Sertraline

[Blue1316]

I’ve been prescribed sertraline for anxiety but scared about the side effects. Has anyone tried it and been ok?

In my experience when you find a medication that helps you, the side effects are just that - something on the side that you will happily cope with because you just feel so much better overall.

I don’t have anxiety but my medications (venlafaxine + quietiapine ) are notorious for having awful side effects by online anecdotal evidence & I am struggling to even think of one side effect I have! Am sweatier during the night & have experienced vivid dreams, that’s about it.

The nature of your issue (anxiety) means you will be even more concerned about side effects, feel the fear & give it a go anyway.

If you have a good doctor (ie not just a GP) who is monitoring you, that will be better as I personally feel GPS are not qualified to prescribe these types of medications. But that is my personal opinion.

I take sertraline for anxiety and pnd. For the first week or so on it, my anxiety went through the roof, I was constantly on edge, really struggled to focus on anything, very jittery. But after about a week, it settled down and I am immensely better now on it than I was without it. You will need to give it time to kick in and for the side effects to ease, but if you've gone six weeks or so on it, and its not working for you, then go back to your doctor. Depending on the prescribed dose you might want to start on a half dose for a week or two and build it up. Likewise if you choose to stop taking it, reduce the dose gradually, to help avoid the withdrawal effects.