too scared to take them (sertraline)

[Aprilshowers24]

I was prescribed them a week ago, and they have been locked away in my cupboard ever since.

I was prescribed them for depression, PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks.
I am having very distressing flashbacks.

In addition I am perimenopausal. My hormones have gone completely crazy, and my cycle is all messed up. This adds to how I am feeling.
I am limited to what medication I can take due to hemiplegic migraines.

As regards the sertraline. If I knew I would be fine taking it, I wouldn't hesitate, but it is very much fear of the unknown and what I have read (other people's scary experiences when starting taking it - some of which have lasted for a month or longer).
The side effects I read about just sound horrendous. If it was just an upset stomach I could cope with that, but people have reported feeling "disconnected from their body", feeling dizzy, erratic heartbeat, really bad headaches, overwhelming tiredness (I'm a carer to my severely disabled son and need to be alert), visual disturbances (I get this with the migraines I have and it terrifies me), and the thing that scares me most - some have experienced suicidal thoughts while taking them.

On top of that I somehow feel guilty for not taking them when they have been prescribed for me, but I am just so scared.

Open the capsule tip most of it out and just take the ‘ trace of it’
keep doing this with increased amounts
I felt the same and did this and it allowed me to build up the trust to take it xx

Don’t read the side effects of any drug would be my advice.
FWIW, Ive been in sertraline for years and never had a problem.

DS takes sertraline for anxiety. He cut the pills up and started weaning himself onto them very slowly to minimise the side effects. You could do that.

I know several people who have taken it and every single one of them said it works. Most of them took it for a short period and once they came off it, the anxiety didn't return. A medical friend of mine said it is the gentlest of all the SSRIs with fewest side effects. And it definitely targets anxiety.

Give them a go. DS said he wished he'd not been so slow to try them. he kept them for ages before starting as he was so worried about the potential effects but he was so relieved when they started to work.

OP what frightens you more? Possibly feeling a bit stoned for a day or so after taking tablets that stay in your system less than 48hrs and you can stop taking at any time? Or living the rest of your life feeling the way you do now?

I tried them they were awful all they did was give me headaches awful ones for days on end they didn’t help my depression anxiety at all if anything made it worse don’t bother is my advice I was too tired to get out of bed gave me an awful sore throat and like sores in the back of my throat my mouth was so dry it was awful and my anxiety was through the rough more cons than pros for me sadly and I’m now on mirtazapine if they offer you that don’t bother I’ve gained 6 pounds and the dreams have been awful and heard somebody speak in my ear the other night obviously a Hallucination but everybody’s different how it effects them I was on sertraline I think for 2 months or 3 it’s just a blur

Good evening, I was on sertraline about 4 years ago, I too was very scared to take them, i read the leaflet with all the side effects, I read plenty of horror stories online and I made up my mind to not take them, until I just got to the point with my pnd and ptsd that I couldn’t function in my day to day life, so I decided to give them a go, half a tablet to start with to slowly wean onto them, my husband booked a couple of weeks off to be home with me incase I was having any of these horrible side effects I was reading about, for me they worked well, I was also having cbt at the time, and a year later I felt ok enough to wean myself off them, obviously this is my experience and every body react differently to medication, there’s no guarantees that you won’t get any side effects but you’ve got to weigh up the pros and cons and decide for yourself, you can always stop them if you do get any side effects.

It sounds like they are worth a try given what you are experiencing. Some people even take them for migraines. I think all AD’s carry a warning about suicidal feelings, it’s quite a hard one to measure when someone is already in a bad place. Just give them a chance and start off really slowly.

You don’t have to take them because you’ve been prescribed but equally you want to try something and they could hugely help.