Hello there,
I was wondering if I could ask some advice of anyone that might have some experience or knowledge on sertraline or similar medication.
A quick background, anxiety due to serotonin issues seem to run in my family and it's something that I've only ever experienced before when influenced by hormones. By that, I mean that I suffered from panic attacks and intrusive thoughts every time I've taken the pill, in the lead up to the time of the month and then most severely when I was pregnant. Outside of this, I'm a positive, driven, happy person.
When I was pregnant and very poorly, I was finally perscribed Prozac which worked finally after 12 weeks of being on 20mg and the one week of being on 40mg. It was literally like a light had been switched on and I can remember the time and day I got better. Same when stopping the birth control pill, I remember the moment the anxiety started every time and then the moment it goes once I've discontinued taking it. As strange as it sounds, it feels very chemical and after I gave birth to my son, I was able to discontinue Prozac and I've never had any problems for the past 5 years.
Any way, over the past year I have been under quite a lot of stress and spinning lots of plates which resulted in a hugely stressful situation one weekend a few months ago. Once again, I felt the moment the "switch" happened or my serotonin disappeared on a Sunday evening and the next day I was in a complete and utter mess. Realising what happened (as exactly the same "moment" happened when I was pregnant)I went to my GP who put me straight onto Prozac which I took for the next 6 weeks and it made me feel utterly terrible. I was beside myself with anxiety which the next turned into awful, horrible depression, the feeling was exactly the same as when I was pregnant. Completely irrational thoughts, insomnia, extreme panic, I literally felt like I was losing my mind.
The doctor then stopped the Prozac and I started on 50mg of Sertraline that was upped to 100mg after two weeks. On the 4th day of 100mg, I felt the lightbulb switch on again and had a normal day where I felt like me again. Then I dipped again and the following pattern has happened over the weeks;
Week 1 and 2 - 50mg dose, very slight improvement
Week 3 - 100mg, one amazing day and then crash again
Week 4 and 5 - 100mg, only slight improvement
Week 6 - 100mg feeling much better and like myself
Week 7 - 100mg, downhill again
Week 8 - 100mg, best week so far, felt normal
Week 9 - 100mg, blip again but not as bad as before.
The GP has now upped the dose to 125mg which I have taken for the past 4 days and although I feel ok, I don't feel as good as I did.
So my question to you lovely, helpful people, from your experience, would you say to stick with the Zoloft and give it more time? Is the fact that it has been working on and off a sign that it will help and level out eventually? Like anyone who suffers this awful thing, I am so desperate to feel better again so any advice would be wonderful.
Thanks so much if you made it this far!
Tixy