Hi,
I am a 16 year old male and I am going through some rough stuff, especially after some traumatic experiences in the past year.

I went to my doctor because I have been deressed on and of for the past 3 years, but it gt increasingly bad about 2 months ago. He put me on Zoloft 50mg,although I am now on 100mg, and I have been regularily seeing a councillor.

I have read about the side effect of Zoloft, and wonder if it is worth it. My girlfriend, who also suffers from depression(but uses alternate medicine) dislikes my taking of the Zoloft, and see's it as 'pumping chemicals into your body' and 'a miod altering drug, just like marijuana'. I see where she is coming from.

I now believe that I am Manic Depressive, although I do not know a great deal about this. I believe this due to my extreme highs and lows, the lows in which I suffer panic attacks and indulge in self harm. As the Zoloft so far have not worked, I am wondering if they have a postive effect on Manic Depressive people.

As for physical symptoms, they have not improved at all. I suffer from insomnia, extreme tiredness, moodiness, no sexual desire, dry mouth, headaches, nausea, and no appetite, when I eat food I need to vomit. I had all of these symptoms before I went on the Zoloft but have read that Zoloft can cause these as side effects.

I am beginning to believe that I am anorexic. Originally I just saw my not wanting to eat as part of the depression, but I really do not know, it seems obvious that they would be linked, but perhaps not caused by each other.

I have been overweight for about 4 years, and suffered from gynocomastia, although it was not bad enough that it couldn't be covered up with a muscle shirt underneath all I wear. I became very self-conscious, and caused myself to vomit and crash diet a few times over the past few years, but in the past four months it has grown serious. In September, I weighed 88kg, and now I weigh 72. I haven't eaten any more than one meal a day for two months, and occasionally have gone for whole weekends without eating. I do not eat and then vomit. I do not starve myself because I am afraid of gaining weight, I simply do it because my body refuses to eat, and I have thoughts in the back of my mind saying "Since I am depressed and have no appetite, I'll eat nothing and then lose weight". People tell me I have a good body sometimes, but I still get ripped off about my 'manboobs' by friends, which I feel terrible about, and don't want to have my shirt off around anyone. I don't think I am 'fat' but I know I don't look right.

Do I have anorexia?