Posted by Wendy B on April 7, 2001, at 13:22:52
In reply to Zoloft vs. Prozac, posted by Majandra on April 6, 2001, at 11:08:07
Majandra,
I was on Zoloft for four years. My gynecologist started me on it for PMS. Since it's well-tolerated, titration rate should be 50 mg to start, and up in intervals of 50 mg. I responded in about 5 days to 50 mg, which startled me. But it really stopped the constant feeling that there was going to be some fresh disaster up around the next corner every day of my life. I had never felt so free from dread. So I was able to cope with depression and anxiety very well on Zoloft for several years as monotherapy. I eventually settled in at 100 mg. About a year ago, I was starting to feel that it wasn't really doing it for me anymore, so I went up to 150 and to 200 in rapid succession, but no luck.
If you aren't sure about your Dr switching you so quickly after she'd just spoken to you for the first time, I'd suggest taking a conservative approach, you may feel more comfortable with that. Increase the Zoloft levels first, to see if it really does something for you, or if it's not successful, then switch to Prozac, if that seems prudent. If you're at 75 right now, go up another 50, it should kick in if it's going to by then. But 200 mg per day is the standard dosage, so you can feel fine about going even higher than 125.
Take care of yourself, and don't let a new doctor assume she knows all that much about your life or your meds. Someone obviously prescribed the Zoloft for you, with your symptoms and history in mind. I liked it >very< much, and was quite disappointed when it stopped working so well. But 4 years is a long time, I was highly functional, so I count my blessings...
Let us know what you course of treatment you do take -- Wendy
> I have been taking zoloft for 5 weeks and have noticed no lift in my mood. It is just making me exhausted. I'll spare you the whole story, but I had my first appointment w/ a new doctor and she immediately suggested switching me to prozac. I was a little worried about her doing that so swiftly, since she had only spoken to me for a few minutes and I felt that she didn't have a very good sense of my situation. Plus, another doctor I had seen in passing said something to the effect of "Boy, I'm glad you're not on Prozac." However, I do want to feel better. Right now I'm holding off on the decision for another week and am staying on zoloft at my current 75mg a day. Does anyone have any advice about possibly making the switch, any good/bad experiences w/ Prozac? Thanks.
> --Majandra
poster:Wendy B
thread:58914
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010403/msgs/59031.html