u/PepperThis7866

I’ve been taking Sertraline (Zoloft) 50 mg for around 6 weeks now. My main symptoms are severe social anxiety since childhood, plus organic depression/anhedonia after a brain hemorrhage and two craniotomies.

Over the years I’ve seen many psychiatrists and have been prescribed different meds including Mirtazapine, Zoloft, Lexapro, and Effexor. I was very hesitant to start antidepressants for a long time, but eventually decided to give them a try.

So I have whole bottles of the above meds still with me and around 3 months ago I took just a single 37.5 mg dose of Effexor in the morning, and I noticed a pretty significant reduction in anxiety within a few hours (Placebo?) But for some reason I never continued it.

With Sertraline, I honestly don’t know what it’s doing. Maybe my negative thoughts are slightly reduced, but I’m not noticing much improvement in either the anxiety or the depression/anhedonia.

So now I’m wondering: Would it make more sense to switch to Effexor, or should I first try increasing the Sertraline dose?

Been on 50mg Zoloft for 5 weeks now and honestly barely feel much. Maybe very slight change, but my social anxiety and depression are still pretty bad.

Mainly taking it for severe social anxiety and depression that got much worse after brain hemorrhage/stroke + brain surgery.

Does this usually mean 50mg is just too low and I may need a higher dose, or could it be a sign Zoloft just isn’t the right med for me?

Would appreciate hearing others’ experiences.