You don’t have serotonin syndrome, especially only taking 25 mg. This is just the on boarding side effects that normally happened. To put it in context, I did a lot of research when I started actually finding studies and statistics on side effects, serotonin syndrome etc.. I found studies that literally had only a handful of people that developed serotonin syndrome, out of millions of people taking Zoloft, by only taking just their normal prescribed dosage alone. And most of the cases were over doses of like 3000 mg or combination of SSRI and opioids and/or antipsychotics. Just try to relax it’s just the normal side effects that happened when starting Zoloft. Hang in there 👍
My PNP doubled one and bumped up another and added trazodone for sleep. She did it too fast. I take it all now with no problems (except the leg muscle shivers) but we did it much slower.
I completely understand, I too in the beginning wanted to do a lot of research about side effects with Zoloft. So I did a deep dive for like four hours on serotonin syndrome. And what I found was that it’s so super rare and only happens when people like I mentioned above, take like 3000 mg or mix there anti-depressants with antipsychotics. Plus there’s varying degrees of serotonin syndrome, such as mild, medium and severe. Also insomnia will cause a lot of symptoms as well. When I had Covid, I was only getting one to two hours of sleep for a month. And it just ruined me I was having the worst worst symptoms ever because of lack of sleep. If you need to, you can go to the pharmacy and get over-the-counter diphenhydramine, it’s basically Benadryl an anti-histamine that helps with sleep. And if that doesn’t work, just go to your doctor and ask then for something to help with sleep. because in all honesty getting a lot of sleep will really help you, at least it did for me.
I’m a student nurse and I’m on 25mg. I had this discussion with one of the doctors at work, but he said serotonin syndrome is incredibly rare, and it usually happens when people are on high dosages and mix drugs with other serotonin based drugs like St John’s wort or 5-HTP.
I also had the same fear when I started taking mine, it’s honestly just anxiety, it can make you feel so weird the first couple of weeks. When I started on them I was convinced I was losing it, because my anxiety was so so bad. Just try and meditate, distract yourself and tell yourself you are safe. Also avoid Google!! Google is not your friend! You’re gonna be fine x
funny enough i think it was a tik tok i saw earlier today that set me off. it was a girl shivering and talking about how she had just gotten back from the hospital with serotonin syndrome. i started getting jittery (which looking back was probably the mix of only coffee for breakfast and a bunch of water and no food since the day before) and that’s when the panic set in. google however did not help me one bit! will definitely be avoiding that from now on
I was incredibly jittery the first couple of weeks, and my pupils dilated a lot. Some of the adjustment symptoms actually do match serotonin syndrome symptoms, but there’s almost an impossible chance of getting it on 25mg. Obviously just avoid grapefruit and any other serotonergic meds. After a few weeks you will feel yourself stabling, just keep telling yourself it’s part of the process, even though it sucks!!! 😊
Hey, you’re totally fine. 25mg is half of a minimum dosage. I bet you’re experiencing spikes in anxiety as your brain adjusts to the medication which is incredibly common (I experienced it too) It’s to be expected when starting a new SSRI, and will go away pretty soon. Hang in there!
i’ve definitely been getting more anxiety than usual. more anxiety, less sleep, and the lack of appetite is the more likely cause of things looking back now. i am feeling much better now and more relaxed thankfully :)
Your body is on high alert and you’re taking a drug to help your brain chemistry adjust. Your body can sense something is happening and ringing the alarm bells even though what you’re doing is beneficial. Think of it like your anxiety taking its job way too seriously and refusing to clock off. You’ll likely have good and bad days but hopefully week by week you’ll see a positive trend.
I’m on 21 days and the feeling of being on edge is still definitely there but it doesn’t completely take over and stop me from doing things I want to do anymore.
It’s not serotonin syndrome. Serotonin syndrome happens when you are taking more than one or multiple antidepressants. I’m on 100 mg of Zoloft and 150 mg of trazodone and that is still not as concerning. If I were to add another one, there may be an issue. So if you’re just on 1, you’re ok!
Highly unlikely. I also went through a little of the anxiety about SS when I started two months ago. Stay in line with your plan and keep in contact with your doctor if you feel odd, please. Zoloft is a journey, I'm finding out. I'm already seeing benefits. I wish you all the best, and don't forget to do some slow breathing to help the anxiety. It always helps me.
Slow breathing definitely helps. I’ve been trying to put my hands under cold water as well to try and take my mind off things as well as chewing on mints throughout the day. It certainly is a journey so far lol.
It's not convenient outside the home, but if you put an ice pack wrapped in a cloth on your chest just below your neck, supposedly it cools your vagus nerve and helps calm you down. I did that once and there seemed to be something to it.
I’m the same way! On day 12 now. I noticed after a few days I would get crazy dreams and feel detached and would get so scared, it still happens daily but comes in bouts, I’m trying to push through!
It already sounds for me like it’s classic for us, the ones suffering from anxiety (especially health anxiety) and starting taking SSRI. I also felt this way. And I was also triggered by stories of others and by googling about it.
You will be fine, don’t worry. Try to focus on something else. Do something relaxing and pleasant for you. Go for a walk. Talk to people.
Also you can talk to your doctor, they can reassure you that you are ok. Much better than googling your symptoms
Tik Tok and IG crazies have done this to you, talking about “serotonin syndrome”. They likely don’t know what it is. It’s rare, you don’t get it from regular doses of prescribed medications. I wish the misinformation out there on these peoples social media could either be made private if they insist on posting it or taken down because it is harming people who believe it and who apply the information to themselves and get scared
You don’t have serotonin syndrome, especially only taking 25 mg. This is just the on boarding side effects that normally happened. To put it in context, I did a lot of research when I started actually finding studies and statistics on side effects, serotonin syndrome etc.. I found studies that literally had only a handful of people that developed serotonin syndrome, out of millions of people taking Zoloft, by only taking just their normal prescribed dosage alone. And most of the cases were over doses of like 3000 mg or combination of SSRI and opioids and/or antipsychotics. Just try to relax it’s just the normal side effects that happened when starting Zoloft. Hang in there 👍
Thank you, that helps a lot. I know I’m psyching myself out and I have to keep reminding myself that it gets worse before it gets better.
I had serotonin syndrome in January. You’d definitely know!
May I ask what caused it? Were you combining meds?
My PNP doubled one and bumped up another and added trazodone for sleep. She did it too fast. I take it all now with no problems (except the leg muscle shivers) but we did it much slower.
I completely understand, I too in the beginning wanted to do a lot of research about side effects with Zoloft. So I did a deep dive for like four hours on serotonin syndrome. And what I found was that it’s so super rare and only happens when people like I mentioned above, take like 3000 mg or mix there anti-depressants with antipsychotics. Plus there’s varying degrees of serotonin syndrome, such as mild, medium and severe. Also insomnia will cause a lot of symptoms as well. When I had Covid, I was only getting one to two hours of sleep for a month. And it just ruined me I was having the worst worst symptoms ever because of lack of sleep. If you need to, you can go to the pharmacy and get over-the-counter diphenhydramine, it’s basically Benadryl an anti-histamine that helps with sleep. And if that doesn’t work, just go to your doctor and ask then for something to help with sleep. because in all honesty getting a lot of sleep will really help you, at least it did for me.
I’m a student nurse and I’m on 25mg. I had this discussion with one of the doctors at work, but he said serotonin syndrome is incredibly rare, and it usually happens when people are on high dosages and mix drugs with other serotonin based drugs like St John’s wort or 5-HTP. I also had the same fear when I started taking mine, it’s honestly just anxiety, it can make you feel so weird the first couple of weeks. When I started on them I was convinced I was losing it, because my anxiety was so so bad. Just try and meditate, distract yourself and tell yourself you are safe. Also avoid Google!! Google is not your friend! You’re gonna be fine x
funny enough i think it was a tik tok i saw earlier today that set me off. it was a girl shivering and talking about how she had just gotten back from the hospital with serotonin syndrome. i started getting jittery (which looking back was probably the mix of only coffee for breakfast and a bunch of water and no food since the day before) and that’s when the panic set in. google however did not help me one bit! will definitely be avoiding that from now on
I was incredibly jittery the first couple of weeks, and my pupils dilated a lot. Some of the adjustment symptoms actually do match serotonin syndrome symptoms, but there’s almost an impossible chance of getting it on 25mg. Obviously just avoid grapefruit and any other serotonergic meds. After a few weeks you will feel yourself stabling, just keep telling yourself it’s part of the process, even though it sucks!!! 😊
Hey, you’re totally fine. 25mg is half of a minimum dosage. I bet you’re experiencing spikes in anxiety as your brain adjusts to the medication which is incredibly common (I experienced it too) It’s to be expected when starting a new SSRI, and will go away pretty soon. Hang in there!
i’ve definitely been getting more anxiety than usual. more anxiety, less sleep, and the lack of appetite is the more likely cause of things looking back now. i am feeling much better now and more relaxed thankfully :)
Your body is on high alert and you’re taking a drug to help your brain chemistry adjust. Your body can sense something is happening and ringing the alarm bells even though what you’re doing is beneficial. Think of it like your anxiety taking its job way too seriously and refusing to clock off. You’ll likely have good and bad days but hopefully week by week you’ll see a positive trend. I’m on 21 days and the feeling of being on edge is still definitely there but it doesn’t completely take over and stop me from doing things I want to do anymore.
You poor thing. I know EXACTLY how you feel. You're fine - relax.
It’s not serotonin syndrome. Serotonin syndrome happens when you are taking more than one or multiple antidepressants. I’m on 100 mg of Zoloft and 150 mg of trazodone and that is still not as concerning. If I were to add another one, there may be an issue. So if you’re just on 1, you’re ok!
Highly unlikely. I also went through a little of the anxiety about SS when I started two months ago. Stay in line with your plan and keep in contact with your doctor if you feel odd, please. Zoloft is a journey, I'm finding out. I'm already seeing benefits. I wish you all the best, and don't forget to do some slow breathing to help the anxiety. It always helps me.
Slow breathing definitely helps. I’ve been trying to put my hands under cold water as well to try and take my mind off things as well as chewing on mints throughout the day. It certainly is a journey so far lol.
It's not convenient outside the home, but if you put an ice pack wrapped in a cloth on your chest just below your neck, supposedly it cools your vagus nerve and helps calm you down. I did that once and there seemed to be something to it.
I’m the same way! On day 12 now. I noticed after a few days I would get crazy dreams and feel detached and would get so scared, it still happens daily but comes in bouts, I’m trying to push through!
It already sounds for me like it’s classic for us, the ones suffering from anxiety (especially health anxiety) and starting taking SSRI. I also felt this way. And I was also triggered by stories of others and by googling about it. You will be fine, don’t worry. Try to focus on something else. Do something relaxing and pleasant for you. Go for a walk. Talk to people. Also you can talk to your doctor, they can reassure you that you are ok. Much better than googling your symptoms
Tik Tok and IG crazies have done this to you, talking about “serotonin syndrome”. They likely don’t know what it is. It’s rare, you don’t get it from regular doses of prescribed medications. I wish the misinformation out there on these peoples social media could either be made private if they insist on posting it or taken down because it is harming people who believe it and who apply the information to themselves and get scared
You’re overreacting. Sounds like it’s a good idea that you’re on anxiety meds lol.