could these be Sertraline side effects? help please!

[kakiqueen]

Hello everyone,
I would really appreciate some advice please. I have been prescribed sertraline for health anxiety.
Initially I started on 25mg. Then took 50 oh. the side effects were immediate as follows:
Jaw clenching, numbness in left side of my face, jerky movements when I'm falling asleep at night. The one that worries me most is that I feel my face twitches when I'm relaxing in bed at night.
Also I sometimes get a horrible sensation allall over my scalp, like it's no fire and my heart starts pounding.

The season I started taking the medication was that I'd become obsessed with the thought that I had multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease.

Now I really am worried that I'm ill and that the doctor is telling me all these are side effects.

What do you all think?
Many tanks in advance.
X

Please excuse the terrible typos. On phone. X

Dh had jerky movements when he fell asleep with chlomipramine (sp) but not with sertraline, but that doesnt mean sertraline couldnt have the same affect.

Thanks buffin. That is reassuring. I feel slightly poisoned by the medication if that makes sense? I'm not sure what is me or what is the medication. Grr!

I have the right jaw thing when falling asleep so I take zopiclone every night.

Filee, what is zopiclone? What dose of Sertraline are you on? I'm only on 25mg. Maybe it just doesn't agree with me?

Oh you poor thing, facing problems with health anxiety that naturally come to focus on effects of the very medication prescribed to help you. That must be hard. Sertraline like all the ADs, can produce all sorts of niggling effects, especially in the first weeks, during which the therapeutic effects are slow to show up.

The symptoms you have do sound like the kind of side effects ADs can have. Talk to doc about them to get reassurance but try not to worry. Hang on in there and hopefully you will feel better soon.

Thank you so much, butthereagain. I will speak to the doctor again. X

I take 100mgs a day, hoping to increase to 150mgs on Monday.

Sounds like normal side effects. They usually last a few weeks. Starting on 1/2 a dose & increasing by 25mg every 2 -4 weeks will lessen any side effects. Everyone needs different dosages so get up to 50mg, have a review with your Dr & they will tell you to stay the same or to increase. They usually like to see you every month in the initial stages. My main side effect was upset stomach, headache & feeling very awake. On higher doses I had facial twitching.