So I've been battling depression/anxiety for the last couple of months and have been prescribed Zoloft by my doctor. The first few months I was on 50 mg and then 75mg and it helped but I wanted to hit that theraputic level of a 100 mg. I started the 100 mg and the first two weeks start ups were unbelievably difficult. All my "friends" were back and worse than ever. Suicidial thoughts, horrible mornings, agitation, the racing mind, the sweats you name it. But around the two week mark I opened my eyes one day and I was literally like "wait a minute Im cured". This lasted roughly two weeks. I was on top of the freakin world, I felt better than I had in years. I told my wife Im cure Im cured. I was crying tears of happiness. Then around the 4 week mark of the upped 100 mg dose I felt some of those old feelings creep in. The last few days I have been feeling real low. I go to the gym five times a week and that's not even helping. Basically I need some reassurance. Is it normal to have week long swings? ups and downs? I felt it work! What happened?!?!
hello william, yes this is a very common occurence, and one my doctor calls the 'honeymoon period' (where things get better at first but then you go backwards again). i have experienced it myself, many times in the past, and have had it myself recently (currently i am on 100mg sertraline)
one thing to keep in mind is, we are doing well and then we might have the odd hiccup or bad day, but we let that ruin everything and our ongoing progress, and think we are 'back to square one', which we certainly are not
it's up to you now if you wish to carry on with 100mg and see if the dip in your progress goes away, or if you are not experiencing troubling side effects you could try 150mg to see if that helps you (some people don't like the idea of going above 100mg but it clearly says in the leaflet that it is perfectly fine to take up to 200mg a day if necessary).
personally speaking i have been on 100mg for around 10 weeks, and it has taken this long for it to build up properly and work properly. before the 10 weeks, i had some good days but also some really crap days, but it now it feels like i am settling well on 100mg, but it has taken a couple of months, so it might mean for you also, you need some more time on 100mg to settle in properly. even after 10 weeks, i have had a one crap day this week, but i just don't let that one bad day ruin things... (i know this is very hard to do); if you do have the odd dip in your progress, try not to make it worse by now putting all of your attention and thoughts into it. if you just get on with things and try to say to yourself "ok, i dont feel great. whatever." then you are not giving your anxiety any more attention than that, and it will not be so troublesome and will pass more quickly.
bascially, regardless of your dip in progress, one thing which can't be denied is that you are not one of the unlucky ones who is treatment resistent (because you have had some great progress before your recent dip), so all you need is some more time, and to determine which is the ideal dose for you.
try not to worry, you are doing much better than you think, and judging from what you said about going to the gym a lot (and if your diet is good also without too much junk in there), you are doing everything right and will be absolutely fine in no time
Thank you so much for your kind response. I really needed to hear something like this. When I am in a funk like this its hard to see the light at the end. I feel like I will be stuck like this forever. I just hit the 4 week mark so I guess I'll wait and see how I'm doing at the 6-8 week. To experience relief and then have it ripped away is beyond cruelty. It felt so great. I could cry just thinking about it now.
i totally know what you mean, because i had that happen to me when i took citalopram about 7 years ago, it was the first time i tried antidepressants, and had depression and anxiety before that for about 5 years. after a couple of weeks of taking citalopram something happened, it was like my mind completely switched to being completely without any depression and anxiety. it wasnt a high feeling like being drunk or anything like that, it was more like my mind completely cleared and relaxed, and suddenly i could see everything normally again, the first time in 5 years. all my fear disappeared and i loved everything again, including myself. i was so happy because i had almost forgot what it felt like to be myself again. the feeling lasted a few days, and then my depression and anxiety kind of crept back a bit unfortunately, but it didn't bother me too much because just those few days of feeling myself again gave me so much hope that it doesnt matter how long we slip for, eg. months or years, there is always hope and a good chance that we will come out of the other side and find our old selves; the old selves we really like and really miss
i didnt stay on citalopram long after that because although it was good and helpful, it made me very sleepy in the day time so i ended up switching to something else. and i've been on and off antidepressants since then, trying out different ones out and searching for my old self again
currently the sertraline im taking is really good, i do feel great at the moment and am really happy about that. but it did take 100mg for a couple of months to start getting anywhere, so do keep this in mind, some people need 12 weeks to really get there. you will have the odd bad day on the way, but eventually the good days start to outnumber the bad days, and in my opinion that's something to be really happy about, instead of thinking you are back to square one (which you certainly are not)
dont worry william you will get there, you know what you want and you wont stop until you get it, so you've already won most of the battle, and it's only a matter of time before you settle on the right med and dose for you. there's something out there for everyone and the important thing is to keep going until we find out. never give up and dont let you, or anyone else, stop you