrana and had a HORRIBLE anxiety attack, quit it, and had de-realization and free floating anxiety for over a month. I was anxious around people and situations that had never bothered me before. Fortunately, it waned, maybe the exercise I started helped. Now I am drug free and full speed ahead ADHD. I guess some of us can't have it all. I would rather be distracted than anxious.

What our docs don't realize is that not all of us have the luxury of experimenting with what works. I am a trial atty and if I had a 3 hour panic attack in the middle of something, it would be never forgotten and not well received at all. The judges don't care about anything other than their dockets moving.

Zoloft increased my side effects profile of it and dex... it made my GAD and SA worse... glad to be off it, been a month now.

My pdoc will not be happy that I do this without talking to him. But its a two way street. He doesn't see me for 4 months, hes too busy to see me, and well my ****ing life is my ****ing life. I don't stick to this ****... so I get label borderline, drug abuser, because of this... life is ****ed... maybe I should speed up the increase in dexedrine myself... it will take me ****ing 5 years to get to a correct dose... should start buying E and 2-C B off my friends....

Zoloft increased my side effects profile of it and dex... it made my GAD and SA worse... glad to be off it, been a month now.

My pdoc will not be happy that I do this without talking to him. But its a two way street. He doesn't see me for 4 months, hes too busy to see me, and well my ****ing life is my ****ing life. I don't stick to this ****... so I get label borderline, drug abuser, because of this... life is ****ed... maybe I should speed up the increase in dexedrine myself... it will take me ****ing 5 years to get to a correct dose... should start buying E and 2-C B off my friends....

I hear what your saying and frankly sometimes it is desirable to stop a med before having to wait till your next appointment with your psych. You should find out from your doc if it is cool with him if you stop a med you are trying out if you find that it is not helping you or making things worse for you. From what you've said it sounds like hes probably not cool with it.

First off, not that this necessarily relates to your situation at all, but you really should try and give every med at least a couple weeks before you decide if it is helping or not (I don't know how long you gave zoloft). Not because you won't feel effects of the med till then (which is what some docs try to tell you and is complete BS; for many people at least) but because you really don't have time to evaluate all the areas of your conciousness it affects you in; positive or negative. While you may notice the negatives earlier on, you might not have the time to become aware of any positives effects it might have if you don't give it some time. I understand that sometimes this just isn't possible with outside stressors like school or whatever amplifying the negative effects of a med to the point where its just unbearable and you need to stop the med. My point is that you should try and soldier it out for at least 2 weeks if possible for the added insight it will give you into how the med affected you which you can then relate to the mechanisms of action of the med itself.

I understand and agree with you that it is complete BS to expect a person to wait 2 months or even 1 between visits just to stop a med that has made things much worse for them. I have experienced docs accusing me of the exact things you mentioned as a result of me choosing to stop a med that was making me suicidal before our next scheduled appointment when I wasn't supposed to. I can only suggest that you work to get a new doc which is not so... old fashioned... in this department.

I know you are probably just venting in anger when you refer to buying drugs from your friends and are probably not that stupid. Just in case: I realize that right now you are dealing with a lot of understandable frustration which justifiably needs to be dealt with either by more frequent visits with the doctor, the ability to discuss your meds over the phone with your doc, or maybe just a new doctor entirely. Also, you mentioned you catch a lot of unjust flak and accusations from your current doc for having stopped your medicines before your next appointment. However, the fact is that this is something that another doc WILL understand the reason for and frankly you are on the right side of the argument on. If you would make the decision to start doing a major illegal drug and get caught (which is really easy to do) you will find that, put simply, you have just permanently put the 'ball' in your doctor's court (as well as any docs you have in the future) because then you would have proven that you ARE a drug abuser and therefore obviously not to be fully trusted with psychotropic drugs. From then on you would find it twice as hard if not impossible to get any sort of trust from a psy-doc. Having this trust is what allows you much greater control over your own course of treatment and greatly speeds it up as well. As you are experiencing its hard enough as it is to find a psychiatrist who is even willing to put a fair amount of trust and control in the hands of a patient who HASN'T shown them-self to be a drug abuser. Just a heads up of how much you will be screwed if you take that route.