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.

Thank you stars I'm glad that you are back on your meds, hopefully the anxiety will start to ease for you soon.

It's horrible suffering from anxiety, I lost loads of weight. If you think about it your body is working so much harder when you are anxious. It's due to the release of adrenaline (the fight or flight response), your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises, you use more oxygen and you have increased awareness (to plan your escape from whatever the threat is). To be in that state for prolonged periods of time makes your body work so hard, uses loads of calories and is bloody exhausting!

The probable reason for gaining weight on ADs is that as the anxiety lessens, the body calms and relaxes and therefore doesn't need to use as many calories.

I hope that makes sense.

Biology lesson OVER!

Hello, hope everyone is ok. Quick update - I have decided not to take the pills. I had such a bad experience from the one sertraline tablet and felt awful for ages after I just can't do it. I'm going to try a natural alternative. I've not told my GP but I just don't want to. I've had a week off work and feel loads better. I can't face going back to how I felt. I can't describe it but it was hideous. I've also joined a gym and an going to try and make a few changes to my life (get a cleaner) and see if that makes a difference. I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing but also because I have so many health anxieties going on them will make it worse. X

hi all. I've not been on here for a while. I started 50mg of sertraline per day in early April and was starting to come off them in Oct (was doing 2 days on, one off), when I had a surprise BFP and had surgery for ectopic preg. In all the excitement, I forgot to take my ADs for a few days, so dr suggested coming off with a bang. Since then, I've had dizziness, sweats, anxiety, emotional roller coaster, feeling v vulnerable, no appetite. Unfort my GP thinks a lot of these symptoms could be from any of the 3 of coming off sertraline/general anesthetic/fall out from ectopic preg.

Does anyone have any experience of symptoms of coming off ADs?

Thanks

hello. 4 months pregnant. just 5 months and i can go back on my drugs!

I can relate to what you are going through as I have watched a loved one suffer horrendous side effects. I was told about CCHRINT.ORG, it makes sense, please have a read and hopefully it may help.

Hello, back again. Well my anxiety is getting worse. I'm now convinced I have dementia and I'm only 43. I've read that stress causes dementia and I have been chronically stressed for I've a year but before that I was always classified as highly strung. I've read that this causes cortisol to increase and over time this kills the hippocampus and hence dementia sets in. I'm so forgetful, mixing words and bad spelling. I feel stupid a lot of the time and it's convincing me even more that I have it.

So I am now on escitalopram (cipralex) 5mg a day. I'm hoping my cognitive ability will return but I'm terrified it won't. Anyone else had experience of forgetfulness?

Hi twolittlekings YES! I had exactly the same prob when I went thru my work stress. Dementia dyslexia memory loss disorganisation. I felt I couldn't rely on myself and totally incompetent. Maybe it doesn't sound dramatic but it was awful. I have always been a dreamer and forgetful but this was a whole new level. The good news is that ssris are the cure - they cause new brain cells to grow as well as improving mood. My memory came back and I was the most organised I'd ever been. In truth that was more important to me than mood. Hope this helps - your on the right meds definitely. Xxx

Thankyou for replying. I have been working myself up do much about it. This last year has been very stressful personsonally and I've had numerous health anxieties all so far about physical symptoms. Now that I am focused on my mind it's awful - the more I worry the more forgetful I am and I get terribly worked up about it. I'm starting to think its been happening for a while but I have not noticed it and that perhaps this is all being caused by dementia.

I'm so glad to hear that it's common to be forgetful with anxiety x

God yes! I have some terrible gaps in my memory and sometimes I can't distinguish what is real and what is from weird dreams from the ADs.

I actually had to ask my mum whether my uncle had really died or whether I had dreamt it (he had died 6 months earlier and I hadn't seen him for years BUT I just didn't know whether my memory was right or not. I thought he had died but just wasn't sure)

Reading that back, it looks really bad, no wonder I don't trust my own judgement anymore and my confidence has taken a battering.

I went to the cashpoint yesterday to withdraw £100, took my card out of the machine and walked off, I only left my bloody money in the machine! I'm not fit to be let out honestly. I have phoned the bank and as long as the ATM has retained the cash and a scumbag hasn't nicked it I should get my money back.

Hi can I join, have just started sertraline 25mg yesterday, have read some of the thread but not all, I took mine at night but not sure if that's the best time judging by some responses on here, I have massive anxiety and do am not sleeping anyway so glad to have found this thread.

Welcome susie, you will find many of us are in a similar position to you. I hope you get some support and help on here. Many people in RL are very reluctant to talk about MH issues because they do not know enough about them. This is a safe haven to express worries, fears and ask advice and posters are genuinely helpful, open minded and sympathetic

Found that in the early days, taking my meds at night was best as they totally knocked me ou but after getting used to them I can now take them in the morning by bringing forward the time I took them by half an hour each day. Takes bloody ages though!

Thank you shaky

hello all
how is everyone doing on their various meds? I'm on a reverse journey as I quit them because I was pregnant.
I think there needs to be a thread for this.

Anyway I quit in August, around the 5th. First month not too bad, then morning sickness hit and withdrawal.

Now, on November 23rd, almost four months later, I have done a day of admin!

I am convinced the ability to do admin is a test of mental health so I am very pleased with myself. Doing admin also just makes life better and less anxious.

I really hope this lasts - it's been a long hard fall down the stairs of withdrawal. I thought I'd got to the bottom but maybe I hadn't.

I am very nervous about work. As a result I freelance and it's very patchy at the moment - but I almost feel confident enough to imagine I could get a job (not while 5 months pregnant of course).

hope you are all doing well.

xxx

Hello, just checking in again. Well huge health anxiety over my heart (I have a murmer and a friend recently passed away unexpectedly at my age (43) from a cardiac arrest) lead me to research escitalopram. It actually has a black box warning for the heart at 20mg and above for making thd electrical impulses in the heart longer. It's a rare side effect but a real one. Anyway I was on a very low fuse 5mg and was never planning to up the dose. I stopped after 9 days which was about 9 days ago and I feel fine. Still wobbling but much calmer. Have been signed off for at least another month and have been referred to a psychiatrist.

I'm feeling more like my old self but have a way to go. The last thing I want to do is relapse. I can cspeak properly now and dont feel ad forgetful.

Hope everyone else ok x

Hello there. I don't know whether I should be here or not TBH. I have been prescribed AD's (25mg Amitriptyline) but I really don't want to take them.

When I was seeing the GP yesterday, I thought that I honestly would take them when I got them, but as soon as I picked them up from the chemist, I couldn't bring myself to start taking them. Don't get me wrong, I have heard that there are myths about ADs but I haven't actually heard what those myths are IYSWIM.

Anyway, I know logically that I should take them, but my instincts say a big NO.

Sertraline... hmmm, well, I really hope that a lot of people read this because I think I have words worth listening to: I was prescribed this after a visit to the docs when our life hit another low financially and I am/was still breast feeding, yet again struggling to buy food and we have 2 kids. I got the prescription but decided to hold off taking it after reading the possible side effects listed on the leaflet, one being cancer! ok its not a common side effect but listed nethertheless!
So I went down my previous route of visiting an excellent health food store in Totnes (an independent store), a very knowledgable man helped me, I asked for something that would boost my Vit D levels (due to poss having S.A.D) and my Seratonin levels, he sold me a very high dose of Vit D in drops and surprisingly high dose fish oil capsules, told to take 3 drops of the vit D and 4 capules of fish oil, more than stated on the packs and already I was feeling more normal only 48 hrs later! A few quid more than a presciption but all natural, and I dont smoke so that's all I'm treating myself to.
Today I thought ahhhhgh, I'm not having a good day, maybe I should take that scary Sertraline after all, so looked online for reviews and more info, found mumsnet's site's list of comments from users, and thought "Hell No", and realised that I had forgotten my Vit D today, hardly slept last night due to our draughty house and woken early by little one who just wont nap today.
But my feelings on treatment of depression whilst breastfeeding are (not a medical opinion) either go and buy the natural remedies that I am taking or other natural therapies/remedies, ask for counselling from your GP, or if you cant/wont do any of those; give up breast feeding and take prozac! I took prozac years ago when I lost a foetus and it only made me feel great, I had increased sex drive and nothing ever really bothered me. It was the happiest I have ever felt, so if you are severly depressed maybe the latter is the only route I would say to take, not this dreadful medicine. There is no way I am gonna grind my teeth and have even less sex drive, fall asleep at the table or feel twitchy all day, have you guys read the bit on the packet about how patients feel on withdrawl of the drug? Not for me, thanks for all your comments, you guys have assisted me in my decision to throw the pills right back at the GP that prescribed them I'm afraid!

evening ladies,

ok I went back to the docs after ummimg and arring and he prescribed Sertraline, apparently my sleep paralysis is due to depression. I should explain I was diagnosed with post natal depression a few years ago my eldest is now 17 and the docs missed all the signs over the years I've had tired all the time syndrome, your a new mum and neurotic, to make a separate appointment and I'll deal with you then.

So a few years back I tried (and I say this in shame) to take my own life, my life back then was non functional I wasn't sleeping as my son is ASD and he wouldn't sleep, he was basically kicking the shit out of me on a daily basis and I couldn't cope at all, he now sleeps thankfully but my sleep pattern is erratic to say the least so I was prescribed citalopram and propranolol for anxiety which helped me get through college.

Anyway fast forward to now, well last week, I've found taking driving lessons way to stressful so I have gone back on the propranolol but then life just piled shit on me, youngest hitting out again (the one with ASD) him being bullied at school, numerous meetings about him in school, starting a new job which I still haven't started waiting on the CRB check, MIL having digs at me, DH with his back and knee going on him and everyone wanting him to drive everywhere even though he was in so much pain, so went back to the docs this time in secret my hubby knows nothing.

So my doc hugged me when I went in as he knows I have a history of depression and a history of anxiety and prescribed me Sertraline honestly I am fucking dead on my feet, my jaw is aching as I'm clenching my teeth and I'm jittery as hell, I can't figure out if I'm cold or not can't be the heating is on.

My doc did say this stuff is stronger than citalopram, and it is I just hope this won't effect my driving lesson on Thursday.

I know I need AD's as I do get depressed and have suicidal thoughts, I do tend to over think things a lot, but is this tiredness normal? is the clenching of the jaw normal? is the jittering normal? I feel I have bombed out and hit rock bottom I took my first tab today at 11.20 am, I am on 50mg and feel I seriously need to sleep for about a week is there a sedative mixed in there?

Sorry if my spelling and grammar is a bit screwed I am literally seeing double here, plus if you got this far give yourself a shiney xx

would also like to say will checkin on this thread in the morning really really need to go to bed

Hi everyone, I hope its ok for me to be here (Im not a Mum), but this forum appeared when I googled Sertraline.

I've suffered from depression since my teens but have always got better within time. My current bout has lasted for the last 4 years (the longest by far)! Was on citalopram for 3 years and about 6 weeks ago my doc decided to try me on Sertraline as I'd had no improvement and actually began to get worse.

The first 4 weeks of Sertraline (50mg) were good - I felt great! I became sociable again, felt horny for the first time in years, felt happy and confident and talkative - just like I used to be. The only side effect I had (which I didnt realise was a side effect until reading this thread) was the jaw clenching and rushes of sensation throughout my body (similar to the feelings you get when taking MDMA), it was wierd but not totally unpleasant and I also experienced headaches.

Then 3 weeks ago, my Mum notified me that our beloved family pet retriever had to be put to sleep after battling Cancer and within hours my mood plummeted and I was constantly in tears. Of course I put this down to grief but as the days passed and I accepted the passing of our little boy (he had a great life and was nearly 15 years old!) I did not notice any uplift in my mood and over the past 2 weeks it has got progressively worse. I am constantly in tears, I feel overwhelming sadness (and its not about our dog as I can look at his picture without hurting inside, which I couldnt initially), my sleep pattern is all over the place, I feel fatigued all the time, constant nausea, daily headaches, sore throat and dry mouth, no motivation for hygiene or housework, total lack of concentration etc etc.

On friday the doc upped my dose to 100mg per day (after a very tearful phone call to her) and I still feel no different. Spent all day yesterday alternating between uncontrollable fits of sobbing and sleeping. I feel so hopeless right now and in 7 hours I have to be at the job centre for bloody work focussed interview as Atos put me on 3 month prognosis even though I've not had a medical since 2009! So now have the stress of appealing that and dealing with job centre. I have had alot of suicidal thoughts over the last few days as I am struggling to see a light at the end of the tunnel after 4 years of apathy and sadness, it just seems like there's no point anymore.

Has anyone else experienced feeling great on Sertraline and then feeling incredibly desperate and tearful? I have great friends and family but my illness is taking its toll on them and as the guilt increases I have become more and more withdrawn from them and just really need to talk to people who understand what I am going through.

Sorry I meant to say that I was put on Sertraline as I had developed terrible anxiety and had awful panic attacks. Im pretty much reclusive right now and only really venture out to tesco's for shopping and even that I do at night so as to avoid people, I just desperately want to feel better and need to know that the side effects will abate.

Hi Magenta, how are you feeling today? I hope you're not being too hard on youself.

I don't think it's a matter of wondering whether you'll come through this bad patch. You can and will come through this. You just have to believe it. I know it may be hard for you ATM, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It's probably that you can't see the light because you're going through a very long one.

I generally believe that what goes up (moods) must come down and what goes down must come up again.

Whatever happens, please don't act on your suicidal thoughts. If it feels better to keep posting here, please do it because if it keeps you thinking that there are people out there that care about you, then I'm one of them .

I am away to get me dishes done, take the kids to school and go to college until 3pm, but I will be back about 3.30pm and will get back on MN again. Take care til then.

Hi packitinnow, thank you for your lovely message, it made me cry (doenst take much right now)

Im in a bad way today and have been for weeks, have left my flat once in god knows how long and that was to pick up new meds on friday. supposed to be going to the job centre today for my second personal adviser interview and i just cant face it, I've hardly slept and been in tears all morning. have called to see what my options are as last month when i went I had an anxiety attack in the office and she had to cut the interview short. she was in a meeting so waiting on a call back... its so distressing having to think about work when i am clearly not ready and not able to work right now and the threat of losing my esa that goes with it. everything just feels so hopeless.

it has been a very long proverbial tunnel. the last 4 years of my life have been robbed from me. had to end my 4 year relationship because of this debilitating illness and the accompanying guilt. i jjust cant see a way out right now. i just want my life back, i want to function again and not just exist on a day to day basis. i dont want to die but i just dont know how much longer i can continue to try n fight my way forward....

The good thing that you have one goal to work toward - getting your life back on track first. The rest can come later. It's those little steps you take that are important, but the first step you take is usually the longest stride. Saying that, sometimes that first step is the one that is the hardest to take.

It's understandable that you are dubious and fearful of taking that first step, butby taking it, you can look back and be proud that you've achieved it. Keep praising yourself for the little steps, then you can look back and see how far you've come .