Sertraline - body pains

[Bambini83]

Hi, started 50mg of sertraline (four weeks ago tomorrow). Main reason for starting was anxiety and low mood caused by long term chronic illness.

Initial 9 days were absolutely horrific and had whole host of side effects - weakness, dizziness, extreme fatigue, nausea, dry mouth, lack of appetite, headache etc etc. bedbound and feeling terrible, couldn’t even walk around house. I persevered as advised by GP and by day 10 was doing so much better.

I had around 6 ‘good’ days with minimal side effects and then started with fairly extreme exhaustion for 3 days accompanied by unpleasant and at times strong body (joint/bone) pains - mainly lower back, legs (knees/ankles), neck, occasionally shoulders and arms. I contacted the GP who suggested it may be viral. If persisting then half the tablet to 25mg for a week to see if it helps.

I persisted on 50mg in the hope things would resolve but they didn’t. I therefore halved the tablet for the first time on Sunday. That day the pains were present but significantly lessened. The day after they were worse again. Today lessened again. I know it will take a while for things to level out on the lower dose. I do suspect it must be the sertraline as I take the tablet at 8:30am and by 2:30pm I find symptoms at their most heightened (I assume when blood levels are peaking). Headaches are also hard to deal with. I do fear the reduction in dose might start to bring its own side effects by tomorrow.

I see my GP again on Friday. I think I’m going to ask if I can just come off altogether. I don’t know if they may suggest trying something else. It’s a shame as my anxiety and mood have definitely been improved on the whole but I really can’t face living with these symptoms day to day (especially as I’m already chronically unwell).

I just wonder if anyone has experienced similar side effects and if they decided to discontinue/found a different anti depressant worked better for them? It’s been such an horrendous experience I’m honestly terrified to try anything else. Equally concerned that the side effects may linger after I stop!

TIA

For me, the migraines started on day 3, coupled with pins and needles type pain in my hands to begin with but spreading. I took it for just over 2 weeks and by the end felt awful, permanent headache, painful pins and needles everywhere and nausea. They did stop fairly fast after I stopped.

Mine was prescribed by a psychiatrist and he told me to stop taking them. He wouldn't prescribe any other anti depressants because of the pins and needles instead I was offered an anti psychotic off label (I declined) and temazapan.

So sorry to hear you had such an awful experience @Dinosauratemydaffodils

Thanks so much for letting me know. And glad that your side effects stopped fairly quickly after ceasing them. I pray the same will happen for me 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Hi how are you feeling now? I've been on Sertraline for nearly a year now and it has definitely helped with my moods and anxiety but I feel like I've put on quite a bit of weight in the past year which I'm putting down to Sertraline and about 3 weeks after I started taking it I developed knee pain which has gradually gotten worse to the point now where I can hardly walk. It's only today I've thought it might be the Sertraline. I've had a quick google and found a forum where other people have felt the same. Coincidence?! I want to come off it now.

Hi @poppinpink i reduced the dose from 50mg to 25mg and thankfully the side effects dramatically improved. My GO wasn’t sure if 25mg would be a therapeutic dose but agreed I could stick with it and see how I went. It seems to really do the trick for me at such a low dose. I hope you manage to find a resolution