Long term users of Zoloft please let me know if it still works and how you are feeling.

I was on 200 mg of Zoloft for about 8 years and it worked great. Then I started to experience muscle ache and confusion and cognitive impairment. I tried other SSRIs but experienced horrible side effects (Effexor and Cymbalta--anxiety and jerky; Prosac--suididal depression; Buspar--anxiety; tricyclics (horrible mania)). Even the beneizidens didn't work--they made me MORE depressed! If I take Zoloft now, it makes more more anxious!

In short, the SSRI's and other drugs stopped working. My psychiatrist would say I became hypersenstive to them.

Right now, I have muscle ache, low energy and slowed cognition. I think that the long term use of Zoloft changed something in my brain. My pscychiatrist does not know what happened and will not speculate.

Can anyone relate to this? Am I atypical?

I have been on zoloft a little over 2 yrs. I seem to be forgetting things more often now. Short term memory. I know that this is one of the Se's. But it seems to only have bothered me in the last few months

I've been on Zoloft for over 10 years...in combination with Wellbutrin....Zoloft was great in the beginning and each time the dose was upped but I feel that a person can become accustomed to it after so long and stagnate? Not sure if that's the right word. Anyway I do notice I don't remember a lot of my past, but I prefer not too so I'm not sure if its the meds or personal repression.

Let me make this more clear. AFTER 10 YEARS OF USE, I CAN'T BE ON SSRI'S ANYMORE! They make me WORSE (more anxious or more depressed depending on the drug)! It does not make any sense that SSRI's helped me for years and now I can't tolerate them! Additionally, now that I am off them, I am depressed,
very obsessive and anxious. I feel like they have left me in a WORSE state than if I was never on them!

Can any long term user relate to this?

I have not been visiting DF very much lately, as work has kept me extremely preoccupied, but I decided on a whim to check in, and this topic caught my eye.

It occurred to me that July 2008 marks my own ten-year "anniversary" of being on Zoloft. It has not been a one hundred percent continuous ten years, as I tend to go off-and-on it, somewhat to the consternation of my pdoc, but July 2007 was when I first started taking Zoloft, after about three unsuccessful months on Prozac. I guess you could say I have a "love-hate" relationship with Zoloft. It brought me out of my very first depression fairly quickly at that time--in just over a month, or so. Since then, it has sometimes worked similarly fast and effectively, and at other times, agonizingly slow (e.g., six or seven months, like this past episode), such that I am on the verge of thinking that I have reached the "poop out" stage with Zoloft, and it is time to finally move on to another med (whatever that might be). And over time, like nursepower's experience, the dosage for me has had to be increased from the initial 50 mg back ten years ago to the full maximum recommended dose of 200 mg most recently. All of that being said, though, I have to admit that I have been fortunate to have encountered very few of the common side effects--gastrointestinal upset at dosage changes has been the only one of note. All of the other troubles I attribute directly to symptoms of the depression.

With the beginning of August, it is (now) time for me to start back on Zoloft, to get ready for the autumn season when the days will start getting shorter, which is the usual time for my annual depressive episode to take root. As in more recent times, I do not know how Zoloft will perform, so we (my pdoc and I) shall have to see. He seems to have "faith" that Zoloft is the permanent "fit," but for me, the doubts set in once the depression takes hold and feels excruciatingly like it is never going to end. The uncertainty and unpredictability of all of that is what is so unnerving and frightening.

So, that is my now-ten year experience with Zoloft. I am sorry to hear, NewQuestions, that Zoloft and other meds have failed you. Maybe it is time for you not only to continue to try other meds, but also to seek a "second opinion" from another pdoc (which is something I also have considered myself from time to time), who can perhaps look at your situation with fresh eyes. In any case, I do hope that you are able to find a solution and substantial relief soon. Take care and post back about how it goes.

Arrghh!!! Just noticed the beginning of my second paragraph contained an erroneous date reference. : (

The affected portion of the second sentence of that paragraph should have read: "..., but July 1998 was when I first started taking Zoloft, after about three unsuccessful months on Prozac." Sorry about that. Hope it makes more sense now.