TheBanyanTree: Zoloft is NOT for Everybody....OBVIOUSLY!

[Sharon Mack]

Well they (my therapist and psychiatrist) convinced me that my
histrionic personality disorder has escalated.  I just though t I was
getting better at being creative....NOT!  They said they noted some
compulsive obsessive behavior (or is it the other way around?...which
comes first....the obsession or the compulsion...you must get the
obsession first, I guess and then use compulsive behavior to deal with
the obsession?????  I don't know).

They said it could be due to menopause.  Menopause changes a lot of
things, that's for sure and none are really for the better, except for
the loss of the monthly cycle....now that ain't bad, but the rest
sucks!

Anyway, because I'm getting a bit more extreme in my old age they
talked me into trying Zoloft.  Now I'm not one for medicine on a regular
basis unless it's absolutely necessary.  I've been handling things for
16 years with certain mind exercises and breathing patterns and
Lorazapam, but only when it is needed.  Usually they only give me 30 of
the .5 tabs and they last me for about 6 months.....but they wanted me
to try the Zoloft.

I had tried Prozac a few years ago and I was a Zombie by day and an owl
by night.  Yawned all day and wanted to sleep, stayed up all night. 
They tried switching the times that I took it...made no difference. I
left the Prozac in the drawer and eventually tossed it.  When I came out
of my fog, my job and my home were a wreck.  It took me weeks to undo
the fog-incurred mess that surrounded me.  I still wonder that I wasn't
fired.

So I got the Zoloft on Thursday and took my first dose.  Only 25
milligrams....that's not bad...it's the lowest dose.  By my second dose
on Friday I had a banging headache right across my forehead.  Many
ibuprofen later it finally left me...for awhile.

By 3AM on Saturday I had another headache only this time twice the
strength.  I tried to function dosing myself regularly with the
ibuprofen but wasn't able to chase it until around 2 that afternoon. 
There was always an underlying shadow there letting me know it hadn't
left all together.  My stomach felt sick but I figured it was the
ibuprofen.

By Sunday I was down for the count.  Total diarrhea, vomiting,
headache...the works!  I have never been so sick.  No food passed my
mouth.  The headache was back full swing and all I could do was lay
there.  If I got up to walk the dogs or go to the bathroom I shook so
much I couldn't hold a glass.  Monday was more of the same only more
intense.

I called my psychiatrist.  He said it was an adverse reaction to the
Zoloft and to stop taking it immediately and drink Pepto Bismal.  Yeah,
right....my stomach did another turn.

So I didn't come into work Monday or yesterday, forced myself today and
finally this afternoon I am feeling a bit better.

My appointment with my therapist is in 45 minutes....I can't wait to
tell him and if he mentions Paxal, I'm gonna' hit him, I swear!!!!!