Iq points symptoms and conditions

I have been on zoloft for 18 years, mostly at 50 mg. This time period includes when I was pregnant and breastfed my son, now age 9, who is a special needs child. I regret taking zoloft during my son's babyhood but was hooked, told it would be OK by my doctors and was afraid to go off. I have never gone above a size 14 before going on zoloft, usually hovering around size 10 or 12 and wishing I was an 8. Well, I am now a size 24 and weigh over 200 pounds. My stomach is so huge people often think I'm pregnant which is a source of huge embarrassment for me. I find it impossible to control my desire for sugar which I crave to boost my energy. I am often sleepy in the afternoon yet can't get myself to bed early enough. I am apathetic about everything except my son. I have gone months without sex and didn't miss it at all -- thank god for a saint of a husband. Recently I started up sex with my husband even though my drive was still very low, as I saw it really helped my marital relationship. How nice it would be to actually feel a sexual desire before we start up. I crave wine at night to calm me down despite being on this drug. I feel like my brain is sluggish and I've lost some major IQ points. I hope that's only temporary. I have no desire to leave the house and would be happy to stay home all day which is I'm sure due to the drug. I can't get myself to exercise. I feel this drug has put me into a sort of walking coma. I want to go off and will begin soon -- I have set myself up for a tapering schedule that will extend to over a year using liquid zoloft and going down over 10% a month to minimize the brain zaps and depression backlash. I hope I can do it -- my husband wants so badly to get back the size 10 sexy woman he once knew. I want her back too. I hate this drug with a vengeance and am furious I was ever put on it. Absolutely furious.

I have been on Lamictal now for 10 months, and I mostly love it.

But my IQ went down about 20 points. The first few months were very bad--I could hardly complete a sentence without forgetting one or two words. My short-term memory was scary bad--almost like blackouts where I wouldn't even remember events when reminded.

Those things have abated somewhat, but I am still having to adjust to a lower ability to think. I must make lists, I must repeat instructions and directions. Perhaps this is more about slowing down what was a hyperactive brain, but it is a side-effect that is hard to accept.

I am noticing a new side effect, though. I drop things all the time. I recently dropped a book I was reading--how does that happen?

Has anyone noticed this dropping, or any other clumsiness like this?

The doctors haven't been able to determine if I had a stroke or drug related (symptoms- if the slurred speech, facial palsy, memory problems, problems with working memory, and a 30+ drop in IQ points, weakness right hand). I had an open MRI and nothing was abnormal. They took me off the topamax and there has been no change and put me on verapamil sr. Trust me the verapamil is horrible as cause anxiety, insomnia, increase in appetite and congestive heart failure. At this point, the only thing that the topamax is responsible for was a decrease in appetite ( Yup, I had a stroke). I can't wait to get back on the topamax.