Sertraline

[Bluebird797]

Posting here for traffic.
I've suffered with my anxiety for a while but I have always managed to pull myself out of the hole eventually. Today, after the most horrendous 4 weeks of not sleeping, not eating, and feeling absolutely terrible, I finally admitted that I can't do it on my own, it's gone too far for that. So I phoned the Doctors earlier and got a phone consultation for this afternoon. I cried to the Doctor, literally sobbed my heart out. Actually all I've done today is bloody cry. But she prescribed Sertraline 50mg for me. I know this topic has probably already been done to death but I'm just looking for reassuring stories, I've read lots about it and I'm fully prepared for a rubbish couple of weeks. I just need to know that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm sorry to hear that you're not feeling great at the moment.
I had a period of anxiety and like you bawled my eyes out to the drs.
Sertraline made me feel a bit nauseous for about a fortnight but after that it was fine. I found the medication helped me enormously, mainly by slowing down my repetitive thoughts. It also relieved the physical anxiety symptoms.
I hope it works for you and you start to feel a bit more settled soon. X

Starting sertraline was the best decision I ever made. Changed my life. Like you I was anxious for a long time and for some reason avoided meds. Didn’t get bad side effects and if I did they were the same as those i had from the anxiety/depression!

They say they take 3 weeks to start working but honestly I felt better after a week. No downside to it.

I went on sertraline last january. Suffered 2-3 weeks of nausea and insomnia, took some time to adjust timing to take tablet. Came off it 8-6 weeks ago and today have just gone back on it. It levels me off massively

I'm on it now for post natal depression and have been on it a few times previously, it definitely helps level my emotions. Word of advice, if you decide to come off it at some point in the future do it very slowly, I came off too fast last time and it made me feel awful for a long time. Hope you feel better soon x

I'm on my second stint of sertraline.

First time round I had terrible nausea for the first week and my anxiety was sky high. But after that subsided it worked very well.

I'm back on it now and had no side effects at all. It's almost made me a new person.

Hope you feel better soon

It was the best decision I made, I'm also on 50mg. Put it off for ages but I finally snapped when I realised I wasn't enjoying almost anything anymore. Felt better in days, literally. I'm so much more level headed now, less angry at the world too. I had diarrhoea on day 1 but no other side effects at all. I take it early in the morning as I've heard it can affect sleep.

I had fairly strong side effects at first but I didn't care as my actual symptoms were so bad by that point I would have done anything to feel better.

They didn't last long, and despite being told I wouldn't feel the effects for weeks and weeks, I did start to feel better after about a week. Hang in there, it will get better, you can do this.

I went up to 100mg to feel any effect but it’s a massive massive help- slight dodgy tummy but nothing too explosive!!

It probably saved my life, my anxiety was killing me, literally, after having my daughter six years ago. I've changed dose a few times and I'm now stable on 100mg.

I had 3 weeks of a racing heart and insomnia when I first started it, but it's been life changing.

I went on it 1.5 weeks ago and already I feel the cloud that was over my life has lifted. Some tummy issues to begin with and my anxiety was worse (on it for depression) for a few days but my god the difference now is crazy.
I resisted medication I knew I needed for far too long. I finally cracked 2 weeks ago and broke down. I'm so glad i did, otherwise I'd have carried on miserable and lifeless. I'm giggling again and making jokes which feels lovely

Thank you all. I'm crying. Again reading all these posts, I really hope I react well to it, this is my little speck of hope

It changed my life. First few weeks are a bit tough - but it's worth it! Good luck.

It takes about two weeks to have any positive effect in my experience. I had dry mouth when I first started taking it. I know I will be on it for life as the lows when I come off it are not worth it.

I’ve been on it a while now and it’s really helped with the anxiety, I’m on 100mg. Like others have mentioned I did feel nauseous and not right for a couple of weeks but then once they kicked in it was worth it. Good luck

I’ve been on it for just over ten years, I had a slightly increased appetite at first, but that was my only side effect. I’ve now settled on 150mg daily.

I still have the odd moment, but nothing at all compared to how I was.

It's fab. Didn't know how bad I'd got until I took it and started feeling better, which was within days. I take it at night and I sleep better too, which helps my mood as well.

I've been on it for five weeks, id been feeling so shit but really didn't want to go down the medication route (I don't know why) but I just wasn't feeling myself and like you went to the doc and was prescribed sertraline and then came on here to ask mumsnetters what they thought . I was given great advice and support and decided to give the meds a chance and I'm so so glad I did. It's helping me enormously. I have more energy feel less anxious and irritable and just more like myself. I had very few side effects. Hope this helps. Wishing you all the best op x

I've been on it 18 months and can't ever see me coming off it. It allows me to be me.

Been on sertraline since november. Slightly nauseous at first but soon settled. Went up to 100mg in jan. Done me so much good- I'm back at work after an extended period and winning awards for my work. I can sleep at night! Today I filled in a mental health YouGov survey and realised that was able to tick the boxes for not experiencing negative symptoms in the last month. In fact I have felt happy and content. In Novemeber I wasn't functioning at all.

Good luck and remember if this one doesnt work there are other options. Everyone's individual chemistry is different so it makes sense that people may need to try different things to find what works for them.

Hi OP. I've been prescribed 50mg of the same today, how you feeling?

Thanks for this thread aswell. Just what I needed x

Hi All, well I'm one week in. And so far I think it's going well, I was still waking up quite teary up until Wednesday but my mood throughout the day has been far better. I haven't had any major side effects other than a bit of a dodgy tummy for the first couple of days. I genuinely feel 'lighter', my sleep is starting to fall into a pattern again and my appetite is coming back too. I know not everyday is going to be like this though, I'm under no illusion about that but it's definitely been the right step for me xxx

@bluebird797 delighted to read that. stick with it and fingers crossed things will continue to improve for you x

Glad to hear it, long may it continue!

I'd been on it (50mg) for about three weeks when I was in the shower one night and heard myself singing. I kind of stopped and took stock of how I was feeling and realised that I felt lighter than I had done in a long long time. Honestly, that was an almost euphoric moment.

I won't pretend that from then on I was fine. Not long after that I could feel the anxiety creeping back and was petrified that the sertraline had stopped working, but it hadn't. The wobbly spells grew shorter and the happy spells grew longer and now I'm mostly ok.

I've been on it for about five years now. I often wonder should I wean off it but I know that I'm very prone to anxiety. I'm fine as long as things are going swimmingly but as soon as something goes wrong, I can feel myself struggling. The sertraline helps me to stop spiralling and keeps me well.

Good luck with it op.