A Good Side Effect of Zoloft?
I知 a 70-year-old male. I had been using eyeglasses since I was 12 and near-sighted (eventually reaching 20/400 by the time I was 18), and needed bifocals at about 50 y.o.
About 20 years ago I started taking Zoloft. Five years later I noticed I didn稚 need bifocals and could read easily without glasses. Still later I noticed an improvement in my near-sightedness. I therefore just used my glasses for work and driving a car. Now my vision is about 20/60, 20/80, a huge improvement since I was 18! The only reason I can think of for the improvement was taking Zoloft every day for 15+ years. Zoloft was the only medication I took during that period.
Could it be that Zoloft has a (unknown before) beneficial side effect concerning vision as one ages? Is there any evidence of this?
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While visual changes from cataracts are probably more likely, it is possible that zoloft (generic name sertraline) could be causing your improved viion. It would be very unusual, as much more commonly it causes blurred vision rr double vision.
Visual changes produced by serotonin reuptake inhibitors have become a subject of greater attention in the past few years.
See
Antidepressants, Anti-anxiety Meds & Your Eyes www.bettervisionguide.com/antidepressants-anti-anxiety-meds-your-eyes/ Monitor the eyes for ocular effects from antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications www.eyeworld.org/monitor-eyes-ocular-effects-antidepressants-anti-anxiety-medications Keep an eye on the SSRI: help avoid possible sight-threatening adverse events www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4723200/ Drugs for the Mind Affect the Eye www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/drugs-for-the-mind-affect-the-eye Ocular Effects of Serotonin Antidepressants ww2.health.wa.gov.au/-/media/Files/Corporate/general-documents/WATAG/WAPDC/Serotonin-antidepressants-ocular-effects.ashx These effects are thought to be mediated through anticholinergic mechanisms for some antideressants (tricyclics and partoxetine especially) as well as via serotonergic mechanisms mediated by 5HT2B/C receptors and 5-HT7 autoreceptors in the iris-ciliary bodies.
sample papers
Serotonin-2B/2C Receptors Mediate Bovine Ciliary Muscle Contraction: Role in Intraocular Pressure Regulation www.researchgate.net/publication/322691582_Serotonin-2B2C_Receptors_Mediate_Bovine_Ciliary_Muscle_Contraction_Role_in_Intraocular_Pressure_Regulation [3H]-Serotonin Release from Bovine Iris-ciliary Body: Pharmacology of Prejunctional Serotonin (5-HT7) Autoreceptors
Ciliary muscles are also be effected by catecholamines (norepinephrine or dopamine) , and some neuropeptides such as neuropeptide Y are also active which may be modulated indirectly by serotonin.
Morphologic characteristics of the human ciliary muscle www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014483501910127 Anything that can distort your vision could also correct it, if one's underlying ocular abnormality could be normalized through the action of the drug that usually produces burred vision. It would be highly unusual, but not impossible. If you discontinued sertraline or change to a different medication and your vision problems returned, it would provide further evidence of the link. I do not however, at all recommend going off the medication or switchung to a new medication if sertraline in working well for you just to check your vision. It might be work a trip to the ophthalmologist or optometrist to discuss it though, as well as consider other causes.
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