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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

TMI - to stop taking antidepressants because of severe diarrhoea?

44 replies

HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 08:07

I started taking sertraline just over 2 weeks ago and my god I've never had diarrhoea like it.

It's every couple of minutes all through the day and night for days now. Is it worth stopping taking it? I wouldn't say I felt much better yet but just less emotional.

I can't leave the house or sleep. How long will this go on for!? People say weeks! I've lost a stone in less than a week.

YABU - keep taking

YANBU - stop taking/ try something else

Any insight would be great!!

OP posts:
Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 08:08

💩💩💩💩💩

OP posts:
CornishPorsche · 22/01/2025 08:22

What time of day and what dose are you taking?

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 08:28

@CornishPorsche 50mg in the morning. Been taking with breakfast

OP posts:
Nothanks17 · 22/01/2025 08:28

Could you have a bug at the time of starting it?

CaptainCarrotsBigSword · 22/01/2025 08:29

Go back to the GP and ask to try a different one. Citalopram might be worth a go.

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 08:32

@Nothanks17 it doesn't seem like a bug as I haven't been sick at all

OP posts:
Magamaga · 22/01/2025 08:33

Ask the GP for an alternative would be obvious choice.

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 08:33

@CaptainCarrotsBigSword yes I think so. I don't know if I can have this much longer!! Wondering to not do any medication at all but I'm not sure.

My main issue is that I'm so bloody sleep deprived from my child and thinks are absolutely not improving in that sense.

OP posts:
TheDork · 22/01/2025 08:42

Sympathies OP. Sertraline did this to me as well. I had to work from home i felt so awful and the anxiety i felt because of the symptoms just made the depression symptoms worse. After a month and at least 2 telephone consults with a GP, and losing alot of weight I felt so rough I stopped taking them. The symptoms stopped and I was able to eat without sitting through the eye of a needle.
Hope you find a resolution soon. I really wanted to be one of those people for whom Sertraline is a game changer but it's obviously not for everyone.

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 08:46

@TheDork thanks for your honesty. Also for the chuckle about shitting through the eye of a needle 🤣.

I heard so many good stories about how it was life changing. Did you take something else or just go without? I honestly think sleep would change things and I've been up all night almost every night for 18 months now and I just couldn't function at work.

OP posts:
Nothanks17 · 22/01/2025 08:47

I have gastro problems and have tried different tablets over the years. I have trazodone for MH and that helps me with sleep. I'm on a lot of meds though and really poorly so I couldn't tell you about how it impacts what I already have.

Amitriptiline has studies for helping people with ibs over 30mg so that one might also be a good avenue for an antidepressant

TheDork · 22/01/2025 09:04

I'm taking Escitalopram now and get on with it fine but there'll be folk for whom it doesn't work.
I have a great relationship with my GP and I think that helps.

CornishPorsche · 22/01/2025 09:10

They usually recommend taking sertraline at night as a common side effect is nausea and fatigue, so maybe swap it around? Or split the dose in half morning and night?

It really sedated me for the first month or so and helped me sleep.

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 09:12

@CornishPorsche I'd love to sleep but the problem is my 18 month old is up all through the night and is a terrible sleeper.

I'm hoping to hear back from the doctor today and discuss coming off. I just want to feel better but don't know if sertraline is for me

OP posts:
Ssrissri · 22/01/2025 09:16

OP@HollyLondoner if you read your patient leaflet, you’ll see that diarrhoea on starting sertraline is a known side effect ( perhaps between 10-20% of people will react this way) ..it may well settle but your gp may suggest an alternative seeing as you are having quite extreme side effects. I’m on long term citalopram which suits me really well but everyone is different.

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 09:26

@Ssrissri that's the thing. It's just non stop diarrhoea now for days and I don't know how much more I can take!

OP posts:
Luluco · 22/01/2025 09:27

I was the same and had to stop taking it. I couldn’t go to work it was so bad, I’ve never experienced anything like it before.

Justanothernametoday · 22/01/2025 09:45

I also had this, daren't leave the house and had a couple of embarrassing accidents. It didn't settle after 6 weeks so my GP changed my prescription to Citalopram. No more diarrhoea and feel so much better.

Ssrissri · 22/01/2025 09:47

@HollyLondoner yes I think when you’re trying to care for a little one that must be so difficult! This is a total aside, but as someone who started on SSRI’s due to PND, sleep is absolutely crucial to recovery so if you have anyone in your life who can take a little of the load off you for night wakes ups( even if it’s just a weekend night) it may help you feel a bit better. Chronic sleep deprivation is torture!

MellowAfternoon · 22/01/2025 09:51

Have you tried taking imodium to see if it will help ease things whilst you are in this (hopefully) initial stage before things settle?

I have IBS and anxiety/depression (horrible vicious cycle) and tbh I've not yet found an antidepressants which doesn't really upset my digestive system.

Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 10:01

@Ssrissri thank you for your understanding. It really is like torture! I get 3 hours of broken sleep every night. I just couldn't focus on my work and have been signed off for 4 weeks to try these meds.

I don't think they'll work without sleep though.

I remember taking fluoxetine for anxiety when I was younger and it made me sleep like a log!!! Which definitely helped.

He just wants me in the night and screams and comes to get me. It's really tough and if anything his sleep has become worse the older he gets. Tried all the sleep training apart from leaving him to scream for hours which I'm not willing to do.

Just not sure I can do my job with this level of sleep. A bit stuck on what to do to be honest!

OP posts:
Original poster
HollyLondoner · 22/01/2025 10:02

@MellowAfternoon that's interesting to know! I don't think I can deal with this level of stomach upset for any longer.

I've had so many immodium!! Nothing is stopping it. I'm barely eating it drinking.

OP posts:
MellowAfternoon · 22/01/2025 10:09

I would try and talk to the GP if you are struggling to eat.

The one antidepressant offered to me which I never did end up taking (was offered it again last week) is duloxetine, I've just googled and constipation seems to be the main gastro side effects to that one, not great but much more manageable than constant diarrhoea (well in my opinion as a ibs-d sufferer).

28andgreat · 22/01/2025 10:11

OP when did the pooping start?!

I'm on day 5 of taking Sertraline and haven't had anything yet but I've seen a fair few people say they've stopped taking it because of this reason!

DemelzaandRoss · 22/01/2025 10:12

This happened to me two years ago. I even began having uncontrollable episodes, including in bed at night.
My GP said to stop taking immediately. She explained in her experience this does happen to a very small percentage of Sertraline users.
It took over a week to get back to normal. I was swapped to Venlafaxine & now take Duloxetine.
Don’t put yourself through this any more.