Sertraline - not feeling as good, what shall I do...?

[CoffeeeLove]

I started on Sertraline for anxiety in November 2020 and everything became better. I realised that I had been living with anxiety for a long time, and I actually felt 'normal'. For the past 2 weeks, I've felt anxiety beginning to seep in... sleeping not as great, racing thoughts, subtle 'doom' feelings, occasional chest pains... etc. It's manageable right now, but due to how bad things got before, I'm worried about it getting much worse or being prolonged.

At the same time, I don't really want to up the medication, as I had been very good on 50mg.

What would you do?

Sorry OP I'm following as I'm in exactly the same boat, except I only started in October 2021. Feel like the initial brilliant effects are slightly wearing off?

I had this after about a year. Increased to 100mg and felt myself again

It's likely you'll need a dose increase but it doesn't always mean that you'll need to keep increasing.

A close friend of mine was on 50mg and then she had the same, she went up to 100mg and has been settled on that for a couple of years now.

I do think it's really important to use medication in conjunction with other taking therapy etc. are you doing this? If not talk to your GP about the options available in your area.

It's great medication has lifted the worst but it's still important to find coping mechanisms as there will always be anxious periods in life even if the day to day is managed well.

My daughter is the same. At some point she found it not to be working and had to increase. I think it's common..

I was the same and had to increase the dose.
After 2 years I very slowly decreased back to 50, which is where I’ve been for the last couple of years.

@HeadingForHome Ah, sorry to hear that, hopefully you can get resolved.

@TikTokCat @OutsideVoice How far did it go before you decided that you should increase? For the past 2 weeks, I’ve not been feeling great but I wasn’t sure if it was related to external circumstances, like work, which had been pretty stressful.

I kept dismissing it as external circumstances, but then decided that as I wasn’t coping with those things as well as I was I should try a higher dose.

It took me a few weeks of external circumstances (which turned out just to be life) to decide to up the dose.

@allkoalalala I was referred for CBT but at the time, but in the end, I decided against it as I was following the principles of ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) at the same time as beginning Sertraline. The ACT I was following was only self-guided through a book but it made sense to me… but I couldn’t do both (or so I was told).

@OutsideVoice Did you reach the point of not coping before trying the higher dose? I'm coping fine right now, but I recognise this creep of anxiety. I feel like I have this inner dialogue saying I am not feeling very good, which I can't seem to shrug off.

[quote CoffeeeLove]@OutsideVoice Did you reach the point of not coping before trying the higher dose? I'm coping fine right now, but I recognise this creep of anxiety. I feel like I have this inner dialogue saying I am not feeling very good, which I can't seem to shrug off.[/quote]
My daughter had a conversation with her GP - just a follow up phone call - and mentioned she was feeling slightly less good (sounds similar to you) and the GP said she needed to up her dose. She wasn't really bad but the doctor didn't let her get to that point. Interestingly a few months later she decided she didn't need it anymore and it probably wasn't doing anything and she was cured! It turned out the dr knew best and a few weeks later she was back on it.

@Copasetic Maybe I should speak to my GP… not sure. Thanks for sharing about your daughter’s experience. Do you think she will be in them long term/forever?

*on

I don't know. She's 19 and started getting very stressy at school in the build up to GCSEs and had a few panic attacks. She's a high achiever and puts a lot of pressure on herself. She in her first year at Uni and mostly no one would think she was on any medication for anxiety. There are some triggers for her particular - mostly when being put in the spot to be observed, eg she has always danced and can't do improvisation without a panic attack! I think you should speak to your doctor. I hope she isn't on them for life but who knows. I think that at her age, there are huge amounts of pressure on her that won't always exist so I think there's every chance she won't be.

Sorry to hear she's going through all this @Copasetic, sounds really stressful and I'm sure you worry about it. Being a high achiever naturally comes with a lot of anxiety, that's for sure.

I'd consider increasing if I were you. 50 is quite a low dose and you can always lower again if you feel more stable. It's not worth risking getting worse and reaching the point of not coping as the increase won't work straight away anyway and you don't want to spend weeks feeling terrible.

Thank you, yes I am considering it. Feeling a lot better today, though. My daughter had a positive LFT yesterday, and I wonder if I'd had it (despite -ve LFTs) and that was making me feel really off-kilter?!

I kept crying @coffeelove
I knew that was madness and I wasn't being myself. As soon as I upped the dose I felt more balanced again

Hi there, I hope you don't mind me joining.

I've been on Sertraline for 6 months and every time I get a prescription it's a different brand. The latest one is new again and I've taken them for 2 days and have literally gone massively downhill.

I couldn't stop crying tonight for hours which hasn't happened to me since last summer. My head feel pressurised and headachy. I feel awful, not ill, just overwhelmed and really low.

Has anyone else noticed this with brand changes and does everyone else get given different brands every time or is it just me?

@TheLaughOfRustyLee this has happened to my friend who can only have 1 brand of Sertraline. Hope you can get back on an even keel.

I get different brands all the time.