Starting sertraline for OCD - before Christmas, or wait until after?

[StrangeSenseOfCalm]

I've been prescribed Sertraline for OCD/emetophobia. I've been putting off taking it, mainly in case I have nausea as a side effect (although I've also been prescribed anti emetics as well) but also because I've just started a new type of therapy and don't know if I'm better to try the therapy first without having started the medication.

Is starting right before Christmas a stupid idea, as I've read I may well feel worse in the first few weeks? Or should I just go for it and stop making excuses?

Well it should have just been a phone call to check in but ended up being in person. They want me to go to 75mg for 4 weeks and then review again.

So good to hear you are starting to feel the benefit! What are you noticing? How’s work?

I'm feeling less overwhelmed. The stresses and triggers are still there but they feel less intense and more muted somehow. This is an improvement for me!

Work is okay. Think I was so close to burnout before Christmas that I'm a bit switched off from it right now.

Oh that's great! Hope it continues to get better and better!

Up to 75mg I go today. I’ve been taking sertraline for a month now and don’t feel any different at all. Is that normal? Maybe I just need to true the higher dose.

From what I've read it seems to be common for a higher dose to be effective with OCD.

I'm finding the 50mg to be very helpful for me. Definitely less stressed, less quick to feel overloaded and more relaxed when my very fixed ideas about things don't go according to plan.

Edited to say that I hope the jump to 75mg is beneficial for you!

it does takes up to six weeks to start at is most effective. DD (now 23) has been on 50mg for over a year and has really noticed the changes in the last six months

That’s so good to hear!

Perhaps I am being a bit impatient then. Glad it is working for your DD!

@StrangeSenseOfCalm I was just wondering how you are doing. I followed your thread at the start and could identify with so much. I am determined my 2025 will not be like 2024.

I have a prescription for sertraline but haven’t dared to start it yet.

Could you tell me if weight gain has been a side effect?

Thank you 😊

Hi, no I haven’t gained any weight, and I’ve been taking it for 5 weeks now. Are you starting it because of OCD as well?

@StrangeSenseOfCalm yes. I have been suffering for some time. Diagnosed with OCD in July last year. At times I have crippling anxiety. It’s all just got too much.

Food, handwashing and sickness bugs are a constant issue. If I had a pound spent for time spent thinking about vomit I’d be able to retire.

I was sent home from work today. My game face broke.

I am going to start taking the tablets on Friday incase they make me poorly. I am so embarrassed but at the same time I’m screaming inside about why don’t people understand but also I just want to be normal.

Life has been pretty up and down since 2022 and it’s taken its toll I think.

Sorry I somehow missed this post. I could have written it myself.

how are you getting on? Did you start the medication?

@StrangeSenseOfCalm I started the tablets and did 10ish days of half a tablet and have been taking a whole tablet for 7 days.

I think my brain has quietened a little, my sleep is pretty bad and so I just feel exhausted and very lethargic. I am hoping this improves. But otherwise I feel ok, there have been no adverse effects so far.

How are you getting on?

I just wanted to update this thread to say how much better I am doing having started the sertraline. I'm having ERP alongside it for my OCD/emetophobia, and I am by no means cured, but there is progress, This week I managed to eat something with my hands without having washed them first, which I know sounds such a pathetically minor/normal thing, but it is something I haven't managed to bring myself to do for about 10 years.

I'm on 125mg and I suspect I will increase it further as I go further along my exposure hierarchy, but I wanted to update with a positive story for people wondering, like me a few months ago, whether they should start sertraline. It really is helping me to turn my life around.

I am so glad to hear that @StrangeSenseOfCalm. Thanks very much for updating and wishing you the very best as you continue with the treatment.

Fantastic news.