I really need help

[Isabelle728]

I really regret taking Sertraline. I only had it for 2 days, I took my last tablet on Monday afternoon due to how it was making me feel... I was getting no sleep, felt like I was going crazy, literally the worst side effects ever and I am still having those side effects now. I haven't had a wink of sleep, it's now 4:45am and still no sleep, I have been having racing thoughts, so tense, shaking uncontrollably, headache, I feel so scared, full of fear, feel sick, i keep swallowing and struggling to swallow, my neck is so tense, I feel like I'm going crazy and need to be taken to a mental home. Why do I keep feeling like this! Is this still the Sertraline wearing off even after 2 tablets as 25mg, I feel like I'm stuck like this forever. I am really suffering and feel like I am out of ideas. I'm going to have to get signed off work immediately, I cannot work in this state. I need to get better for my 2 year old boy. I'm a wreck, what do I do :( please please help

Is there another adult with you and your DC?

try to slow your breathing down to help you calm down right now - in through your nose and out through your mouth

get up and fetch a glass of water or tea

open a window even a little to get some fresh air

once you have done that get a pen and paper and write down everything

as soon as they open be on the phone to your GP and tell them what’s happened with you this week

hopefully another poster with more experience will be along soon but in the meantime try the breathing thing (even google video on box-breathing as help/distraction)

💐

@WellOwlBeDamned my partner has left for work but luckily I have my mum living us at the moment. We are in the process of buying a place together so she sold her property and is with us in the meantime. We are about 2/3 weeks away from completion and we will be moving. I do have help there but I can't always rely on her :(

I had citralopram for peri meno, I had the same reaction. A friend had sertraline and similar symptoms, she said I’d have to carry on and after a few weeks would feel better. I didn’t carry on, I only took two as felt the side effects were too much (it was already a low dose).

She told me to take them at bedtime- that worked for her but not for me. I’m sure mine was 10mg, 25mg seems a lot? Maybe a lower dose?

Speak to the GP in the morning, try to lie still and sip water and just breathe. It’s just a reaction and it’ll pass soon, it’s a horrible feeling but you’ll be ok.

Well now buying/selling/moving house is bound to have a lot of stress involved so it’s not weird or mad that you feel tense and stressed!

Another adult in the house can be company - even if your DM isn’t always supportive she can be a distraction from racing thoughts can’t she?

I’m about to go get some coffee & feed my cats - have you had a hot drink or something to eat yet?

You won't feel this way forever, it will change and this is a temporary position that you are going through. These heightened feelings may be due to the Sertraline or not, but will change.

So right now, take it one step at a time. Like hour by hour, or 10 minutes at a time, slow down and try not to think too far ahead. You can self-certify off work for a few days to give yourself space.

My dad was the exact same on sertraline. We ended up in a&e as he was suicidal. It was so it of character. I wouldn't wish it on anyone

@shakeitoffsis can I ask what he did to get better please? I really regret taking these meds and I feel though I won't get any better

Basically he had to taper down the dose and then go back to mirtazipine. They didn't recommend just stopping all together. He also had the same reaction with citalapram incidentally.

I was the same OP but I stupidly came off it slowly didn't tell gp and now autumn back around I'm on the floor again. So back to GP and they've put me on fluoxetine (Prozac). Sertraline first tablet I was so ill. This first tablet I've been fine. I didn't sleep on sert and it made me feel worse after a few months, sick, dry and dizzy. Can you ask for a different type med from GP?
Edited to say tapering off wasn't stupid but not telling gp was.

@GoditsSeptember how can something of such a small dose and only be on it for 2 days create such a problem. Do the effects not wear off at all on their own? :( I really don't want to take more meds after this

Going on any AD is brutal and can be worse than the symptoms you started with it’s a well known fact.
It can take anything from 4-8 weeks to get them started up in Your system . There all very similar as we’re putting things into our body that affects our brain that shouldn’t be there.

only you know if you can put up with the extra horrible symptoms for the start up time and how desperate you are to want to take any. There not a miracle cure and no one medication suits all.

personally I wish I’d never taken ad’s and knowing what I do now 😡 would not ever.
but, they do work for some short term

Anxiety is absolutely horrendous
Ask your gp for sedated antihistamines to help you get back into a sleep pattern or try night nurse.
give yourself lots of care, relaxing bath, go for a walk, get out in the open , talk to friends/family if you have a good relationship to open up how your feeling.
Don’t sit with your phone googling MH help.
What you could try is looking into
how anxiety affects you and how to help yourself

take care x

Could you phone your pharmacy? The pharmacist could give you some advice

How did you manage to go on after this?

sorry I know it was some weeks ago you posted but I am going out of my mind and struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

i took 4 days of 50mg setraline and the side effects where awful, panic attacks, rapid heart, shakes all sorts

its now been 11 days and I keep feeling so panicky and shakey, sickness, worrying and even feel afraid of the dark. So out of character for me and just an emotional wreck at the moment. Need to know when this feeling will leave :(

@Marshmallow22 I had the same thing with sertraline and ended up in A&E on the third day. The day after that I felt very very sick all day. After that though I was back to normal. After the first tablet I felt more relaxed than I've ever felt...it was like I'd been sedated so I think I have an abnormal reaction to SSRI's. After the first day I was having huge panic attacks.

I wonder whether the sertraline has caused so much panic that you're in a sort of panic spiral. I'm sorry I don't have a proper answer.

I suppose that would make sense. Did you stop taking after 3rd day and go back to normal?

last week I had three days and I was 80% back to my normal self, then bam this week has just been awful since Sunday.