I'm not putting this in the anxiety section because Zoloft is used for both anxiety and depression.
I've started taking this drug about a week ago and I'm still taking it 25mg a day. I heard the usual dosage is 50-100mg a day. I also heard a lot of people are experiencing horrible withdrawal effects - nausea, dizziness, severe depression and bad panic attacks.
I started taking it to "cure" my panic attacks thing, I'm starting to regret it after reading all this. My psychiatrist asked me a few times if I was "ok with taking it", and I obviously said that I am but she never told me about the withdrawal effects either.
My question is, has anybody taken Zoloft in the past, did it have a possitive effect and how did you get off it? If those aftereffects are the same, or even worse compared to the way I felt before I'm seriously thinking about stopping it right now while it's not too late.
Share your experience with any drugs concerning panic disorder too.

I took Zoloft and it was a pretty high dose, and I felt nothing. So they put me on Xanax for anxiety and it just made me have a hangover feeling, and they put me on an antidepressant which did nothing. They put me on another anxiety/depression medication I forget what it was but it didn't work.

Long story short, out of ALL the medicines I've taken, anxiety/depression ones never worked.

You are a tough son of a. How are you managing to LIVE then? I mean, I get my panic attacks even at home, it's pointless to say how I feel when I try going out (in the public transport for example). I really want to snuff it.
I'm so tired of this I feel I'll just go out and kick everyone and feel good and be cured.

Like all SSRIs, aren't you supposed to have Zoloft build up in your system (which can take weeks) before you notice any positive effects?
Also, i find it hard to believe you took Xanax without any results on anxiety! They must of put you on a minuscule dosage (like 0.5mg).

You ought to get 1mg Xanax for panic attacks and 10mg of valium (diazepam) twice a day for overall anxiety. I'd personally stay the fuck away from SSRIs like zoloft, lexapro, prozac, etc. That shit can seriously fuck with your head... but then again so can benzo widthdrawals

To everyone out there taking prescription drugs for their noggin: You should seriously read up on what you're pumping yourself with. You can't trust doctors to tell you everything as they're lazy retards, i wouldn't doubt that they don't even fully understand what they're giving you. Read a few wiki articles, check out drugs.com. Learn about side-effects, what parts of the brain it affects, long-term effects, and withdrawal symptoms and dangers of w/d.

A personal story of my ordeal with doctors in the ER

It's not that people have anyone left than doctors to trust when it comes to this. I don't want to take any drugs if possible, yet it seems impossible not to since my condition is very bad. I don't have enough knowlege of how those medicines work to do a research either.
That's why I asked if anyone has done Zoloft, so that I could know what to expect in the future.

I did wait for weeks for all of my medications to work, and none of them ever did. And I was on a pretty high dosage of Xanax. I think It was too much, actually.

You don't need any knowledge, in fact, you do research because you got none.
It can start as simple as entering the substance's name in google, wiki or any other website.

While asking around for other people's experiences, keep in mind that all people react individually on these substances. Do not expect anything. My instance should make this especially clear.. I tend to react very oddly on most substances.

I took Zoloft for 6 or 7 years, with varying doses from 25 to 200mg (200 for the longest). I have always noted the effects of a single administration on the same day, often even as soon as within 20-60 minutes. In my case, if I don't note anything on the same day, I won't note anything in weeks either. This is very much in contrast with all other people, who need a few weeks for the effects to set in.. which were, on the positive side and in my case, feeling more good-natured and balanced, less irritatable and guilty, perceiving pain and my body as less uncomfortable or so, and in particular, less nightmares, less panic attacks, more spontaneousness and a better looking skin (yes, I know.. smaller pores and more moisture, probably due to better blood circulation and anti-inflammatory properties). Like you're sort of.. uh.. lazy all day, and don't even feel bad about it or so. Questionable, but effective. On the negative side: Even more trouble falling asleep, tension pain in my jaw, flu-like feeling.. feeble and hot, more frequent headaches, blunter emotions / less sensitivity, less vigor and clarity, sometimes feeling very restless and agitated mentally. Also it does not help against my anhedonia, my lack of motivation and interest, and my social anxiety.. but it had improved my depression from severe to moderate for a while. Far off a cure, but whatever.

The withdrawal effects have always been two for me; dizziness and pimples (probably due to hormonal changes). Although I have always gradually lowered the dose in 25mg steps over a long, long period of time for stopping, it has always been accompanied by this weird dizzy sensation. I call it the serotonine dizziness it doesn't feel exactly bad, rather something indescribably weird, but it lasted for months after stopping altogether. Pimples only occured from the final reduction of 25 to zero mg. If it wasn't for them, I'd consider it as an as-needed medication, rather than taking it regularly, but oh well..
I'd also like to say that its effectiveness decreases over time for me, though never completely vanishes, but after some weeks, it doesn't feel as good and relieving anymore as the first times did, which let to me increasing the doses all of the time til I was on 200mg. After some time I got used to the new dose, and 200mg were not more effective than 25 or 100mg, only the brief time of increasing the dose was more effective. However, it's easier to cease taking 25 than 200mg, so whenever I can't endure life anymore and decide I wanna take some Sertraline again, I only take 25mg..

But I think it's definitely worth trying out some. Before Zoloft, I took Fevarine (Fluvoxetamine), and it permanently cured my OCD for good during only a year or so.. I think Zoloft would have too, cause beside less frequent withdrawal dizziness I didn't note any changes between Fluvoxetamine and Sertraline.

Sadly, so far of all those ADs I tried, Sertraline still was the best.. or the least bad.. lol ._.

I think you shouldn't care too much about my or other's experiences.
My instance should just tell you how distinguishedly people react on it.
You must find the answer for yourself, really.
Often the reports of others only serve to scare you.
Their side effects, dependancy, addiction and all that stuff.. you find them if you seek them.

Good luck

I couldn't agree with you more. Certain substances i lived my high through how i've read, instead of what i genuinely, objectively experienced.

One thing i noticed about Zoloft, compared to Lexapro or Prozac, it was much gentler in its effects both desired and undesired.