Sertraline - please help

[Yubaa]

I’m late 30s and suffered with anxiety all my life. It’s been pretty horrendous. Somehow I’ve managed to hold down a job and on the outside it looks like I have my life together. But I have huge bouts of anxiety which tips me into anger and sadness. I’m sick of living like this.

I have always resisted meditation, I suppose because that in itself makes me anxious. I also now have a toddler and I’m a single parent and I worry that taking sertraline could give me side affects which could in some way impact my child.

Ive tried talking therapies, cbt, etc and the worry and intrusive thoughts and anxiety remained.

ive been prescribed sertraline but I just don’t know what to do, has anyone had any experience please?

It was about 4 weeks. Feel I should add, I was (wrongly) very anti-taking these and if I am being entirely honest quite judgemental about them. But I am really glad I stopped being such an ignorant twerp and listened to my GP.

I think they would have to wrestle them off me now, I like my calm life. I'm only on 50mg, it has just made such a difference.

@TheNewSchmoo thank you for replying. I take Sumatriptan and worrying that there is a mild interaction. gp said it was fine but this is another part of my worry. I have also been v v v judgemental about taking them
in the past. Seems silly but I guess it’s the world I was brought up in (80s).

This is so odd as to make it seem like I am making this up now, but I also take Sumatriptan at onset of migraine (not regularly, just when I need to) and I have noticed nothing untoward whatsoever.

You're understandably thinking the worst. I also take statins, and no problem there. I can only talk from my experience, but I hope you find the courage to take the step and that they help you. If they don't you have lost nothing, and if they do....

I can honestly say that Sertraline changed my life and without wanting to sound dramatic it may have saved my life. I had had OCD and severe health anxiety for 15 years . I was very poorly with my mental health. I’d put off taking tablets and had the sertraline prescription in my bag for months. I took the tablets and within a few days my world changed. I remember driving around looking at trees and the sky and people and thinking is this how it feels to live without severe anxiety. That was 10 years ago and I don’t think I have any desire to stop taking the sertraline. I now have a successful business and manage my health anxiety which will probably always be with me.

I like a calm life too and would be up for wrestling anyone who tried to take them away !!

@Dideon one thing I am really scared of is that maybe it’s too late now. My work is hanging on by a thread as I’m so exhausted with a toddler AND the anxiety that my focus has gone to utter shit with work the last few years. I’m worried that I can’t bounce back now. I always wish I had a better attention span but I’m always coping with so many thoughts and panics every few minutes that so much of my time feels stolen from me. I’ve never told work just now horrendous my anxiety is, in fact I’ve never told anyone really. I’ve worked incredibly hard at keeping it to myself as far as possible yet been in a bit of a nightmare of varying degrees at all times.

I appreciate you posting and reading these messages does make me see that I should at least give it a try.

@TheNewSchmoo thank you! I am going to try and go for it and be strong. Life is very hard at times because I spend so much time focusing on irrational anxieties and I would feel so so happy if I could have more time to just be me and live

Please at least give them a try. They might not work for you, but they do work for enough people that they're one of the first choices of medication to try if someone is struggling with anxiety.

I've been taking them for 2 years. I actively resisted opting for medicating my anxiety for a long time, until I finally broke and had to be signed off work. That was crunch time for me, I could either keep fighting my own brain to exhaustion every day and being terrified of perfectly ordinary day to day things or take a chance that my GP might have something that could help.

There wasn't a magic day when I suddenly realised they worked, but after a few weeks I realised I was much calmer generally. Things still whirled around my head, but not to the point of exhaustion. I've had to up my dose in the last couple of months, but I do feel much more in control.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to live without them now which is a scary prospect in itself, but being able to face down my anxiety and be in control of it is currently priceless.

Really hope they help you too

Cross post...but just to address the "Is it too late?" aspect. Personally I say no. I've gradually seen my concentration and desire to excel at work returning. It's a slog but each step forward feels like a victory. I couldn't have made the progress I have without support from my colleagues. Being honest with them made a huge difference, if you work in a supportive company please consider doing this as well.

I started on sertraline just before Christmas, initially 50mg now 100mg. Anxiety since I was around 8 years old after child hood trauma which then turned to depression after several more traumatic experiences. Only decided this course of method at a very ripe nearly 50 year old. Not notices much of a difference yet- 7 weeks in. What dose/why/ what effect does it have in you all please?

I'm on 100mg Sertraline (plus 15mg of Mirtazapine because the Sertraline caused insomnia). They work fine. It's in my medical notes that I have to be on antidepressant medication for life. I've had a lot of different antidepressants over the years. Sertraline hasn't given me any problems apart from the insomnia which the Mirtazapine fixes.

Following this thread with interest. Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences. I have an untouched box I have been worrying about taking because I’m still breastfeeding. This thread is really making me think that I should start using it. My obsessive and intrusive thoughts have been getting way too much.

ive been on Sertaline for 12 months. Its completely taken be back to where i was before the peri menopause.

i was low, irritated, crying, lonely. But HRT was not doing its thing. So i saw the GP and started them.

never coming off them.

Honestly llkG I cannot tell you what dire straits my life had become before I started the sertraline..just let’s say I was non functioning with a desire to be sectioned. I could not really see a future. When I got better I was very Euphoric and also sad that I had lived that way for so long.

I’m on medication permanently due to suffering from CPTSD as a result of going through childhood CSA. I was on Sertraline for a time, but it didn’t work for me as it gave me diarrhoea! But the GP prescribed a different medication that worked for me.

You need to try it and give it a chance to work. If it doesn’t work for you, there will be another medication that does.

You wont know until you try. There are also other meds to try if sertraline doesn't work for you. Sertraline really helped me. My friend preferred Beta Blockers like Propranolol because she could just take them as and when her anxiety reached fever pitch.
a tablet can help, you just have to try and see what works for you. Theres nothing to be afraid of, i promise.

Thanks very much for these replies.

My main worry is I think they will cause me to feel more out of control rather than more in control. I do want to try though.

Would it help if you thought of it as correcting your brain chemistry by increasing the amount of serotonin? I don't know why you would think it would cause you to feel more out of control. They're treating a problem not exacerbating it. Of course, as with many medications, there is a chance Sertraline will not suit you, but you owe it to yourself to give it a try, don't you? Maybe the dose will need adjusting, or possibly you may need something like Mirtazapine as well, as I did, to treat the insomnia that Sertraline caused. We're all different. Try it and see. I certainly wouldn't be without it.

@CustardySergeant thanks. What if my poor mental health is due to upbringing rather than chemical imbalance though?

The two are not separate. I had no love from either of my parents and grew up feeling that I was nothing more than a nuisance for existing, despite being incredibly quiet, perfectly well-behaved and totally obedient. Various therapists over the years have said that I haven't just got low self esteem, I have no self esteem. I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital at the age of 16. I will be 71 later this month and will always have to be on anti-depressants.

Just as for example, getting scared will result in a rush of adrenalin, you have to understand that your state of mind is connected with the chemicals produced by your body. I wasn't suggesting in my previous post (sorry for being unclear) that a chemical imbalance is all there is to it. It's all interlinked. I have never felt happiness, but I can cope with continuing to live - as long as I take anti-depressants. That's because they increase the serotonin in my brain. My upbringing, what formed me as a person, is what caused my depression, anxiety and lack of self esteem. Not just a lack of serotonin for no reason. Your brain chemistry is sort of what you are. A bit like the computer running a machine. If a medication can treat the 'bug' that's stopping you from coping with life, then it makes sense to take it.
Sorry for rambling. It's difficult to explain. I just hope you will give Sertraline a try. You will be monitored to see how you are on it, and whether any adjustments need to be made.

Well, I collected my prescription and took one tablet of Sertraline yesterday and it gave me diarrhea and insomnia on top of my existing insomnia, so I didn't take another one today.

I would really need a few weeks off of work to be able to persevere with it and see if the side effects got better, and that's not realistic for me.

Back to the drawing board...

Personally I would avoid like the plague. I started on sertraline 10 ish years ago. The dose was upped and upped as I believe e my symptoms were actually the effect of the meda not my anxiety getting worse. At 150mg I decided to come off them as I didn’t feel like they were helping as much as they should be. I can’t get off the bloody things as the withdrawal effects are awful. So I’ve no spent years reducing by 1/2mg per month. Any more than that and the symptoms are awful. I’m now at 16mg so it’s going to take me a while longer as the lower I go, I will likely need to reduce by less per month.

The myth that anxiety/depression is caused by low serotonin has been debunked over and over again.

lots on info on the internet about the dangers of these kinds of meds and the withdrawals so I’d do some more research before deciding. I wish I’d have done that 10 years ago as I never would be in this situation.

I now realise that the anxiety and overwhelm was from undiagnosed ADHD.

It's worth trying, though, until you find what works. Don't despair - life really can be better than it is right now.

@CustardySergeant thank you for explaining and for sharing your experience. I guess whatever the cause of the anxiety doesn’t matter - the tablets fix the symptoms regardless. Hope you are ok.

Many years ago, I believed the stigma associated with antidepressants. Eventually, i spoke with GP, as homelife was hell. GPs tended to start with other antidepressants, and sertraline was the third one I tried, and it changed my low moods, anxiety. I slowly increased to 250 mg and GP couldn't prescribe a higher dosage. I saw a psychiatrist who changed meds to venlafaxine. It truly changed my life! Sertraline is popular and a good option. It might help you to look at SSRI versus SSNI. Please remember that the brain is a part of the body! Also, looking into gut health, and exercise will help you. Go to your GP, explain how you feel. It's your life and your happiness is important. I was then diagnosed with ADHD and acute symptoms. That needed additional meds, added to venlafaxine. Please don't be worried about antidepressants. They affect people differently, but also save lives. X