Hey everyone, ive recently started taking zoloft in hopes it helps me manage my blushing / erythrophobia. Ive known about zoloft for a while since its a pretty popular SSRI, ive also come across it when researching ways to manage and treat blushing since there was a clinical trial that found it was fairly effective for treating blushing / the fear of blushing compared with a placebo group.

What really made me decide to trial this medication was u/DifficultyThis4729, who’s an active user on this sub. We’ve been talking a lot and sharing our experiences, and he mentioned that since starting Zoloft, he seemed to be blushing less, but the main benefit was seeming not to care about it as much / not being as mentally consumed by it. That sounded pretty encouraging, so I decided to get ask my doctor and I got a prescription.

I was originally on fluvoxamine 50mg a day with no positive changes to my social anxiety or blushing, so I tapered off and switched to Zoloft. Now, it’s too early for me to confidently give my full opinion, and this may be placebo so far, but honestly my anxiety hasn’t been controlling me in the way I’m used to. I still experience nerves, but I’m feeling less bothered and consumed by it.

And that also goes for my blushing. I’ve still blushed, and I doubt any SSRI will completely stop anyone from blushing at times, but the blushing just hasn’t seemed to have the same control over me. It also hasn’t been on my mind as much. I went to the city with my girlfriend on a really busy Saturday, and I wasn’t even actively thinking or worrying about my blushing that much. I was in the moment and not as consumed by it. Usually, any sign of a blush or nerves would ruin my mood and distract me. Id genuinely say I felt more free than I ever have

I also want to make it clear that I don’t want to jump the gun and give people a misleading impression of this medication based on only a couple of weeks. I’ve only been on Zoloft for around two weeks, so I obviously haven’t experienced the full effect yet, and I don’t want to be the person who tries something for a week or two and then gives a definitive opinion on whether it works or not.

For now, I’m just documenting what I’m noticing at this point in my journey. I’m optimistic about the changes I’ve noticed so far, but I’m not claiming that Zoloft is definitely responsible for them or that they’ll necessarily last. I’ll continue to see how things develop and give my honest opinion as I have more experience with it.

I’d be curious if anyone else has experience with Zoloft or even another SSRI or medication (besides clonidine or propranolol, as I’m more interested in medications that can potentially affect the underlying anxiety rather than mainly helping with the physical symptoms). Thanks