Sertraline Buddies - Part 2! Support for all on AD's...

[Chuffchuff]

New thread for when the first one gets full - welcome everyone

I went up to 30mgs for 2 weeks and have been on 45mgs for a week. So not that long really, I think it took about this length of time for the 100mgs of sertraline to really kick in. I think I'm just very impatient, plus I can remember how I felt on the sertraline well as it was only a couple of months ago and I want it back! I'll be interested to see if the alternatives work out for you.

Pandora I will keep you posted and let you know how they go. Going to order some today from nature's best.

I did it! finally phoned about getting some counselling

kinda nervous now though about what I'll say....nothing really caused my depression it just appeared

still I guess it might help???

anyway, I'm feeling quite upbeat just now,so I hope others are making progress and feeling better

Closed well done for arranging the counselling. It is very beneficial and goes some way to getting to any root cause if any of your depression. Even it feels like your depression came from no where we all have unresolved issues that can fester and re emerge when we least expect it!! Also it can help you gain confidence and re focus to where you want life to go.

feel numb, flat and dead inside. panicky and anxious too, which isn't like me. feel like I'm on edge and waiting for the last straw to break

Hello, can I join you please? I'm three weeks into 50mg Sertraline, feel absolutely awful, worse I think. Do you think I should wait a while before asking to up the dose? I know the sky isn't about to fall in, but I honestly feel like it is and that I am written off - that nothing will change, that I can never get work (I've hardly worked due to bipolar I plus raising a ten year old) and that I'll be reliant on benefits my entire life. I am terrified. The anxiety is overwhelming. Sorry - I am new here, I just don't know where to turn.

Hi Jane, I would go back to the GP if I were you.

I'm almost 3 weeks in. Last week GP gave me prescription for another 4 weeks but told me to come and see him if I started to feel worse.

I've not had a good couple of days, anxiety wise so I may well phone and make an appointment soon.

Hi everyone - hope you're all ok

Hi jane yes go back yo your gp if you're feeling that bad - you don't have to just put up with it. If it helps at all, three weeks in I was also feeling more anxious - I definitely felt worse before I started to feel better, it didn't mean the sertraline wasn't going to work for me.

Thank you Nervo and Chuffchuff. I've called and left a message - it's prescribed by a psychiatrist. I have taken it before at this dosage and it's helped a lot, but maybe my circumstances, the actual things that are making me so depressed and anxious, need to change as well as the meds. In fact I know they do, but I need a leg up before I can begin to think about them.

Sorry you're feeling anxious Nervo. This sucks, doesn't it?

Hope you're all doing okay. I went to see the GP again today, I've been feeling a bit better the past week, still have ups and downs and I still struggle to get to sleep some nights. But I think I'm going to stick with it, my GP said I look happier than last time he saw me and he's happy for me now to just carry on taking it unless I have any issues without seeing him. He said to me the guidelines have changed and they recommend you stay on ADs for at least 9 months, preferably a year. So he said as long as I don't have any issues, he won't need to review me again until this time next year!

Hi pandora glad your appointment went well and you're feeling a bit better. It's interesting what your gp said about the guidelines changing - I haven't seen my gp off a while now so when I last saw him he said in could try cutting down at six months if I wanted to. My six month mark was October but I felt uneasy about cutting down when I feel the meds are helping me so much, so I've carried on with them. Ever since I've been wondering how much longer I should give it, but I will stop worrying about that (for a while at least) now

Hi, can I join please?
I'm 5 days into starting Sertraline at 100mg (20mg Citalopram wasn't helping) and actually feeling lower today. Really bleak feelings last night, just felt so alone with it all. Hoping it improves.
Belle

Hi - I'd like to join in too. Long time MNer but name changed
Hi to Belle12 as we seem to have started on the Setraline route at about the same time. I'm fours days in.

I was slightly shocked how quickly the side effects started. Within hours I had an upset tummy and dizziness. The dizziness is still there plus headache and insommnia. But I'm ever optimistic it's going to help.

I had a traumatic death to cope with earlier this year. I thought I was doing ok ish. Been having some counselling too. But recently it feels like the sadness has stalked me and caught up with me.

It's good to know you are all here. I so want to feel normal again

I'm sorry mirtazapine didn't work out for you. It's funny how it effects people differently - I'm still having problems getting to sleep at night. I drank a fair bit of alcohol the other night (not enough to make me drunk but I had more than is recommended on ADs) and then took mirtazapine when I got home. I was expecting to feel really drowsy as that's what is supposed to happen but did I? Did I heck! I was still wide awake hours later and didn't feel in the least bit drowsy. Bizarre.

I slept much better on sertraline than I did on mirtazapine. My anxiety was increased for the first few weeks until my dose was increased. I also felt sick and had a bit of an upset stomach the first few days but that went away quickly. Having said that, I was on it for about 8 weeks in total and even then I still had slight diarrhoea and was going to the toilet 2 or 3 times a day, which is more than normal for me. I don't miss that but it did work really well for me, I think better than mirtazapine has. Mirtazapine has made me able to function but I don't feel as confident as I did on sertraline. I hope it works out for you.

Hi everyone, not been on much lately but just caught up with thread...

Welcome to all newbies, just wanted to say I have been taking sertraline since April for anxiety (GAD). I felt the side effects within a few hours and felt really sick, wobbly, my eyes went funny (huge dilated pupils!) and I had awful night sweats - all within 24 hours of the first dose. After that I went down to half a dose 25mg) for the next week and that made the side effects much more bearable.

I did also feel more anxious on and off but by about week three I started to feel the benefits, so it's worth sticking with it.

I also found I sleep really well on the tablets - I have really vivid dreams though, not nasty ones, just really vivid and bizarre - I quite enjoy them actually

Yeah, I also had diarrhoea within about 2-3 hours of first taking sertraline. Weird how it effects you so quickly! The side effects at the start of any AD is crap on top of how rubbish you're feeling, it's really not pleasant. But it's worth soldiering on through it, I'm glad I stuck with both sertraline and mirtazapine in the end.

I had really vivid dreams on sertraline as well, although I have really vivid dreams anyway. But I seemed to have a lot more of them and they were extra weird. They weren't nasty either. I had some horrible dreams when I first started mirtazapine but I don't seem to have them anymore.

Hello not been here for a while. Went to doc today and she suggested upping dose of sertraline to 100 from 50 but I am too scared to double dose so am going to try 75 tomorrow, still scared I'll get side effects again. Was doing ok but last few days felt really anxious again, is this notmal after 7 weeks on them ? :(

Nat yes ime that's pretty normal. I've had ups and downs on them since the start, and seven weeks in I was still having good days and bad days. I still do actually, but the good definitely outweigh the bad. And I have lots of days when I don't even think about how I'm feeling, which is pretty amazing for me!

I agree it wouldn't hurt to up your dose slowly and see how it goes - but I think you'll be ok anyway

I took first 75 today and have not felt great to be honest. Bit sicky with churning tummy and bit of chest pressure but stayed at work! How much u on chuff? Will this wear off sooner than going on them at the start? X

Hi. I hope you don't mind me joining in. From what has been written above I am so glad that I didn't go and get the prescription for Sertraline that my GP wrote after a phone consultation with him about side effects of Citalopram. They have been horrible but not as bad as diarrhoea.

I thought I was starting to feel better but this morning on my way to work I felt a total and overwhelming hopelessness and sat in my car and sobbed for ages. Odd because until now one of the effects had been to make me feel numb and unable to cry.

nat I'm on 50mg. I've had wobbly periods when I've thought about upping my dose then I've felt ok again within a few days so have left it. And overall I am ok

So my only experience of upping was after the first week when I increased from 25 to 50 - which was definitely not as bad as when I started from nothing.

Hi chuff I felt anxiety was creeping back in but maybe I should t have upped it :( I feel mostly sick with headache a bit anxious. It's been 2 days now so do u think it should start settling down from now then? x

Yes the first few days are definitely the worst so hopefully you're over the worst of it

If your gp thought it was the right thing to up your dose it's got to be worth a go - the worst that can happen is that you find it doesn't help much and you go back down again - so I should stick with it

Feel quite low again today, I don't think mirtazapine is working as well for me as sertraline did. I'm going to stay on it until I finish my course in a few months time though as I don't want to muck about with withdrawal and side effects as I'm functioning okay.