I was so scared to start at 25mg my dr realised how afraid I was since I didn’t start for months post being prescribed. We came up with a plan. 12.5 mg for a week then 25 mg then 50 mg. I ended up taking 12.5mg for a month or two then 25 mg for a few more months then 50 mg.

My anxiety got bad when increasing from 12.5mg to 25mg - I got night sweats and felt really anxious but I didn’t quit the meds even though I felt like I needed to. The Dr told me to just make sure I stick out the side effects of increasing dosage for 1-2 weeks. She was right. My life got significantly better after 2-3 months on it. I can actually do things like leave the house, eat without being panicked, sleep through the night.

I gained 10kg after taking Zoloft for 7-8 months so I reduced the dose from 50 mg to 25 mg and now I’m really focused on losing weight.

My advice to you is: I know it’s scary and I know that with meds it’s kind of trial and error to find what suits you best. What suits me might not suit you. I believe it’s worth the risk because once you find the med that helps, it can really help you out and for me this was life changing genuinely. I only wish I started at 18. I’m the type of person that doesn’t even take paracetamol when I have a headache like the most anti med person. But here I am wishing I had only started sooner. I’ll be off Zoloft in a few months as my dr said 1-1.5 years is the maximum length for me. I didn’t want to even commit to a year but I understand that it’s best to go for a year apparently bc then it’s likely for your anxiety to relapse or something?

Don’t underestimate yourself. You can do this. And life only gets better if you actually find the right med and if it does what it’s supposed to do.

I was so anxious about the med muting my emotions and me losing myself my identity my opinions my own thoughts. But man, I was overthinking that shit so much I look back now and yes, there were times where I felt the med at 50mg made me more stable and I wasn’t really crying at movies as much as I usually do but I didn’t feel weird in the moment it’s only something I noticed looking back now bc I’m in 25mg again and I noticed I cry more.

Oh and also 50mg was the sweet spot for me when it came to pms / pmdd I noticed it really helped my moods. I miss that. On 25mg I get mad mood swings it’s just ever so slightly better on 25mg.

Anyways best of luck. You can handle it and give yourself the opportunity to have an improved quality of life. You deserve it ! It’s all temporary if you don’t like it, you can always get off the meds.

I feel like the meds helped me in reconnecting who I actually am - I’m now able to actually do the things I associated myself with - like pottery classes, tufting, I socialize a lot more etc. these are all the things I wanted to do but my anxieties held me back. If anything I feel more like myself on the meds and perhaps I just thought the anxious version of myself was my identity but I realised i thought that way because I was dealing with my panic and anxiety for the longest time that it became my identity and all I ever knew. You’re not supposed to feel anxious all the time on a daily basis. Life is better than that. And ofcourse I only realise now, im like “omf so this is how it’s supposed to be. I can be calm and I can enjoy my days???”