# Is zoloft one of the best SSRIs for anxiety ??



## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

Hi all,

I am generally very sensitive to meds, and didn't react well at all to SNRIs like cymbalta or effexor unfortunately. I also couldn't deal with the side effects from the paxil or the sedation from remoron. 

I was on prozac for many years but didn't feel much from it after awhile. I also tried lexapro /cypralex but still ended up anxious on it..

Would you think zoloft would be a good addition to my current regime to treat my GAD ?? How about zoloft and wellbutrin ??

I worry the zoloft may bother my RLS like some of the others have, but am willing to give it a try if its worth it.. I know its subjective 

Any feedback is much appreciated as always,
Thanks


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## broflovski (Feb 1, 2011)

I consider Zoloft along with Prozac to be the best in SSRI class because of their dopaminergic properties. I even thought about combining or rotating them for synergy (they boost dopamine by different ways). But considering your particular regimen Zoloft may be superfluous. What doctor says?


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

For me paroxetine is the best med to treat GAD, much better than sertraline but maybe it depends on personal reaction.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

broflovski said:


> I consider Zoloft along with Prozac to be the best in SSRI class because of their dopaminergic properties. I even thought about combining or rotating them for synergy (they boost dopamine by different ways). But considering your particular regimen Zoloft may be superfluous. What doctor says?


Why would it be superflous ?

My plan (and hope) is that the zoloft would reduce the anxiety so that I can slowly taper off the clonazepam and only use it as needed (due to the tolerance and addiction issues_. I was also hoping that it may help stabilize my moods. Does this make sense ???

Thanks so much


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## broflovski (Feb 1, 2011)

I just theorize that Zoloft as SSRI with additional (though slight) dopaminergic affect may not be the best substitute for benzo in your cocktail (taking into account activating meds you already take), shifting the whole balance to stimulating edge. Maybe try something pure serotoninergic? I'm not sure however that any SSRI can replace benzo, but wish you succeed in it.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

broflovski said:


> I just theorize that Zoloft as SSRI with additional (though slight) dopaminergic affect may not be the best substitute for benzo in your cocktail (taking into account activating meds you already take), shifting the whole balance to stimulating edge. Maybe try something pure serotoninergic? I'm not sure however that any SSRI can replace benzo, but wish you succeed in it.


I see your point on it possibly being too stimulating combined with my current cocktail (which I do not want).. What would be something pure serotoninergic ?

And yes, I agree and am not sure an SSRI can fully replace a benzo. But if I can even reduce the benzos to 2-3x per week PRN, I would be happy..

Thanks


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## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

hanzsolo said:


> Why would it be superflous ?
> 
> My plan (and hope) is that the zoloft would reduce the anxiety so that I can slowly taper off the clonazepam and only use it as needed (due to the tolerance and addiction issues_. I was also hoping that it may help stabilize my moods. Does this make sense ???
> 
> Thanks so much


Zoloft will not "stabilize" your moods, if you really mean moods, plural. Zoloft is an antidepressant, not a mood stabilizer. What is the nature of your "moods?"


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

bmwfan07 said:


> Zoloft will not "stabilize" your moods, if you really mean moods, plural. Zoloft is an antidepressant, not a mood stabilizer. What is the nature of your "moods?"


Hi I meant more to reduce my anxiety then to stabilize my moods actually. I figure by reducing anxiety, my mood will be better anyways LOL. And truthfully, I don't find my "moods" an issue per say, just the GAD that gets in the way. Do you think zoloft may be a good fit here for this all things considered ???

Thanks


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## broflovski (Feb 1, 2011)

I might be overcautious, cause Zoloft is indeed "often used in combination with stimulant medication for the treatment of co-morbid depression and/or anxiety in ADHD". But pharmacokinetics and respective interactions still need some concern.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

Thanks for the reply. I also read that Zoloft is notorious for weight gain. Would the Wellbutrin and Ritalin help with this and possibly offset it ?? 

And what would something more pure serotoninergic be?

Thanks


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

I gained over 200 ibs on zoloft


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## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

hanzsolo said:


> Thanks for the reply. I also read that Zoloft is notorious for weight gain. Would the Wellbutrin and Ritalin help with this and possibly offset it ??
> 
> And what would something more pure serotoninergic be?
> 
> Thanks


Stimulant medications, including pseudo-stimulants like Wellbutrin, do often have an appetite-suppressing effect, which in turn would lower your caloric intake and effect weight loss. This is only significant in some people, though, not all.



MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> I gained over 200 ibs on zoloft


Is 200 pounds a typo? If not, over how long of a time period did this occur?


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## ron9916 (Jan 22, 2011)

SSRI's work for anxiety?

Like real anxiety? Or like I'm kinda depressed and sometimes that makes me concerned anxiety


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## ron9916 (Jan 22, 2011)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> I gained over 200 ibs on zoloft


Who prescribed you a 200 pound zoloft pill?


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

All SSRI's and more so, Zoloft come with the risk of bad withdrawal effects though
its known as 
SSRI Discontinuation syndrome and it is horrible, Paxil my body very quickly and made me extremely ill but was very good for anxiety but i was told zoloft has high dependency and that means that its usually tough to come off of, if arapax (paxil) was anything to go by and beware of serotonin overload too as _Sertraline_ ( as its known here) is in my opinion one of the more potent serotonin uptake inhibitors due to the adverse effects and withdrawals even though it lasts up to one day in your body compared to paxills piddly 7-10 hours its still known to be harmful to come off of then again all SSRI's can be.

I found the best SSRI for doing basically nothing for my depression, but aiding my social anxiety and making me gain pound after pound was prozac however the withdrawals were minimal and i was on them a good few months at a moderate dose.

NOTE: *The info i know about zoloft is minimal since my doctor told me these things, they also told me it was just like paxill but then i went online and saw the half lives and differences in the two and was rather annoyed as the doc had no idea what he was talking about it would seem*

so i am open to new info as i was just going by what an old doc said


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## TheoBobTing (Jul 8, 2010)

SSRIs, in my experience, don't have tough withdrawl effects.

Everyone's different though. For example, I was on 75mg a day of venlafaxine for 4 weeks, then 150mg a day for a further two weeks, and then I went from 150mg to 0mg per day in about 3 days easily enough. But others have a hard time coming off that particular SNRI. The only withdrawls I got were a few mild electric shock type feelings. Also, benzos don't seem to affect me. People just vary.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

Arisa1536 said:


> All SSRI's and more so, Zoloft come with the risk of bad withdrawal effects though
> its known as
> SSRI Discontinuation syndrome and it is horrible, Paxil my body very quickly and made me extremely ill but was very good for anxiety but i was told zoloft has high dependency and that means that its usually tough to come off of, if arapax (paxil) was anything to go by and beware of serotonin overload too as _Sertraline_ ( as its known here) is in my opinion one of the more potent serotonin uptake inhibitors due to the adverse effects and withdrawals even though it lasts up to one day in your body compared to paxills piddly 7-10 hours its still known to be harmful to come off of then again all SSRI's can be.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info and heads up.

You are 100% right IMO - zoloft has a very short shelf life and is very tough to get off. Paxil as well.

I went through literal hell in the past coming off anti depressants. First paxil, then cymbalta, then cypralex. Nightmares !! I actually used prozac to help me off them, as it has a much longer shelf life. But was still extremely difficult.

My dilemma is that I don't want to use the clonazepam indefinitely due to tolerance etc. Plus I need something to help with my anxiety and social anxiety issues. The SSRIs did help with this for me (as u said), but am really scared of the weight gain from them.

And very good point - the ones that are easiest to get off (like Prozac) seemed to be the least effective for my social anxiety. Alternately, the ones that zapped the anxiety in it's tracks (like paxil) were really rough...

However, my research showed that zoloft is one of the best for social anxiety, up there with paxil (which I will not take again as it made me a zombie LOL)..

Hmmmm vat to do......


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

bmwfan07 said:


> Is 200 pounds a typo? If not, over how long of a time period did this occur?


 nope. it was over a four year period.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Well it is a dilemma since you did not react well to Cymbalta or Effexor which personally i felt worked the best, well exffexor has worked well for me and as for weight gain, it did the opposite but it can happen that way and some people can stay the same weight on SSRI meds like paxill, my sisters maintain healthy weight by exercising and they are on 30MG a day but they are terrible to come off of as u mentioned. You are already on wellbutrin, does that not help enough combined with the ritalin on its own? it should not effect weight gain i mean it would appear that ritalin is stronger in its effects than antidepressant medication but the tiredness may be a problem. 

At this stage maybe you could stick with clonazepam, its not brilliant and yeah there is the dependency issue but look how difficult SSRI's are to discontinue?


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

ron9916 said:


> Who prescribed you a 200 pound zoloft pill?


 A bum down the street.


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## ron9916 (Jan 22, 2011)

TheoBobTing said:


> SSRIs, in my experience, don't have tough withdrawl effects.


They absolutely do, and for most people in fact. You're just lucky. I know what you meant to say though.. this is just confusing, sounds like you're stating a fact based on your own experience only


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

I stopped sertraline after 6 months and had no withdrawal symptoms. I stopped paroxetine after 2 months and had only nightmares and emotional lability.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

Arisa1536 said:


> Well it is a dilemma since you did not react well to Cymbalta or Effexor which personally i felt worked the best, well exffexor has worked well for me and as for weight gain, it did the opposite but it can happen that way and some people can stay the same weight on SSRI meds like paxill, my sisters maintain healthy weight by exercising and they are on 30MG a day but they are terrible to come off of as u mentioned. You are already on wellbutrin, does that not help enough combined with the ritalin on its own? it should not effect weight gain i mean it would appear that ritalin is stronger in its effects than antidepressant medication but the tiredness may be a problem.
> 
> At this stage maybe you could stick with clonazepam, its not brilliant and yeah there is the dependency issue but look how difficult SSRI's are to discontinue?


Great points indeed  and thanks for the feedback...

I am not sure wellbutrin will help me with the social anxiety and GAD, but I would never know by starting the zoloft at the same time LOl. That's my problem, I start 2-3 things at the same time, over and above the 2-3 things I already take, and then never know what is working, what is not, what may even be hurting me... Thats a problem for me. I need to try one thing at a time, for at least 1-2 months before moving onto the next thing. I am very impatient though, and want everything fixed RIGHT NOW lol which obviously wont work...

I will stick with the wellbutrin for now, the clonazepam for the anxiety, and the ritalin for the ADD and see how that works out. You're right that the SSRI have huge issues coming off, and I don't even know if I need them at this point..

And ya, the ritalin IR is tiring indeed. It kicks in hard and then burns out fast. I have very mixed feelings between this and the XR. Pros/cons to both of them (as always).... This constant desire to get back to "normal" never ends it seems :sus


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## TheoBobTing (Jul 8, 2010)

ron9916 said:


> They absolutely do, and for most people in fact. You're just lucky. I know what you meant to say though.. this is just confusing, sounds like you're stating a fact based on your own experience only


Urm... most of my last post was spent explaining how meds affect different people in different ways... :sus


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## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

hanzsolo said:


> I am not sure wellbutrin will help me with the social anxiety and GAD, but I would never know by starting the zoloft at the same time LOl. That's my problem, I start 2-3 things at the same time, over and above the 2-3 things I already take, and then never know what is working, what is not, what may even be hurting me... Thats a problem for me. I need to try one thing at a time, for at least 1-2 months before moving onto the next thing. I am very impatient though, and want everything fixed RIGHT NOW lol which obviously wont work...


I have ADHD, and I have that problem in spades, too. I think a lot of ADHDers do. It's really gotten in the way of determining what helps and what doesn't. It kind of defies the nature of the disorder to be systematic and methodical in essentially _anything_, because of deficits in executive function and inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

bmwfan07 said:


> I have ADHD, and I have that problem in spades, too. I think a lot of ADHDers do. It's really gotten in the way of determining what helps and what doesn't. It kind of defies the nature of the disorder to be systematic and methodical in essentially _anything_, because of deficits in executive function and inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity.


That is so so true
Wow well said
So what do we do lol ??? :boogie


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## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

hanzsolo said:


> That is so so true
> Wow well said
> So what do we do lol ??? :boogie


Take our stimulants and accept our shortcomings. 

Unfortunately, I can't do the former yet because I'm trying to first treat my mood disorder--which started after trying stimulants.


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> nope. it was over a four year period.


SO you gained 50 pounds a year. Please don't take offense to this, but I personally think it wasn't the zoloft that packed on 200 pounds.

I mean, in order for me to gain 50 pounds, i'd have to eat absolute junk for MONTHS and then do NO excercise and basically just sit around all the time. And it would still take me a while.

I'm not targeting you persay but i laugh when someone says: "I gained 100 pounds because of ____ med"

You gained 100 pounds because you ate bad food and you didn't excercise.

(with the exception of remeron which EVERYONE seems to say puts on weight even if you do excercise)


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## bmwfan07 (Jun 3, 2007)

peaceandlove09 said:


> SO you gained 50 pounds a year. Please don't take offense to this, but I personally think it wasn't the zoloft that packed on 200 pounds.
> 
> I mean, in order for me to gain 50 pounds, i'd have to eat absolute junk for MONTHS and then do NO excercise and basically just sit around all the time. And it would still take me a while.
> 
> ...


Anti-psychotics truly can make one gain an absurd amount of weight. I believe Maven was on those, too, or at least is now.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

yeah antipsychotics have the potential to do that, they can easily cause obesity, as appetite is just ridiculous on them. The lethargy combined with the constant desire to eat were two side effects i could not stand so stopped taking the Seroquel :/ Zoloft could over time make you gain weight but yeah if that was mixed with Seroquel or something similar in side effects like risperidone or halperidol then you would have no hope of keeping a healthy weight.

Hanz, i hope wellbutrin does well for you 
i am seriously considering coming off the effexor but worry about the side effects like with Zoloft, as they can be hell


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## 546617 (Oct 8, 2014)

I wonder this which ssri and snri are considered the best?


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