Originally I was put on 100mg of Zoloft to help me with unwanted OCD thoughts and also for psychological anxieties. What I mean by "psychological anxieties" is that it had nothing to do with physical anxiety. It was primarily worry, stress and thought anxiety.

I've worked through many issues that plagued me when I was younger. I can't say I have psychological anxiety anymore. If something bothers or worries me, I have the experience to be able to handle it by working through the problem, and it doesn't continue to trouble me.

For about a year now, I've been struggling with an uncomfortable physical anxiety in my gut, one that comes and goes for no reason. It actually is so convincing it makes me feel worried about something, although I can't put a finger on what I'm worried about. So, the doctor upped my dose to 150mg. It really didn't do anything but stay the same.

About a month ago, I decided I'd talk to the doctor about weaning down on Zoloft. My goal was actually to get off the medicine, and see how I felt. If I had recurring thoughts and anxiety about situational issues, I would start taking it again. He allowed me to experiment.

I cut down to 100mg for about a week, then 50mg for a week, then 25mg for a day, and I started having withdrawal symptoms. The most annoying symptom of all was a tight throat which indicated my body was headed for panic mode. But I wasn't panicked inside my thought processes - only physically. And the gut anxiety actually lessened.

But I decided I'd go back to 50mg for about a week. The feeling in the throat hasn't gone away yet, and I realize it may take another week or so to get back in my system.

I went to my family doctor today to discuss this, and he ruled out thyroid, allergic reactions, or other gland illnesses. He felt it was true that the lack of Zoloft in my system was causing this tightness in my throat.

My question is, do I really need Zoloft for what it was created for? My original mental anxieties and OCD are gone. Now I feel like I'm hooked on Zoloft physically, and that only because my brain hasn't adapted without it yet is why I'm experiencing these symptoms.

So what would you do? Ideally I'd like to taper off all of it, but at a much slower rate. But I'm afraid the doctor will convince me to stay on it.