Sertraline and quetiapine

[sunstrokecity]

DH has been prescribed sertraline and quetiapine for severe depression.

The quetiapine is to help him sleep as he can't take normal sleeping tablets.

Has been taking them for a few days but now seems to be having a lot more anxiety.

Is this normal? Should I call psychiatrist to try a different medication or will it settle with time?

Anyone?

I am on sertraline for anxiety and was told to watch for my anxiety becoming worse. I would speak to his gp

I have taken sertraline and it does make you anxious for a few weeks until it begins to properly work. I am on quetiapine for bpd and it is a good medication

It’s quite normal for SSRIs to increase anxiety before it levels off. Sertraline is part of the group of SSRI’s, does it list increased anxiety in possible side effects? Husband GP should have explained this to him.

My anxiety increased massively when I stared taking citalopram, my GP prescribed diazepam to take for the first few weeks but it was so bad I came off them.

It will settle down, but if it’s causing him significant distress then speak to the GP again.

Couple of days in now, DH definitely seems brighter when he first wakes up but about half hour after taking sertraline seems to go down hill a bit again. Depression has lifted slightly but anxiety is not improving.

Before taking the medication he was snappy and unhappy, now he appears twitchy and does t want to leave the house/be around people which was never an issue before.

I've been on both previously & DP is on both now. If he has only been on them a few days give it time - just obviously watch for things really spiralling fast. Quatiapine absolutely threw me when i first took it, i just wanted to sleep all the time & it made me really irritable. I found that the way it initially made me feel as it was setting in made me anxious as hell because i couldn't control it - DP has recently said similar & is feeling better now it is in his system.

Obviously if you are really worried ring for advice as it is always better to check. But from our experience this is pretty par for the course for the first weeks

How long did it take for things to settle down?

For me a few weeks as they had to tweak the dosage. I'd been on sertraline for months, the quatiapine is meant to act as a sort of stabiliser to enhance the effects of the sertraline.
DP has been on his about 6 weeks now? The first ten days he was all over the place but now he has really levelled out. Does your DP take the quatiapine at the same time every night? We noticed that if DP is late with his it totally f**ks him over the next morning

Does he have bi-polar?
Hard to say because it does take a while for the setraline to take effect.
Does he have anything else available for anxiety? Although they may want to see how it goes with these first without introducing anything else,
Is his diagnosis new or just change of meds? I’m guessing he will be under the care of mental health services does he have someone (cpn or keyworker) that you could contact tomorrow to discuss?

Hi, no he doesn't have bi polar, they just described it as severe depression. These are the first meds he has been prescribed. The quetiapine is just to help him sleep.

How long has he been on sertraline? Is the quatiapine an addition or were both prescribed together?

That’s interesting a good one would have been mirtazipine taken at night helps with the depression and the insomnia.
That’s why I asked if he was bi polar or if it was a change of meds because seems unusual for a first line treatment.

You would think they would have gone for that rather than introducing an antipsychotic which will have its own side effects and may not entirely necessary although obviously difficult to say without knowing full circumstances etc. I would defo have a chat with his doc/nurse about it.

I take Quetiapine alongside Venlafaxine.
But in the process of switching the Venlafaxine to vortioxidine

I take 50mg twice a day and 600mg at night for sleep
I also take for depression. It’s been great for me

There's a large number of sedatives he cannot take due precious medical history, no benzodiazepines for example

Previous*

So we are a week in, up until yday they seemed to be working really well but last night he struggled to get to sleep again and today seems t o have taken a step back, not sure if it's too early to call the psychiatrist or if we leave it another day or so to see he perks back up