Sertraline for mild general anxiety? Worth it?

[Bellablot2254]

Hi everyone.

im looking for some advice please. I’ve suffered with anxiety on and off my whole life. I’ve recently gone though some stressful events and I’m not feeling great. But I’m also not feeling desperate.

I have had a few episodes of desperation but always just rode them out. I’ve always been against medication because I’m scared it will change who I am, or I’ll get addicted.

Basically I’m not depressed (slight low mood) and I’m not ‘crippled’ with anxiety, however I am very irritable and have general underlying anxiety and health anxiety (last 2 weeks of my cycle seem to be worst). I can cope day to day. I still go to work etc, but I feel like having low lying anxiety means I’m not getting the most out of life. I’m scared of everything and I just want to be able to live day to day without overthinking every single thing and being harassed all the time. My brain goes 100 mile an hour nonstop.

I keep reading about how good sertraline is at reducing anxiety, and thinking about trying it.

I suppose my question to everyone who’s taking sertraline, is how exactly does it make you feel? and has anyone took it for mild anxiety? In other words, anxiety that isn’t ruining your life, but definitely having an impact and stopping you from living your best life?

any insight greatly appreciated :)

I put off trying meds for years.
I wish I had done it sooner.
I didn't really realise what anxiety is until things got better on meds.

This is me! Word for word.

I take 25mg sertraline 2 weeks out of 4. That’s apparently not officially recommended but my GP has a special interest in PMDD and it’s advised for that. It’s weird because apparently used like this (or maybe used for anxiety, can’t remember) it is quite common for it to have immediate effects, whereas for depression it can take weeks to start seeing results.
I started on 50mg but had such a dry mouth I reduced down and found that relieved my anxiety and dry mouth so I never had to increase back up. I may end up taking sertraline 4 weeks out of 4 because it’s evened out my 2 crazy weeks back up to my baseline; but made me realise my baseline is still quite anxious if you see what I mean.

On sertraline I just feel like me, and who I should have been all this time but anxiety was stopping me. Honestly the relief of being out of the monthly crippling anxiety is amazing. I had 1 normal week, one downhill week, one awful week, one week getting life/projects etc back on track, then repeat the cycle month after month.

It makes me care less about the scarey stuff.
I do feel a bit detached from some things but I'd rather that than feel bad anxiety.
I felt nauseaus for a few weeks and lost weight

Oh wow, that’s great to know, thanks. Glad you’re finding it so helpful

Sorry tried to reply individually and don’t think it worked. But thanks for your replies. Such a help.

@MassiveSalad22 I googled PMDD and can’t get over what I’m reading. That’s me. I’m ok the first week after my period, and then it’s progressively worse from there. If you take it only half the month though wouldn’t you keep getting withdrawals?

I’ve got the actual pills already but I’m nervous to take them due to the side affects (obviously as I’m scared of everything ha) but maybe I’ll give them a go. Did you have any major side affects?

Anyone else?

Propanalol is good for anxiety, you don't get such heavy side effects as with sertraline and you can take it when you are feeing anxious it doesn't have to be every day

I'm on it. I've felt like you described for years and during the early lockdown in 2020 I had lots of responsibilities with childcare and.the anxiety /depression bubbles over. Doc recommended this and its been wonderful. My mindset is so much better now. My moods are more stable. My weight has crept up a bit but that's been the only side effect for me.

thanks @nancydroo but doc said I can’t take that due to bradycardia 😞

thanks for the insight @IrishMamaMia that sounds exactly like me. It just all gets too much like you say. I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. Glad you’ve found some relief. Hopefully I will too. Although hope I get no weight gain, still struggling to shift my baby weight! 🙃

Sorry if you've said and I've missed it, have you tried counselling/therapy first? I felt very like that - not dire, not desperate, but constant, niggling, low level anxiety. I self referred to my local talking therapies thing, IAPT might be the acronym? And they were really helpful, had a telephone assessment where we discussed the best course of action. You could google it for your local area. I found it really helpful.

Hi @shortpeopleproblems I’ve had therapy throughout my life on and off yes. Most recent was a couple of years ago, CBT, but I can’t say I notice too much of a difference.

I do have mild ocd which I’ve had for as long as I can remember, age 5 is the earliest I can remember back to - constantly having to count everything, opening doors a certain number of times or something bad will happen, doing things in certain patterns. Sounds weird but I assumed it was normal until I got a bit older. I still have it now but it’s mild when I’m feeling ok, then when I’m starting to get anxious it gets worse. I was also in a bad relationship when I was very young with someone older. Which, looking back, is when I started getting real anxiety, so maybe I need longer term therapy to help. I didn’t really link the two as I didn’t know that relationship still bothered me now, but maybe that’s a contributing factor.

they don’t seem to offer long term therapy on the NHS though do they? I’ll have a look into it. Thanks

@shortpeopleproblems oh, and I’m so glad it helped you out. I hope you’re feeling better about things now

No no withdrawals. It’s a new way to use sertraline so they don’t really know why it works yet!

May as well just take it all the time though tbh. No side effects other than dry mouth.

Sorry that was an NC fail MNHQ will hopefully sort for me!

Was going to say, anything thing is it feels really good to actually take the situation in your hands and do something about it, ie take the meds. For a doc to say ‘yes it sounds like you have a problem and here are some meds’ is quite validating. Here is a problem and it doesn’t have to be this way forever. Here is a solution.

*another thing 🙄

I started Sertraline during a really tough time in my life but have realised since that I have had low level anxiety for donkey’s years. One example is that I now don’t mind driving on the motorway. I am also a much calmer passenger.

I was on it for three years and came off it at the end of the summer. I was on 50mg for a year, then after having a baby i increased to 100mg to deal with the new challenges of new bay, stuck in covid lockdowns, etc etc.
I have nothing but praise for Sertraline, it levelled me out and made my brain 'quiet' if that makes sense. I found that I did less overthinking and was better able to focus on particular threads of thought, which was always a challenge for me previously.
The reason I came off it was simply because I had always intended to be on it in order to give myself the breathing room I needed to build a life that didn't make me anxious or depressed, and I felt like I was reaching a point where I was in that kind of environment.
I had the nausea and a little trouble sleeping for about 3 weeks when I started taking it but after that it was fine, no side effects. Good luck if you decide to go for it!

I've been on 50mg a day for some months now, and it's really helped with the general sense of anxiety I felt most days. I did suffer some side effects to begin with - mostly nausea and diarrhea - the latter lasted over a month and almost made me give up on the pills, but I'm glad I didn't as I'm feeling a lot less anxious now although I still have bad days from time to time and am thinking about asking the doc if I should increase my dose. There's a Sertraline support group on Facebook if you're interested :) Best of luck with it, anyway.

Yes I take it for that.
It’s very good. No side effects for me.

Do some CBT alongside

I have been on 10mg for a year. Even at a low dose it has changed my life for the better.

take it take it take it. Whenever I come off I go back to mild anxiety and when I start again I realise what I am meant to feel like/ what a normal non anxious human looks like. And it’s a fuck of a lot better!

No side effects, only heightened anxiety for first few days which does hit me quite hard.

OP this describes me exactly! I keep putting off going to the gp about it though because the thought makes me so anxious! But reading these comments makes me think maybe I should... Hope you find something that works for you, whether that's sertraline or not.

Sertraline completely changed my life for the better. I actually couldn’t believe I could just feel good and positive. I came off it when ttc and currently pregnant and really really missing it and can tell I feel significantly lower and more anxious. I will definitely be going back on it when baby is here

I've been taking 10mg for about 6 weeks and I feel so much better. Glad to have scope to increase the dose in the future if needed. Please take it. Anxiety is so debilitating

Hello, I started taking it during a very difficult time to help me cope, but really I had been struggling with depression and anxiety for years on and off.

It's been great for me and I really wish I had done it sooner.

Main benefits were:
Stopped yelling at my kids
Stopped having physical reactions to stressful situations, it became easier to take a step back and feel calm
Stopped ruminating and obsessing about problems
My anxiety about driving hugely improved

I've just come off it and for me it was easy, no side effects. I had a headache for one day and a couple of days when it was hard to sleep, but totally manageable.