Been on Zoloft 10 weeks for ptsd / it’s starting to work and I’m getting my life back .
BUT - having sexual side effects. Libido is not really an issue to be honest - but it’s so fucking hard to ejaculate. Even if I go days without doing it makes no difference .
Does this get better ?
Hi everyone
This is going to be a long one I think, for anyone willing to read.
I am quite apprehensive about this - because I know looking up medical symptoms/ cures online isn’t always a good idea as we all have different bodies, experiences and even different interpretations of what things like ‘anxiety’ or ‘depression’ or ‘PTSD’ mean.
First off I suppose I’m really looking for people who are using Zoloft for PTSD-type - hypersensitive nervous system issues as opposed to depression.
Basically - about 2 years ago - when I was falling asleep one night , my heart jolted me awake - like my body would not let me sleep, when I started to dose off - my heart would literally jump - and then I’d fill with adrenaline. (It’s not like a hypnic jerk or something - my body was literally refusing to allow me to go to a place where I was not conscious). I know why this happened - about a year previous to this I went through something similar (basically - certain sounds would trigger my heart and send it racing - like in a jump of fear, all from when I smoked weed one night and my body misunderstood certain noises to be threats, I know crazy).
Anyway - I didn’t know any of this at the time - that it was all to do with fear and danger - I didn’t know what was happening to me. So for 2 months this went on. 2 months of no sleep (even sleeping pills wouldn’t work). It was honestly insane , obviously I nearly lost my mind - and I lost so much weight and I looked haunted and insane - but the crazy thing is I was never tired because my body was just running on pure adrenaline. The more I worried the worse it got and I felt trapped in my own body, 24 hours a day.
I went to see so many people - my GP even referred to a mental institution (I am a healthy young man who has never had mental health issues). So ya crazy. Anyway - eventually one guy told me to stop running from the feeling - let it in. So the next time I was about to dose off - when my heart jolted - I embraced it - and I fell asleep. So simple - but before this I didn’t realise my body was just in danger, I thought I’d almost got some sort of weird fucking virus that meant I couldn’t ever sleep. And because it was so insane I thought I had this now and it would never go away.
Anyway - I got through that 2 months of hell. And since then I’ve started a new job, had relationships, everything normal etc etc. however - my sleep was still not great. I would fall asleep - but then I’d wake up many times - leaving me often exhausted during the day. Basically my nervous system is like a muscle that’s been torn. After those two intense months where my heart rate was over 80bpm at all times - it left a scar.
I really didn’t appreciate how bad it was - I was just happy to not be going through the torture of not sleeping at all. Until I’d had enough and went back to my gp - he put me on Zoloft and after a few very rough weeks where my sleep got worse - it has started to work - I’m starting to sleep through the night, mostly. I’m on it 2 months and things have really improved. I suppose it’s working indirectly for my sleep - but raising seratonin - it’s showing my body safety - so it is slowly calming down = more peaceful sleep.
However - and this is why I’m here. Maybe you didn’t need to hear the full story. But - since being on Zoloft - I still remain really sensitive to things I have since the traumatic episode (nicotine, caffeine, cardio workouts leave my heart racing for hours). Nicotine and caffeine are easy to avoid, but not the workouts - i need sport in my life but the problem is my team train in the evenings.
I basically feel like - my reaction to late night trainings has actually gotten worse since being on Zoloft. And my reaction to the occasional bit of nicotine (I know I should avoid but cmon , not asking for a lot).
Has anyone had a similar experience where they were using Zoloft to calm their hypersensitive nervous system - but found that things such as nicotine/ caffeine/ cardio workouts had them wired ? And did it get better? Like I feel like I have been on cocaine all night after a football session - it’s ridiculous. Also - drink really rocks the boat.
And also I have lower libido - not massively but lower - and it takes me so long to ejaculate . Will this change ?
I need this to continue to heal my scarred nervous system as it is doing - but I know I need to come off this medication in the long run.
Has anyone any tips or advice on how to speed up recovery? Or any similar stories ?
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