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.

Went to Dr and have been put on trazodone due to side effects being unbearable.

How are you finding it Needhelpasking4help? Has your appetite come back? I've been the same on sertraline, although it seems to have eased off a little bit now.

Doing Ok thanks Bippity only got it on Monday and I have to take it at night but already I'm sleeping better, appetite improving slowly and no pick axe headaches swinging through my skull. Was put back on diazepam as well.
Laying in bed and I don't want to get up today. I want to paint but I'm at my parents so only have pencils. Will practice some faces and hands maybe later.
It's my birthday on Tuesday and everyone is pestering me about it but I literally couldn't give a flying fuck this year and would like it to pass without mention.

I feel like a stupid child even though I'm a separated but married mother of 2.

I'm the same when it's my birthday. Every year I get less and less happy about it. I started cbt today. Well I think I did, I'm not sure what was going on, my attention span is atrocious. My brain just clocks out mid sentence and I'm too embarrassed to ask what's going on.

My dosage has been increased without them telling me. I'm on 100mg now, started today, so this is going to be be a fun week if the first dosage I got is anything to go by.

I managed to pull myself out of bed today, but only because I had to. If I didn't, I would probably still be in bed now.

It's horrible when you feel like that. I feel a little stupid sometimes and my paranoia kicks in thinking everyone is talking about me, or think I'm lazy or exaggerating. Have you been diagnosed with depression if you don't mind me asking? Needhelpasking4help

Hi I’m glad I’ve found your group I’ve been on Sertraline since July after being prescribed it in June and not wanting to take it, but the doctor said I wouldn’t get better without it, I have Anxiety and depression. I started off on 50mg and when I went for my check in September the doctor put it up to 100mg, since I’ve been on it I’ve not been able to cry
and since going up to 100mg I’ve had bad diarrhoea, they tiredness comes and goes but I’m off work at the moment so I can manage my days.
I’m glad I take it even with the side effects and I can’t never now think about coming off it.

Hi all I wanted to ask is the night waking normal ? I'm only on day 5 after coming off citalopram
For 10 years and taking the medication at night around 930pm then waking up at 130 pm not being able to go back to sleep !! Shall
I try taking it on the morning ? I need sleep as I'm a single parent 😑
Thanks xx

Meant to say waking up at 130am 😩

hi everyone, i'm on day 2 of sertraline 50mg. first time ever taking medication

i'm getting diarrhea (hell for me as i have OCD about germs and my ritual actions are time consuming), feeling like i could vomit, feeling very spaced out and have had very disturbed sleep waking every 2 hours and staying wake for 45 mins then drifting off.

Usually i sleep at 4.5 hours in a chunk and sleep very easily after waking in the night.

How long do the side effects last?
The leaflet suggests they last as long as you take the medicine.

Getting very worried about monday as i have a 60 minute commute and i dont get sick pay!!!

I started on 25 mg a day for a week and then built up from there. Side effects in one form or another can last for a few weeks but what side effects you get can vary from person to person obviously. Nausea. Stiff jaw. Vivid dreams/ nightmares and Headaches were the main ones for me. I persevered as it was still preferable to the anxiety and depression that I was suffering from.

Thank you cushioncovers.

cementpointing I think for most people those side effects go after a couple of weeks, it's unfortunately normal to feel quite rough initially as your body and brain adjust but it should settle.

Today was 7 weeks for me. I started off on 50mg of Lustral, increased to 75mg after first two weeks. Occasionally I'd get a bit of relief and feel a little lighter but overall it was nothing to write home about. And what made the feeling that it wasn't doing much worse was the horrendous stomach upset it caused me. I've never known anything like it. But I soldiered on, kept telling myself the grim side effect would settle down eventually, but by this weekend just gone I couldn't take anymore.

As luck would have it I had a pack of a generic sertraline tablet by Aurobindo from when it was prescribed to me two years ago and I didn't take it for long. On Monday morning I just thought what the hell, either I've got something worryingly wrong with me or the lustral just doesn't agree with me. So I took 75mg of the generic. I was apprehensive because I've read a lot about people getting different makes of their tablets on different prescriptions and feeling withdrawal symptoms or renewed side effects. But I was at the fuck it stage, so although yesterday and Monday weren't brilliant this afternoon something changed and I feel very good at last! I reckon something in lustral was affecting how much of the active sertraline ingredient my stomach could process and absorb, and the generic is constituted differently and agrees with me better, so my serotonin levels have been properly boosted. I went for a walk earlier and felt blissful in the fresh air, drinking in the trees and the sunlight. I kept stopping and getting mesmerised by everything and I felt so well. If anything I was worried that feeling so good would make me panic (that's how fucked up my head has been all these years) but I needn't have worried. At the point where I could've got overwhelmed by feeling so nice, the sertraline blew away the anxiety.

Feels like an epiphany! Hope it lasts. Best wishes to everyone else in the early stages at present. The hype is true, this stuff does kick in eventually. Fingers crossed I can gradually rebuild a life for myself.

Hi.

A little bit of background on me before I seek your advise! I’m 26, single and don’t have any children. I had a miscarriage last October and another in March. I have been prescribed sertraline and have been on them for the last 3 months. The side effects were horrible but I started to feel better and more like me. However, over the last fortnight I’ve been feeling more and more down again I’m due at the doctors next week for a review.

I’m sure to start a new job on the 15th and I’m worried that if they increase my dose I will experience the side effects again. I work in hospitality and can’t really afford to be feeling sick and dizzy while trying to serve food and drinks!

Has anyone else had this? And how did your doctor deal with it?
Xxx

I know this thread is about to end but thought I’d post anyway.
I’ve just been prescribed sertraline 50mg for anxiety. Have taken half a tablet so 25mg just now; they didn’t say to do that but I’ve read a few of you have eased yourself in gently and that seemed like a sensible idea to me.

Everything I read says it takes 6-8 weeks to kick in properly for anxiety.

What do I do in the meantime?? I am really struggling Day to Day. I don’t think I can do this for another six weeks... I scored 19/21 on the anxiety questionnaire yesterday.

Any tips for hanging on till it improves??

Has anyone else had like a tingling in one side of head when taking these. I mean I’ve been on them for 6 months now for PND but only in the last week has this tingling started on and off pretty much every day.

I've been struggling last few days - I've had 2 weeks on 25mg and then 10 days on 50mg. I was doing great with my anxiety improving, just having minor side effects like the weird vivid dreams. But in the last few days my stomach has gone into overdrive and I've had terrible watery diarrhoea (sorry, TMI). I have IBS and usually suffer with wind and my GP said the sertraline should help calm my stomach down as an added bonus to helping the anxiety, but it's been dreadful. Has anyone else found their stomach has settled down after a bit? It seems weird that I was ok initially and have just developed this after a few weeks....

Hiya, I've realised some of your posts have gone unanswered, I'll try and talk through my experiences with sertraline.

First off, @Lolly1002 2 miscarriages in a short space of time must have been really hard for you. I work in a similar role to you and experienced the dizzy and sick feeling. Not pleasant! How are you getting on now?

@Spamfrittersforeveryone I was told the same. I am still very much up and down and I've been on sertraline for 9? 10? Weeks now. I still have a bit anxiety, but it's not as bad as it was before. Seeing as it's still early days, I would try and stick with it a bit longer. In terms of tips and distraction techniques, I know it's a cliche, but getting enough sleep and in a regular routine helps me.

@Tasha2106 No, I've never experienced that, although at the beginning, I did have times when I thought my head was going to explode! It's seems to have eased off now, so I'm assuming it was just one of the side effects.

@legolammb That's strange, I never heard that before. Do you take your tablet on an empty stomach or with food? Maybe worth speaking to your GP about.

Hope everyone is ok this evening

Bippity: now I come to think about it, I've had lighter than usual lunches the last couple of days, mostly salad, and I've taken the tablet an hour after lunch instead of straight after. So maybe I need to make sure I have something a bit more bready and stodgy with lunch to absorb the medication and try and avoid the runs

Maybe legolammb I don't know, I can imagine IBS could be quite debilitating, but yeah, try and see if that helps you. I've noticed if I take it on an empty stomach, it can make me feel a bit nausuas.

Day 7 today (Day 3 of full dose) and I don’t want to take it. I will, but I feel a bit like a horse refusing a jump. I’m so groggy and nauseous.

Hi all, I've just started on 50mg a day (since last Tuesday). I've also got propranolol to take 3 x a day if needed. What time of day does everyone take theirs? Sorry if this has been asked/answered - finding it hard to read all due to dizziness. I've been really struggling with tiredness, nausea and dizziness yesterday and today is worse. Can I take otc tablets for sickness (something like Sturgeons (cirranzine)?) Or do I just need to ride it out?

I’m getting ok now. The doctors have increased my dose to 100mg a day and thankfully I haven’t had any of the feeling sick and dizziness that I had when I first started taking them. I’m getting there very slowly. It was extremely hard at the beginning but Luke I said I’m getting there 😁

How long has it been Lolly? I’m glad things are improving for you.

I am definitely a bit less anxious a week in. I do just feel groggy and vaguely nauseous.

Hi, I've been given this today. 50mg to take once a day.
It was prescribed by a consultant neurologist, I was meeting him about my pain, he asked if I get depressed which sometimes I do so I answered yes. I do actually have a physical disability and spinal cord damage and have been in pain all my life.
Reading through this I'm worried that I'm going to end up feeling physically worse? Especially as it seems a high ISH dose to start?
Would any recommend talking with a GP before starting or just starting it?
Really I feel he's made a bit of a cop out, rather than looking more into physical problems he's somehow assuming my pain is due to depression?