To feel sad and worried that I seem to be so reliant on this medication

[Nahdop]

I’ve always struggled with anxiety. I wouldn’t say I’ve been depressed but obviously living with anxiety doesn’t make you feel great in general. The more anxious I was about something the more angry a person I would become.

I started taking sertraline a year ago in my mid thirties. I am on 50mg a day so a relatively low dose. This last week I forgot to take it for 4 days… this is very unlike me I’m usually obsessive about time management and remembering things.

Anyway, this morning I was getting cross with ds (4) about stupid things and I found myself feeling tearful. It really registered with me at the time that I was feeling totally overwhelmed and how unusual it was, I was wondering why. As the day has continued I have suddenly realised that I forgot to take sertraline for the last four days. im shocked and sad at the impact it clearly has when im not on it. I was hoping to speak to the Gp to take myself off it this year as I was feeling better. But after this I am honestly shocked at how shit I felt today. I also felt really cross last night quite disproportionately now I look back.

Is this it for me? Am I on this forever now? I had years of therapy before taking sertraline and that didn’t take the anxiety away fully. I am sad I am reliant on this.

OP, what you describe is natural to feel (and in fact has been used as medical evidence to justify why people need to stay on meds) but it's actually a misunderstanding/misinterpretation.
When you've been taking anti depressants for a while, it adjusts your brain chemistry. When you stop taking them, you'll have some side effects and your brain is trying to find a new equilibrium. It's a rebound effect, it's not the 'real you'.

If you are an avid coffee drinker and you suddenly stop all caffeine you'll feel headachy and lethargic. It doesn't mean that you would always be headachy and lethargic without using caffeine. It just means you need to wean yourself off more gradually and have a plan for how to deal with some initial discomfort.

Same here, I had years of therapy and, while it was really helpful in a lot of ways, sertraline has been the real game changer. As you say, 50mg is not a high dose but I understand the feeling of 'right... will I need this forever now?'

After being on it for so long, and having a few periods of coming off it for a while, I'm now pretty hyper aware of how it affects me at various doses. Not to be too glib about it, but worrying about being on sertraline forever is also probably just part of the anxiety that hit you when you forgot to take it for four days, so once your levels are back up it won't seem like a problem anymore. Won't be worried about the sertraline once you're back on the sertraline...

Should say I don't work for a drug company btw! I'm just really cognisant of how much of a better partner, colleague and family member I am when I'm on sertraline. I feel like it makes me my better self and I'm able to do so much more and enjoy it. It also got rid of my hypochondria. A down side is it makes me put on weight more easily, but I've tried to eat healthy and stay aware of how it affects my eating habits so I can try to outwit it in that respect.

I find GPs understandably don't seem to be that knowledgeable when it comes to the detail of its effects; I've mostly just learned through experience and trial and error how best to manage it.
Hope this helps a bit, and btw I'm currently on 150mg because January! I've mostly found 100mg the best level for me long term though.

Would it help to think of it this way: Most people's bodies naturally generate the necessary hormones to calm them and overcome anxiety. Mine doesn't. It over-produces cortisol and adrenalin and other stress-inducing hormones. This medication puts my hormones into better balance.

Some people need insulin becuase their bodies don't produce it. Some need shots of iron because their bodies don't absorb it properly.

You deserve to have access to widely available medication that puts your body back in balance. Zero shame in that.

I was medicated for years for anxiety & depression. Once the cause of it went, so did the meds.

Please don’t be sad. Sertraline is a SSRI which means it increases serotonin levels in your brain because your brain isn’t doing it to the level a healthy person’s brain would to keep moods stable.

This is a physiological fault, not a failure in you as a human being.

It’s like an asthmatic with an inhaler or a diabetic with insulin or thyroid medication. It’s just the brain instead of lungs, blood or a gland in your case.

I feel lucky we live in a time where we do have medications that can allow good humans like you to live healthy, long lives.

Not taking it for 4 days is probably why you feel sad too. Just give it time.

Sertraline withdrawal can give symptoms similar or worse to what caused you to go on the medication in the first place. Just google sertraline withdrawal or antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. There are very good reasons why doctors tell you to give up these medications very gradually.

Don't lose heart - it could be that you could come off the medication when you are ready, with a planned withdrawal.

I hope you are feeling better now

As the first response said, doctors generally advise that people taper off their antidepressants slowly to give their body time to adjust. So a poor reaction to an abrupt stop doesn't mean you have to take them forever.

Doctors generally steer away from analogy with diabetics needing insulin these days because there is no evidence people with anxiety have naturally low levels of serotonin (the brain chemical that these meds raise). But if you do end up needing it long term, there should be no shame in that. Good luck.

I cried as I read this. I came on here to search 'sertraline' as I'm just feeling so frustrated by my anxiety atm, like my body is letting me down... And then to see your post from yesterday, it made me feel not so alone.
Sertraline has transformed things for me, in that it takes away all my panic feelings... But it's the negative automatic thoughts that still occupy my mind a lot. And in the winter it's always worse. I feel like I have so many intrusive thoughts this weekend and it's putting me on edge. I just feel like this thought pattern is never going to end, and I'm going to have to live with it forever 😭 I've done online CBT and see a therapist, but I hate that my brain thinks these thoughts so often... I wish I didn't care 😓 I'm wondering if I need to up my sertraline to the next dosage, as I feel so fed up and not carefree like I used to. I've been on sertraline now for 5 years.