In addition to seeing a T, I have been doing the Zoloft thing for about 2 months. I have heard that after 2-3 months the "magic" kind of plateaus and then actually decreases. I understand that possible at 2-3 months some Dr.s will increase the dosage. I am beginning to see a slight return of depression yet I don't want to increase the dosage. I feel as if "the perp" has won if I continue to do the drug thing. I want to be strong on my own. Have others really experiences this after 2-3 months? I thing I will hang in there and just push through and see what happens. I don't like taking this stuff anyway, but it has helped. I just feel "powerless" depending on something on the outside to help. I just want to feel great most of the time with out "drugs." It was a big step to agree to do the Zoloft, I don't want to feel weaker and ask for a higher dosage. Perhaps I will just wait a few more days, do some exercise and see if this passes. Thanks for letting me write (nonsense). Devon

NO NONSENSE

Every experience
is as rare and unique
as you.

No experience
is nonsense
and so are
the writings from you.

So thank you
for revealing
your treasure chest
of experiences.

As you set about
to discover
the experiencer
in you!

Hey! this quote just came in my mail:
I am happy and content
because I think I am.

-Alain-Rene Lesage

5 years ago I was seeing a councilor for work-related reasons. First day in, I tell the guy never to prescribe conventional medication, or I walk. After 2 months of sessions, he finally states that I should take Zoloft. I was pissed, but committed to continue with him because I just didn't have the time to start over with a new councilor, so I got the meds. I only took 1 pill before I had a chiropractor session, and I tell her everything. (Drugs can screw up her tests.) When I told her I had just taken my first pill of Zoloft, she didn't say a word but took a massive medical book on medications and their effects.

"...can cause permanent brain damage after a few months of prolonged use"

(Sound of flushing toilet)

Next session, councilor asks if I started taking the pills, and I lied and said yes, never telling him I started taking St. John's Wort. Not the cheap crap by Jamison, but true wort from a naturopathologist.

Never trusted conventional meds, never will. Hell, even Tylenol is lethal after a year or two of regular use.

Hmmm... I should go back and get some SJW if my current therapist approves.

MR

Wow!

I was just prescribed Zoloft this morning! I have been dreading to go to the PCP today because I knew he was going to prescribe meds. He wants to put me on Wellbutrin and Zoloft.

I may need to see how this thread runs before I take any of it. I'd rather be depressed than permanently brain damaged!

Devon,

Yeah the Zoloft should be working after two months. I haven’t used Zoloft but did use another SSRI in the past for depression. I was very reluctant to go on meds and didn’t like the idea of dependence either. I am so glad that I did use the anti-depressants. I have been off them for four years now and took them for two periods of two years. They got me out of the habit of depression and I am not sure I would have survived without them. I had very few side effects any I had were far outweighed by the positive. I feel the abuse was winning when I was depressed not when I was on the meds. I think it shows strength to take proper care of ourselves and if that includes meds when we need them that’s fine. Sometimes it takes trial and error before finding the right meds and the right dose to suit an individual. The exercise is a good idea, I don’t do enough myself but it really does help when I do.

What MR says about Zoloft causing permanent brain damage is simply untrue; there is an idea that scientific tested medicine is less trustable than ‘natural’ remedies. Tobacco, heroin and cannabis, come from plants and are natural as are many other poisons. No matter how big the chiropractors book that claim is not borne out by medical science. Zoloft has been approved as safe and effective by the drug regulators the world over. I know that in Ireland St. Johns Wort has been banned by the drugs regulator as harmful. It also has some dangers in its interactions with other drugs and the research on it is poor. Conventional medicine is researched and tested so-called natural/alternative medicine is not. Some of it can be useful but a pretty picture of a plant on the bottle doesn’t make it safe or useful.

Peter.

Natural medicine is what nature offers us to heal, and is being practised for hundreds of years.
Whereas most modern drugs are only a few decades old. So whom do we trust more?

Thought I would comment on this as a historian of medicine.

Modern medicine as we know it today basically emerged after the First World War, and the advantage of its medications is that their results and effects are so thoroughly tested before the drug is licensed. I can't imagine that Zoloft would be used so widely if there was a danger of brain damage after two months.

On natural medicine being around for hundreds of years, sure. But a lot of it was and remains ineffective and remains in use due to the influence of cultural traditions. With no more than this to provide medical help, 60-70% of children were dying before the age of 5 and average life expectancy was about 40.

Larry

I have been on and off antidepressants for the past 20 years. I would do well for maybe 2 or 3 years and then have to go back on them. I also continued to binge drink alcohol to numb the pain I could not fiqure out. I finally put my abuse and the problems it caused together 5 years ago after reading a book on Family from my medical Dr. After fiquring this all out after all these years and then trying to get an apology from my SO CALLED PARENTS, with no results, I became very depressed and am now on Effexor and am now cutting that back. I have been on it for three years and still have my brains. My advice is don't mix it with alcohol and get regular exercise. PS. I also joined AA 9 months ago and have not had a drink since. What a bunch of bullshit!! Right?? But I am finally turning the corner and feeling better. Jolly Fisherman

THE MEDICINE IS ME

Energy medicine
is what works for me,
that's the energy
I receive from Thee.

A medicine whose only test
is my faith in me.

And the whole world
knows that
the best medicine
is my love
for me.

So the best healer
lies within me.