Hand hold - started sertraline and feeling awful

[Hopingrae]

Just that really. Started 50mg this morning for post natal and I can't belive how quickly it has impacted. I was also prescribed 40mg propranolol twice a day so taken one dose so far. I feel like I can still feel adrenalin surging in my stomach and arms but not leading to panic attack. At least with panic attack it has a way to leave my body.
Really struggling with the uptake in anxiety symptoms. Been trying to walk off the jitteryness in the garden. I've got 3 young children, this is so tough. How long do I push through vs saying no more?!

I had to take the sertraline at night. Might be worth seeing if taking it just before bed lets you sleep through the worst of the side affects if things dont settle on a few days.

Thanks for your reply. I've got a 5 month old who wakes quite a lot and is breastfed so bit sure if that would help currently. But I'll bare it in mind for sure

It took two weeks for the side effects to settle down for me. Not going to lie, it was a brutal two weeks (I had pretty much every side effect on their leaflet, lol, including hallucinations, phoned the emergency doctor twice - they urged me to push through, which I did). All I can say is it was worth it. I stuck with it, it settled down, and it has totally saved my life really. I take it in the morning - can’t remember why now, I assume it messed up my sleep - and that works for me.

Thanks for sharing. Yes, I'm feeling like I've been hit by most of them. I've got 3 young children, it's so tough that this is the trade off for hopefully feeling better. I'm speaking to the perinatal mental health team in a couple of weeks which yesterday felt OK and today feels a long way away.

I feel for you @Hopingrae. I wasn’t dealing with young kids when I started taking it, and I can only imagine how hard that is. I really hope it settles down quickly - which for many people it does - and you start to feel the benefits.

Could you try taking 25 mg? My GP wanted me to start on this and build up. I took it even further and started with 12.5 mg and still got side effects, but they were manageable. Unfortunately I've been stuck on this dose for almost 6 weeks as what was meant to be a calmer period with less on for me to trial the drug has led to a turbulent time for outside reasons, and I'm too scared to increase it with so much going on.

The first two weeks is brutal. Hang in there, each day is a day closer to feeling better.