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.

Op, I am in the exact same position only with citalopram. I also have emetophobia and I'm petrified of nearly all medications due to side effects, the idea of feeling worse anxiety than I already do scares me, the idea of dizziness and drowsiness when I need to look after my kids scares me. I picked up my prescription yesterday, 10mg. I'm almost certain I am going to cut the tablet in half and try 5mg tomorrow morning but I have never been so scared in my entire life.

You can drink lightly with these medications, unless your social events are going to be you getting totally plastered?

If you want to do it tomorrow with me I will be here to hold hands for the first week or two until we see what happens?

Thanks NoGod 🥰

I'm feeling great at the moment 😬 I'm on the good side of my cycle at the moment! So I'm going to leave it until June when I have less on and more time to rest.

But please let me know how you get on - good luck 🤞 ❤️

By the way I can't tell when is best to take the pill, evening or day? Part of me thinks evening if it make me drowsy?!

I started taking it in the morning but it was making me tired so swapped to night time. No issues other than being more likely to forget to take it!

Thanks I'm going to do that too 😊

xx

I loved being on sertraline! I felt amazing, I could concentrate on things and relax, I felt happy and a much better parent. if I could start again today I would.

Did you feel joy and you could laugh again? This is what's missing for me and it's 100% down to rubbish hormones!

I've been taking sertraline for 2 months now. (Also a single parent). At first, I would say it made my anxiety peak for 2 or 3 days- but after that it has made a significant positive difference to how I feel. My anxiety and low mood have all but disappeared .

I would advise to take in the morning- but not on an empty stomach. I get horrible stomach upset otherwise. I'm not a breakfast eater but I eat a cracker or something small like that before I take it.

Ok thanks, I guess I can try and take it in the evening and if that doesn't work swap to morning!

So frustrating as I feel great right now 😛😛 but I know in about 2 weeks I'll feel like a different person and that's when I'll take the sertraline x

Absolutely! After feeling flat for so long it was great to laugh again.

I took it and it genuinely saved my life.

Minimal side effects, can’t remember any except feeling a bit shaky first few days and having a dry mouth. I was able to do all my normal activities without any problems

Ignore all of the scare stories. I had no qualms about taking sertraline and absolutely no side effects. As others have said, it restored my sanity after a couple of years of hell.

Ah I do love you guys 🥰 what would I do without Mumsnet 🥰🥰🥰

@Nogodsnomasters how did you get on?

Still not taken mine yet! I've not really felt I've needed to recently.

I've started taking magnesium and iron supplements which seems to have made a really big difference. Will see how it goes over the next month and re-evaluate then. But possibly my anxiety was caused by low levels in both. It would be nice that I got to the root cause, but will see how it goes.

It made me gain A LOT of weight but it helped with my mental health. Sex drive disappeared too. Emotionally very numbing for me which wasn't a bad thing at the time I suppose.
I got off it as soon as I could tbh.

I’ve got it for the exact reasons that you have, it is bloody awesome. I always get low in winter but this one has been fine, and every now and then you get a bit a surge of happiness that you’re not feeling constantly glum and on edge. I started it in November, haven’t noticed any side effects and in fact didn’t notice any difference for a while until one day you realise that you’re back to being yourself and you never noticed.

Don’t wait for your event, take it today, it’s part of your mental health wobbles to be worried about taking it ( I might be projecting there..).

Whatever you end up doing please remember that you’re not alone in this, so many of us are going through the same thing, and you are doing brilliantly by taking steps to look after yourself.

Side effects have to be listed on medication, it’s a legal requirement, doesn’t mean you will experience any and 25 mg is a non dose as far as Sertraline is concerned, if you take it and you do have sid3 effects you can’t tolerate, stop

I went on this website, forgot what it's called and almost everyone in there said they all had horrendous side effects before they felt better. Feeling sick, throwing up, fireworks in the head, feeling like a zombie.

But then I came on here and it seems that everyone speaks positively about it.

Part of my anxiety is my awful job which I'm wanting to leave. I think when that sorts itself out I'll feel a lot better!

Today I had a horrible conversation with other my boss, She's awful, and normally it would have sent me into instant anxiety - I did cry but nothing like I would normally do. So the supplements are working.

Hi OP,

Today will be my 6th day on citalopram, the first 3 days we're okay with just tiredness, fogginess, heaviness feelings which I can manage. Day 4 and 5 though I must say have been very difficult for me. Severe lack of sleep, diarrhea, massive increase in anxiety, nausea. I'm going to keep going with the 5mg until the side effects settle down. I made a promise to myself that I'd go up to the 10mg if I didn't have any side effects in the first week but unfortunately I do so I can't convince myself to up the dose just yet. I've got to travel abroad on Monday and really don't want to feel like hell so I'm making the right decision for myself.

Oh no, you poor thing. This is precisely what I'm worried about and exactly how so many people say they feel better things get better.

I wouldn't be able to work/function like that.

Yep it was exactly what I was worried about too and it's happened. But I'm in it now so I'm going to keep going for at least 2 weeks as long as it doesn't get any worse than this because it's about all I can handle tbh. I don't work at the moment, I wouldn't be able to go to work like this either tbh.