Sertraline 2- A second handholding thread

[freckles20]

This thread is a follow on to the original handhold thread- for those beginning or continuing their journey on sertraline. All are welcome.

This is a supportive thread, where all situations are unique and there is no judgement.

Must say I find the lows almost worse than before I started on sertraline too! I need some good days

@Hope2dance @mrsdiddlydoo @Ihana thanks so much, I've realised I've got into this negative place through some of my thinking, just had a session with my counsellor and I've turned it around. Now I feel quite happy again. It's getting easier to control my very low lows and I'm taking it as a win for today

Hello
I started mine yesterday 50ml
Never had anything before so all new
I do feel nauseous today & a bit drowsy at times,
Yesterday my jaw kept clenching but it not as bad today
How long until i feel ok lol...

@Skyliner001 glad you are noticing some progress.

@Hope2dance I wonder if the bad days seem worse than before because we are having good days, but really they are the same as before. The good days are much better.

@Imagineit great that you are sticking with the counselling and you were able to turn your mood around.

Hi @Mummywith2 The worst if the side effects of you have any generally pass in the first couple of weeks. You can't feel worse before you feel better but it's worth pushing through this and giving it a good chance to do its thing.

Hope everyone has a good day. Woken up with a stonking headache.

@Mummywith2 hang in there the first week/10 days were the worst fit me, I did find having something to eat helped with the nausea. I felt brighter at times even though I had side effects, and after two weeks I felt great, sadly fir me that was fairly short lived and now after 4 weeks I’m upping to 100mg in the advise of my GP

Thank you
Xxx

Hi there, this is my first foray into the world of antidepressants and I wondering if you could give me some insights on sleep disturbance. I started sertraline 25 g a week ago and yesterday was my first 50mg dose. I slept terribly last night. Got off ok but woke early hours and was really restless. I usually sleep really well. Not sure if it is related? From your experience does sleep disorder hang around or does it settle down? Thank you xx

Hey has anyone's doctor told them hold long to anticipate feeling better on a dose?

@Vegiereggie I’m into my 5th week, like you, first time on AD’s, and I’ve just upped from 50-100mg, I found the first week/10 days the worst, and dud have some disturbed nights, waking with my mind racing, it was short lived though. Hopefully you will settle in a few days.
I do take Kalms night time and use an oil diffuser by my bed, might be psychological but I think it helps 😊

Thanks Hope2dance that’s really useful.

@Imagineit - I spoke to a mental health nurse on Monday and she said to expect to see results between 2-6 weeks.

I am on day 13 here. I started on 50mg and have stayed on that dose. I have had not nausea or dizziness but have a dry mouth and feel very tired. I am sleeping for hours at night but still waking up tired.

The main issue is that I feel incredibly low most of the time. This really needs to lift soon otherwise it won't be worth it. I'd rather have the combination of good and bad days I was getting before I started medication.

@HoxtonBonnet I had such a bad night. Couldn't sleep at all and now completely anxious. Talking to the doc again about if I should change meds. 4.5 weeks on 100

[quote HoxtonBonnet]@Imagineit - I spoke to a mental health nurse on Monday and she said to expect to see results between 2-6 weeks.

I am on day 13 here. I started on 50mg and have stayed on that dose. I have had not nausea or dizziness but have a dry mouth and feel very tired. I am sleeping for hours at night but still waking up tired.

The main issue is that I feel incredibly low most of the time. This really needs to lift soon otherwise it won't be worth it. I'd rather have the combination of good and bad days I was getting before I started medication.[/quote]
The tiredness will ease. Honestly, I was tired ALL the time and sleeping until lunchtime which isn't like me at all, but it lifted! I didn't even notice but here I am, wide awake before 9am! (My schedule is weird so 9am is good for me - I work super late).

As for feeling low .. that should lift too :). You may find you need to increase your dose at some point but it should help! Apparently it can take a bit longer to help low mood than anxiety but I know for sure that I feel better now :).

@Imagineit - that sounds tough - I really hope the doctor can help. I think you have had some days when you have felt a change for the better - hopefully that is a good sign?

@LindaEllen - thank you - it's really good to hear your positive experiences and gives me some hope!

I am giving it 2 months. If I can't see a real and positive difference I am going to stop.

Hi everyone, welcome new posters. Sorry I've struggled to keep up with the thread over the past few days so I'm going to just jump straight in.

I'm at 7 weeks, 2 weeks on 100mg. I am feeling much more level, less anxious, more positive. Not all the time, but much of the time. Its so hard to know how much of this is down to the sertraline and how much is due to the better weather (I work outside so rain and mud is hard), my reduced workload, and the fact that DS seems a bit better which was driving a lot of my difficulties.

I do feel that I'm managing to keep problems more in perspective, and catastrophising less. I've cooked a few new meals from scratch, managed to enjoy watching TV, and this morning did a quick house clean.

I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging- I hope maybe it might help others to see that things can improve. I'm not sure if it will last, but I'll take it for now.

The first 10 days were horrendous, and I would say things continued to be really hard for the first three weeks. After this I felt a bit better, gradually (but still worse than before I started). It's not until recently that I've felt considerably better than I did before starting the meds.

@Imagineit I'm so sorry you're having a dip. I think I read that your counsellor helped you with this a few days ago- is there anything that they said that you can use today? Good luck with talking to your GP. It's so hard to know whether to keep persevering, or look to see if something else might be appropriate.

This thread has been a lifeline for me. To anyone struggling- do post here if you think it might help.

@freckles20 thank you so much for creating it! Sorry I've only just responded to you, I have 5 month old twins and job hunting so all a bit busy. You sound exactly like me at that stage and also at the point I am now and have happily been for a while. For me personally as I've not taken medication like this before , if I'm going to take it I don't want to not take enough for the sake of not feeling overeducated so to speak. I never want to think 'maybe I should have taken a higher dose' if it doesn't work out and have to start all over again with the horrendous side effects at the begining and then the gradual tapering higher (it's taken me six months to get to the 200 I am on). We did it very slowly which I was happy with, like 8 weeks on each dose before upping it I suppose or more. So to have to go through that all again thinking 'i should have tried the higher amount' i decided that I needed to see how it actually felt.

Now that is a very high dose but obviously it was more gradual that some people's experiences on here of upping the dose from the last so I was fairly certain when after the inial good vibes and calm feelings genrally my low mood and worries returned.

I found this return was usually after about 4/5 weeks on the dose for me personally.

The only thing is the sweats at night have continued and I am getting a little tired of it now so I may ask my doctor to swap for a.different medication 🤷. But it's a hard choice as I am feeling really good and productive, sleeping well genrally and operating efficiently without getting stressed out ect, so I don't want to loose that and have to go through a whole.new set of side effects.

I've just had over a month now of these night sweats and they are not exactly plesent !

@freckles20

Hi everyone, welcome new posters. Sorry I've struggled to keep up with the thread over the past few days so I'm going to just jump straight in.

I'm at 7 weeks, 2 weeks on 100mg. I am feeling much more level, less anxious, more positive. Not all the time, but much of the time. Its so hard to know how much of this is down to the sertraline and how much is due to the better weather (I work outside so rain and mud is hard), my reduced workload, and the fact that DS seems a bit better which was driving a lot of my difficulties.

I do feel that I'm managing to keep problems more in perspective, and catastrophising less. I've cooked a few new meals from scratch, managed to enjoy watching TV, and this morning did a quick house clean.

I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging- I hope maybe it might help others to see that things can improve. I'm not sure if it will last, but I'll take it for now.

The first 10 days were horrendous, and I would say things continued to be really hard for the first three weeks. After this I felt a bit better, gradually (but still worse than before I started). It's not until recently that I've felt considerably better than I did before starting the meds.

@Imagineit I'm so sorry you're having a dip. I think I read that your counsellor helped you with this a few days ago- is there anything that they said that you can use today? Good luck with talking to your GP. It's so hard to know whether to keep persevering, or look to see if something else might be appropriate.

This thread has been a lifeline for me. To anyone struggling- do post here if you think it might help.

Thank you for this @freckles20, I’m just into my 5th week, and only 2nd day on 100mg, like you, I started on 50mg had horrible first 10 days, then felt quite a bit better until I crashed again last week

I’m encouraged to read you are feeling better than before meds, as I’m beginning to question it myself, just fed up of feeling all over the place, some days ok, some days flat, sometimes tired and foggy, it’s just one problem replaced with another 😔

@freckles20

Hi everyone, welcome new posters. Sorry I've struggled to keep up with the thread over the past few days so I'm going to just jump straight in.

I'm at 7 weeks, 2 weeks on 100mg. I am feeling much more level, less anxious, more positive. Not all the time, but much of the time. Its so hard to know how much of this is down to the sertraline and how much is due to the better weather (I work outside so rain and mud is hard), my reduced workload, and the fact that DS seems a bit better which was driving a lot of my difficulties.

I do feel that I'm managing to keep problems more in perspective, and catastrophising less. I've cooked a few new meals from scratch, managed to enjoy watching TV, and this morning did a quick house clean.

I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging- I hope maybe it might help others to see that things can improve. I'm not sure if it will last, but I'll take it for now.

The first 10 days were horrendous, and I would say things continued to be really hard for the first three weeks. After this I felt a bit better, gradually (but still worse than before I started). It's not until recently that I've felt considerably better than I did before starting the meds.

@Imagineit I'm so sorry you're having a dip. I think I read that your counsellor helped you with this a few days ago- is there anything that they said that you can use today? Good luck with talking to your GP. It's so hard to know whether to keep persevering, or look to see if something else might be appropriate.

This thread has been a lifeline for me. To anyone struggling- do post here if you think it might help.

I'm so glad you're feeling better! Please don't think of it as bragging, it's not at all. It's brilliant for new posters to be able to see how people are doing who've been on it for longer. It's certainly what I wanted to see when I started. Long may it continue :).

@Hope2dance I feel exactly the same. Insomnia has been awful; can't eat, nauasea. I'm switching to citalopram which helped me for 13 years before I stopped it. Doc says I can make a straight switch. When I switched the opposite way I had no issues at all but I'm a bit delicate at the moment. Doctor thinks it will be fine. Although I've had some better days I can't stand some of the side effects and the massive downs I have to go through. Praying citalopram helps me see the light a bit faster

@Imagineit hope the citalopram works better for you. This is my first time on AD’s and I did have a horrible first 20 days, now into my 5th week and just upped to 100mg no recurrent nausea thank goodness but awful yawning and tiredness this afternoon, yet felt ok this morning, just hate the ups and downs of it, feels like less good days more bad

Just starting on Sertraline... really nervous as I had to come off citalopram after one day. Made me like doom (not English, but I can't explain it in any other way. The doctor has said to start off with 50 grams and to take half a tablet for the first 3 days.

I struggle with my sleep normally so I'm going to take over the counter sleeping tablets (Sleepeaze are good ) for the first week at least. The doctor said to take it in the morning after breakfast.

Quite scared, but I need to get better.

I was prescribed 50mg Sertraline a couple of weeks ago but put off taking them mostly due to the side effects mentioned in these threads. I can’t stand the thought of feeling any worse some days, even if it’s short lived. But spoke to the GP this afternoon who said she thinks I need them, so will start them Saturday morning (not starting tomorrow as I need to go to work and don’t want to feel awful there if I am going to)

Loter16178 good idea not to take it tomorrow if you are working - there is no way I could work whilst starting taking them (I've taken a few types of ADs over the years and it's always really rocky when you start)

If anyone has take ecstasy in the past, it's a bit like that you feel like that you are rushing, and 'coming up', lots of yawning, but with none of the good bits that come after !

[quote Hope2dance]@Imagineit hope the citalopram works better for you. This is my first time on AD’s and I did have a horrible first 20 days, now into my 5th week and just upped to 100mg no recurrent nausea thank goodness but awful yawning and tiredness this afternoon, yet felt ok this morning, just hate the ups and downs of it, feels like less good days more bad[/quote]
Ooops that should have said I had a horrible 10 days not 20!

it's a bit like that you feel like that you are rushing, and 'coming up', lots of yawning, but with none of the good bits that come after !

@FeduponFriday

Lol it's exactly like that 😂