Sertraline (Zoloft) experience.

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I've been on Sertraline for about 3-4 months now. It was prescribed for anxiety though I sought it out to try and contain my OCD. I honestly feel like it's done nothing but make me feel strange, in the sense that it gives me insane dreams to the point where I'm struggling to differentiate real experiences and dreamed experiences. I also feel like it has worsened my already terrible short-term memory and my insomnia.

Anyone else had strange experiences on Sertraline?

I've been on Sertraline (100mg) for about the same amount of time as you have, 3 or 4 months. I must say that I have a long history of strange dreams anyway, but it has made them worse - for context, recently I dreamt that vegans harvested my organs and transplanted them into cows. Yeah.

A common symptom of Sertraline, at least from what my doctors told me, is feeling detached from reality, like the things going on around you aren't really happening, or in general just feeling very... weird. It's hard to explain but I have experienced it - kind of a surreal, disconnected feeling?

Like I said, I think this is a relatively common experience - however I would still recommend that you talk to your doctor about this for a few reasons. Firstly it is usually important to notify your doctor of any side effects, just so they know about them. Secondly, this feeling 'strange', along with unhelpful dreams and insomnia, probably isn't helping your anxiety and could make you feel worse. Thirdly, it doesn't seem like (at least from your post) that you're feeling the benefits you should be by now, so you might need either a higher dose or a different medication.

All the best and I hope you feel better soon.

I was on it for a while but the side effects were really bad.

Tell your doctor.

SSRIs are a crapshoot and it's difficult to predict who will have what reaction to which.

If it's not having the desired effect, there is no point in taking it and you can move on to try something else that might just help.

If it's not working for you, don't take it as a sign of anything in particular. That's just the way it works sometimes. It can be a real PITA, but you'll find what works best for you.

My experience has been odd. I thought this whole time that being selectively mute and poor at understanding people past a purely emotional and intellectual level (knowing why someone was mad but not quite understanding the customs of comfort) was wrong. Since I started taking the medication, I've basically reverted to that person and found that I'm actually happier this way. It was suffocating when I couldn't be louder when I wanted because I didn't feel like it was the time and place but for me, being completely in touch with the crowd means being completely silent. I'm okay with being a bit tone deaf now and again as long as people can tell I'm willing to learn the notes, or even get people to find the new genre endearing.