How long until I'll feel normal again ?

[Jmdot]

I've recently gone from 50mg
Sertraline to 100mg sertraline about a week ago. Transition was relatively smooth apart from slight nausea. I have severe social anxiety,I feel like everyone is judging me. Causes me to be socially awkward and panic.ive decided on my own accord to take 200mg a day although should only be on 100mg. How long until I will feel socially comfortable ? Surely can't take 6 weeks like it initially does when starting anti depressant. Please no grief for taking double advised dose,I need to be normal again. It's destroying my life and my plans :/ if you can help . Please reply

[specialmom]

Hi there.  I'm so sorry about your social anxiety!  That's really hard.  I have a bit myself and have a son with it.  How old are you, by the way? These medications do work really well for social anxiety.  However, you do not want to increase your dose like that unsupervised with your doctor or just in one big amount.  That's not the way these medications work and you aren't a doctor so shouldn't take it upon yourself to up your dose so significantly.  Now, it is true that Sertaline or Zoloft is one of the meds that most people need a higher dose to get a full therapeutic effect.  I think the average dose is around 150 mg to actually be effective.  Many take a lower dose and have a little effect and a lot of placebo of that drug.  :>)  So, I understand if it hasn't worked that great for you.  It is a good drug for many though.  The other thing to keep in mind is that these medications take 6 to 8 weeks to fully work.  You won't feel anything over night!  Prozac is one I have experience with for social anxiety and after several weeks, there was benefit in terms of social anxiety.  I felt like a different person!  But everyone is unique.  

So, talk to your doctor about your medication.  Don't just make decisions to change your dosing they've recommended without their guidance.  Expect it to take some time to begin working fully.  And there are other choices if this isn't the best one for you.  

good luck

[Paxiled]

You won't be "normal" again this way.  How people react to medications that affect the brain differ quite a bit by the person.  Taking too little for you doesn't work.  Taking too much also doesn't work and can make you a lot worse than you are now.  Thinking if some is good more is better isn't how drugs work.  It isn't how your brain works.  For some people, it does take the same amount of time for a higher dose to start working as it did to start in the first place.  But you were also started on a low dose probably on purpose, as the best way to ease the brain into these meds and to limit side effects is to taper up on them just as you have to taper down on them when you want to stop taking them.  Dosing yourself will lose you your psychiatrist and maybe any other doctor as well.  So everyone is going to give you grief for this, we don't participate here so people can make themselves worse, which is what might happen to you.  Just follow the program, you're not going anywhere.  And I'm not the only one who is going to ask, did you try therapy?  That's even slower than drugs, but if it works, you don't have the problem anymore whereas with medication you're only tamping down the symptoms.  Often that's the best many of us can do, but don't give up actually trying to fix the problem rather than just medicate it.  These drugs aren't cures.  Now here's the thing about these meds -- it often takes a few tries to find one that works.  Speeding up the dose to one that's above what most people take -- I think 150 is what most users are on but some need less and a  few do need more -- will also make it impossible for you to up the dose even if the drug would have worked for you at a proper dosing schedule.  You'll never know if you do this.  You might end up destroying any possibility this was the right med for you if you just had some patience.