Sertraline 14 days positive stories please

[Francis24]

How long before sertraline made you start to feel better depression? I've been taking it 14 days 25mg positive stories please

Wait for the exhaustion to pass, maybe 2-3 weeks from experience, and then if you're still feeling tired during the day then switch the time you take it. I started with mine in the morning but switched to bedtime.

I have taken 50mg for around 4 years and it's changed my life - I had crushing anxiety and mood swings and it's so much easier to cope now. I started on 25mg and then upped to 50mg but I'm afraid I can't remember when the dose was changed. It took 6-7 weeks to feel a real change and I did feel very low during those weeks. However, it is so worth sticking it out. Good luck x

Also - I've always take mine in the morning and not felt any side effects from that.

Thank you so much. I started taking it for anxiety but I feel it has sent me into depression (although I was starting to feel low). I was discouraged that two weeks on 25mg didn't seem to do much. I was slight calmer anxiety wise but I still feel depressed. That's when the GP said I wouldn't get the relief I needed from 25mg x

I started to feel I'd turned a corner after about 4 to 5 weeks and my dose was increased. I'm now on 150mg but it was my Quetiapine that really changed my life too @FishyMcFishyfingersFace
I hope you feel okay on the increase @Francis24 have you anything you love doing that would take the focus off the medication and is it working or not? I found music when I was walking lifted my mood as well xxx

I'm just struggling to even get out of bed or off the sofa, can't shower or anything really. Does it get worse before it gets better?

I felt much worse before I felt better and now have been on 50mg for five years. My GP has now said that I need to be weaned off in a years time (medication is helping me through menopause) because studies show long term use is linked to dementia- anyone else been told this?

Did you feel more depressed to begin with?

I haven't been told about the link to dementia @Bilbo63 but good to know and will talk to my GP about this.

I started straight on 50 and started to feel better after a few days/a week. Had extreme postnatal depression/anxiety that made me feel like I was being burned alive. Within a couple weeks I was back to normal

I did - horrendous- GP said this can happen

Did you soon start to feel better?

They work really quickly for most people but could take up to 2 weeks to get best effects.

If it's not working at all for you after 2 weeks it's worth going back to GP as it may not be depression - could be a more complex disorder with emotional disregulation (EUPD/BPD/c-PTSD) etc which doesn't respond to medication. A lot of people with those diagnoses get put on ever increased doses of medication with unpleasant side effects rather than getting the correct support.

I took it for about 6 months only, having tried Fluoxetine which made me rather manic, which I didn't like, it was as if I was someone else, and I really wanted to feel like myself just not so sad and unmotivated.

Also started Sertraline at 25mg and gradually increased to 100. Got better practically from day 1 (I don't think it's the placebo effect, perhaps I had some Fluoxetine still in the system by the time I started the Sertraline). I stopped because I felt I was enough out of the hole then and that I could work out the issues non medically (did therapy, exercise, etc). I was told not to stop cold turkey (you have to be weaned, phased out at the same rate you get phased in) but sadly I didn't listen. I just didn't want to be on it anymore. I think as a consequence, I engaged into something others might call stalking behaviours (not that I realised it at the time!) whilst I was trying to work out what to do with my life post medication, but this was relatively short lived and without any real consequences (other than having had a harsh talking to, of which I am still very ashamed of even though it happened many years ago.)

Happy ending I guess. Only regrets: not starting it sooner, and not weaning slowly.

Thank you. I feel the tablets have maybe made me feel worse to begin with. It's nearly 3 weeks but that's 2 weeks of 25mg. Only day 2 of 50mg. I do feel more anxious today as well

Ah the other thing I didn't like is that it gave me brain fog and I really needed my brain to work!!

Did anyone take anti sickness

I took the odd Settlers or Rennies or whatever they were. Just OTC stuff, nothing prescribed. Gastro issues can be common with new meds but will generally settle in a few weeks.

Thanks for the reply.
Don't fancy feeling really sick.

Hello 👋 did your anxiety increase or low mood get worse before got better?

Hi,
stick with it. I probably started to feel brighter after about 4 weeks. Other people really noticed it!
Before that in the initial stages of 50mg I had quite debilitating fatigue and the anxiety got a bit worse. I also had a couple of intrusive thoughts which were not great. Not self harm, but rather brief flashes of imagined dangers.
Hope it all goes ok for you, it's a good drug for a lot of people, but that settling-in period isn't so pleasant.

@Francis24 it was a bit different for me because I was tapered off Duloxetine and then Sertraline was added in but I was so bad on Duloxetine I wanted to walk into the sea and die, I was down a black hole. It was like I woke up again once the sertraline increased. I was on 100 and hit a low patch again and was increased and ive stuck at 150 now. The quetiapine was added in later and I'm now on 75mg after an increase last October. I hope it kicks in for you, it's day 2 of 50 today so give yourself another few days and if you feel worse call the GP mid week but I bet by this time next week you will feel lighter and less bleak. I really hate reading how you are because it's an awful place to be. Tight hugs lovely xx

Thank you It really is, but I'm trying to remain positive that in a few more week I'll start to feel the benefits x

Thank you, I'll give it more time and remain positive it will get better xx

Hi OP. I didn't have low mood, I had health anxiety with OCD behaviours. And yes, I did feel anxious before I felt better.

Keep going if you possibly can. I'm so glad I did xx