First few days on Sertraline - lets chat!

[Perry114a]

Hello everyone
I am 45 year old single parent.
I am Day 2 of 50mg of Sertraline for general anxiety and wanted to reach out to anyone in early days of medication.

I am taking the tablet at nightime at 8pm which I will keep doing for 2 weeks then reassess.
Im waking at 3am and 5am but to be honest, I never slept well anyway. Last night I had a few hours of energy and this morning waves of anxiousness and tingling in head and body plus tiredness...Ive taken a Vitamin C tablet to help with the tiredness.
Im really trying to power through these feelings and not over thinking every twinge.
I look forward to hearing from anyone else going through the same thing, it would be great for the support! xx

I wanted to add my coping techniques so far.......lowering expectations of what need to do in the day, ie if kids watch tv and each pizza for 2 weeks then so be it, early relaxing night, watching gentle tv, taking 5 minutes quiet to deep breath throughout the day, i took paracetamol for a headache.

Hi, I'm on day 7 now and struggling terribly to be honest.
I'm feeling very very sick all the time can't keep anything down, lost 9lbs in 7 days!
I'm also experiencing a very strange feeling of feeling nothing at all. I'm not sad or anxious which is fab, but I'm also not happy, I don't find anything funny, I can't get any joy out of things I used to love, even on my worst days.
I don't even feel anything towards my partner, just blank.
It's starting to effect my job as i work in customer service and I'm finding it impossible to empathise with anyone.
Hope it gets better soon, at least when i felt sad, I could also feel happy, now I just feel like a moving blob.
Hope I haven't scared you, and really hope this works for you x

I've just taken my second dose of 50 mg sertraline. Had an awful time last night, anxiety attacks, feeling sick and dizzy. Feeling a bit better this evening although tired.

I had to stop this medication after 2 days I have never had a panic attack in my life until I took my 2nd does of sertraline I'm now 3 weeks down the line and i still feel like utter s**@t* I've had diarrhoea for 3 weeks i havent eaten so lost weight I had to go to ooh today and now I'm dehydrated I'm wondering where it will all end I just don't know what to do next

I've stopped it too. Hadn't slept for a week and a half, up with anxiety attacks and not eating. Vile drug.

@cripesitsthegasman How long until you was feeling ok ish
I'm making myself worse by wondering when and where all this will end

The first 2-3 days were shit. But I have stuck with them.

They have been a lifesaver for me, so much happier, smiling more than ever before, no anxiety at all. Laughing lots and much more able to focus.

Keep at it.

I'm also sleeping much more, and and much more interested in sex! Not one panic attack since day 2 of starting.

@Perry114a
@sausagepastapot
@ how are you all coping? My doc told me to take just 25mg for a few days to get it in my system so I dont have a reaction like last time I've taken it at 3.30 today and already the nausea has started
I have taken propranolol for the last 4 days and was starting to feel abit more alive i dont know weather I've made a mistake in retrying it

I did read that it is better to take it in the mornings, if sleep is usually poor.

Hey all can I join :). Day 4 of 50mg for me. Really hoping this works as I'd love to get some form of life back!!

Can I join. Day 3 of 50mg, feel worse than I did before taking them. Not sleeping also. Hopefully it gets bad before it gets better

@Lilye88

Can I join. Day 3 of 50mg, feel worse than I did before taking them. Not sleeping also. Hopefully it gets bad before it gets better

It can definitely get worse before it gets better :). The first two weeks are supposed to be the worst and then you should feel gradual improvement, and the full effect after about 6 weeks.

How are you all doing ?
I'm contacting the gp tomorrow to see if he will give me something else citalopram maybe? I've been bad now for 6 weeks not eating with a constant nausea feeling

I have been on both sertraline and citilopram. Both similar for anxiety and depression for me. Actually restarted my citilopram because lockdown and a teething baby was so hard. For me taking it in the morning is good, as it sort of gives a energy boost (that isn't entirely comfortable to begin with). Takes a few weeks for your sleep/mood to stabilise on it. Some people have a few days of some pretty awful side effects, I gave sometimes. Consult your GP but if you are able to, sticking with it should help, and it will settle down, and you will start to feel the positive effects a bit more. For me I'm lucky, I get positive effects from day one, but like others I get sleep issues and a slight manic feeling, but it settles down.

If its been a month and it isn't helping or is still having some bad side effects, def speak t your GP.

I had only taken this one day and the side effects very awful I couldn’t do anything, I had a bad headache I felt very very sick all day felt as if my brain was being shaken as I couldn’t see straight and very dizzy also my blood pressure went up, absolutely awful so definitely not taking it again

Hi my son (24yrs) has been on Sertraline for his behavior for 3 weeks now.
He is Autistic and has been having severe meltdowns so this has been prescribed for him. My worry is he suffers with Epilepsy and I believe it can lower the medication threshold for his Epilepsy making him more venerable to have a seizure. I have emailed the Dr but she seems to think that as he is on 25mg he will be fine. But they wanted to increase it to 75mg a day my feelings on this are that this is a very high dose so Iv emailed back and said im not happy with this and im choosing to keep him on the 25mg which they have agreed to. He has been slightly better with the meltdowns but he is still very angry and can turn very quickly and be very violent towards me. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Everything got so much worse for me when I started taking Sertraline. I suffered anxiety and panic attacks daily for years, and didn't think it could get any worse, but it did. I felt numb, sad, anxious, tired, dizzy, nauseated, paranoid. What helped me was filtering reviews of the drug online to 10/10 and I just kept reading them. It took 6-8 weeks in total for everything to calm down. That sounds like a long time. But previous to that I'd had 6-8 years of feeling rubbish anyway. I take 100mg and they have saved my life. I don't feel up or down, I just feel like my old self again that I'd known years ago. I just feel like I can cope which is a beautiful feeling when everyday was such a struggle

Hi, never posted before but my 16 year old daughter has just started Setraline 3 days ago and she is so ill. She initially had severe sickness and diarrhea , loss of appetite, trembling, high temperature, sore head. She said she also feels so sad which is a worry because it was a failed suicide attempt that prompted CAHMS to put her on medication. It breaks my heart to see her like this. Please tell me it'll pass. I am planning on calling Dr tomorrow if she's not improved but I'm at a loss. It's even worse as I've needed to come into work today and left her with her boyfriend which is such a responsibility for him.

Does anyone know why the lack of sleep doesn't seem to affect you too much taking setraline. Ive not slept hardly since i upped my dose to 50mg which was a wk ago. I feel quite energised i sleep for about 2 hrs then i wake up up and just can't go to sleep until about 6am when it is presumably coming out of my system. Drspite this i am functioning and almost feel like I've taking speed. Dud twice in my youth.

Hi I been on setraline for 2 weeks feeling awful when do side affects settle down. .

Can I join

Day 7 on sertraline feeling weak and terrible and struggling to cope 😥