She increased from 100 to 150 mg 2 weeks ago. For the past week she has been suffering really badly. She started off feeling jittery and spaced out at the same time. When I spoke to her on the phone she sounded manic. She had no appetite and felt nauseous. After that one day she has descended in to very very low mood, to the point where she is not able to function and barely leaving her room. Her uni flat mates are all worried about her as she has not been eating and they haven’t seen her. I’ve been checking in with her to see if she is experiencing any suicidal thoughts and she says no but she is very depressed.
She started taking Sertraline back at the beginning of August. Started on 25mg and has titrated up through 50 and 100mg doses. She has not had any adverse side effects on any previous doses but has not seen any positives either.
Could these side effects mean that the dose is too high for her? I am hoping that she will start to settle on the higher dose soon and then really start to see some benefit but I don’t think she can tolerate feeling like this for much longer.
Prior to the sertraline she was taking fluoxetine for 5 years. She was diagnosed with Anorexia when she was 15 and had a relapse last year. She has anxiety, which is why she has been on medication. But recently she has been struggling with pretty crippling OCD. This is what has prompted the switch to Sertraline. I think she really needs this higher dose to combat the OCD as the 100mg didn’t seem to be helping at all. But really concerned that she’s not tolerating the 150mg dose.
What are other people’s experiences? Have others had no symptoms when first taking but had some later?