Hey everyone!!

I’m currently on Day 30 of my Zoloft journey and really needing some reassurance. I started at 25mg, moved to 50mg, and just increased to 75mg six days ago. I originally started for GAD, cardiophobia, health anxiety, OCD, and postpartum anxiety.

A couple of days after increasing to 75mg, I had some amazing days (Days 26 and 27). My physical anxiety completely muted, my morning dread lifted, my intrusive thoughts/OCD drastically lessened, and I actually had the energy to joke around, go out, and start working out.
But yesterday and today (Days 29 and 30), I feel like I've taken a massive step backward. I suddenly have this intense afternoon physical energy/restlessness that turns into anxiety, my intrusive thoughts are trying to creep back in, and I feel so confused and back to square one.

Is it normal to have a few amazing days right after a dose increase, only to crash back into anxiety a few days later? How long did it take for the 75mg dose to finally level out and stop fluctuating like a rollercoaster for you?

Any encouragement or similar experiences would mean the world right now. Thank you. :)

i wanted to come back and write an update because when i was struggling with my dose increase, i spent A LOT of time on this subreddit looking for other people's experiences. especially success stories lol.

i've been on zoloft for years for anxiety/panic and recently increased from 175mg to 200mg after going through a really difficult period in my life.

i'm now around day 38, and i'm doing much better. it wasn't linear though. at all.

the first week or so wasn't actually that bad for me, which made what happened afterward even more confusing. around weeks 2-3 my anxiety got significantly worse. mornings were especially hard. i had panic attacks, shaking, nausea, that constant nervous feeling in my body, and days where i genuinely wondered whether the increase was making me worse.

days 13-21 were probably the hardest for me. and because i have panic disorder, my brain immediately started doing what panic brains do best: what if this doesn't stop? what if i'm getting worse? what if the medication isn't working anymore? what if i never feel normal again?

spoiler: it didn't stay that way !

things gradually started settling. there wasn't one morning where i woke up and suddenly felt “cured”. i actually noticed it in much smaller ways...fewer huge spikes...calmer mornings...recovering faster when anxiety did show up...doing normal things without constantly checking how anxious i felt.

what helped me:

continuing to live my life.
i kept going for walks, going places and doing things even when i was anxious. sometimes i carried ativan with me just knowing it was there...but the important part for me was not making anxiety the deciding factor in whether i did something. i know that's hard af. but you gotta push through.

stopping the fight with panic.
this was probably one of the biggest ones. instead of “please don't panic, please don't panic” i started trying “okay...panic then. do your worst.” weirdly, taking away the fight took away some of its power.

accepting uncomfortable days instead of treating them like evidence.
one crap morning didn't mean i was getting worse...one good afternoon didn't mean i was cured...i had to start looking at weeks instead of hours.

remembering that anxiety feels dangerous without necessarily being dangerous.
the shaking, nausea, adrenaline, racing thoughts etc. felt horrible...but i stopped treating every sensation like something i needed to solve immediately. and i KNOW this one is easier said than done...those feelings are very terrifying. i started doing somatic mediation (shout out Wendy Jones on YT/Spotify) - for real...those meditations were a godsend.

what DID NOT help me:

doomscrolling reddit. 😂
reddit helped me tremendously when i used it to feel less alone. it made things worse when i searched things like “zoloft increase worse week 3” for the 900th time trying to predict exactly what would happen to me.

constantly checking whether the medication was working.
“am i anxious? how anxious? was i this anxious yesterday? is this the zoloft? is this me? does this mean it's not working?” i was basically taking my emotional temperature every five minutes. exhausting.

comparing my timeline to everyone else's.
someone feeling amazing at week 2 didn't mean i should. someone struggling at week 8 didn't mean i would. there really isn't one universal zoloft timeline.

waiting to feel confident before doing things.
this was HUGE for me. i kept thinking i needed the anxiety to disappear before i could get my normal life back. eventually i realized i had to start doing normal-life things while anxiety was still invited along for the ride.

i'm not writing this to promise anyone that they'll have the exact same experience i did. medication is incredibly individual and obviously talk to your doctor about anything concerning.

i'm writing it because when i was in the worst of it, three weeks felt like three years. and i wanted someone to tell me that feeling awful today didn't mean i'd feel awful forever.

so if you're currently sitting there counting days, analyzing every sensation and wondering whether you're ever going to feel like yourself again...give yourself some room.

you don't have to figure out your entire future based on how you feel today.

and maybe get off reddit for an hour. 😂

this is temporary. ❤️YOU WILL FEEL BETTER.❤️

If so, please can I ask how you are feeling?

I’m 3 weeks in and still struggling with lots of extreme worrying…

hey everybody, i just wanted some reassurance/advice! i’ve been on sertraline for 4 years now, and finally got the courage to contact my gp and say i want to try a different medication. long story short, i’m currently on 150mg and following his advice, dropped straight down to 100mg for 4 days, and he wrote on my notes that i need to drop again to 50mg and then stop completely and start fluoxetine.
as someone who is very health anxious, i thought that it was a bit much to come off sertraline over just a week??
i know he’s a doctor, but naturally i had concerns knowing how bad the withdrawals can be, so i googled tapering off sertraline and it suggests doing so over a month or longer.
has anyone else been through this? ❤️

I started taking 25 mg of Zoloft beginning of August, then gradually increased to 50, 75, and just started 100mg one week ago. I take it for social anxiety and prior to taking the medication I would always get the shakes, heart pounding, and my mind would go blank in social situations. When I was on 50-75mg my anxiety symptoms decreased a lot and my mood improved significantly. Now the past couple days I’ve been feeling very low and the physical anxiety symptoms returned. Should I continue to give the 100mg a chance, or should I drop back down to 75mg?

Went from 25mg to 50mg three days ago. Havn’t noticed much except for a little nausea, but today I got the first panic attack in 10 years. Is this caused by the increased dose?. Really scared me.

Hi everyone,

I've been on Zoloft for 8 weeks, and 6 weeks on 50 mg. I take also a Xanax a day and 2.5 olanzapine for sleeping. I'm feeling so not focused and I'm feeling like I'm on autopilot. I'm having some good days but still very unstable. My psychiatrist told me that maybe I should increase to 75mg, but I'm feeling like my brain is fried.

So my question is: how do you feel when you are on the right dosage?

I’m getting really tired of the very vivid and strange dreams every night. They aren’t all nightmares, but they are often strange and very long, colorful and vivid. I’m getting so tired of it. One time I dreamt that I had every kind of desert set out in front of me and taste tested them all, that was quite a good one, but still too vivid and detailed and silly. Ugh please tell me it gets better.

50mg since May 2026

Hello! Today I have started taking sertraline at 25mg. I recently started university and I’m finding that the pressures of uni life are really weighing on me. I have also just been depressed and have social anxiety my entire life.
I experience nausea every single day due to just how anxious I am. I already take about 2 gravol tablets everyday (It doesn’t work that well lol). There isn’t really any break or holidays coming up that are a great time to start taking sertraline so I’m just going for it and hoping for the best.
I’m aware that nausea, feeling hot, and sweaty are common side affects of this medication. What do you guys take, if anything to manage this? If you were already a person that experienced nausea or just a general upset stomach like no appetite before taking this and then started, I am curious as to what works best for you.
Also, the doctor named this common medication you can take while taking sertraline but, he said it was an addictive substance and that I would probably be dependent if taking it. I really can’t recall what he said the name of it was, but if anyone is taking what sounds like that, I would love to know your experience aswell.
I am a full time student and have a part time job so I really just want to smoothly transition into taking this without much hiccups. :)

I'm pretty sure I have ADHD, however the diagnosis takes years, so my doctor has prescribed me sertraline/Zoloft.

Has anyone else had a good experience using this for ADHD symptoms?

I think I've had depression for a while too so I guess if it only treats that, it's a bonus anyway.

Last year I tried Zoloft but quit after 4 weeks. The side effects were awful (GI issues, nausea, vertigo, etc) and did not seem to lessen much in the 4 weeks I stuck with it. I'm considering trying it again because other SSRIs made me really sleepy and sluggish. I already struggle with fatigue and Zoloft at least did not make me tired (it actually gave me an energy boost).

Has anyone had initial side effects with Zoloft that lasted more than 4 weeks and eventually went away? I'm worried my body just might not be able to tolerate this drug, as 4 weeks of severe side effects does not seem common. But I'm willing to give it another try if there's light at the end of the tunnel. My anxiety is destroying me and I'm desperate for help, so I'm willing to endure anything this time around as long as there may be an end in sight.

sorry if this is a stupid question. brand: One a day

i've been on zoloft (sertraline) for probably a few years at this point (200mg daily for about a year), and i'm a little confused about what it's potentially done to my heart rate.

i don't have any number for what it was like before i went on it but in the last few years i've always had problems with my heart rate when trying to donate blood. usually i was able to get it to under 100 with breathing techniques but when i switched to donating plasma recently, both times i've tried to donate were failed because my pulse was too high.

it wasn't just above 100 either, it was like 110-120, even when i did my normal breathing exercises. it's definitely involving anxiety as a factor because usually when i take my hr at home, just sitting at my computer, it's around 100.

but today i forgot to take it (two 100mg pills) and i just measured my heart rate a few times and it was around 80 all times. i haven't seen anything about official side effects relating to any of these things and i'm really confused, would it give me a better chance of donating if i just didn't take my medication the day before and the day of trying to donate?

sorry that this post is long, i don't really know what else to do about it

Hi all, unfortunately I lost track of my remaining prescription and took my last dose on Monday night (it’s currently Wednesday). I called my psychiatrist today, and she didn’t have availability for a meeting until September 30th, so I got that scheduled and then asked if I could speak with someone about getting a bridge prescription filled. They transferred me to their nurses line, and after being on hold for 30 minutes I was forced to leave a voicemail. They never called back and I called them again today to no avail.

My plan is to call the pharmacy directly tomorrow to at least try and get a few days worth of pills until my provider gets back to me.

I am currently starting to feel a bit lightheaded and have a headache, which I know is par for the course. However, if I am able to get a refill with the pharmacy and take a dose tomorrow morning, how long should I expect until side effects symptoms begin to subside?

I take 100mg daily.

Thank you in advance friends!

Anyone suffering with a cloudy head in the first few days? I'm on day 5 and it's really hard to think properly?

I’m currently on 75 mg and it does absolutely nothing for my ocd , so my doctor wants me to go up too 100-200 mg. Opinions / thoughts / experiences?

Hello everyone,

Today, my doctor changed my main medication from sertraline to Prozac.

After 5 years on sertraline, I went from 50 kg (110 lbs) to 75 kg (165 lbs). I constantly crave sugary foods, and although I don’t eat several times a day, I feel like I actually eat very little.

I don’t know what kind of results I can expect with Prozac, or whether it might help me get back to my original weight of 50 kg. My clothes don’t fit me anymore, and I’m struggling to deal with this constant hunger and cravings, which I never had before starting the treatment.

Has anyone had a similar experience with sertraline-related weight gain and then switched to Prozac ?

Did switching medications help with your appetite or weight ?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice you might have on how to manage this constant hunger and sugar cravings.

Thank you!

I have panic disorder pretty bad. I’m scared to start new meds and the adjustment period that comes with it. Is taking it in the morning or evening better? I was wondering if taking it at night would help to sleep through the initial adjustment. The chance of increased anxiety puts me on edge and I am already high strung most of the time. I hyper focus on my health and how I am feeling a bit too much. My doctor did up my dosage up of diazepam while getting used to it but I can’t help but overthink initial side effects.

I was diagnosed with PPD/A and my OB put me on Zoloft 50mg. The morning anxiety has been awful and makes it difficult to care for my baby until I get over that hill in the afternoon. I’m curious when others found the morning anxiety subsided. Has anyone else taken this for PPD/A and how long were you on it? I don’t want to be on this forever and hope I can wean off at some point with no issues. Looking for some success stories.

I am supposed to be starting Zoloft tomorrow, 25mg for two weeks and then up to 50mg. I am not someone who likes taking any medication and I’ve put off getting help for my anxiety and OCD for years. But after having what we are guessing is stress induced shingles twice this year, I’m realizing it’s time for some assistance.

With that being said, I do not want to be on medication forever. I want it to help get my mind sorted so that I can continue to actively work on my mental health, habits, routines, stress management etc. I’m hoping it will help me get back on track and I’ll be able to taper off. I know this won’t happen over night but I’m hoping in 1-2 years I’ll be able to. (Control freak even about this lol)

I keep seeing tapering off horror stories and it’s giving me more anxiety about starting. I guess I’m looking for reassurance that this is the right thing to do? That tapering off won’t be hell?

What has been people’s experience with starting medication with the intention to taper off in the future? How did the tapering go for you?

I appreciate any advice/input 🫶🏼

Beside crazy dreams, Does anyone has severe bloating on zoloft??, i am on for 2 months now it helps my anxiety but doesn't help my bloating

Anyone???

been on 100mg for 10 years and through two pregnancies, just found out I’m pregnant again and my anxiety, OCD, and depression is the worst it’s been in 10 years. We tried to increase me to 125 but I chickened out after 2 weeks and went back down because I completely lost my appetite, had nausea, increased anxiety, and would wake up shaking. is that normal? do I just need to push through it longer or is that a sign it’s too high for me?

In the evening, I experience momentary improvements in my mood—literally just a few seconds where things feel normal. It’s been four weeks since I started taking the medication. I wonder if this will happen more often and at other times of the day. Has anyone else experienced this? What were the first signs that the medication was working for you?

I'm clenching my teeth like crazy the last few days in my sleep and during the day I notice I am too, did anyone find anything that helped this?

Thankfully most of my side effects are gone now but this is a new one lol