Sertraline and any other ADs support thread

[hathorinareddress]

Following on from a suggestion by LittleWhiteMice on a thread I have going on here, I am starting a support thread for anyone taking Sertraline or any other AD.

I started taking it yesterday after eventually plucking up the courage to go to the doc on Thursday.

I feel a bit weird but not too bad.

Does anyone know if Sertraline can be taken with Mirtazapine?

DH on Mirtazapine 45mg for around 4 years. No side effects, slept ok.

CPN suggested he switch to Sirtraline 50mg to start, and sent (presumably a confused/confusing note to the doctor) saying for DH to come off Mirtazapine and onto Sirtraline. Doctors did the switch in a fortnight; DH cannot sleep on only Sertraline,so saw CPN again. She was shocked the switch had occurred so quickly.She then arranged for doc to give him some Mirtazapine with it. DH can then sleep, view is to gradually increase Sirtraline and get rid of Mirtazapine. Mirtaz about to run out so DH went to CPN yesterday as doctor would not give any more Mirtaz in addition, saying, unhelpfully, that it wasnt a good idea, and 'i wouldnt if i were you'.

The CPN for my DH thought yes you could take the two, but CPN is all over the shop; first she said 'well of course you can take the two together' then two mins later said 'oh maybe you can''t'. she's now saying she'll contact doctor and suggest a short course of sleeping pills- DH not keen and for other reasons not happy on Sertraline.

Upshot is,DH is knackered as cannot sleep without the Mirtazapine. Naturally when he rang the surgery he finds the doctor will not prescribe without an appointment and guess what, doctor not available until at least Thursday - has to be the same GP. GRRR- does anyone have any input on this, and why is the CPN So unsure?

Hello Nineteen, my only question to your dh's GP would be 'why are you changing from a drug that is clearly working?'

Alright, there is a supplemental: 'are the makers of Sertraline giving you a kickback for every patient you switch over?'

I would also say to him 'get him back on Mirtazapine now or I'll complain to the GMC'.

Raise questions, kick up a fuss. Your GP is fucking with your dh's treatment, and it isn't right.

Kat, I think as you only missed one day you'll be ok. Any anxiety will be purely in your head. Good to see you're more optimistic.

I managed a conversation about money (lack of) without having a panic attack or full scale melt down which is amazing. Just thought id share as the pills are definitely working for all those just starting them to see :)

Hope everyone is ok.

Heya- knackered so am keeping this brief (sorry to be rude in not acknowledging general convo etc).

After a short period of feeling much better and on an even keel for once, have had a wobble for the last three days or so- anxiety and weird side effects. Hoping this is temporary. Have been feeling sleepy and odd (hard to describe this clearly). The anxiety has bordered on panic at times.

Bah.

Well done, Kat!

Meh, I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety, has it improved since tues?

Thank you muddy how are you doing atm?

meh I hope the side effects are improving. The only one for me that seems to be hanging around every day is the tiredness. I thought it was due to my baby rather than the pills but he's sleeping really well now so don't think its due to sleep deprivation. Stick with it but if they're still not improving go to your gp.

Still waiting for contact following my hv referral of me to the community mental health team and also from the counselor so I feel a bit in limbo.

Day 6 of my new meds and loads better,hope the effect is in my brain chemistry and not on my mind if that's clear :) the main side effect I've noticed is a certain amount of doziness, kind of a mild version of the felling that vallium brings. I've had mild nausea, too, but that got better after I realised it was just a side effect

It's kinda strange, but I didn't realize how anxious I've been all the time until it went away yesterday. Sadly, it seems to ve back today :(

Hello folks. Thanks, MrsMuddy and kat. It took a few days but I think things have started to settle down, now. Every time my daughter went to sleep in the day I was just crashing out on the sofa- normally I can't sleep during the day at all. I felt as though I could have just closed my eyes at any time and gone straight into a deep sleep. Felt sort of weird and sedated as well, and felt quite depressed again. I actually thought that maybe the meds had stopped working altogether.

The last couple of days I'm feeling a bit more back to normal but not out of the woods yet: I seem to have to use my iPod to go to sleep. I just lie there thinking about how I've fucked my life up, how crap a person I am... and on and on. Aaaanyway. Just trying to take each day as it comes, and just assume the crap is side effects, for the time being.

muddy, my OH actually said something v. helpful re: medication. Basically that it is very common to feel much better (almost elated, possibly in relief), and then have a downward bump, and then feel a little better again. Until you level out. If that makes sense! Anyway, I really hope that you feel much better soon and that the meds give you the space to get some clarity about things.

kat, did your GP give you some idea how long you might have to wait? Is there any other support if you need it in the meantime? Hope you've had some news now, anyhow.

Loopy, if you are still reading this I hope you are okay. Have been wondering about how things are, and hoping you were wrong about your partner snooping on Mumsnet. Been thinking about you also because I finally took the plunge and got myself a shiny new baby carrier after borrowing one from the local sling library!

Muddy and meh glad you're feeling a bit better. Hope the anxiety goes away again Muddy. meh good idea to take it one day at a time. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Went back to doc about shaking who told me to stop taking the citalopram. Was ok day after but it seems they may have been having an effect even though I'd not been on them long as I now feel utterly crap again. Very anxious and panicky, very low all the time, really tired. Not helped by DH's family staying with us Hoping to get appt on Monday as doc said to go back and we'd either build up cit dose gradually again or try Sertraline instead. Right now I'll try anything!!!

Hello Banana, definitely go back to the doc. Also try to get counselling along with the ADs.

Meh, you are not a crap person, that is your depression talking. Look at your latest post, the encouragement and support you're offering to others, then tell me that's the action of a crap person. What you're doing is wonderful.

Kat, that is really good about not getting anxious about talking about money. Brilliant.

Muddy, you sound more positive which is great. So glad your meds seem to be working. Let's hope it stays that way.

Great to see you're still about & keeping on keeping on, Loopy, even if everything isn't fabulous (yet). I got the Manduca. :)

Thanks Nicholas and banana. Hope you arrive at a solution with your GP tomorrow. And hopefully the visitors won't be with you for much longer. Visitors can be really hard work when you're feeling like poo.

Re: side effects- did I mention the crazy technicolour dreams? Have always had pretty wild dreams, but these are just... mental. Lots of zombie apocalypse stuff: had one like that last night, followed by a ridiculously complex dream involving a steamy liaison with Rowan Atkinson. Really. What a waste... :(

Oh, and sorry for the stupidity, but 'NC'..?

Name Changing I think.

Rowan Atkinson? :o

Hi again Loopy, I think you're right to NC if dh is snooping. You should be able to see this place as a safe haven.

Thanks, Nicholas. Now sure why I couldn't work that out!

And, yes. I know... + . Imagine my relief when I woke up and realised it was all a dream...

can I just say "ugh!"? I seem to be in one of those blips that World of Meh's OH told her about... or else this one isn't working, either, and the happy feelings I felt were just my normal brain and I should just drop the better living through chemisty.

Sorry to hear that, muddy. Reading back, I think that you have had a similar reaction to the one I had on increasing my meds- doziness, feeling positive, crash. Things are definitely gradually improving, overall: and I'm pretty certain my crash was a reaction to the increase. It did sort itself out after a few days, but... not nice.

It's reasonably early days, yet, for you. Have you got good support at home?

My dose was increased today to 100mg. I had the runs tonight (had them when I first started) so its either a bug and a coincidence (hope not as can't deal with the family catching it at all) or side effect of dose increase (is that possible).

Hope everyone is ok.

Long self indulgent rant.

Sorry about the runs, kat.

I am soo fed up with being "ill" when I don't even feel that ill all the time (though to be fair, there are moments/hours/days where I DO feel anxious and last week back when I thought my meds were working, the anxiety was gone and I realized that I had been so anxious ALL THE TIME that I honestly didn't realize I was anxious at all- I thought that the slightly tense stomach and poised muscles was normal, and that when it was extra tense or my breathing tried to get involved was "anxious". And now that I'm back down (sorta, doing better than yesterday if you can believe it!) and have the tense muscles, it sucks because I recognise it as anxiety and not just "normal")

I feel like I'm taking the piss with work, having been off for so long (2 months thus far, talk to GP next week sometime all her appointments were taken up so I have to ring up on the day to try and get one about how the new meds are going, etc.) Next week is my last one off, am slightly scared that appointments will run out daily and I'll be stuck on Fri not knowing whether I have permission to go back to work or not, not knowing whether I SHOULD be going back to work this moment in time, no I'm not fit. How I'll be at the end of next week? Who knows! there are good moments and bad moments and judging fitness to work isn't something to judge from the bad moments Anyway, i'm worried about coworkers gossiping about me being off for so long, worried that they'll be funny about letting me come back at all illegal I know, and they are DESPERATE to hire people so won't be keen to make redundancies but... depression/anxiety speaks

Yesterday was my first serious thought of suicide in over 2 weeks (the two weeks is a good thing, and sure beats the near-daily thoughts I used to have), it was a rather strong thought about jumping off a bridge, but didn't want to climb up and see what I'd fall on hoping for a glass roof as it would make such a good smash as I didn't want to get the other pedestrians on the bridge excited.

Also, my childminder keeps asking when i'll be going back, and that makes me a bit stressy too, like they expect me to work again or like they resent that they have to work looking after Emily while I just sit around all day I had one day of looking after her... I don't know how people (SAHMs, childminders, nursery nurses) manage that day in, day out! So much respect for those of you who can. And this is just one, lovely little girl who is very active and likes to pull on my sleeves way too much and wants mummy's attention a little more than mummy wishes to give it, and doesn't do the grocery store very well

If you got through all that, thank you. Sorry it's such a brain dump

Let's hope your runs problem clears up Kat, it must be horrible on top of everything else.

Rant away Muddy. Think about trying to get an emergency appointment with a GP. Explain things as you have here. Write it down/print it out just in case. There are things you can take for anxiety in conjunction with your ADs which I take are sort of working.

I understand about the work thing. It's the only thing I feel anxious about, so I really do know what you're going through. You need to find a way of distracting your mind, to somehow stop thinking about work, because you're going round in circles, and that's feeding your anxiety.

Two weeks without feeling suicidal is a leap forward. Keep hold of that.

Wrt your childminder, try to stop her asking by either telling her to do so or by pre-empting her by saying something yourself. Fwiw, I agree. Carers, whoever they care for, are woefully under appreciated.

I think that covers most of it :o

Thanks, Nicholas

It's way to late for emergency GP appointments here, but I will think about calling the assessment team no at the local psych hospital... only, what would I say? Can you give me a script please? cuz I am incompetant on the phone

Or I could just take another one of my diazapams, which do help my anxiety though I'm a bit worried/hopeful that I like the floaty feeling they give for the first 20 min a bit too much...

You're not incompetent. I bet you just dry up, or get too worried to say out loud how you feel. You see your first two paragraphs of your ranty thread? That's what you tell them. They'll know your history, and they should be able to help you.

I suggest taking half of one of your Diazepam. It will still work while allowing you to function until you get proper help from your psych team.

Hello, just to say that the blip seems to have passed. I wound up taking my diazapam and didn't call the assessment team... then went out for coffee with a dear friend who's training to be a mental health nurse.

I do function on my diazapam, even at full strength... just am a bit tipsy with it when it first sets in.

Thank you for being there for me, Nicholas. How are you? I assume you're one of the ones who have passed through the other side of this AD lark, and are kind enough to help those of us in the middle of it, where you once were?

I'm glad you're feeling more positive, you dealt with your blip wonderfully.

You're welcome Muddy, I'm just happy that I've helped.

Here is my entire experience with ADs: I watched an ex get into what turned out to be PND, and eventually persuaded her to go to the GP. Her first AD didn't work, I think it was Paroxetine, but the second did. I can't recall which one it was, sorry. From memory she was on ADs for about five months.

It was hard seeing a usually bubbly woman alternately staring into space and crying, hardly able to function. I was unable to get time off work due to being the only person there with the technical knowledge needed for the job, but her family lived close by and thankfully helped most days. I was so grateful to them, and still feel guilty about not taking time off.

I think the fact that we talked openly about what she was experiencing helped, as did her meds and the counselling she got. So a combination of treatments coupled with being open about depression is, for me, the right thing to do. I'm fully aware that some people will just say 'get a grip' or 'cheer up' or some other rubbish, but MH issues will at some point affect 25% of the population and we cannot afford to keep sweeping it under a rug.

I've said a couple of times on this thread that PND really is the cruellest illness, robbing you of your mind when you should be happy and content. If, by posting rubbish on an internet forum, I can help anonymous people who are struggling, then I shall continue to do just that.

I'll fully understand should you not listen to anything else I have to say, having just outed myself as a charlatan, but you did ask. :)

The important thing is that you and the others on this thread get better. What you are doing, using ADs to counter depression, using a combination of Diazepam and your wonderful friend to get over your anxiety is great. Hopefully you have things under control and you're well on the way to getting the old you back.

On the internet, no one can tell you're a dog thank you again for your advice!