Hey there,

I've been dealing with depression on and off for four years. The first year was the worst, had tried some lexapro and wellbutrin for awhile but was mostly in denial and dealing with it poorly. Since then I've gotten to the point where I am generally normally functioning, with periodic bouts. I am fortunate enough to have a stable family and no traumatic history, so no complications there. I've seen seeing someone off and on since October and made GREAT progress (my first experiences w/ a therapist years ago were not helpful so I didn't want to see one again). Still, I have to pay a lot of attention to my mood and my surroundings, and about twice a month I get hit no matter what I do for 4-8 days (not all of those days are that bad..its a continum). She advised me that my difficulties didn't seem characteristic of depression(because they come and go too fast), and that my brain probably got into a funk when I had depression and now it wants to go there whenever anxiety strikes. I've also found that in watching my moods its anxiety that triggers the bouts. I wanted to avoid medications for as long as possible, but the psychologist said I actually manage emotions pretty well, and its time to look at the genetic route.

When I am not in a bout I feel fine and feel like I could never fall back into a bout again, but I know better so today I brought this to the doc (not a psychitrist) and he opted for Sertaline (Zoloft). Today will be my first day.

I'm not entirely sure how to guage if its working or not...becuase I was 100% fine when I started (today). I was a bit suprised when he said Zoloft, thought this was more of a straight up depression drug, anyone had any similar experiences? (Becuase I haven't found anyone who has a similar case to me yet...it would be nice.


Cheers!

Zoloft works well for both anxiety and depression. I'm on it for anxiety myself. And I have much the same situation as you. The anxiety leads to my depression, and then I come out of the funk. Some times it lasts for a day, sometimes 3, sometimes a week. But before the Zoloft, it was bad. Horrible in fact. What got me on Zoloft was having my first major panic attack due to my wife's illness (epilepsy). All I did was worry about her, all day, every day.

I started taking Zoloft around 3 months ago. What it has done is lessen the frequency of those "bad days". It also makes them less severe when they do come around. Now instead of heavy anxiety and deep depression, I get minor to moderate anxiety and really no depression, or VERY mild if I get it at all.

I've also found my need for benzo's drop significantly since the Zoloft started to work. At first I was taking around 1.5mg of Xanax a day. Then it went down to 1mg, then .5mg, then as needed. The as needed is now around once every 2-3 weeks if that. And .25mg will usually suffice to knock it right out of me.

So for me, Zoloft worked very well. Just expect some rocky times for the first few weeks. For me it was a friggin roller coaster for the first month, then still pretty bad right up until the 8-10 week mark. Up and down and up again. All over the map until my body got used to it.

So far so good. Coming down with a cold today, but don't think that is related ;) Thanks for the hopeful words!

My Pdoc said that anxiety and depression are so intertwined you really can't treat them separately. I have been on sertraline for a couple of months and now have added bupropion to "give me energy". I am still not sure if the sertraline is doing a whole lot - I have yet to feel as good as I did on day 5/6 but I am better with the 2 meds.
best of luck.

I'm noticing a large decrease of energy myself. So much so that I'm going to go to the docs soon and ask him what the deal is. I've been on the Z for almost 4 months now and it certainly helped me through the tough times. Thing is, my situation was purely environmental. Now my wife's epilepsy (what caused it) is under control on her current med and I'm doing much better. Whether it's from the Zoloft or not, I'm not sure. I think if my doc recommends coming off the Zoloft now, I might just do so. Either that, or lower my dose a bit. I'm only on 50mg so I don't even know if 25mg would do much of anything. I just feel so beat down lately no matter how much sleep I get. I got a good 10 hours of deep sleep last night and I'm feeling majorly drained today.

At 2 months I was still not feeling 100%. It took me right up to 3 months to really feel well again. I had mood swings even up until recently, but on an average day I'm quite content and overall happy. I only hope if I end up getting off Z, it won't drag me back down to the pits again.

I know what you mean, I've experienced a huge drop in energy, as well. What's really weird is, I FEEL like I've gained a lot of weight, but every time I weigh myself, my weight is still the same, I haven't gained any weight. Well, mabye a couple of pounds, but I'm only talking 4 or 5 pounds.

Yeah, I gained weight. But that's because I lost a ton of weight from not eating when the anxiety was really bad. I was actually happy to gain weight and actively tried to eat more (but healthier) so I could gain it back. It scared me being so skinny.