((((kmay)))) That sounds awful and really scary.

Maybe it will be different since the end goal is not to be medication free like when you were pregnant, but to switch to a different med?
I have had to switch meds before - but as I went down on one med, the doctor was able to add and increase another. Did the psychiatrist offer any options like this?

Janedoe -

Thanks for the response. I haven't talked to Psychiatrist yet. I just called him yesterday to ask for the release so that my T can update him on whats going on. I asked my T that same question (about starting one up while I'm weening off this one) and she said she wasn't sure how it worked, but that they would both let me know. When I was pregnant, I didn't completely ween off of it. I was on 150mg a day and they took me down to 50 (slowly) for the safety of the pregnancy and then I lost it and had to go back up to the 150 (risk to mother outweighs risk to baby situation). I guess I will find out next week but soooo scared

((((KMAY))))

I just started zoloft so I'm upset to read that it becomes ineffective after a time. I thought it was going to be my cure all. I don't have any advice but just wanted to let you know that I wouldn't be looking forward to a weaning either.

Kmay, I had a thought. Maybe it was worse last time because of the pregnancy hormones and losing the baby. Is it possible it wouldn't be as bad this time since you won't be dealing with these other complicating factors?

I swapped from prozac to zoloft about three months ago (although it's called lustral here, but it's still sertraline I guess) and I was told to slowly reduce the prozac and take the lustral at the same time.

((Liese)) Like you, I'm concerned that it might lose its effectiveness after a time because for now, it's working really well; with none of the awful side effects of prozac like insomnia etc. I wasn't told by my doctor that it might become less effective over time.

kmay

There are some antidepressants that don't require a complete wean from one to another so it is possible that you can start taking one while still taking Zoloft. I also had been taking Zoloft for a couple of years when it stopped working as well. Increasing the Zoloft just increased the side effects and not the benefits and I tried a couple of different meds.

I hope the pdoc can make some suggestions that don't involve complete weaning off zoloft before starting a new drug.

Dragonfly -
Thank you Yes, I have been gearing myself up to having to be very honest with the P. It took me so long to build up enough trust to be really honest and outright with my T and my P is very new to me and he has only controlled my meds so far so I am nervous to have to be so vulnerable with him, but I know its what is best for me.

Liese - Please don't start worrying yet about the Zoloft - Just some history. I have been on it for 14 years. It has been absolutley wonderful with no side effects at all. The inefectiveness does not happen with everyone. I started on 25mg and over all this time am now up to 200mg b/c my body sort of built up an immunity to it, but again, that doesn't happen with everyone. After 200mg anymore increases will not make a difference, which is why I have to switch. Zoloft was my life saver and you may not have any problems with it all And yes, maybe this time it won't be so bad, but what I am scared of is when I weened off it before, I felt fine when starting the ween and only did it b/c of the pregnancy. Now, as it has become ineffective, I am already in a bad place when starting the ween so I am so scared that I will go to a horrific place since I am already struggling.

Avoident - please read what I typed above to Liese about the inefectiveness. I really hope I didn't give you guys any anxiety over taking the zoloft. It really is a wonderful medication.

UPDATE - When I called my P to get the consent to release the info from my T, he said that he doesn't want me to ween off the Zoloft yet. He wants that to be a last resort. He is supposed to add something (like a booster) to it but I need to go in and talk to him first. Had an appointment yesterday, but my back went out on Sunday so I have been laying on the couch stuck since then...getting more depressed...