Sertraline petrified of taking it

[Cherryblossom200]

Hi all,

I've been prescribed sertraline 25mg which I can up after a week. It's for perimenopause symptoms, I get crippling anxiety and feel low 2 weeks out of the 4. HRT doesn't really help that greatly, so my GP has recommended I take a low dose of antidepressants to help me.

I work full time in quite a stressful job and I'm a solo parent, I can't really rely on someone looking after my child for long periods of time. So it's just me. And that's what I'm worried about if I take the drug - the horrific side effects I keep reading about. Mainly the tiredness and sickness (I have a bit of a phobia about being sick) but trying to look after a young child on your own whilst being sick or feeling sick is almost impossible.

This is what's stopping me, is it that bad?! From what I've read, things get worse before they get better.

Remember that people are more likely to post about bad experiences so it can give a skewed view of the side effects of ADs
FWIW my partner is on Sertraline and hasn’t had any side effects. He is much happier and less grumpy too.

Honestly it's ok don't worry. It does help and things settle down and level out.

Thanks, my GP did say that a large proportion of his patients don't have any side effects.

I'm going to wait until June, I have a couple of social events and I'd like to have a drink. Im not sure how the drugs work with alcohol 😬

Take it early evening for the first two weeks and have a good half pint of water to wash it down. The worst side effect for me was heartburn because I used to dry swallow it at bedtime...

You'll be over any effects - if you have any - in two weeks, give it a go.

I never had an issue with it and alcohol.

You're looking for excuses to delay this.....

But I've heard if I take it at night I won't sleep and that I'll feel like my head has lots of fireworks going off in it 😮😮😮

I still have a drink and it's ok but I don't drink too much anyway.

I was advised to take in the morning and I'd agree with that as the odd time that I have forgotten and taken it in the evening I haven't slept.

I would take it early in the morning to begin with as it did make me feel sick. Took about 3 weeks before that wore off. I'm on 100mg and have no side affects. It has made the world of difference to me

OP, don't worry too much.
25mg is a low dose. You may get a bit of nausea in the beginning but it will pass.
The normal therapeutic dose is 50mg.
Take it at night. You probably won't get any of the 'fireworks' at all.
Who has told you this?
It could be a life-changer for you.
Has anyone told you how much better you could feel on it?
Or have you just read up/heard from people that are confirming your ( suspected) bias that it will be catastrophically awful?
It could help you so much. But you may well need to go up to 50mg.
It can 6-8 weeks to work.
Don't worry!
Good luck. X

Avoid alcohol at the beginning, most definitely,

then try it out. Never take it with a lot of alcohol though.
Just saying, it's not a total no no.

Everybody seems to say they have really bad side effects on this. I've been on 50mg for just over 2 weeks and I don't even feel like it's made much difference. No side effects to be honest I have never ever taken any form of mediation like this before but in a month or so I might ask my GP to increase my dose.

I put off taking it because I was worried about side effects. I would say I had a bad tummy after the first tablet and felt ever so slightly more anxious for a few days. After that I felt the same until 2 weeks in when I started to feel so much better. I wish I had gone on it years ago, I’ve wasted 3 years of my life in deep anxiety. Just try it OP, it may really help.

Not at all true!

I was told to take mine in the morning but I find it makes me feel quite tired (I’m on 50mg) so I take mine at night. I sleep fine (and I have insomnia usually!).

It has drastically improved my mental health but for the first week I did feel more anxious than usual and took a few days off work.

I have taken them for 5 months and have just been swapped to Citralapram to see if it makes me feel less tired.

Just try it out, I had no side effects taking it or issues with alcohol with it etc.

I've taken many SSRI/SNRI's and more. Sertraline has been an absolute life saver for me. I'be gone from deep depression and daily crying, to being so much happier on it. I feel like a different, happier, non anxious person. (Will never be totally anxiety free but that's just me - what I get a ping of now is bearable) I'm on 50mg. Worst side effects I had were with Duloxetine, (brain zaps of missed one/coming off them), albeit it was also a very effective anti-D and nerve painkiller.

Also I have drunk on my tablets it’s fine.

You're looking for excuses not to take it. If you were told to take medication for diabetes for example, you wouldn't put it off.

It's prescribed medication by a Dr. The warnings in the leaflet inside are rare.

I'm on sertraline like many I know. I know of no one with any effects like you say.

If you don't start it now, your mental health will overtime get worse, and you will need more and might not find it so easy to bounce back from. Take it from someone who learnt the hard way

Thanks everyone 😊 I got the reviews off the internet. I can't remember which site, but the majority of the people on there listed horrific side effects - it scared the living daylights out of me. I actually felt it might be better to stay feeling like this than what I face ahead.

But I'm going to try it! I have a fairly low key June, not big social events. So I'll wait until then so I can sort of get used to it.

I have heard that it can be life changing and I hope it will be. I feel I've forgotten how to laugh, it's awful.

Try not to worry.
I was like this and I just had to go for it, for the sake of my mental health.
Yes it was shit for about 4 days. Shaky and nausea. Fuzziness and weird feeling. It got better after a few weeks. By week 4 anxiety melted away. Premenstrual tension zero.
I felt like I could deal with anything and didn't cry once. I think I've heard people call it God status because you feel pretty strong emotionally.
Cons were that my eating got a bit out of control. I got sick of dry mouth, thirst and waking up a lot.
I did taper off because my shitty circumstances that caused it got more bearable. Electric shocks were there for about a week or two coming off.
I wouldn't have come off if was struggling still I'd have asked for a different medicine. It's not something you'd just stop taking cold turkey.

Also, did you hear about all the scare stories before you gave birth to? It's the old Chinese whispers game.

That isn't even in the side affects and I'm on them

Ok so I take it at night then?

I actually don't get on with it, but I've taken it to find that out. It wasn't the worst experience ever, by any means.

I didn't have any issue with it making me physically sick. I was fine, but I find SSRIs make me a bit edgy and jumpy. Not the worst feeling in the world. No worse than having a bit too much caffeine.

If you are still worried, try a half or even a quarter. You can always take the other half if you feel alright.

I take 100mg sertraline in the morning. Started at 50mg, felt a little bit headachy and nauseated for a few days but no other side effects. It’s definitely helped my anxiety.

@cherryblossom200 The worst thing you can do is read generic reviews.

If you want to check anything medical, go on the NHS sites or chat here in a community

My personal experience is that sertraline saved me. I have ‘me’ back and a bit of my sparkle back. I’ve been on it just over a year (50mg, 100mg did make me too tired).

I do drink more than I should on it, my motivator to not drink with it is that it makes me extremely sleepy the next day. I still do it occasionally though and just get by The next day with coffee and keeping active.

But without alcohol I don’t face the tiredness!