Sertraline - 3 weeks in

[Dljlr]

I'm an anxious sort of person anyway but for the past year it's been building and building; to the point where now I have what feels like a massive lump of panic sitting in my chest at all times. General feeling of impending doom and - worse - an absolute conviction of my own failure. I'm struggling at work and with family; I've recently ended things with my partner, though we're stuck living together; I can't focus on tasks which means I'm terribly behind at work; the first thing I think when I open my eyes in the morning is that I've fucked up, already; that all is futile.

Anyway. Went to the GP 3 weeks ago and sat and cried and he gave me 50mg of Sertraline for a month, telling me to return at the end of the course. He did warn me I was likely to feel worse before I felt better. But now it's been 3 weeks of taking it and the feeling worse bit is still going strong. I am so so so panicky all the time. And the tablets themselves give me the raging shits! Lol.

Please, can anyone who has taken this tell me whether this is normal, and when I can expect to feel better? I can't handle this for much longer

6 weeks is the norm to start feeling less crap and somewhat better than you started!

I sympathise. So many conflicting accounts on the internet, it's hard to know but as NotANotMan said, 6 weeks is about the norm apparently. Can also take longer, or kick in sooner. I guess you'll know when you know! Not very helpful...

I'm about 5 and a half weeks in at 75mg and have had a really shitty day and am really aware this evening of the draining, scary mindset I started taking them for in the first place. I'd call it a setback, and I know there has been a trigger, but really, at almost 6 weeks?! And the tablets still playing havoc with my stomach and other bits of me. I've had some 'better days', don't get me wrong, but now I wonder if that has been more by luck than anything else, and maybe even placebo. Today I feel like I might as well not have been through any of the last few weeks coz it's got me nowhere

I hope you have a better time of it and feel the benefits very soon

^ Hope that didn't come across as me saying NotANotMan's comment wasn't very helpful. Not what I meant, at all!

I hear you! I'm so glad you posted. I'm also 3 weeks in on Sertraline and I feel shit. The nausea from the first few days have gone but I've also had the shits. Grim.
My mental state is difficult to assess at the moment. I've just gone back to uni and I'm working stupid hours. The anxiety has been replaced by feeling completely overwhelmed by life.

I have been on 50mg for 3 months. I now feel 100% better and all side effects gone. The tablets have given me my life back. I felt a big change at 8 weeks which was when they really seemed to kick in.

It can take a while to settle down but I’m surprised your GP doesn’t want to see you for 4 weeks after first starting them... Mine wanted to see me a week in and then two weeks after that to check on side effects. I would make an appointment to see them to talk things through.

Oh thank you all so much. I'm sorry that some of you are going through this too but delighted to hear Cowardly that they're working for you now. 3 months seems such a long time! I wish I'd tried to get something sorted ages ago now, but I just kept telling myself I needed to get a grip. Now uni has started (I teach) and my anxiety is just through the roof, I dread going to work and colleagues keep asking me if I'm ok, which is making me paranoid that I'm not masking at all anymore.

I agree with cowardly. I'm on 50mg and it took 8 weeks for me too before they kicked in but the difference they have made has been astounding. Hang in there.

Thank you Lauresbadhairday

I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread. I was prescribed it on Friday but am yet to take it...
The only side effect my doctor mentioned was possible weight loss! Only when I picked it up from the pharmacist he mentioned my feelings could be worse for 2 weeks before they get better.
Hope everyone is feeling better sooner rather than later xx

Hi strawbmilk, have you started them yet? I'm glad the pharmacist could advise you even though your doctor didn't. I hope they kick in for you soon.

Thanks for starting this thread. I've been on 50mg for about five weeks (and 25mg for ten days before that). First two weeks were awful, but I felt a significant improvement in weeks 3-4. Then the last week or so it's been back to panicking, ruminating, obsessional thinking and wondering where I went wrong...I was considering going up to 100mg but maybe I should give it another couple of weeks. Does anyone else constantly question if they're actually ill or if they've just made terrible mistakes in life and that's why they feel so awful? Although objectively I like my life... I think. Hate that my brain won't just give me a rest!!! How are you getting on Dljlr (another uni teacher here!)?

Hi schmohawk, I can only tell you what I've gathered from reading lots of internet forums about Sertraline, but it seems to be quite common for people to have your experience around the 4/5/6 week mark, and then soon after feel much better long-term. So it might be a good idea to stay with the 50mg dosage for a bit longer and see how you feel. I'm no expert though, only at almost 6 weeks myself and it has been rough the last few days. But I'm going on the comment above by Lauresbadhairday and hoping I have a similar experience by weeks 8/9!

I'm on 100mg, increased about 2 month ago after about 2 months of 50mg. I didn't really get the dip in the first few weeks (though I'm not usually the best judge of that) but can say now that I'm so much lighter, more active and remember what happy is again.

In that time period, I've had a surprise pregnancy, workplace discrimination and and house move to deal/ have dealt with, and any other time in my life I can honestly say it would have floored me.

Stick with it. Make sure your support system knows to expect the dip. Good luck

schmohawk, how are you feeling now?

Does anyone else constantly question if they're actually ill or if they've just made terrible mistakes in life and that's why they feel so awful?

Yes! My constant fretting at being a total failure means I spend lots of time feeling exactly like this. This week is going ok, ish, thank you. Thank God Fresher's Week is over and nothing too disastrous has gone wrong (yet) now the new year is properly underway.

Wow NotDoingThat, that's a lot to go through in a small time period. That's awesome that you were able to cope so well.

This is the first day since I started taking them that I actually feel a bit lighter / happier. It's funny because my workload is immense right now and I have some family stuff going on that's quite draining too but I don't feel quite so overwhelmed by it all. I am very aware though that this is likely to be a rather transient feeling. I need to try to get in with the GP next week to arrange another prescription. I wonder if he'll just tell me to carry on as I am or if he'll increase the dosage? Yesterday I was a total mess, I cried last night because I had really painful heartburn and just wanted to relax after a really long day 🙈

I gave up after 5 - 6 weeks. I just couldn't take the level of anxiety even though I knew it should get better. I had also had extreme reaction to Prozac in the past and was trepidatious.

Hope it works out for you OP.

I've been on it for 7 weeks. Recently been upped to 100mg in the past week.

I still have nausea and bouts of insomnia. I was worried that upping the dose would make me feel wired and quite hyper, as it happened in the first week of taking it and lasted almost 2 weeks. Was speaking a mile a minute and felt very restless. I was quite productive that week though, I'll give it that! Then I had a massive dip. My moods seem to have levelled out now though I think. I don't know anymore really.

Thought I'd update on the offchance it could be helpful to anyone! It's week 4, I've had a few days of feeling much calmer than before, though it's a rather synthetic and sleepy calm that isn't conducive to me doing any actual work (my lack of focus is one of the reasons I went to the GP because the level of anxiety I feel stops me focusing on anything else). Had my follow up appointment with GP today and he said the worst symptoms are over (I still have the raging shits!) and he upped my dosage to 100mg once a day. Said I'll only feel better from here on in. Today is actually a pretty bad day. I'm panicking inside about my workload. Trying to get a grip though.

Dljlr, how has your day been, did you get through your work without too much anxiety? Hopefully the increased dosage will help very soon. I'm almost 7 weeks in at 75mg, after starting on 50mg for the first couple of weeks. Like you, I get that sleepy calm but don't want to do much, which confuses me. When I was fighting the depression and anxiety without meds I often felt more motivated to get out there and to apply myself to work. The difficulty was the mounting frequency with which the anxiety and depression would overtake me and become so painful. Now it's like I feel weirdly relaxed to some extent, but want to sleep more and avoid exercising, as well as not really feeling like doing much work. I'm functioning less in some ways, which can't be good. It's almost like I've lost my determination to overcome the mental health stuff and settled for an uneven and almost alien chilled out-ness. Then again, I can sometimes feel myself being lighter and less moody with family and friends, which is important.

So I guess I'm wondering if I'll get some mojo back, and if I need to be at a higher or lower dose for that to happen.

Have you taken 100mg today? I'd be interested to hear how that feels for you.