Sertraline for physical symptoms of social/performance anxiety?

[PinkCosYouAreSoVery]

If you suffer from the physical symptoms of social/performance anxiety, such as racing heart, shaking, blushing, voice shaking etc, did sertraline help that?

I suffer from the above as well as a kind of 'impending doom' feeling. I have been on sertraline 100mg for a month now and whilst the doom feeling has lifted, im not sure if the sertraline helps with the physicals symptoms.

I have taken propranolol in the past for planned things like presentations/meetings etc but I need help with the day to day symptoms I suffer in unplanned scenarios, even seeing people I know in the supermarket brings on these symptoms for no reason! I'm really hoping the sertraline will help - please can anyone who suffers with the physical symptoms let me know if sertraline is likely to help me with that? I have asked the GP about slow release propranolol which I could take once a day but he said the minimum dose is 80mg which is a lot stronger than the dose I currently have which is 20mg so they won't prescribe it for me.

Yes it did for me. Palpitations, "thick" throat, shakes all definitely improved. Stick with it as it took maybe 3 months to do this. Good luck x

Ah thank you, there is hope then! I'm glad it has helped you. What dosage are you on?

I've just lowered to 50mg (was 100mg) just to see how I go. Am on propranolol too. It was the best move ever to go on them. My life has changed - without trying to sound dramatic!

Thats so good to know! What dose propranolol do you take and do you just take it occasionally or is it more of a case of taking most days,a few times a day?

20mg as and when I feel I need it. Some days I take a few and some days nothing as the Sertraline seems to have smoothed over most anxiety and depression symptoms.

Thank you for sharing with me, that's so good that its helping you! I'm going to keep on it to give it a proper chance.

Would be interested to hear from anyone else with experience too :)

Medications for anxiety are usually anti-depressants. However anxiety is much more complex. Alas GP’s have little to no training in mental health and the spectrum of things that can be involved in anxiety.

Breath work, therapy and in particular hypnotherapy can be really a far more productive solution.
Anxiety can be a discomfort when we don’t understand it’s motive. I do hope you can find a way through.

Thank you Fiona, I will be giving further thought to CBT, and will read up on hypnotherapy.

im going to keep going with the sertraline. I had a glimmer of hope today- I attended a work meeting via Teams video and has to lead on a lot of the items. I wasn’t feel as nervous as I usually would and i was able to talk through everything feeling relaxed. I didn’t take propranolol as I wanted to test myself. So either I’m having a good anxiety day or the tablets are maybe helping more than I thought. Or both maybe 😁

Hey OP, hope you’re well. I know this is old but just wondering if the medication ever did help with the physical symptom?

@SB1990 Sorry - only just saw your post. I came off sertraline as i didnt find it to be of much help. I have been using propranolol which is great and had got me through. My general anxiety eased off for a few months but its just got worse again recently so I am waiting a response from the GP to see if I can try a different anti-depressant for anxiety.

Also, I have been prescribed clonidine to see if that helps with the blushing issues. I need to give it a proper go as I only tried it for a couple of days on minimum dose before and I think it made me teary, but am going to try again.