Zoloft / Anxiety help

Vitruvian Man

Vitruvian Man

Member
Hello brothers AM has been my go to for muscle building supplements through the years…. Now I am an anxious mess (always have been, has gotten significantly worse the last few years)

Dr prescribed me Zoloft today. Just wanted some feedback from any forum members who also suffer anxiety / have experience with zoloft. I have been extremely reluctant to try any SSRIs

But it has gotten to the point lately that I feel my anxiety is really negatively impacting me. I have some SNS Stress & Anxiety Support. I’ve been taking only one cap a day… maybe try to up it more before committing to the Zoloft?

All help is insanely appreciated. @sns8778 i know you have talked about anxiety a lot so would appreciate your input. Thank yall
 
I don’t have anxiety but work has been peak stress lately, I absolutely love stress and anxiety, I do 2 caps a day typically, but lately I’ve been doing 4, 2 in AM and 2 at night. Highly recommend trying a higher dose to see if it helps. I’m also taking Kannaease for mood and have noticed benefits. Actually just started Polygala today too, but can’t speak on benefits yet. Also just want to add that you aren’t alone brother, I have 100% faith you will get better.
 
Vitamin B complex (50-100) really helps tone me down not to mention recover from workouts. KSM-66 is a great addition to this as well for anxiety.
However, until you get to the route of the anxiety, it won't go away. SSRI's can help you feel better about "it", but they don't remove "it". I highly suggest you try some therapy cause you will probably end up doing it (needing it) in the long run. SSRI's only go so far. The combination of therapy and SSRI's is recommended by every Dr.; however, therapy alone may work well for you! You have nothing to lose.
 
Vitruvian Man said:
Hello brothers AM has been my go to for muscle building supplements through the years…. Now I am an anxious mess (always have been, has gotten significantly worse the last few years)

Dr prescribed me Zoloft today. Just wanted some feedback from any forum members who also suffer anxiety / have experience with zoloft. I have been extremely reluctant to try any SSRIs

But it has gotten to the point lately that I feel my anxiety is really negatively impacting me. I have some SNS Stress & Anxiety Support. I’ve been taking only one cap a day… maybe try to up it more before committing to the Zoloft?

All help is insanely appreciated. @sns8778 i know you have talked about anxiety a lot so would appreciate your input. Thank yall
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I'm so sorry to hear that you're going through this difficult time.

I've struggled with anxiety and depression since 6th grade, and at times its been so bad that I feel like I've lost complete years of my life to it with them just being one big jumbled mess mentally.

The best way to take Stress & Anxiety Support is at least 1 capsule twice per day; and if you're really struggling, like it sounds like you are, you can do 2 caps twice per day.

My ideal is 1 capsule of Stress & Anxiety Support twice per day and then 2 caps of Mood Support XT once per day.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

And if you ever need to talk, vent, or just need someone to listen, message me and I'll give you my contact info.
 
Vitruvian Man said:
Hello brothers AM has been my go to for muscle building supplements through the years…. Now I am an anxious mess (always have been, has gotten significantly worse the last few years)

Dr prescribed me Zoloft today. Just wanted some feedback from any forum members who also suffer anxiety / have experience with zoloft. I have been extremely reluctant to try any SSRIs

But it has gotten to the point lately that I feel my anxiety is really negatively impacting me. I have some SNS Stress & Anxiety Support. I’ve been taking only one cap a day… maybe try to up it more before committing to the Zoloft?

All help is insanely appreciated. @sns8778 i know you have talked about anxiety a lot so would appreciate your input. Thank yall
Click to expand...
It sucks dude, I'm having issues myself that seems to be growing and like you I'm very much not interested in a SSRI. It's my literal last resort and I'm trying to avoid it. I'm really just subbing to the thread to see what everybody else is talking about and listen to their experiences with x,y,z suppe or meds. The only small amount of advice I can offer is to remember to breathe, when anxiety hits you gotta tell yourself to breathe, everything is ok. I don't know if you were married or have someone who lives with you but having someone who can recognize your anxiety attack who can just kinda sit and talk to you about something random to occupy your mind helps a lot. At least for me. Unfortunately I don't have that at home. But I've had people do it to me before and it helps a ton. I didn't realize what they were doing till it was over. Someone who's a good talker that you get along with. Some ppl do good with therapy and some don't, it's not for me. But I would recommend you still try it because it could be great for you.
 
Vitruvian Man said:
Hello brothers AM has been my go to for muscle building supplements through the years…. Now I am an anxious mess (always have been, has gotten significantly worse the last few years)

Dr prescribed me Zoloft today. Just wanted some feedback from any forum members who also suffer anxiety / have experience with zoloft. I have been extremely reluctant to try any SSRIs

But it has gotten to the point lately that I feel my anxiety is really negatively impacting me. I have some SNS Stress & Anxiety Support. I’ve been taking only one cap a day… maybe try to up it more before committing to the Zoloft?

All help is insanely appreciated. @sns8778 i know you have talked about anxiety a lot so would appreciate your input. Thank yall
Click to expand...
I don't like to give advice when your doctor says something else or suggests a drug, so I'm just gonna share my opinion and experience with anxiety and zoloft since you asked about. Don't base your actions purely on my experiences since they won't be identical to yours. In my opinion I would 1000000% start with sns stress and anxiety support and up the dose before you try a drug. It's crazy that you bring this up, a lot of memories came back from when I was younger. Talk stuff over with your doctor, raise your concerns and im sure they will be glad to help you. This is purely my experience, it wasn't meant to scare you. I just want to raise awareness to what happened to me.

When I was younger and first started struggling with depression and anxiety I went to a doctor and got prescribed zoloft after a 5 minute interview about my symptoms. I started taking it for a few weeks and I just started feeling off, had some weird symptoms and felt spacey. So I talked to my doctor and I stopped taking it (this was at the lowest dose btw and I only took it for about 3 weeks.) For a little less than a week I felt fine, then it all started. I started becoming incredibly irritable and so angry, I was in an utter state of rage 24/7 and had no idea why, I started hating my life so much, thinking about doing violent things to myself, I couldn't focus in school. I treated everyone around me so terribly because I was so angry all the time. Then I couldn't sleep, I would lie awake at night staring at the ceiling dreaming about how much I want this to all be over, the worst part about being in bed was the muscle spasms I would get, and these weren't regular spasms, they were violent un-controlable movements of my entire body, often I would accidentally kick my bed frame hard and be in incredible pain.

After this all happened I started doing research and found that a significant number of people taking series got moderate to significant withdrawal symptoms. Some people get sexual dysfunction for the rest of their life. The part thats the scariest is that next to none of the people surveyed who got bad withdrawal symptoms were told about that possibility from their doctor.
After I found that out I tried to start a petition to raise awareness and make it a rule that doctors had to explain the possibility of withdrawal symptoms to their patients before starting the medication but that never ended up going anywhere and I gave up.

For 2 months it ruined my life, I couldn't live normally, couldn't do anything really. The 3rd month is when it started getting better and by the 4th month I was ~70% better, but i have never been the same since taking it. To this day I have never gotten my libido and haven't been attracted to anyone the way I used to get attracted toward people before taking it. There's a condition called post ssri sexual dysfunction and many people can get it for a long long time. In terms of happiness I would say its gotten a lot better but I still have never felt as happy with my life as I did before taking zoloft. Taking zoloft was the biggest mistake I have ever made.

I still struggle with anxiety and depression to this day, but don't get it treated. I have never trusted doctors the same after what happened to me. My psychologist is trying to get me on new medication but I always so no and just tough it out, I doubt ill ever be open to trying a new antidepressant for the rest of my life. I believe that I have brain damage from trying zoloft.
 
I've struggled w anxiety all my life and also have the fancy ms degree in mental health... Some things I've found:

Really sit with yourself and try and understand if you have something underlying causing anxiety ex relationship stress, responsibility stress, financial stress etc. In my experience we have all these stressor that we never really take the time to address, sit and be still and come to an internal understanding that most of the things that can give us anxiety can be resolved without any actual harm. So I'll speak for myself and say I have to ask myself what am I actually anxious about? Some type of talk therapy may help or any number of therapeutic options such as keeping a log or journal, breathing and grounding techniques etc. There's a million options out there for holistically treating mental health. That being said I know not everyone is going to go down this path, as it involves taking time and energy and investing in treating the root cause if able to identify the etiology.

Some things that I've found (with time and practice) overall reduce anxiety.

Yoga- A FRICKING MAZING for reducing anxiety. Something about it releases calming effect on the whole body. Those of us who lift are ramping up our cns, which can ellavate anxiety. This affects our sympathetic nervous system. Yoga is kinda the opposite affect, and operates via the parasympathetic nervous system. Which is responsible for slowing heart rate, lowering blood pressure, improving digestion, and is activated during calm and relaxed states. Yoga is soo underrated. I wish I had started it sooner. It's easy to do you can do it at home in 20-30 min. a day. I started doing it after a torn Achilles and found the benefits amazing. I committed to a 30 day program and still do it regularly at least 3x per week. You feel the calming effects within the first couple of weeks and w weight training you will find also increased flexibility. Last note, David Goggins talks about in his book all the years of lifting etc he got to a point where his body was just failing and he didn't know why, started a stretching regimen and it was a game changer for him physically and mentally. I would say in my 40s I found the same thing.

I would seriously look into things that naturally stimulate and affect the sympathetic nervous system as well as parasympathetic nervous system. Most guys on here are pretty smart and also like researching. Know the 2 types of nervous system pathways and how they are stimulated.

Also will say a good calming herbal tea works pretty well. Something w chamomile or lemon balm. They have tons of these at every grocery store, a good herbal tea is underrated.

Ashwagandha, high dosed works great for me. You may have to play with the dose. Theanine works well. These are more for immediate relief but I recommend the above options.

I've spent most of my adult life battling anxiety and have found myself now best able to manage it naturally. I had years of prescribed benzodiazapine use which is a terrible answer and would Def advocate holistic or therapeutic approaches as they are the best treatments and not just bandaid. I know different things work for different people but I think the most important factor is taking the time to sit with yourself and figure out what works for you and your anxiety. I would never tell you not to go on mental health medication for some people they are life savers. However I would try everything you could to resolve it holistically first, as they can be a slippery slope and hard to come off.
 
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FallenGod1 said:
I've struggled w anxiety all my life and also have the fancy ms degree in mental health... Some things I've found:

Really sit with yourself and try and understand if you have something underlying causing anxiety ex relationship stress, responsibility stress, financial stress etc. In my experience we have all these stressor that we never really take the time to address, sit and be still and come to an internal understanding that most of the things that can give us anxiety can be resolved without any actual harm. So I'll speak for myself and say I have to ask myself what am I actually anxious about? Some type of talk therapy may help or any number of therapeutic options such as keeping a log or journal, breathing and grounding techniques etc. There's a million options out there for holistically treating mental health. That being said I know not everyone is going to go down this path, as it involves taking time and energy and investing in treating the root cause if able to identify the etiology.

Some things that I've found (with time and practice) overall reduce anxiety.

Yoga- A FRICKING MAZING for reducing anxiety. Something about it releases calming effect on the whole body. Those of us who lift are ramping up our cns, which can ellavate anxiety. This affects our sympathetic nervous system. Yoga is kinda the opposite affect, and operates via the parasympathetic nervous system. Which is responsible for slowing heart rate, lowering blood pressure, improving digestion, and is activated during calm and relaxed states. Yoga is soo underrated. I wish I had started it sooner. It's easy to do you can do it at home in 20-30 min. a day. I started doing it after a torn Achilles and found the benefits amazing. I committed to a 30 day program and still do it regularly at least 3x per week. You feel the calming effects within the first couple of weeks and w weight training you will find also increased flexibility. Last note, David Goggins talks about in his book all the years of lifting etc he got to a point where his body was just failing and he didn't know why, started a stretching regimen and it was a game changer for him physically and mentally. I would say in my 40s I found the same thing.

I would seriously look into things that naturally stimulate and affect the sympathetic nervous system as well as parasympathetic nervous system. Most guys on here are pretty smart and also like researching. Know the 2 types of nervous system pathways and how they are stimulated.

Also will say a good calming herbal tea works pretty well. Something w chamomile or lemon balm. They have tons of these at every grocery store, a good herbal tea is underrated.

Ashwagandha, high dosed works great for me. You may have to play with the dose. Theanine works well. These are more for immediate relief but I recommend the above options.

I've spent most of my adult life battling anxiety and have found myself now best able to manage it naturally. I had years of prescribed benzodiazapine use which is a terrible answer and would Def advocate holistic or therapeutic approaches as they are the best treatments and not just bandaid. I know different things work for different people but I think the most important factor is taking the time to sit with yourself and figure out what works for you and your anxiety. I would never tell you not to go on mental health medication for some people they are life savers. However I would try everything you could to resolve it holistically first, as they can be a slippery slope and hard to come off.
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This is a great answer, holistic approaches for mental health work great and have way less side effects. Yoga is great too, I know it calms your vagus nerve which can contribute to anxiety. Meditation, tea, supplements and good sleep are the way to go for mental health.
 
My doc initially tried me on Diazepam/Valium, my anxiety is mainly at night when trying to get to sleep. That sh1t only made it worse. We then tried half a tab of Mirtazapine and fuk that did the trick.

Now I also have tried every supp under the sun but nothing non-medicinal works like breathing techniques. 99% of the time when youre having an anxiety episode your breathing is fukt, like quick and shallow. I was given an exercise to do, 4x per day and fuk me that sh1t helps.
 
Zoloft…
I remember sleeping all day and having the hardest time ever getting a boner
Lexapro and prozac made me as cold as an ice cube and spaced out af
Cymbalta was the only one that worked fine: no effect on junior and got the mood boost with no lethargy. Too bad the positive effects “faded” with time and if I forget to take for ONE night, I get dizzy and nauseous the next day; to the point where I feel like throwing up
To everyone that said “I don’t want to mess with SSRIs/SNRIs” in this thread: you’re absolutely right
Sad how for past decades doctors have been putting patients on SSRIs and SNRIs like it’s candy
 
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Nac said:
My doc initially tried me on Diazepam/Valium, my anxiety is mainly at night when trying to get to sleep. That sh1t only made it worse. We then tried half a tab of Mirtazapine and fuk that did the trick.

Now I also have tried every supp under the sun but nothing non-medicinal works like breathing techniques. 99% of the time when youre having an anxiety episode your breathing is fukt, like quick and shallow. I was given an exercise to do, 4x per day and fuk me that sh1t helps.
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Care to share the activity
 
Thanks your all the feedback from everyone. I’m going to reach out to some of you directly.

I just want to share some background and what I’m dealing with. Have had anxiety my entire life, father passed when I was 2, he was 29 and had some rare cancer that spread fast. This gave me awful health anxiety and I’ve spent most of my life convince that I’m dying of some rare disease (google doesn’t help). I believe growing up w/out a father and some other childhood traumas contributed to me having GAD. Anyway last 2-3 years it’s gotten far worse, to the point over the last year I have been having shortness of breath / feel like throat is closing / can’t breathe. Last 2ish years I’ve been coping with alcohol, 4-6 beers 3x-every night some weeks.

I exercise regularly and have tried meditation and I do yoga and hike and lots of things that should help me. It is why I am now feeling helpless and want to turn to prescription medications. I have recently quit drinking, began going to church (helps a lot), and starting therapy soon. I am going to try to hold off on the Zoloft until I give this stuff some time.

Thank you again to everyone hopefully others experiencing similar to me or who have in the past can continue to contribute to this thread for the sake of anyone dealing with this. Knowing and hearing I’m not alone has helped tremendously lately and almost makes me want to cry when I hear it said.
 
I try not to give advice contrary to what a Dr advised for anyone (and I'm not now).
But I Never advise pursuing SSRI use.

I've dealt with anxiety for most of my life (sometimes Severe).

For a huge portion of my life, whenever there was a threatening/Dire/Dangerous/scary situation, all heads would turn to me, to see what I was going to do. ... Because they KNEW that I was going to do my very best to save/protect/rescue anyone who was at risk of any harm.

So ...... During these types of situations, anxiety (naturally) rises... right?

Not mine.
Mine Disappears.

I think it is most likely for two different reasons:
1. I was Made for those situations.
2. During those times.... I'm not thinking about myself ... At All. So I don't have the opportunity to think about any problems/worries/ ... even made up scenarios, that might try to crowd my mind (and life, if I'm not careful).

For me, the key is to focus on helping others, and Loving my God.
..... And that leaves me a lot less room to struggle in my head.

Right now, my anxiety is Almost non-existent.
During this time in my life, I give a Major portion of my life, to serving others (even at work).
The two are inseparable (for me). I can't have one without the other.

(I'm not saying that Some others definitely don't need medication. I'm just relating what has helped me most BY FAR. .... And I've probably tried Every type of medication that might normally be recommended for these types of issues).

:)
 
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OP, sorry to hear you dealing with this. As you can see, certainly not alone on here. My personal experience so far is similar in that my approach would be to try everything possible before medicinal intervention. Not to say there isn't a place for that, but for me I'm taking a stepwise approach:

Meditation (has helped in the past, but difficult to do and not 100% for me)
Natural remedies (eg, ashwghanda, SNS stress & Anxiety / Mood Support XT)
Therapy (many online teladoc therapists are available through just about any insurance and sometimes through your employer, assuming you have insurance)
Medication - I have not started this route as I personally want to try all the above first, but low dosed SSRI is my physician's reco.

Also, for those mentioning vagus nerve, that's an area I'm also looking into as part of my own journey.

As others have said, I'm not a doc, so ensure you think about all of the above and probably talk about your concerns with him/her. But I do think there's a whole body/person approach that should be considered when dealing with anxiety - either with or without medication. Best of luck brother.
 
I am sorry to hear about all the struggles, I hope you find the right path.

I won't spend a ton of time on things you seem to likely be doing already that many on here probably already focus on like exercise, nutrition, and recovery (sleep) that may help, since you likely already have been implementing them.

I'd say one extra for those things we usually do is potentially finding a way to keep them "stress free". Offload the burden. That may look different for everyone, but for me when I need to buckle down it means I don't overly focus on my programming (have someone else help/write it so you don't overthink), I use a nutrition app (Macrofactor) so I don't have to worry about adjustments, and things of that nature. The structure and not thinking about it helps ME, but everyone has different needs and things that help there.

Finding a good support structure helps, which also sounds like what you are doing. Finding communities and decreasing feelings of being alone, on top of going to therapy can be of a large help.

There are also various supplements that you may want to try, but remember they likely won't completely remove issues and are only likely to be an additive help.

Beyond that I am sure you will find all sorts of varying opinions on drugs. My suggestion would be just to remember everyone's path is different and every situation may call for a different response. Be open with your health care providers about concerns and be open to various options depending on your needs and comforts. Again as with the supplements remember that benefits likely aren't massive and may take time as well.

Finally again rememeber that you aren't alone, but that your situation may also be unique. When I say this I mean to remember that life may be stressful and some may just be in high situations of stress and may not be able to remove these causes (while some causes may be adjusted or removed), while some may have more underlying issues that aren't just going to be fixed by these kinds of adjustments. I am not a professional so I can't decide this for you or offer a ton of help, but just hope that some perspective might help.

Good luck with your decisions and hopefully you find the relief you need, as you can see it isn't uncommon, especially among many you'll find on here.
 
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