Going to increase zoloft to 50 mg.

I saw my pdoc today. He said that the amount of zoloft I've been taking is like putting a pinch of salt in a big pot of soup! I said I'm jittery half the day and he suggested valerian root or gaba, as alternatives to other meds. I said everything makes me tired and he said that anything for anxiety is going to make someone tired. I already take Allegra for allergies; he thought that or benadryl would help. I keep trying to explain that the jittery feeling is from the zoloft, not anxiety. I guess it doesn't matter what it's from. He also suggested taking the zoloft in the morning. Does anyone take half in the morning and half at night? He said I could switch that way, to mornings so now I wonder if that's also an alternative to morning vs night. He said something about my wanting control. I didn't understand that at all! I just want to feel better than I have before I started the medicine. So we'll see what 50 mg does for me.

How's your pooping? Sorry if I asked this before! The connection to jittery is, I was constipated for like 60 years!! And never realized how anxious I was. I got constipated again last weekend just from anticipating family contact. My gut didn't feel normal until vthis morning. My longtime t told me I had control issues too. I liked what noreason said about control in cantexplains thread about power. I REALLY like that your grandkids are doing yoga! I've only read about that and seen it on tv, now it's real!!

Thank you, hankster. I haven't had any intestinal problems with the zoloft. I have IBS, but the kind with diarrhea, not constipation. When I'm more anxious, it acts up. I think the zoloft is making that better, actually. The jitteriness is a side effect, I know. Yeah, it's funny about the yoga! I wish I had known earlier in my visit, though. I would have practiced more with them! My gd is so adorable sitting with her palms up! It's hysterical!

It's not a pinch of salt. Some people are simply not standardized towards the med.

A minimum effective dosage on sertraline is said to be 50 mg a day. I see no purpose in splitting pills since it is long acting.

I'm not sure what you mean by feeling jittery. Is it like a tremor, or is it a feeling of body stress that makes you want to move around to try to escape the feeling, a sort of body tension? The latter is called akathisia and usually goes away with SSRI's but if you have it at this low dosage, you should probably increase very slowly and maybe even after the jittery feeling gets a little better.

If you have no option to wait your doc might prescribe propranolol. It is usually a safe med (normally for lowering heart rate and blood pressure), and it shouldn't make you tired. It is not safe if you already have a very low blood pressure because then you might get dizzy and faint. It's only meant to be taken for as long as the akathisia is there, then stopped. Even with a normal blood pressure you shouldn't spin or do somersaults on that med, dizzy.....

When I'm saying it doesn't have to be like salt in soup, it is my own experience as sensitive to that class of med. When I started fluvoxamine I did at 50 mg which is seen as a starting dosage and not effective. It pulled me out of a 3 year long severe depression with catatonic traits!!! And it should not have. But I'm sensitive. Almost a year later I had to increase to 75 mg and I haven't felt a need to increase after that! The effective lowest dosage on my med is supposedly 100 mg. But I have an effect on lower than what is seen as effective. Therefore I think docs shouldn't rush it. They are not used to sensitive people. Just because you are sensitive to side effects doesn't mean you can get a good effect from a low dosage, but sometimes those do go hand in hand.

Hi, that is strange of your pdoc to suggest start taking it in the morning if the drowsiness is unsettling you. I'm on quetiapine 200mg which makes me very drowsy. I like that as it has helped my anxiety loads more than any anti d. But long story short I take it at night so it also helps me have a solid sleep and keep nightmares at bay. If I have to get up in the morning I take earlier in the evening when I'm ready to settle down for the night about 8ish. Those few hours makes it easier to wake early otherwise I would sleep through all alarms. So it may benefit you to take yours earlier in the evening instead of bed time so your not so effected during the day.

I know everyone responds differently but that's how I manage the drowsy effect, try playing around with the time of day you take it until you find a rhythm that matches your body. Although bare in mind if you take it late one day then early the next you will have a cross over which may make you more effected so I found a staggered approach to this worked best.

Otherwise there are so many types of meds if your problem is persistent then you be persistent with your doc. Have confidence as you know better than your doc how your responding to that specific medication and there are always options.

Hope you find a solution xxxx

My old doc said with pills you take day after day that are not sort of tied to food or daily activities you can take in the morning if it fits you, or nights if it fits you better.

My med made me tad sleepy at first so I took it at night. That side effect disappeared in a week but I have always taken it at night since my schedule is such as I can take it about the same time every night and my "mornings" are much more irregular.

What about in the afternoon? I think I'll ask the pharmacist when I refill my RX. I took 50mg. last night and went to bed at 10:30 but got up at around 5:30. I'm tired but not so jittery, though I still feel that way. Not normal for me. I also took my Allegra last night. Pdoc thought that might help the jitteriness.

Question: If zoloft is also for anxiety, WHY is he trying to give me something ELSE for anxiety? Does that mean it doesn't work for anxiety for me, or maybe it will at this dose?

jimi: He wants to increase it more because he says you need a much higher dose for OCD than the normal therapeutic dose of 50 mg.

Mine told me that the other faster acting anxiety med is to help me remain calm and not obsess about the Zoloft. Then the Zoloft will kick in and I won't need the other anxiety med.

You been on it for how long and still dizzy?

I would suspect it might not be drug for you... maybe time to try something else?

are you supersensitive to other drugs as well?

I assume the doc tries another anxiety med in the meanwhile you adjust to the zoloft. I take my luvox for OCD as well, and yea it does work at my dosage. Without even trying a lower dosage they tried 200 mg zoloft and basically fried my brain. It's not always needed to go higher, that is a very stubborn myth! You have to see how the REAL person reacts.

I'm not dizzy; I'm jittery, and it's tolerable. I think it's about 6 or 7 weeks now. I started at 25 mg, then after about 4 weeks, went up to 37 1/2 mg. Now 50. The pdoc says "I have to get over the hump". I'm not going to give up until I see if it helps me for OCD or not, as long as it doesn't make me worse. My T said she's heard from others that zoloft makes people jittery. She says, unfortunately, drugs are trial and error, and there are side effects. Yes, I have a lot of allergies, like to penicillin, and I take allergy shots. Zoloft is the first antidepressant I've ever tried. I take Allegra for allergies because Zyrtec made me too tired. I get rashes, have atopic dermatitis, so I'm sensitive to a lot of things!