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've just taken my first 25mg sertraline - 5 minutes ago! I sound the same as you and am hoping it's going to help. I increase to 50 after a week. I was terrified of taking it and have delayed until today as I finish work earlier.

Oh have you noticed any immediate side effects @toomanychickens

Thanks for your input everything. Just took my first tablet

Everyone*

I was on 150mg of sertraline it helped me so much.
I went cold turkey in January and since then my mental health declined again. I'm now back on 50mg but I feel
Sure I need to up it back to 100mg I have days where I don't want to be here anymore but the medication really helps level my head out.

I wished I never came off it but we do funny things.

My anxiety is pretty bad, sertraline has been an absolute godsend for me. I am on 50mg. The difference it has made to my life is unbelievable.

Hi hope your feeling ok after your first tablet! I just started sertraline 50mg yesterday for similar. Really hoping it going to help a bit. I’ve had 2 doses now and felt dizzy and breathless after both doses but I feel like that when I have a panic attack anyway so it could just be because I’m anxious about the tablets!

Sorry to hijack but has anyone struggled to drive while they were getting used to the tablets? I have anxiety about driving anyway and I feel like I shouldn’t drive, but my brain tells me I shouldn’t drive most days anyway so not sure if I should give it a go or not. I will have to drive next week for work so can’t avoid it without a very good reason.

@BettyPaws ita unbelievable how anxious I am just taking them, it’s ridiculous. I feel a bit spaced but like you say I don’t know if it’s to do with general worry about taking them. I have a 1 and a 2 year old to look after so I’m hoping not to have lots of side effects. Hope you feel better

I'm 2 weeks into taking them. Felt sick for the first few days. I can feel a difference already. Good luck!

Bellablot2254 - I've been fine on my first dose. About 10 I felt a bit odd - slightly spaced out - but that might have been a coincidence. Hope you've been ok. Are yours 25 or 50mg?

@toomanychickens yeah so far nothing to report. Mine are 50mg, I did consider taking half but just decided to brave the 50g

Sertraline didn’t agree with me, it made my anxiety worse, reduced my daily sleep to less than an hour a day to the point I started considering suicide. I was not even depressed when I started taking it.

Try, but if it doesn’t work for you after a month or two, try another AD.

I just want to report back and say that I had a bout of anxiety for about 4 hours this afternoon, walked to the shop as I was feeling a bit too dizzy to drive, had a massive panic attack made it home and sat on my couch thinking I was going to die for a few hours and then suddenly felt much better. Just had a bit of a tidy round the house and wrote a paragraph of my dissertation which is more productive than I’ve been for weeks!

Does it help with stress responses like chewing fingers and tooth grinding and neck pain and endlessly picking my skin? I'd love to find something that can help with that as I'm about to lose a tooth, got to fix it.

Sertraline has saved my life. Honestly. I would recommend it without hesitation and as another poster said I wish I'd done it sooner. It just takes the edge off my anxieties/ fears.. I still have them but they don't bring me to my knees like they used to. I feel more 'normal' if that makes sense. Like the anxieties I have are no worse than anyone else's. They don't debilitate me. I'm on 25mg daily. If I'm on them for the rest of my life then so be it. I'm happy. Well. Happier!! And that counts for a lot.

Tried a few SSRIs but not worth it for me because they gave me insomnia

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but if you consume caffeine - tea, coffee, Coca Cola etc it's worth considering giving up in addition to taking medication if needed. I found my anxiety lessened and sleep improved once I gave up caffeine.

Hey 👋🏻
long term user of Citalopram here. I take 20mg daily which is a relatively low dose. I’ve also had my fair share of talking therapy and CBT.
when I was pregnant they switched my prescription to citalopram and I felt like I had nosed dived off a cliff and I struggled terribly. However that’s just me, I do much better on citalopram.
I still have days where I find it hard to cope with life’s little stresses so I actually got in touch with Sapphire Medical Clinic. It’s a private clinic, and they prescribe cannabis (legally) you can either have your prescription in the form of a vape or oil, I have a the oil, and without exaggerating, it feels life changing. I can rationalise when I’m stressed, I can acknowledge and fully understand that dark moments pass, and I can navigate hard times in a very pragmatic way.
I couldn’t recommend it enough. I’ve attached the link, you have to be eligible, they don’t just take any patients but definitely worth looking in to!

www.sapphireclinics.com

Sorry should say, when I was pregnant they switched me to Sertraline… mumsnet really needs an edit button! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I didn’t realise until I started taking sertraline that I’d been living on red alert for most of my adult life. Hope it works for you, OP.

@ChakaKhanfan nothing in my life has ever made me more anxious and paranoid than smoking cannabis. I obviously have a completely different brain set up to other people!

Yeah but this is pure THC & CBD, and I don’t smoke it, just a drop of oil under my tongue.I would imagine it would feel very different to what you experienced before

Those starting sertraline are you taking 25mg or 50mg? I am about to start 50mg for PMDD and am not sure whether to halve the tablet and start on 25mg?

thanks so much everyone, this is all so helpful!

@Pmdd2022 im pretty sure that’s what I have too. I’ve started on 50g. I’ve read some people start on 25 bit I thought I’d go straight in for 50.

bellablot2254 have you had any side affects starting on 50mg?