Sertraline

[bellainthemiddle]

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has any experiences with Sertraline, which I've just started taking for anxiety at the weekend.

At the moment, I'm just feeling like I'm in a massive black hole of anxiety - I've been crying on and off all day, panic attacks, horrible thoughts... I just don't know if I can keep going with this, especially coming up to Christmas. I'll to spend Christmas with OH's family in deepest darkest rural nowhere and the thought of doing that when I'm so wound up makes me feel vulnerable.

I know that this medication usually makes you feel worse before it gets better. I guess I'm just wondering how long that usually takes!!

Thanks xx

Mine helped me feel a bit better after a week, but I didn’t feel really good until my dose was doubled 3 weeks later. I’m on 100mg and my anxiety has all but gone. I’m not perfect, but I’m a lot better than I was (I think!).

Works well for me for both anxiety and depression though I recently tried to drop back down to 50mg (in line with Dr instructions) but anxiety/depression shot back up again. Now back on 100mg and all is a lot calmer.

Hi Bella. Firstly I am sorry you are feeling so low. Sertraline really helped me in my time of need. What I will say is that as the dose increased it made me feel really sick (as in throw-up sick!) I found dry foods and staying away from alcohol helped. Obvious I know, but no one ever told me and I spent months on the verge of yaking up! Hope you feel better soon x

Thanks - I'm glad to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Mine was actually prescribed by Out of Hours GP at the weekend, so I'm not sure what the follow-up plan is. I was supposed to make an appointment with my own GP but I haven't been able to get one before Xmas and I'm scared of going to see them anyway, since their basic advice when I went to see them last week was to pull myself together :S

I've been on it since I was 18

I'm 37 now - it's the only thing keeping me sane lol!

What? Your GP sounds shocking! Ask to see a different GP if possible (and tell them why!) Things will get better for you I am sure. The hardest part (admitting you need support) you have already done! X

To be fair, the doctor was a new one and he'd never clapped eyes on me before, so I suppose he didn't know that it was not "normal" for me!

I’ve been taking it about 7 weeks or so; the first 3 weeks were horrid, with increased anxiety and terrible drowsiness. However, I now feel virtually ‘normal’ again. Stick with it, it will almost certainly help you.

Hi bella, I’ve been taking sertraline for 2 weeks now. The first week was difficult, but I’ve been feeling a lot better for the last 4 days or so - most of the side effects seem to have worn off and, while I’m still feeling generally fairly anxious, it’s not as constant and I don’t have that feeling of dread for no real reason all the time. So hang on in there, you should start to feel better soon!

And I agree with pp, you should definitely try to see a different GP. It shouldn’t matter whether they’ve seen you before or not, I don’t think GPs would tend to know what’s ‘normal’ for the majority of patients they see each day!

I guess that's true! I just feel nervous about going back - being stupid, I know. I'm just in such a state about everything, I'm probably not quite thinking straight.

Glad the Sertraline is working well for so many, hope it will for me too. Thank you for sharing experiences!