My husband has just started taking Zoloft, and I’m interested in learning about how it helped anyone here. I’d really appreciate any insight you could give me.
Any side effects? Did you have to stop taking it, or could you work through them?
Did it help your depression? Was it the greatest thing since sliced bread or did it not help at all?
How long did it take to feel some effect?
How long did you take it, or have you been taking it?
It worked for me, and I began to see the effects pretty quickly. In my particular case, we’ve had some problems controlling the dose – I’ve had to tweak the prescription both stronger and weaker, so you have to be self-aware of any changes and get with the doctor.
As far as physical side effects, the worst I’ve suffered was some sleep disruption.
I used Zoloft for about 6 months. It worked fine however I was cursed with the side effects of sleep interuption and lack of sexual desire.
I’ve been on it for a couple of months and some of my friends have noticed it even more than I. They’ve made comments on how much less glum and downtrodden I look. I actually laugh at jokes and smile now. So I think it’s great. I started seen the benefits fairly quickly after I was ramped up to 100mg/day.
I’ve recently started having some sleep disruption, but it’s not severe and well worth the benefits.
The wife and I are taking 10mg of lexapro daily. It’s been really great. I’ve noticed a slight drop in libido, but since we’re both on it, that hasn’t been much of an issue.
I’d characterize the affects as: It allows you to ‘lop off’ that stressed out/angry feeling with stuff goes wrong. Otherwise, everything else feels great.
The fact that my wife no longer wants to kill me is a plus too.
Factors contributing to the need for medication: 9 month old twin boys, financial issues, the potential loss of one income, yadda, yadda.
Something along the lines of him not killing himself or me is what we’re going for. It’s only been a few days, and he claims to “feel better” but I’ve told him to give it a couple of weeks.
Thanks for the comments. I know it can be a very personal issue, and I really do appreciate you all sharing your experiences.
I have taken it for a couple of years.
There was a slight drop in libido (arguably a healthy thing in my case) - and it really does a number on my stomach if I don’t take it with meals (bad nausea and such).
But generally speaking it has made a very positive difference - it doesn’t solve any problems but it makes it easier for you to deal with them.
However - it was the second SSRI that I was put on - and many people try several more before they find one that works for them and casues minimal side-effects. If your husband isn’t feeling any change in a few months - or gets bad sideffects - he should ask his doctor to switch him to a diferent SSRI.
For example, Seroxat did very little for me and caused somewhat noticable sideffects - but Zoloft definitely makes a difference with less side-effects. For some people it is the other way around - no telling beforehand…
Best of luck!
I’ve been on it for about a year. It is a very subtle drug and your husband may have a hard time remembering what he felt like before he went on it. You on the other hand should find him much easier to get along with. It may take some time to get the dosage at the right level. Somewhere in between no effect at all and caffinee like energy fit.
I have not had a decrease in sexual desire, but instead have had the effect of delayed… um… well let’s just say you should be prepared for longer sessions.
The biggest drawback for me is if I miss a few days of taking the drug. The mood swings are pretty bad and they mostly tend to be on the miserable side.
What about children taking Zoloft? Does anyone have anything to share about this? My 10 year old stepson’s mother has put him on it and I am scared for him. I need to do some reading up on it as a whole but do any Dopers have any experience to share?
I was on for over a year, and found that it did nominally help my depression, however I had terrible night sweats. I’m currently taking Celexa and find that works for me far better than hte Zoloft did, with no noticible side effects.
StG
IMHO children should almost never (except in extreme cases) be given any kind of mood modifying medication. The need to develop healthy coping skills for the rest of their lives is too important to risk comprimising or retarding the process with drugs. Use of any SSRI’s or MOAI’s should be illegal for persons under the age of 18.
See? That’s what I think also. She started him on ritalin when he was 6. According to her, that didn’t work so she got him on wellbutrin. Then at age nine on Zoloft. He’s been on it for just about a year now.
She doesn’t give it to him on a regular basis either.
Why the hell start a kid on meds then not give them to him regularly?
He has absolutely no coping abilities. He doesn’t relate well to kids his age. He is very difficult to get along with.
I think it is crazy but since I have no experience or knowledge about any of these drugs I am ignorant to say anything. Plus, it isn’t my place to say anything to her anyway…it’s his Dad’s place to call her out on it.
Jesus christ, who is prescribing all this for the kid? My psychiatrists told me they are hesitant to give SSRIs to anyone under 16. Admittedly kids do get ritalin, but 6 is EXTREMELY early to diagnose ADD (if that is what he has?).
Also - I don’t see how any SSRI or Wellbutrin could be helping the same “condition” that he got the ritalin for. Was he thoroughly diagnosed?
Anyway - it seems likely the kid has some emotional problems but pumping kids full of chemicals is known to cause that - and worse…
— G.
His mother has changed doctors a couple of times I believe…like when they tell her anything she doesn’t want to hear.
Yes, he was diagnosed with ADD. (I personally still don’t 100% agree with this).
One of his teachers last year told his mother she thought he was suicidal so that is where the Zoloft came in as far as I know.
Again, I can’t really call the woman up and talk to her about it and whenever I bring it up at home Sauron gets defensive and tends to shy away from the conversation so I have dropped it.
I couldn’t believe a doc would prescribe this stuff either but I have seen the pills when she sends them to our house on visitation weekends.
I am sure medication in some cases in the right thing to do, but I, for one, would never put my child on meds unless it was the absolute last option and I had no other choice whatsoever.
To me, she is using this as a cop out to being the horribly bad mother that she is. And when his Dad chooses not to demand answers and put his foot down it is no better, but that is just my opinion.
That is just plain scary, Aries. and BTW I didn’t know you were married to Sauron.
I have to say that agree - at the very least the kid should be under heavy medical supervision and having very regular checkups and therapy sessions. Just sending a 10 year old home with random happypills is not what I would call commendable medical practice 
— G.
This is turning into the hijack that I said I didn’t want to do in my MPSIMS thread, but every day I hear more and more people at the office talking about their little ones on drugs and it breaks my heart. I personally don’t believe in hyperactivity (or ADD as it’s called these days). I believe in understimulated and non challenged children, and sadly I believe in neglected children who aren’t guided the right ways by parents who don’t take the time they should to raise them, and drugs are never going to fix those problems. Has anyone successfully brought a lawsuit regarding the medication of children?
Let me echo that not all SSRIs will produce the same side-effects on a given person. Prozac and Paxil both caused me horrible sexual side-effects, but Celexa never has, and it’s been three years now. (Granted, I’m on a whole bunch of other psych meds, but the SSRI is kind of the “foundation” for me, as it were.)
[quote]
Originally posted by Ryan Mahoney
IMHO children should almost never (except in extreme cases) be given any kind of mood modifying medication. The need to develop healthy coping skills for the rest of their lives is too important to risk comprimising or retarding the process with drugs. Use of any SSRI’s or MOAI’s should be illegal for persons under the age of 18.
[quote]
While I agree with you for the most part, I do not think that making them blanketly illegal is a good idea. While the incidence of necessity is, IMHO, much lower than people think it is, I know at least one person who started on such medications around–I believe–age 13, and who desperately needs them. It is not impossible for a child to be truly suffering from clinical depression, or for a child to be bipolar. Denying such a person this sort of medication could potentially result in the person’s death.
That being said…
I once baby sat for a family with five children. All three of the boys were on some sort of Ritalin-type medication. I think there is a definate tendency for some parents to medicate a very active but healthy child simply so that they don’t have to deal with chasing after them. From my experience, only ONE of the kids even remotely needed to be medicated, and, to be honest, his behavior could’ve been caused by the drugs he was on (he was violent, and not in the “rough-housing” way, as multiple past painful bruises caused by having heavy objects thrown at me can attest). The other two just had a bit of a smart mouth (and I knew one of them BEFORE medication; he was my favorite of the three boys).
In other words, people use drugs to baby-sit their kids, just as they use TV.
Yep…he’s mine all mine even if he is a Dark Lord and won’t do the dishes because he’s chasing after that damn ring all the time. 