Sertraline and anxiety...help and advice please

[Zest11]

Hi,
I have been trying different antidepressants for the last few months and am currently on sertraline as we are ttc. I have been on 100mg for just over 2 weeks and started on 50 for 2 weeks so have been taking it for 4 1/2 weeks in total. At one point I was feeling really low and thankfully that lifted fairly quickly but I'm struggling with anxiety (this has been the longer term issue). The only way to describe it is as if I feel it running through my arms and my heart aches. So many thoughts keep running through my mind, particularly at night. Do I a) need to ride it out for longer b) increase the dose or c) switch to a different AD?

Any advice or suggestions or experiences would be helpful.

Thank you.

Hi sorry you are feeling like this hun! It’s great that you’ve sought help for your anxiety and on some medication. The dose could be increased however antidepressants do take 4-6 weeks to really become effective so it may be that you need a couple weeks longer. Sertraline is probably the best one to be on as fine in pregnancy as you said you are tv and Drug of choice for breast feeding mamas so future proofing potentially.
I would say that I am a firm advocate of talking therapies alongside antidepressants and this is something that hopefully your GP discussed with you the majority of ppl find the medication alongside CBT much more helpful. Hope some of that helps

Zest - I take Sertraline. Do you mean you’re getting anxiety symptoms since taking it. I have.

Thank you for your replies. Yes anxiety has been the main problem but it has turned into very low depression when untreated rather than anxiety so it's as if Im back to anxiety now the feeling really really bad has gone. I did try IAPTS a while back but it was dreadful but I will give it another go before looking for someone to pay for. I am just wondering from the AD point of view if I need to up the dose or switch. I know sertraline is the best when TTC/pregnant/breastfeeding but I have been told that basically in my case as Ive been struggling so much, most of the SSRIs would be better for me than either nothing at all or if the sertraline doesn't work! I guess I ought to give it longer...