Sertraline buddies?

[OnlyGodKnowsWhy]

I started sertraline 2 days ago and I am having a horrible time 🙁 I was hoping there might be others out there starting up too that would like to chat and support each other. I'm a lone parent and only have my mum.

@BippityBoppity87 that's horrid for you and I hope it passes very quickly. Think I've had something myself this last couple of weeks which made taking the tablets and still being anxious and depressed feel like rotten luck. Keep going, though, coz it'll pass and someday soon you're going to feel better than you have for a long time. Well, that's the plan anyway! I went up to 75mg today and by lunchtime I was feeling less pissed off and more chilled. Think this is day 19 for me, and although the weather has helped I think the sertraline is kicking in a bit now too.

@Ginandtonic4all hope yesterday wasn't a battle and you've made it out of bed today, coz that in itself usually helps me feel I've achieved something some days.

I'm still on 50mg, I'm not sure if it will be increased or not, but I'm starting to feel really rubbish. Should I mention that I missed a dose? Would it make a difference?

Going to try and get an early night tonight I think.

It's probably not unusual to miss a dose here and there, especially through forgetting to take it. I'm being ruthless with myself though and taking mine like clockwork coz I want to give it the best chance of working.

I was feeling impatient yesterday and that's why I upped my dose to 75mg. Luckily I have a good relationship with my GP and he trusts me to make informed decisions like this. The side effects have heightened a bit since yesterday but coz I've got physical health issues it's a bit hard to know what's side effects and what isn't. But my stomach definitely isn't right, so I'm taking acidophilus and apple cider vinegar, which is helping.

Mood-wise I'd say yesterday and today (so far) I've felt a bit lighter overall. My anxiety isn't fixed though, I'm still getting some intrusive thoughts and the usual triggers are getting to me at times. But I'm trying to get on with little things and nursing my motivation to look after myself better. One step at a time. And things don't feel quite so urgent, which means I'm taking my time a bit more and lessening the pressure I usually put on myself.

Sometimes I think I've just got a bit better with time passing, and the tablets aren't making me feel that different. Other moments I notice a relaxation that feels nice, and I want to feel more of it!

How's everyone else doing today?

@reenchantmentofeverydaylife That's good. I'm glad you're seeing an improvment even if it's only small.

2 weeks now I've been on 50mg. I'm still
nauseous, but I don't know if it's still the bug I have or the tablets and I seem to have developed a new side effect - I couldn't stop grinding my teeth today.

Mood wise, my energy has been hit and miss. I'm surprisingly energetic today considering I only had about 4 hours sleep. My DP caught it too so I've been mainly attempting to disinfect the house as well as working today 😩

2 weeks? I mean 3 weeks!

Hi all. So week 4 and less roller coaster but still no pattern to lows / anxiety / ok periods.

I have two questions!

1. does anyone know if the timing of taking the pill affects the likelihood of early waking?

2. if people do wake up at 4/5am with low mood / anxiety what do you do? And any tips to avoid it happening?

Feeling really bad today I'm meant to be going back to work tomorrow after a 3 week abscence, but I've been feeling sick and suicidal, and I don't know how I will possibly cope. I have 2 weeks of annual leave starting next Wednesday, but I'm worried about my state atm, and I feel nobody is really listening.

So sorry that you're having such a struggle today Really2018, have you been feeling any better as the day has gone on? The prospect of having to return to work this week seems to be seriously affecting you. Is it the work people not hearing your concerns, or people around you generally? Is there anyone at all you can reach out to who might be able to help somehow? I'm alarmed that it's making you feel suicidal, please consider calling Samaritans if you're still feeling acutely unsafe, or even if you feel a bit better - they can be good to talk to.

I've had an anxiety attack today and it has brought me down. Now I'm questioning why I'm bothering with the ADs at all, because I think the attack has an edge to it that is mixed up with the feeling of having a drug in my system, which is uncomfortable. I guess it'll pass, but even so, doesn't help me to feel I'm making progress

BippityBoppity87 have things been any easier in your house today?! Poor you having to mop up after everyone's bug Good job you had some energy! And especially with being back at work now too. I've heard teeth grinding can be a side effect, think it passes for most people after a bit. Not sure I grind mine but I catch myself clenching my jaw, which I could do without. My stomach is still all over the place and been pretty tired today too. But for the first time since starting them I've had to travel away for a few days for mixed reasons and so today has been a big challenge, hence the anxiety attack.

Ginandtonic4all, I know it might be unlikely but hope you sleep better tonight. I can only tell you what I've read on the Internet about timing, which is that quite a few folk say taking it first thing with breakfast helps them stay asleep at night.

As for anxiety attacks waking you up, my ritual is to eat a banana or biscuits, put some new age relaxation music on quietly, or a guided meditation, and sometimes I make a camomile tea or similar. Get back into bed and lay my hands with fingertips touching on my chest and/or abdomen and make a mental list of everything I managed to get done the day before. It often soon sends me back to sleep, and if not I read for a bit until my eyelids feel heavy and then try sleeping again.

Hope some of that helps.

Yeah it's been ok. The crisis team came round earlier than I expected today and I looked like I'd been pulled through a hedge backwards. I've just about managed to brush my hair today and that's about it.

I still feel a bit sick. A few times today I thought I was going to throw up, which is horrible. I think it's definitely the tablets now and it's starting to get me down.

Mine have def started kicking in today. I didn't believe they would but I'm chuffed to feel the brightness get turned up. I don't take any other daily medication and don't drink, so there's no extra ingredient for me. Do people generally feel like this in life? How sad that I so rarely have. But now I feel it'll be possible for me to move on, and forward.

Keep going everyone, and don't miss doses

I haven't felt sick today, which has been good. I took one of my sleeping tablets last night and I slept for 11 hours I do feel better for it. Think my body has been trying to catch up on the lack of sleep the past few days.

Finally getting discharged on Saturday. It's been a long 6 weeks, but I'm a lot better than I was. Still not 100% but getting there. It's been so long I've forgotten what a normal mood feels like.

Hi BippityBoppity87 it's great to hear that you're feeling some improvement, and you're almost at the end of the crisis team involvement. Sounds like you feel stronger.

I had a very anxious night Had that horrid 'fizzy' feeling in my chest that made me scared I'd put too much of a drug in my body, but it has only been my normal dosage. Took a couple of hours for me to relax enough to sleep and I woke up earlier feeling pretty low again. But I've taken the tablet anyway. Even though the lowness is there (compared with feeling nice yesterday) there's also a bit of a barrier to feeling too bad. Just going to try and have the day I'd planned and see how I get on. The anxiety is better right now, hope it lasts

Have a lovely day everyone

Anxiety better today but depression definitely back. Yesterday feels like a mirage now. I've read it can be like this for a while in the first six to eight weeks. Good days and bad sort of interchanging. Hope that's the case, rather than sertraline just not really going to be reliable for me.

As a bloke I can't claim to be suffering from PND! But it took me a while to realise that lots of the posters here really feel the benefits of sertraline for PND and can come off it relatively quickly, feeling back to their usual selves in many cases. My depression is recurring, part of my BPD, so I'm realising I probably need another forum. But I've got a lot from this thread and I hope everyone gets well very soon. Maybe a couple of my posts will be useful to someone

Is that borderline or bipolar if you mind me asking? @reenchantmentofeverydaylife

I'm feeling better today, but my mood's very up and down though. Problem is it's not the normal moods most people experience, they can go to both extremes. From the depths of feeling suicidal to spending £200 online on a whim if I'm in a good mood. Part of my impulse problem.

My DP thinks I might be suffering from manic depression, but I realise it can be quite hard to diagnose.

Hi BippityBoppity87, aw so sorry your mood has been swinging a lot today, sounds disorienting and can it make you quite anxious too? You really go through it, I hope at some point soon the sertraline helps you to feel a bit more in control of things like your spending impulses and your suicidal ideation. Have you felt more level as the day has gone on? Make sure you tell the crisis team tomorrow that you're still having days like today, they might want to keep an eye on you a bit longer.

I was diagnosed with emotionally unstable borderline personality disorder. History of depression and anxiety linked to various episodes of PTSD from childhood onwards. The diagnosis was a bit hard to hear but also useful in helping me see myself more honestly, so every cloud and that. My friends and family are adamant that I must be on the lower end of the borderline scale, which is sweet of them lol, but I can definitely see it in myself. Anyway for years I've struggled to stay on ADs coz of side effects but I'm determined this time. I've practically had a breakdown recently and I can't go back there again.

Well today was weird. Morning and afternoon felt pretty low but started to perk up around 6 and got through a meal at my brother's new house which I wasn't sure I could handle, but every now and again I was aware the medication was 'holding me'. So am now back in the room I'm staying in (going home tomorrow) and feeling quite chilled like I was before the anxiety attack yesterday. It has made me hopeful again

Don't know much about manic depression, except I always remember someone telling me years ago that bipolar is the new name for MD. Anyway, I used to share a house with someone who was 'manic' and it's very disturbing and upsetting to see and be on the receiving end of. Would you say your moods have that effect on people? You may have a mood disorder but not necessarily manic, although I don't underestimate how confusing and scary it must feel for you at times. Can the crisis team get you a psychiatric assessment at some point?

Hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever else is going on

I was told when the first time I met a psychiatrist, in his own words after only spending a few minutes with me...'well I don't think you are bipolar'. I hadn't even mentioned it, I didn't want to be there in the first place. This was 8 weeks ago. And then everything snow balled pretty much.

Took to OD'd in the space of a couple of weeks, in an ambulance a few times which was horrible. But it's a impulse thing. I know it is. And I drink like it's going out of fashion. I'll have a few days/weeks, then I think fuck it.

I've had a few drinks tonight, but I'm just trying to feel something, happy I suppose, or just to just forget everything.

I listen to music constantly. A distraction, maybe, I have a wide variety and it can influence my mood. My DP hates me, sorry I've been been drinking and I know he hates me. I don't know what I want life,

I'm sitting here drinking gin and I don't know who I am anymore.

Hi Bippity, looks like you were up later than me and you're really struggling, feeling overwhelmed.

I've had a psychiatrist say the same to me in an assessment, some of them think aloud and they're just ruling out possibilities. Your DP might have very subjective reasons for suggesting you're "manic" and unless he's qualified to make that judgement, ignore him! Even if he is qualified you can always get a second opinion!

It must be so tough to have those impulsive suicidal tendencies when they come. When I was younger I did too and survived, and there was always booze involved. These days though, I think about it at times but quite honestly I wouldn't give other people the pleasure, fuck them! I finally stopped drinking twelve years ago but I needed help for a while and I'm wondering if you've mentioned your pattern with alcohol to the crisis team? It was the best decision I ever made quite honestly but it's not easy and local support can make a difference. When you're ready.

Sounds like music's really important to you. Me too, it's a lifeline and I'm like you, I love various genres so I find I can use it to keep me together from day to day. Saying that though, I can sometimes get really seduced by very introspective despairing and/or angry lyrics, and I often have to switch to instrumental stuff for a while. It keeps me company and hits that spot in me that breathes tunes, but doesn't gnaw at my mind and feelings lol. Thing is, some lyrics can be triggering can't they, do you find that?

You've really been through a lot recently. Emergency services sirens can easily really distress me, so I imagine actually being in an ambulance rushing to hospital can be scary and upsetting. You're obviously feeling really lost at the moment but I'm glad you're still with us. Just hope you're not horribly hungover today and things go well with the crisis team.

I've been a bit obsessed with reading sertraline user reviews online the last few weeks, but only the positive ones, and it has really helped me wait it out. Been about 3.5 weeks for me now and I've struggled with the side effects and the worry that it won't work for me, but bit by bit I feel like I'm getting somewhere. Please hang on in there

I'm surprisingly ok today considering how much I drank last night. It's definitely one of my triggers and makes me worse, but they're aware of that.

It was kind of scary being discharged today, almost felt like I was being abandoned. I know that's my intrusive thoughts creeping in again. I don't feel like the sertraline is making much difference anymore. I still get quite bad anxiety, but they said there's scope to increase the dosage.

I'm exactly the same when he comes to music, it can be my best friend of my worst enemy depending on what I'm listening to!

Like you, I'm really not convinced by the medication after all. Almost 4 weeks for me and since Thursday night I've been feeling pretty low, like the sertraline is barely touching the sides. Think it is a bit, but not nearly how I imagine it should. Then again, what am I expecting, I don't even really know that. Thursday (when I made my post) felt really nice, even if it also felt a bit unreal. But the way I've been feeling the last 3 days, it's almost like I've never taken a tablet. Just don't know what to think anymore. I'm pretty sensitive to medication and find it hard to believe 75mg wouldn't help me feel better than this.

Oh well, I've read some posts across the internet where people say they were still having blocks of bad days 4 or 5 weeks in, so I guess I have to stick with it for a while longer to find out if it'll properly kick in.

Hope you're doing ok, Bippity. I took my niece and nephew to a funfair down the road this afternoon and it was good to see them enjoying themselves. Got a bit of sunshine too, which was a bonus. But I'm tired a lot of the time so I'm aware I'm not functioning at anything like full throttle, which makes me feel mean on other people. I just want to have it to give again. Has your weekend been ok since the crisis team left yesterday? It's really understandable that you'd feel abandoned.

Hi there @reenchantmentofeverydaylife just to say you may need your dose increased. I was on 50 and felt like you. Upped it 2 weeks ago (so I'm in week 5 in total( to 100 and the last two days I have finally felt significantly better.

I know it's hard but stick with it and go and see your medics and explain how you feel. It will work it's just trial and error on dose and when the blasted things kick in.

My weekend's been ok. I had a bit of a blip earlier on. I thought everyobe was staring at me on the train. It didn't help that this one person was looking at me and it made so angry. I really wanted to shout 'what are you looking at?!' Thankfully I didn't, but I honestly thought I was going to lose it today.

Then my intrusive thoughts went into overdrive and I wanted to take all my tablets. Again, thankfully I didn't. I almost rang the crisis team to tell them, but my partner rang me from work as I told him and had a good conversation and felt a bit better.

Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice regarding sertraline and insomnia. Before I started taking it, I was already quite an insomniac. Needless to say, taking sertraline has 100% totally messed up my sleep.

I've tried taking it in the early morning, lunchtime and right before bed. Each time had the same consequences of me not sleeping for ages, then when I did sleep I'd wake up at 2/3am wide awake (this never happened before Sertraline as usually I'm a deep sleeper once I actually get to sleep)
I only took it for a week then stopped as I couldn't survive on so little restless sleep.

I have a phone doctors app this week, so I'm going to tell them this. Has this happened to anyone else? I hope they don't encourage me to keep taking it because like I said, the broken sleep is making my anxiety far far worse.