I just need some advice on post-antidepressant symptoms.

[Kristen317]

My name is Kristen. I'm a 17 year old girl in high school, and was told by my doctor that I have major depression.  My doctor gave me Zoloft. She said it worked for most teens and I should have no problem dealing with the little side effects. I was told that at the worst, I would get a stomac ache, and a dry mouth. After almost two weeks, my stomac was feeling like it was on fire, I felt dehydrated, I couldn't sleep, didn't want to eat, and couldn't stop shaking. I hit the month mark, my doctor took me from 25 mg to 50. The symptoms got worse, All of the ones listed before got worse, and I started to have violent nightmares every night. after about three weeks after upping the dose, I honestly couldn't tell when I was awake or asleep. My mom took the pills and stopped me cold turkey. I went through violent withdrawl. Shakes, cold sweat, vomiting, the whole nine yards. When I came to my sences, I went to my doctor and asked her what to do. She said, " I wasn't awaer that the zoloft would react with the ativan that way."  Is there any anti-depressant that reacts well with a anti-anxiety pill? Or is there on pill that can help both without the violent reaction?

[Independent]

LOL can't believe I'm not allowed to write the word s-u-c-k-s

[Independent]

I recently got off Zoloft and the side effects of quitting really are a pain. It's incredible that doctors know so little of this! Doesn't seem like the drug manufacturers admit any of it either.

Zoloft was helpful for me for a while, but kind of made my whole life seem like a dream. Also when i actually slept and dreamt at night I'd awake sweating from some real unpleasant nightmare that often seemed very real, actually. Not to mention that i gained about 30 pounds (which is a lot for me as I was only at 100 to begin with).

Considering the side effects both during and after I regret all in all to have ever started taking this medication. The neurological footprints are to me worse than the depression/anxiety I started out with.

My best advice will therefore be to give yourself time to find your inner balance (even though that may sound very new age). A lot of things change by itself over time. Try to relax, perhaps transfer your mental capacity to external matters (music, arts or even sports) and come to terms with the fact that feeling depressed actually seems to be a part of growing up, it's rather the severity that varies. In other words you're definately not alone in this situation.

Finally I must say that your mom did the exact right thing. As usual, family and friends are much more helpful to a person than physicians. I hope it all works out for you soon, please accept my best wishes. And excuse my English cause I know it *****.

[turbo236]

Good morning Kristen,

I don't feel that I have a whole lot of info to share with you but I wanted to post anyway just in case you see something in my post that helps you.  I'll start by telling you that I have not taken Zoloft or Ativan.  If your Doctor knew you were taking the Ativan, she should know that Zoloft is listed as a possible interaction on the Ativan prescribing label.  I may be on the market for a new Doc if something like this had happened to me.  Even if the Doc missed it, you should always tell your Pharmacist what medications you are taking every time you pick up a new one so that they can check for any interactions your Doc may have missed.  Most states require that Pharmacies record the dispensing of all controlled substances, including Ativan, which would allow the Pharmacist to most likely see that you had been prescribed Ativan in the past.  Long story short, I would be looking for a new pharmacy as well.  I would also request that your Mother educate herself on the mechanism of action of antidepressant medications so maybe she will have some understanding as to what she did to your body when she took your pills away from you without consulting with your Doctor.  There are many resources out there that offer education on the subject.  I would recommend just googling it and you will find thousands of pages of information to share with your Mother.  

Hopefully the problems you experienced were due to the interaction of the two medications you were taking.  As I said before, I am not overly experienced in this area so I will not pretend that I am.  I take 75mg of Effexor XR every day, which has worked well for ME for my depression and anxiety.  I also take 30mg of Cymbalta daily.  Both of these are cited for treatment of Major Depression and and Anxiety.  Effexor is also used to treat Panic disorder and Cymbalta is also used to treat nerve pain.  These are both in the class of antidepressants called SNRI's, where Zoloft is an SSRI.  In addition to my two, I also take Klonopin (Clonazepam) for Anxiety.  Klonopin and Ativan are similar meds in that they are both benzodiazepines.  After doing a quick look, Zoloft is not listed as an interaction with Klonopin, so you may ask your Doc about trying a different anxiety med to avoid an interaction with your Zoloft, or switch the Zoloft to something that works with the Ativan if the Ativan works well for your Anxiety.  Like I said above, I would start by trying to find a new Doctor, though.

I hope this helps somewhat, sorry for being so long winded.  Good luck and keep us posted!

Turbo