Strange reaction to meds...insight please -- Jerry? Anyone?

I've been on Zoloft for a month now, 2 weeks, on 25mg, and 2 weeks on 50mg. It's always been a stimulant for me. There have been very few side effects -- mostly some nausea at the beginning which passed. This week though, has been crazy. I was so full of energy that I just couldn't stop! I slept much less than normal, was really active, could hardly sit still or focus in class etc. My roommate even called me the Energizer bunny!

When I was at T today, my T was like, I'm a bit concerned because you're so antsy, and she brought me over to the health center (the building next to the counseling center at my school), where they checked my vitals which were fine, and then they called my doctor's office. The nurse there didn't seem concerned and said to take a Xanax to see if it calmed me down (which it did -- 20 minutes or so after I took it, I could sit still and not want to jump out of my skin, and not much after that, I was super tired and took an almost 2 1/2 hour nap). It's a good thing that it got me down though because she said that if it hadn't, she thought that I should to urgent care. Also, starting tomorrow, I'm supposed to go back to 25mg.

I'm wondering why it was so sudden that it made me so energetic after 2 weeks...I mean, it was seriously like I was on uppers! I mean, I haven't felt very anxious at all lately, and my OCD has been improving...so obviously the Zoloft is doing it's thing...but I started reacting adversely not right away after upping the dose. Is there any reason for this?

I'm thinking that I'll call and make an appointment to talk with my doctor sometime next week since I'm home on spring break, just to see, but I wanted to post and ask here to see if I could get any input.

Thanks guys!

Well, i'm not a pdoc, but I think some medicines take a couple of weeks, sometimes several weeks, to really take effect. I'm sorry that this happened, I bet it felt very strange and unwanted....but its also good to hear that some of your OCD symptoms are getting better. Take care, and be sure to talk to your pdoc about it.

It was so incredibly uncomfortable. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself.

I agree with embracinglife, it does take time to build up in your system so that probably is why the delayed reaction. All the SSRI's do that to me, but I'm bipolar. There are people, who aren't bipolar who just for some reason or another cant tolerate the SSRI's.

I think I just need small doses.

Yesterday it was brought up that I might be hyper sensitive to SSRIs, and thinking about it, that makes perfect sense.

When I was on Prozac, my therapeutic dose was only 20mg. Just 10mg of Celexa made me super tired so I slept pretty much all the time, and killed my appetite...and apparently, 50mg of Zoloft makes me crazy.

Sounds like acute hypomania - which is common when starting out on SSRIs -especially activating ones. However, if this continues to be a daily thing - and people are noticing your behavior to be erratic, hyper, irrational, etc., it would be wise to call your doctor ASAP. IF it comes and goes I wouldn't worry too much about it. You're probably hypersensitive to the Zoloft which will gradually reduce over the next month or two. A dosage reduction may be in order to control this until your body get acclimated.

Hope this helps? PM me if not!

Jerry

All week my friends were asking why I had so much energy and my roommate called me the Energizer Bunny. I honestly just couldn't slow down, and it worried my T, so she brought me to the health office and they called my doctor's office. I took a Xanax which calmed me down, and have been moved back down to 25mg instead of 50mg. Zoloft has been activating for me from the beginning, and after moving to 50mg my energy level was rising until it got to the point that I just couldn't keep myself under control...so....