Posted by bob on March 26, 2000, at 3:27:32
In reply to Re: new here: ? about zoloft 4 grief depression, posted by Patti-Cam's wife on March 25, 2000, at 11:57:09
Hi Tammy,
Zoloft was the first med I was ever on. It took me close to two months to settle into a "stable" response from it.
That doesn't mean I had no response -- besides, you've mentioned that you've already had some promising results from it. What it does mean is that, for me, the first six weeks were a roller coaster. One week I'd be high as a kite, the next week it'd be crash and burn time.
It's good to hear that you aren't having quite the same extremes of reaction to it!
I started at 50mg/day and, after a few weeks, my doc did move me up to 100mg/day ... and that's where I stayed for the next six months or so. So, like Cam said, don't be shy about calling your doc RIGHT NOW and seeing if you can leave a message for him. My pdoc is always going away for a week or so every month or two, and he always responds to patients that leave him a message with his service. If you need more medicine, your doc can always call in the prescription for you, too.
As for when to go off -- that's really a question that needs to be answered by a doctor who (1) knows you well and (2) knows the medication well. One of the potentially worst things you can do is stop your meds too soon because you've been feeling fine for a month or so.
My first time on zoloft, my GP was doing the prescribing. He knew me pretty well, but he really didn't have the knowledge that my pdoc has about zoloft. I had been doing pretty well on zoloft for three or four months when my GP suggested that enough was enough. I was all too happy (and not just from a manic response to the zoloft) to oblige -- I really didn't want to be on a psychotropic medication, anyway. My mood started to crash a few weeks after discontinuing the zoloft, and six weeks after stopping I was worse than I was when I had started. Kinda like Cam's lack of response the second time around, I have never responded adequately to zoloft or any SSRI, for that matter, since. My reaction the second and third trial I had of zoloft was so different from the first, you would have thought they were two different meds.
The point of my story is that my general practitioner meant well but he didn't have the expertise to evaluate my mental disorder and thereby gauge how long I should have stayed on zoloft that first time around. When I finally did start seeing my psychiatrist, I asked him about this issue. He said he would have kept me on it for at least a year ... and that was still early on in our relationship. Given what he has learned about my depression and panic disorders and how he (medically) treats me now, I doubt he would have thought stopping was a reasonable thing to do even now.
Don't be in a rush to get off medication. There used to be this huge sign painted on the side of a building at 72nd and Broadway here in NYC -- Depression is a flaw in chemistry, not in character. Staying on zoloft past the time when you begin to feel "normal" again doesn't mean you're any less of a person for it.
best wishes,
bob
poster:bob
thread:28107
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000321/msgs/28176.html