Sertraline day 5

[blondewhoneedshelp]

Good morning,

hoping for some reassurance. It’s been quite a rocky start to sertraline. Head and body have been all over the place. Sometimes I’m elated, sometimes I’m panicking. Sometimes I feel really nauseous, sometimes I’m starving. Cold chills, headaches and body aches. I was hoping that on day 5 I’d start to feel better tummy wise but at the risk of TMI this morning my bowels have been in full force. A lot of sitting on the toilet and actual tummy pain. Did anyone else experience this? Im on this medication for health anxiety and emetophobia (fear of anything relating to vomit) so it’s very much a scary situation for me. Just praying someone can tell me they felt like this and even know im on day 5 this is normal. Thank you so much

I had weeks of nausea and really bad diarrhoea. I lost over half a stone because I was too scared to eat. Came off Sertraline and all symptoms vanished. Now on escitalopram.

Urgh on day 7 and I feel like it’s the roughest day. Sat on the toilet most of the morning and the nausea has come back full force. So frustrating!! Shouldn’t the side effects be ebbing off by now?

aww honestly do not worry. The reason they say to be careful with drinking it because your tolerance drops. Just make sure you hydrate today! How are you feeling now?

Feel like my side effects are starting to subside a bit now, digestive related ones anyway. I still feel tired, brain foggy and a slight headache which paracetamol has sorted out.

I can’t say I feel any happier per se but then I remember back to the sheer panic and despair which led me to the doctor last week and think yes, I do feel calmer

how are others doing?

I seem to be getting a surge of restless energy in late afternoon. Really not enjoying it. Nausea back today too.

Bloody miserable!

My mood is all over the place! Spent most of the day feeling ok. Then a few minor worries triggered me into an anxious spiral I haven’t been able to climb out of.

Having a glass of wine and and then I’m going to head to bed

You shouldn't be expecting to experience results for 6-8 weeks with SSRIs. They have a cumulative effect. If you think you are then your brain either processes the effects faster than most or you're having a placebo effect.

I still stand by my original post. Sertraline isn't great. I understand it works for some but IME, it's hit and miss. Mostly miss.

It tends to make people flat in affect. Which takes away the symptoms of depression, by masking them with zero emotion.

I don't like it. Lots of psychiatrists don't like it. Yes this is anecdotal but I see it every day. My advice is to ask for something like citalopram before the Sertraline cumulates enough that you need to taper to get off it and try something else.

Whenever I see people whose SSRI isn't working for them, nine times out of ten they are on Sertraline. If you ask for a medication review the GP (who isn't a MH expert btw) will up the dose. If 50 mg isn't working, then 100 mg isn't going to work either.

Sertraline masks symptoms. The downside of this is that it makes you flat, emotionless. I accept people will come on and scoff at me saying I work in mental health but I'm telling you what I see every day. I'm crisis triage.

@bottleofbeer thank you for your insight. I agree it’s going to be too early to tell. I think it shows my state of mind when I say to feel nothing would be a huge bonus in life for me. My issue is I care too much, and I’m so up and down. To just be level, even if I don’t feel those highs, is something I could tolerate for a while.

I am also on a waiting list for an adhd diagnosis which could change the course of my treatment but I was in such a poor state the GP felt, I think, she couldn’t let me leave with nothing

Oh bless you. I know you feel like he can't let you walk away with nothing but you're feeling worse aren't you?

Propranolol would have been more suitable for your circumstances imo.

Talking therapy while you're on the ADHD pathway would also have been my recommendation. As it stands, the Sertraline isn't in your 'system' yet. SSRI stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Clinical depression is when the synapses suck up your natural serotonin too quickly, hence the 'inhibitor' bit. They stop the post synapse from taking it out of the synaptic cleft. I'm talking this bollocks to give you reference to look it up and understand how depression works and how medication works.

If your genuine issue is ADHD then why give you a medication that has zero impact on the effects of ADHD? it's for the placebo/I ain't got a clue what to do so here's a script for the latest SSRI that we hand out like smarties, scenario (in my opinion).

You're struggling with the SSRI effects, an SSRI, that, I think is shit. No, not shit, potentially dangerous.

How far along the ADHD pathway are you?

I felt like that, it should start subsiding soon. Honestly I tried a handful of different meds over the years with little help. Sertraline was the one for me, it's amazing. I felt a little benefit after six weeks but three months on 50mg I really felt a difference.

I started bleeding 2 days in to starting setraline. Never again.

day 8….

Oh for goodness sake, having said my stomach issues were now better I’ve now been up several times in the night with a terrible upset stomach despite barely eating anything yesterday 🤯 I’d moved taking my tablet to nighttime so maybe that’s a factor.

basically do I want to have the shits all day or all night?!

really fucked off. How is this supposed to be helping me

Day 10:
high temp, migraine for 24 hours straight. Weakness in arms and nausea, sensitivity to light. Think im calling quits. This is destroying me.

im so sorry you’re feeling so poorly! That’s awful! You’re doing amazing and should be proud of yourself even know you must be feeling terrible right now. Can you get an out of hours for support?

@blondewhoneedshelp you sound like you’re struggling even more than me. Please don’t just quit though. Is it possible you have a bug or something? Have you had some paracetomal ?

after that very rough night I seem to be feeling more normal again now. Probably as I haven’t eaten but we shall see.

stay in touch on here. I keep sticking with it in the hope that once I pass the 2 week mark the worst will be over and I’ll start to see upside. Hopefully the same will be true for you too

Everyone seems to react differently to each SSRI, sertraline gave me awful side effects as well. I switched to citalopram and had no issues, about a fortnight after switching I started feeling so much better. I've been on it for over a year now and my quality of line has improved so much.

@blondewhoneedshelp how are you doing?

I’m on day 12. I ended up in hospital due to my migraine and had a few anxiety attacks. Diazepam doesn’t seem to be helping and I feel so nauseous I haven’t eaten in days. It’s making me really sad. If I’m honest I felt this was my last hope and now I feel life slipping away from me. I was excited to start feeling like the old me again. Being able to be a fun, energetic mum like I used to be. Now I’m unable to move. I feel terrible every day and my poor mum is helping with my girls. Citalopram wasn’t an option that made me feel awful, feel like I’ve run out of options 😭 I’m only on 25mg too so feel pathetic.

I hope you’re doing better? What day are you on now? Please don’t take my negativity as something to burden you, everyone is different and I just have a useless body. Always has been too sensitive. I hope that you’re feeling positive! You’re doing amazing.

There are other antidepressants your GP could prescribe. Is not either/or s don't give up. Phone your gp and ask for a meds review.

@blondewhoneedshelp oh no - this is terrible. I agree with the PP to go back to your original doctor for a meds review?

also I found diazepam only really worked for me at 5mg or more. The 2mg tablets just did nothing.

not eating anything at all is concerning, is there anything at all you are craving or could manage? I had ice cream yesterday for the first time in years as bizarrely it was the only thing I fancied

I am day 10 now. Mentally I’m not feeling happy, but neither am I catastrophising everything - it almost feels as though the thought comes into my head but I’m able to dismiss it more easily

@blondewhoneedshelp just thought I would check in?

Look, all SSRIs take a while to kick in as they're cumulative. But you are not reacting well to Sertraline. Get to the GP for a med review. There ARE better ones out there but Sertraline are the current go to antidepressants.

Mirtazapine, citalopram are two that I rate much more highly.

Hey! Thank you so much for checking in. I'm on day 4 of 50mg now. So all together about day 20? Symptoms, occasional nausea, high heart rate, slightly anxious but diazepam helps. I feel like I'm slowly in the right direction however worried it may just be a placebo thing as technically I'm only on day 4 but hoping the previous 16 days on 25mg count for something?

How are you feeling? What day are you on now? Any Symptoms or struggles?

Hey @blondewhoneedshelp just wondered how you're getting on now? I'm on day 5 and feeling a bit rubbish so hoping there's light at the end of the tunnel!

Hey! I’m on day 24 now of 50 mg. I can see small positives but it’s also still a bit of a journey. The initial side effects do wear off around the two weeks mark but still have morning diarrhoea, still have occasional nausea and random couple of hours feeling slightly angry (which is new to me, I’m an emotional person but not an angry one haha) bare in mind I’ve just started my first period with it so this could be a factor to the anger. I’m going to keep trying to persevere however my doctors have offered me to start fluoxetine but not going to just yet.

mental health sucks and well done to you for sticking with this. I’m here if you want to chat or rant or have any questions!! What side effects are you experiencing and what dose are you on?

@blondewhoneedshelp how are you now? Did you stick with sertraline? Sending love. X