Sertraline and side effects

[allfurcoatandnoknickers1]

Hi
Can anyone help me with a bit of friendly advice? After years of struggling with anxiety, OCD and mild depression I was put on to Sertraline by my GP. I've been taking it for 2 years now and am up to 150mg per day. It's totally changed my life, I feel great BUT I'm really starting to struggle with the side effects. For me these have been an almost complete loss of sex drive, a weight gain of almost 2 stone (I'm now 2 dress sizes heavier than I was before and I feel very self conscious about this) and each time I take my meds about 15 minutes later I have acid reflux for an hour or two.
My question is, should I now consider weaning myself off the drug and what should I expect if I do this? Or would my GP (who is almost impossible to get an appointment with) move me to an alternative? How successful is that likely to be? I want my sex drive back and I want to slim down. I'll keep the reflux if I have to. 😀

Exactly the same as me! Except for the heartburn thing.
I told my GP that I was weaning myself off. He pretty much shrugged and said do it very slowly. I'm on 200 mg for the last 3 yrs. Now I break a tablet once every couple of days. So 175 per day, roughly.
Though I am not in UK so can get quick appointments.
By rights you should wait for appt and discuss. But my own experience leads me to think a very very slow withdrawal, keeping careful note of your feelings, appetite, cravings for alcohol etc might be ok until your appointment goes through, as long as you discuss it fully then.

I was on 200mg a day for 3-4 years and had the same side effects. I got myself down from 200mg to 100mg a day by just halving my dose and then spoke to the GP about how to fully stop. The weight gain in particular was starting to make my anxiety and depression worse, so the medication was no longer having a positive effect and I knew I had to stop taking Sertraline.

I think it's time to cut down and see if this has a positive effect on my libido and my dieting. How do I do it exactly? I take one 100mg tablet and one 50mg tablet before bed every night. Is it safe to just drop back to 100mg straight away?

You can try, I just cut back like that, just see how you feel when you do.