Not sure about Zoloft. Can tell you a lot about Effexor. Miss one dose and you won't have to ask. My prescription ran out over the weekend. Had to wait until Monday morning to get it fill. Swear to God, I won't let that happen again.

best thing to do is take your meds at the same time each day set them out when setting the table for dinner. If you miss a dose take it as soon as you realize if it was the day before then dont worry and continue on. If you dont have an episode before your next dose chances are you wont.

Well this really sucks. I FINALLY was starting on an anti anxiety/depression med and now I'm reading all of these horrible withdrawal symptoms & there is just no way I'm taking those pills. I hope to God I don't have any of the withdrawal after only two days of the pill. I just looked up symptoms/withdrawal symptoms for paxil & valium and they don't look any better! What the flipping he11!

Oh my gosh..

'There is one particular, very unpleasant withdrawal symptom called REM Behavior Disorder. When moving your eyes too quickly, you dream in sequences- you are awake but you have hallucinations like you are actually dreaming. If something like this happens contact your physician'

EMMA!!!!!!! settle down.....the companies have to list all possible side effects regardless of how minute! You should see the side effects list of my meds and I take several...
Trust your doc. These meds take upto 6 weeks to come to full force...2 days wont mean nothing to your body.

I am not only talking about potential side effects. I'm reading loads and loads of accounts of people saying withdrawal was HORRIBLE & they wish they had never taken it in the first place.

withdrawl is when you are ending a med not when you are on it and who is to say they dont go off too quick. I have been on drug trials for almost 6 months and finally found a helpfull mix. During that 6 months I found one that was hurtful to me.I'm now on 5 different meds totalling 17 pills a day and I shudder to think what would happen if I went off them. BUT everyday as I force them down I'm glad I stuck with it.

Communicate with your doctor (or find one that will listen). I have tried 7 antidepressants and have taken myself off several when I felt that they were not helping or I had side effects. Each person's chemistry is different. Don't spend tons of time reading about side effects as they more than likely won't happen to you. If they do, call your doctor (or if it's really bad, seek immediate medical help - sorry for stating the obvious). I found that having depression makes me susceptible to imagining or fearing the worse. I wish you the very best as I am still trying (and hoping).

Emma, I don't know where you are getting all this negative info on Zoloft. I took it for years with no particular side effect as did my Mother after my Father died. Nothing to say but good things about it. It is one of the most common prescribed medications for depression/anxiety. If I missed a day (dose) I let it go and took the next dose ... no problems whatsoever. Same for my Mother. I am a Viet Nam Veteran and associate with many other vets who take Zoloft with no problems at all. It is also available in generic label Sertraline HC and one is just as good as the other.
Any medication CAN have a bad effect on SOME people. You are probably reading about an entire group of people who had a bad experience with Zoloft .. it is called skewing. The percentage of such people is tiny.

WanderingVet, this is one of the sites I was reading that had a lot of negative info:

http://www.steadyhealth.com/Zoloft_withdrawal_experiences_t53063.html

Just a message board with people posting about their experiences.

Ugh this is so frustrating!

The more research I do, the scarier it gets. Anyone that is taking or thinking of taking zoloft should do a simple google search on withdrawal symptoms & read up on it.

I read the first page of the link you provided. Every one of them quit taking Z suddenly. MOST talked about how great Z was and the problems started when they quit. That would happen with any SSRI.

Here is my statement ... people who are chronically depressed are often so because of a seratonin problem. Zoloft (among other meds) correct the problem. They most likely need such a medication for life. If they quit their SSRI medication, ESPECIALLY SUDDENLY, they are going to have a bad experience.

Yes I see your point, and the link I posted was probably not the best example of what I am talking about.. I read at least 30 different pages (message boards & otherwise) about some really scary personal experiences & withdrawal symptoms that lasted for months. Many of the people posting talk about how they tried to quiz Zoloft a little at a time & how it did not make a difference.

Anyway, I'm just nervous about taking it now, that's all. I looked into the side effects/withdrawal symptoms for paxil, valium, etc. too and none of them are good. I do not want to be dependent for life & the possibility of experiencing those withdrawal symptoms is very scary to me.

However, I am experiencing high anxiety & depression, so.. I guess I have a lot of thinking to do. I hope, hope, hope that two days on the Zoloft & quitting cold turkey will not cause any weird crud.

This is totally off subject, but through my Zoloft research I found some info on 'sleep paralysis' and I have experienced that two or three times in my life.. I had NO idea what it was and it scared the living heck out of me.. Good to know what was going on!