[delta7777]

Has anyone ever experienced a chemical induction of manic from Zoloft? Can anyone explain this?
My wife has been one of the most loving women I have ever known. She is highly respected by all that have ever met her. She has always told the truth no matter what. She is a Loving mother and wife. She always looked down on cheating on your spouse and perverted activity.
She started taking Zoloft for anxiety from the children around September. She had always drank a glass of wine and smoked at night. After a month or two on Zoloft she increased the amount of wine or beer now to as much as a bottle of wine in one night. She began to spend a lot of time on our back porch drinking and smoking while texting friends or calling them. She also started wanting to go out to bars a lot more and partying. October she spent a lot of time away from home drinking with Friends and at the end of the month she stayed out until 6 AM at the guy's house that she had an affair with me and told me it was the best night of her life. The next week she told me she did not think she loved me and she felt good when other guy's told her she looked good. The next 3 weeks she went out late and could not understand why I was mad. I confronted her about her lover and she denied it. Even after proof of affair she still denied it until I told her details. The affair lasted about 2 months and she had trouble ending it. We got help from a psychologist but She refused to tell the psychologist the truth about anything. We met with her 3 times and it did very little good. She is very convincing that she is OK. She wants to go out and party as much as possible, staying out to 2AM two nights this last weekend. Just this week she started talking to and riding around drinking with a new guy, even telling him in email that she already missed him. This behavior is SO FREAKING OUT OF characteristic it is not even funny. She has also quit contributing to the financial side of our marriage and has been spending money like crazy. She never bought cloths before and now she is overflowing with designer cloths and make up.

The main things that have been out of character are as follows.
Tex ting sexual text to lover with nude photo's
Physically cheating on me
LYING about EVERYTHING possible
Spending massive amounts of money
Shorter temper with children and me
Depressed even in good times
Intense sexual intercourse with me(admitted she was thinking of lover during sex)
Complete disconnect from what people will think about affair
Drinking more than normal
Wanting to go out any chance she gets
Wanting attention from other males
No ability to cry or show emotion about sad things
No remorse for hurtful things she has done
Sometimes sleeps more than normal
Will not seek counsel from family and friends
Acts perfect in front of everyone except me
Very sexually motivated

I know that there is something wrong with my wife. My motivation in this letter is not to win her back as my wife but to help her for my children’s sake. They need a stable mother and I feel that she needs help with her mental state. We are in the process of divorce and I need to figure out what is wrong before I make decisions on custody rights that I will seek.

[Anneinside]

There are some things that look like mania or hypomania but others on your list don't fit (like no emotions and sleeping more). The only way she can be treated is to see a doctor or psychiatrist but if she won't open up to the psychologist then it is unlikely she will with the doctor. She has to recognize that something is wrong and want to get help before anything can be done.

[Yoda]

Perhaps she should have individual therapy right now so she can be honest without feeling she might upset you.

Antidepressants can induce mania in bipolar people but since we don't know if she is bipolar there is no way to say if that is what is happening with her now until she is evaluated.

[BlackPup]

Sounds like it could be mania or hypo mania to me.... but each person is different and responds differently. I would try going back to the doctor who prescribed it and telling him what is happening and getting you wife to go see him so that she can get a referral to someone more qualified.

It is fairly common for people with bipolar to find out that they are bipolar only after a drug induced (antidepressants) mania.

[DancingAlone]

the thing that bothers me about blaming the Zoloft for manic behavior is the fact she wasn't this way before, right? with bipolar disorder, sexual promiscuity, partying, spending, things like that are the norm. if left untreated, the SSRIs (anti-depressants that act on the neurotransmitter serotonin) taken by themselves, can definitely cause mania, but only if a person is bipolar?? this is my understanding but please anybody correct me if i am wrong. (the drug insert does say "may cause mania" etc. but don't remember the exact wording). you could have your pharmacist give you a printout of zoloft information, or give you an insert to read, or talk to the professionals.

i was diagnosed and put on an antipsychotic medication for the bipolar, but i have to have an anti-depressant for the awful depression too. but when they put me on zoloft, i went balistic, literally. i experienced mixed states (mania and depressed together), rapid cycling (up down, up down, up down within sometimes FIVE minutes!). it was awful. i stayed on it a year, don't ask me why. but the effects lasted FIVE YEARS. i thought i was going to lose my mind. my sobriety was in jeopardy, relationships were starting to suffer, i couldn't concentrate at all. pure hell.

i'm so sorry you are going through this. here's a web site as zoloft relates to an anxiety disorder that you said was the reason she was put on it to begin with, and explains side effects etc. there are other sites that address the anti-depressant aspects too: http://socialanxietydisorder.about.c...s/p/zoloft.htm

anyway, there could be other causes for her behavior changes. the best thing is to let the professionals help you and her understand what's going on. but it sounds very bizzare that she would change so drastically. i wish you both well.

[ayana95]

Originally Posted by delta7777

Has anyone ever experienced a chemical induction of manic from Zoloft? Can anyone explain this?
My wife has been one of the most loving women I have ever known. She is highly respected by all that have ever met her. She has always told the truth no matter what. She is a Loving mother and wife. She always looked down on cheating on your spouse and perverted activity.
She started taking Zoloft for anxiety from the children around September. She had always drank a glass of wine and smoked at night. After a month or two on Zoloft she increased the amount of wine or beer now to as much as a bottle of wine in one night. She began to spend a lot of time on our back porch drinking and smoking while texting friends or calling them. She also started wanting to go out to bars a lot more and partying. October she spent a lot of time away from home drinking with Friends and at the end of the month she stayed out until 6 AM at the guy's house that she had an affair with me and told me it was the best night of her life. The next week she told me she did not think she loved me and she felt good when other guy's told her she looked good. The next 3 weeks she went out late and could not understand why I was mad. I confronted her about her lover and she denied it. Even after proof of affair she still denied it until I told her details. The affair lasted about 2 months and she had trouble ending it. We got help from a psychologist but She refused to tell the psychologist the truth about anything. We met with her 3 times and it did very little good. She is very convincing that she is OK. She wants to go out and party as much as possible, staying out to 2AM two nights this last weekend. Just this week she started talking to and riding around drinking with a new guy, even telling him in email that she already missed him. This behavior is SO FREAKING OUT OF characteristic it is not even funny. She has also quit contributing to the financial side of our marriage and has been spending money like crazy. She never bought cloths before and now she is overflowing with designer cloths and make up.

The main things that have been out of character are as follows.
Tex ting sexual text to lover with nude photo's
Physically cheating on me
LYING about EVERYTHING possible
Spending massive amounts of money
Shorter temper with children and me
Depressed even in good times
Intense sexual intercourse with me(admitted she was thinking of lover during sex)
Complete disconnect from what people will think about affair
Drinking more than normal
Wanting to go out any chance she gets
Wanting attention from other males
No ability to cry or show emotion about sad things
No remorse for hurtful things she has done
Sometimes sleeps more than normal
Will not seek counsel from family and friends
Acts perfect in front of everyone except me
Very sexually motivated

I know that there is something wrong with my wife. My motivation in this letter is not to win her back as my wife but to help her for my children’s sake. They need a stable mother and I feel that she needs help with her mental state. We are in the process of divorce and I need to figure out what is wrong before I make decisions on custody rights that I will seek.

I am sorry for what your going through. It seems to me you really love your wife. She does seem Manic. I would try to get her to see a psychiatrist. How are your children doing?

[blueoctober]

delta7777 anti-depressants, especially SSRI's without a mood stabilizer can induce mania or hypomania in a person who has bipolar. This was how I was diagnosed. The anti-d's don't cause bipolar, but can cause the symptom of mania or hypomania more pronounced.

I would recommend you have her see a Psychiatrist. If she won't listen to you is there a friend or family member in her life that she would listen to? Perhaps she would be willing to see her GP and this may be a first step to get her referred to a Psychiatrist. If she is in a hypomanic or manic episode it's difficult for the person to identify that they're unwell.

From your list of symptoms some are part of a bipolar diagnosis, but bipolar shares symptoms with other mental illnesses like Borderline Personality Disorder. I hope your wife gets help soon and I'm sorry you and your family are going through this.

[Ryask]

Thats how i was diagnosed...i was put on an SSRI anti depressant and went completely manic...some of the symptoms were many that you had described such as:

Spending massive amounts of money
short temper (easily angered)
sexual almost aggression (very interested in as much sex as possible)
Drinking/drug use
Wanting to get out out...often...often the inability to just sit and be home
No emotions..other then anger/irritability/frustration

These things were completely the opposite of what i am like normally. The only ones i would add to the list were somethi9ng you might want to consider asking her and they were (insomnia and racing thoughts). She absolutly needs to seek professional assistance...although...if she's truely manic...she will think she's just fine...and just happy...and that you just want to keep her down.....there really is no reasoning left in her..if she is manic.

[delta7777]

Sorry for the late reply, but I've been so busy trying to help my wife I forgot to check my post. Thank you all for your help and expressing some of your own experiences, it means alot.
To catch you up she spent 4 days in a mental institution and only swa the DR for 1 hour total time and 3 hours with theropist. They said nothing was wrong but that she just didn't love me for a long time and she just didn't know how to tell me. Crazy if you knew this woman.
Since she got home I have found out that she met a guy in the mental hospital that was in for the same thing and she has been sexually texting him since she got out. Then I caught her forming a new relationship through texting with the second guy I caught her with. The texting has not gotten real dirty but talks about doing it alot. She even text him she was falling in love. She just started talking to this guy 2 weeks ago. After busting her texting the mental guy I told her I wanted Primary custody and she had to see a new Psycitrist and I would have open dialog with this Dr. This woman has been solid for 13 years and it is insane the way she is acting. She stayed up till 3 and 4 in the morning Christmas eve and the night before texting him. On the biggest night of your childrens life for this year.
Thanks again for the post, mabye this Dr. can help us.

[blueoctober]

I hope the new Psychiatrist helps.