thanks Mari.

yesss!!!

i would just keep it at 50mg for a while. 50mg really might work as i haven't been on any antidepressant for any length of time for a couple of years now.

i was debating whether just 25mg might work also... even though it's not "technically" considered a useful dosage, because i feel a little better, spirits-wise too. i really wonder whether they've done any clinical testing on bipolars using lower doses of antidepressants, instead of giving them the usual doses and then going, "LOOK! Agitation!" or worse, "EEK! MANIA! here! have a mood stabilizer with that!"

~ waves ~

Waves
I have forgotten, Are you taking 50mg twice a day, or once a day.

Donna

Ps, glad you are feeling better

Dear Donna

Zoloft is once a day. and thanks.

friday i skipped it (had taken 50 for the 5 days before that) and today i took 25mg.

we'll see what happens. i hope *nothing* happens.


oh btw, Mari... up the thread some place you had asked about the OD that we thought was due to a nicked extended release coating. i forgot to answer ... that was with Tegretol. Zoloft/sertraline does not come in extended release.

~ waves ~

wow i am feeling so much better with the breathing.

it's funny. it got so subtle at times, i started wondering if i was imagining things.

but now that i can breathe so much better, i know i wasn't imagining it. i have not been right the past few days.

but what is weird is if i breathe deeply in and out through my mouth, and cup my hands to my ear... towards the end when i exhale (but not when i inhale!) there is still that tiny squeaking sound. i noticed that when i was having the problems too. but now i can breathe like woww, and i thought the squeaking would be gone. but it is still there. maybe everyone squeaks a little that way maybe it's normal.

i wish my stupid doctor wasn't stethoscope-impaired.

~ waves ~

OMG! I signed up on this forum just because I googled "breathe zoloft" and it came up with this--then I saw this post was made recently!!

Okay, so I'm an 18 year old male and I started Zoloft two weeks ago, took it for a week, then decided to stop because taking a SSRI makes me anxious knowing I have to take one (and it also increases my anxiety, anyway). I noticed what you were talking about and when I stopped Zoloft it went away and I never thought twice about it. Now it has come back...

I feel like my chest is tight, almost numb. My heart races at times, especially when I think about it. It just feels like my lungs aren't expanding to get a good breath, you know? So I take a deep breath and it doesn't help at ALL even if I feel that I got a good breath. When I had an anxiety attack, it felt nothing like this. At all. And, like you, my BP and pulse is fine. I have found NOTHING about this ANYWHERE online... I'm so glad I found this to know I'm not alone!! I don't intend to stick around on this forum, but I definitely want to PM with you or talk with you here to discuss how we feel! I'll definitely keep checking for the updates to all of your tests!!

Dear Starstruck

thank you for sharing... i am sorry for your experiences - difficulty breathing is awful no matter what the cause.

i would encourage you to talk to your doctor about these symptoms since they are new for you, as is the Zoloft and SSRIs in general. s/he needs to advise you whether to continue treatment. sometimes meds have side effects during the initial period which then go away. your doctor may also wish to give you another med, "on the side," to help you get through these symptoms.

if you cannot talk to the prescribing doctor, talk to your GP. you have said you feel anxious about taking an SSRI. you also say you felt like your heart was racing... that does suggest anxiety to me, but a doctor needs to see you in person to evaluate that.
(i did not feel my heart was racing btw, i just checked my pulse because it seemed sensible to do so.)

--- my situation with Zoloft and with these symptoms is a little different -----

1. i had respiratory problems before starting the Zoloft. these symptoms were slightly different than what i usually experience in that usually i have a severe, deep, dry cough as well, and this time and only occasional light coughing nothing much.

2. i am very familiar with Zoloft. this is the FOURTH time i've taken it... and i have in the past i remained on it for years at a time. i never had anything similar happen with it before, and nothing to suggest to me that this is due to the Zoloft now. because of the timing, and the fact that these symptoms were a little different (more frequent and no cough), i could not rule out the Zoloft completely. similarly, i started having concerns with regard to safety of taking the Zoloft, if the cause of these episodes was a different unidentified problem - even not caused by the Zoloft.

take care - i wish you luck... this med was a Godsend to me in the past so really, i hope it works out for you.

~ waves ~

Hey Waves. It sounds like some of my symptoms. Tightness in the chest,and sometimes various pains that are in different areas of my chest. I have the tight pain in the middle of my chest when I get upset.

I have allergy attacks,and cough deeply for a couple of hours,and sometimes taking a shower sets off the allergy attacks. I cough deeply. Sometimes I feel a tightness in my chest. I don't know what all of this is. BF

Dear Steve,

i've wondered before when you've mentioned your cough if we might have something similar because i have always had a nasty deep cough that happens due to allergies, or irritants like smoke or certain chemicals. i don't get it with steam but it does sound like you have sensitive airways. have you ever talked to a doctor about your cough? maybe you could ask about cough-variant asthma?

now i tend to think the pain in the chest could have different causes when you get it with the cough as opposed to when you are upset. with the cough i would think respiratory, the upset i would think anxiety but you should talk to a doctor about it if you haven't.

in the past when i have had anxiety attacks or high anxiety i have had pain/pressure in the chest and a sense of gasping for air even though there was clearly nothing wrong with my airways. this time, i didn't feel at all upset or anxious, and i wasn't coughing either, so i was confused/concerned.

i feel better. i did have a bout of coughing yesterday, and i had some pain but that happened when my mother grilled chicken and filled the house with smoke!

~ waves ~

I know what you mean. Sometimes I just have a tightness,or a discomfort in my lung areas. Sometimes It lets up without a coughing event within a short period of time.

I do have allergies,and went to a specialist,when I had insurence. I have many allergies to molds,mixed trees,and mixed grasses. I used to get allergy shots,and they helped.

I have air purifiers in every room in my part of this house. Rag weed has started to bloom in this area where I live,and I'm very allergic to it. My coughing started to intensify about five days ago. When I start coughing,it gets on my nerves. I cough,and cough until it subsides. Sometimes it's a very deep cough. BF

Steve,

yeah... the more i think about it, the more it seems like it had to be respiratory. i hope it is something they can figure it out though, so i don't get stuck with whatever it is, because it's obviously getting worse.

it must suck not having insurance. i used to have a really good PPO... i miss that. here, we have socialized medicine.. it's better than nothing but it isn't completely free either. the bureaucracy is awful and a lot of docs don't really practice they just push papers (that's what my gp mostly does). also no matter how good the doc, they have their hands tied as to what is allowed to be prescribed and what tests are allowed to be done and how (in)frequently. once i was asking my pdoc about the terrible level of care here... i was confused because i have seen papers by local people - and not few... he told me all the good doctors and researchers pick up and go to the US because here they don't pay them. he is staff with one clinic, and has does psychotherapy on private basis, but he also has ambulatory hours with another clinic - he told me how much they pay him per hour for that - it was peanuts... i was shocked.

my mom went to the doctor one time to ask for a physical. he said ok, and gave her a script for a blood workup. and only a very basic one. that's it. no temp, no weight, no bp, no actually looking or listening to any of the body. sigh.

~ waves ~