It is said to help people with compulsive eating and depression....I really need help with it and I am going to ask about Zoloft. Any feedback? I fear weight gain on this pill but I am only taking it for a few weeks and if I don't feel help I am going off asap. If I notice weight gain I will switch off. But anyways, any feedback about the pill with help. Did it help compulsive eating? Did it make you lose/gain weight??

Hi :
It is difficult to answer your question as each person's individual chemistry is so different !! What helps one person, can either be useless for somebody else or even worse make them ill. My own experience with it was that it helped my depression, but did nothing at all for my binge eating disorder. I wish you success in your quest for healing.
Vickie

A doctor (no longer my doctor) put me on it right after one of my brothers died because I was crying all the time. We were the two youngest of 8 and he was more like a best friend and a brother wrapped into one.

I hated the way it made me feel and took myself off of it after 3 weeks. I got through the grieving process without the help of drugs and am doing fine now - I just needed time.

However, I have known people who were on it and it worked beautifully for (for depression). I've never known anyone to use it for weight gain, but that may just be that no one I know has said that was why they were on it.

I really think it depends on you and your biochemistry. Every person is going to react differently so asking how others reacted isn't going to help you much. Like for me, the effects were horrible (I do mean that).

Sorry if I wasn't clear. People don't use it for weight gain, it sometimes is a side effect of the pill because it can slow peoples metabolism. Some experience weight loss too. I know these pills are my last resort, I have struggled too long and tried everything I can to control this. But I fear the bad side effects. What were the bad side effects you experienced?

I felt like my emotions were not my own. I felt like my head was spinning right off my shoulders (not in a drunk way, more like an 'is this real?' way). I had the shakes and sweats, my heart felt like it was racing all the time. It took about a month of being off them to feel 'normal' again.

Edit: One guy I know who had been on it for years (and was absolutely thrilled with the effects...he seemed totally 'normal' in a way I didn't feel while I was on it) definitely did not experience any weight loss side effects. If anything, he had put on about 60 lbs while on zoloft. But that could also be attributed to 1) increased age/slower metabolism; and 2) being out of the military so no longer required to exercise all the time.

First, zoloft is an SSRI --seratonin specific reuptake inhibitor. This type of medication takes about 3-4 weeks to really start working on your system. You definitely won't see results being on it for only a week or two. Also the hunger suppressive symtoms go away almost a week after starting it for most people...then you get the urge to eat everything in sight. I would not recommend it for trying to lose some pounds. I've never heard of it used for that...and I think you'd get some whacked up results. Just watch what you eat. Or drink a bottle of Mg citrate---haha ...I joke, that's a short term fix as well.

I don't think many pharmacists or docs would agree taking zoloft to lose weight is a good idea.

Ok maybe I am not being clear. I am NOT taking zoloft to lose weight. I am a binge eater. It is supposed to help with binge eating disorder hence result in weight loss because you stop binge eating. However, some people experience metabolism slowing which can cause weight gain. But I am not sure that will happen to me so I have to take it and find out. I am taking it for my eating disorder and depression, NOT to lose weight.

Ah ok...either way... you have to be on it around a month for it to start working. Since it works on the neurotransmitters---your brain does something called tonic depolarization blockaide... you may hit a "lower low" before you start feeling better on it.

The doctor who put me on it said it took 1-2 weeks to start working.

1-2 weeks would not be enough time for it to start working. You'd get some of the effects of starting a new drug... but the depression may become worse for a little while.

I work in inpatient pharmacy at the Mayo Clinic, and just looked it up to be sure (but I vividly recall learning about it in college too---i was facinated by the whole tonic depolarization thing...)

This is what micromedex tells me:

It may take as long as two weeks or more before the SSRIs start to have any effect on mood, and a further three or four weeks for this effect to reach its maximum. In some people the effect may take even longer to occur e.g. several months, especially if the patient is older.


Instruct patient of the potential risk of worsening depression, suicidal ideation, or unusual changes in behavior, especially at initiation of therapy or with dose changes. Children and adolescents are at higher risk for these effects during the first few months of therapy.

Don't get me wrong though...Zoloft works wonderfully for some people. I just thought I'd share what I know with you though because sometimes the effects aren't all that great...and sometimes people don't give it a long enough try to really know if it works or not.

I gave it up because after three weeks, yes, I felt worse (in a completely different way) and....
mostly because I felt that instead of using drugs to get beyond my depression over my brother's death I just needed time to grieve. Turns out I was right.

DISCLAIMER: What was right for me may not be right for someone else.