Panic attacks on Sertraline - talk me into continuing with it

[tiptoetobed]

I’ve been taking sertraline 50mg for 6 days now for anxiety. The first 5 days I had a bit of nausea and slightly increased anxiety, nothing too much worse than usual, but last night I had a pretty bad panic attack - at least I think that’s what it was, I’ve had a couple in the past but never that bad. It started as I was going to bed, and was feeling slight breathless. I get that sometimes with my anxiety anyway, and can usually control it with breathing techniques. But last night that wasn’t working, and after about 40 minutes my whole body went tingly and shaky, my heart was pounding so hard, and I felt like I was going to pass out or be sick. The worst passed within 15mins, but for 4 hours after that every time I lay down I got shortness of breath again and it set the whole thing off again (although not nearly as bad as the first time).

This morning, my heart is still pounding and I feel really anxious - not exactly new for me, but now I’m worrying it will escalate into another panic attack, and it’s just exacerbating the symptoms so I feel panicky constantly. I’ve got a 10 month old baby to look after, and am so worried about what would happen to him if I had another attack as I don’t think I could physically have moved during the one last night. My DH is home today, but won’t be tomorrow.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I was struggling with anxiety before but having panic attacks, so feeling like I’ve made a mistake starting the sertraline and I’m not sure I can bring myself to take the next tablet at lunchtime. I couldn’t get a GP appt for today as there were only emergency appts available, and I didn’t really feel I could say it was an emergency. So please - talk me into persevering, as the logical part of me knows it could help in the long run!

Sorry to hear that you're having these terrible panic attacks. They really are horrible. Have you been on any other antidepressants before? These kind of symptoms are pretty common when you first start antidepressants. They can happen with some and then not happen with others.

I had these kind of symptoms when I was taking Fluoxetine. Now, Fluoxetine was a terrible choice for me and I dont think it goes well with anxiety They helped my depression but they made my anxiety so much worse and they made me restless. The thing is that they never appeared when I first started taking them, they just kept getting worse until after about 6 months I switched to Sertraline. I wanted to give them a proper shot before I stopped them, because some doctors don't stress that your body needs time to adjust to these types of pills. It can take a few weeks to adjust to them.

Sertraline has worked so well for me. I just started taking it again 2 says ago, so I'm at 50mg too, but a few months ago I was taking 200mg a day with no adverse effects. Just please stuck it out for 3 more weeks. The first week I find is the worst but it does go away. After 4 weeks if they haven't subsided, then I would go see your doctor to determine if you should continue with sertraline. If you aren't taking any, i would maybe talk to your GP about a low dose tranq, like Diazepam, until your antidepressants kick in. Your GP will know best however. I really do hope they work as well for you as they did me. Good luck

I had this both times I have taken sertraline. its really, really awful. What I have done to cope is to give it a break for a couple of days to let the symptoms subside (they do) and then go back on at half a tablet a day and build the dose up slowly. Im not sure if this would be recommended by a doctor but it works for me as (like yours) my symptoms were so bad that I could not face repeating what was a truly awful experience.

This reaction to it usually only lasts around 2 weeks. You're already halfway there. Not a lot of people have no reaction whatsoever to starting Antidepressants. You are radically changing your brain chemistry and my theory (I'm not in the least bit medical, it just makes sense to me.) is that the more depressed or anxious you are, the more it needs to change. I try to think of it like antiseptic. If it stings, at least you know it's doing something.

Hang in there, OP and at least give it a chance. SSRIs are the most widely tolerated ADs and if you're like me and really can't handle them, the next in line are tricyclics. They're great but there's so many interactions to be aware of and the dry mouth is murder.

Thank you all so much for your replies. It really helps to hear other people’s experiences, it’s reassuring to know that this will probably pass and, if it doesn’t, there are other options. I did take yesterday’s dose, although I really didn’t want to, and tonight hasn’t been nearly as bad as last night so far (apart from my baby keeping me up half the night ).

My GP did warn me that I might feel worse before starting to feel better, but I’ve never taken any antidepressants before so just wasn’t prepared for how much worse! I go back to my GP next Friday for a review, so hopefully the side effects will have eased by then. I think she’ll want me to stick it out for at least 6-8 weeks anyway.

Unfortunately most antidepressants make you worse before they make you better. I would speak to your doctor and see if he can give you anything during this time to help.
I was given propranolol which can be used for anxiety, to take as and when needed. They really helped and after a few weeks I no longer needed to take any.
It's worth a chat with your doctor to see if they can give something similar, rather than just putting up with the side effects until it all starts to help.

That's great to hear that today hasn't been as bad for you! Generally they'll start subsiding day by day. With sertraline it took me about a week to start adjusting to them too and then my symptoms started to improve. Opposite case for fluoxetine. I'm sure they help a lot of people but because they were helping my depression slightly I just stayed on them, even though they were making me paranoid.

That's great that your GP informed you that it can make some people worse before they make you feel better. My GP at the time, actually even my psychiatrist didn't tell me about that so I just assumed it was normal that they were still making me feel bad 6 months in, when its definitely not. Up to 4 to 6 weeks however is very common and normal. Likely, the symptoms will subside. If not, then it's common to go through a couple until you find the right one. Here's hoping that you won't have to worry about that though.

Best of luck OP. Also dont worry if the sertaline gives you strange dreams after a while when taking them. They probably won't go away, but they will certainly make things interesting!

I had a really bad reaction to SSRI antidepressants, total panic and acute anxiety. My Dr put me on a different type of anti depressant in the end, a non SSRI type.

I agree with PP about tapering your dose so it's less of a shock to the system.

It is absolutely true that these meds make you worse before you get better and this will pass. It's no fun, is it. Hope you feel better soon - and you will.

My anxiety definitely increased in the first weeks on Sertraline; I found I was waking in the morning feeling very anxious and panicky. I also felt extremely tired.
After 6 weeks or so, I feel so much better. I am sleeping OK and although I still feel anxious at times, I can rationalise my feelings and put them in perspective instead of let them suffocate me.

Oh, I started on 25mg and increased to 50mg on my doctor's advice.

I had this - the doctor said I could take propranolol (beta blocker) when I needed to help with the panic attacks, and that really helped. I would ask your GP about that.

Yes, I had Diazapam to help.

Hi, sorry to hear that you went through a very tough time, im recently suffering badly, ive serve health anxiety and suffer with serve panic attacks i can have up to 7 a day ive just been through the worst possible my gp gave me sertraline i took one and i was in a constant state of panic for 5 days couldn’t sleep couldn’t eat was been sick was horrible they gave me mirtazpine witch works for helping me sleep I’ve been on this 4 weeks now but not improving my panic attacks or health anxiety, I know this post was awhile back but only one I can relate to as you said how you felt everytime you laid down is how I feel like you go in panic flight of fight mode again, did you ever find anything that helped with your anxiety at all? The mirtazpine is making me angry and just not helping but then helps for sleep but then if I don’t fall a sleep after hour of taking it I get palpitations witch then causes me to have panic attacks dr isn’t much help in in private therapy at the moment but need something to take the edge off if I got to panic mode I used to take 20mg of propanol but due to having new asthma I can’t take this medication nomore! Thank you hope you ended up finding something and helping you through the hard time you went through x I always got given diazepam and zopliclone but this didn’t help me sleep at all made me worse! X