Seteraline - will it bring me back my joy?

[Letstwistagain]

Hi,

I'm really struggling with some complicated emotions following a traumatic loss in February. After trying to battle through the last couple of months, I have now been prescribed 50mg Seteraline.

At the moment my anxiety and depression peak in the morning and I wake up in the middle of the night with racing negative thoughts and heart pounding. I'm so tired. I have also totally lost my appetite and lost over a stone now that I didn't really have to lose. The worst part is that even my children, who are my whole world, are no longer bringing me the joy they did before.
Will it help me???
I'm also considering ttc soon, but obviously am worried about my current depression. Does anyone have any experiences? I was a happy person until the last couple of months.

I am also starting psychotherapy and EMDR next month. Desperate to get over this and feel like myself again. Planning to start taking tablets tonight.

Thanks for any words of wisdom.

It didn't bring me joy but it stopped the suicidal tendencies

I feel this too. Being unable to find joy in your children is so so hard. Also potentially TTC soon. I’m starting EMDR this week & trying to get established on sertraline

Probably not. Antidepressants don't cure you, but they give you space in your head again so you can work on getting better. For me I liken it to drowning and the pills put a bottom in the pool under me that so could push back off to get back up to air.

I found the side effects stopped in a week or two and it helped with the racing thoughts, sleep, anxiety etc.

Personally I'd hold off TTC for a few months to let you build up your mental strength. Take some pressure off yourself.

The EMDR and psychotherapy should be very helpful as well though!

Honestly - it doesn't give you joy, but it will give you the bandwidth to find and build joy again.

My experience of Sertraline is that you don't get the same kind of high points as you did unmedicated, but more importantly for me, you don't get anywhere near the same kind of lows. It shortens your range so your emotions bump around the middle ground more easily, but everyone has a slightly different experience and YMMV.

Good luck!

I don’t have any personal experience but my good friend was on sertraline for anxiety and it helped her. She said she felt completely flat on it though.

I have another friend who has found EMDR incredibly helpful with her decades long health anxiety and intrusive thoughts.

They might help OP but isn’t how you feel a completely normal response to a traumatic loss so recently? Not sure whether it is a good idea to medicate normal feelings?

Nobody here can advise that, OP.
Experiences of antidepressants are different for everyone. Even if you have taken the same one before, there is no guarantee it will work or not a second time, with the same results.

Sertraline won't cause you to feel joy, it may help you not to feel extreme lows. I had severe depression and anxiety in my 20s and haven't felt joy since, but I can feel contentment and gratitude. I'm fully unmedicated now. Usually, meds stop you from feeling anything either way, so no highs and no lows. It's more of a blank, numbness that can ultimately save lives.

You just learn a new normal eventually, I also do some EDMR. I have no idea if it works, but I like the "science" behind it.

I hope you feel better soon xx

I have to say @Letstwistagain I disagree slightly in that in my experience anti depressants definitely lift my mood so I am able to feel joy again! When I’m in the depths of anxiety and depressant I have no motivation to do anything and don’t want to do any of the things I normally enjoy… the ADs boost your mood so your less sad and anxious and u start to enjoy life again! I know everyone’s different but just wanted to offer my experience! I hope they do work for you ❤️‍🩹xx

obviously if you are grieving it’s not going to take away that pain but it may help you cope better with your emotions while you are dealing with your loss xx

It didn’t work for me. It dulled my emotions but the feelings of sadness were still there. My partner commented that I seemed detached and not completely present. I’ve tried several and none of them worked for me I’m sorry to say.