Alternative to Sertraline for severe anxiety?

[Jacaranda75]

This isn't for me, it's for a friend who isn't a Mumsnetter. She suffers from SEVERE anxiety and cannot leave the house as it is so bad. It also causes her a lot of physical symptoms. She is in such a state, it's awful.

The doctor prescribed her Sertraline but it made her 'feel funny'. Given that 'feeling funny' is the most distressing symptom of her anxiety for her, it really didn't work out.

Can anybody recommend anything else she can try? She doesn't suffer from depression, just anxiety. Thanks.

I am in a very similar position to your friend unfortunately. I have also found most antidepressants cause me lots of unwanted symptoms which just exacerbates my anxiety.
I belong to many online anxiety forums and lots of sufferers seem to get on well with gabapentin, I am going to ask my gp if I can try that but before I do I am also going to try Rhodiola Rosea whilst I am off during Christmas, you can get it from places like Holland and Barrett.. I know it’s not a prescription medicine but again it has good reviews with minimal side effects.
I hope your friend finds relief soon, anxiety is a bloody horrible thing to suffer from as well as all of the awful physical side effects which can come with it, it all becomes a vicious cycle.

Diazepam is extremely effective. Not for long term use as it’s very addictive, but it may help your friend to leave the house just once or twice, and help lessen that association between outside = terrifying. Good luck to your friend, anxiety is awful.

Some people might suggest beta blockers by the way, but they will probably do nothing for the kind of anxiety your friend is experiencing. I recommend getting out the big guns (eg diazepam) for the first few trips outside the home.

Your poor friend. I can't advise on alternative but I also take sertraline for anxiety, albeit never as severe as your friend's, and it did make me feel really 'funny' (extremely spaced out, clenching jaw, no appetite) for a couple of weeks, but once that passed I have no side effects at all and it helps enormously. How long did she try it for? Might be worth persisting if it was less than a month.

How long did she actually try them for? All anti depressants make you "feel funny" at first.

If she didn't take the ADs for at least 6 weeks she needs to try again.

If she is in her 40s or 50s she may also be pre menopausal so should see her GP.

Apologies the correct term is perimenopausal

Yes, she only took it for a few days. She said she just couldn’t do it. The side effects were so awful.

Her GP will not prescribe Diazepam but I will talk to her about Gabapentin.

Thanks.

Without sounding harsh no meds for anxiety are likely to not cause side effects, short term. It's so hard, and with the severity of her anxiety must be extremely so. But changing meds is not likely to be the answer if she hasn't actually given the first option a proper chance. A few days def isn't that. When I started sertraline I felt horrendous and spent ages reading lots of posts on here that convinced me it was worth persevering. I'm posting again here in the hope you can convince her it's worth it too.

Pregabalin. It changed my life.

How about CBD oil. It has worked wonders for me I barely feel anxious at all anymore.
Its pretty expensive and the little bottle doesn't last very long but I cant put a price on feeling "normal'

I took citalopram which stopped working for me so I moved to sertraline but I know people who have found the opposite so might be worth a try.
However she has to give it more than a few days. A lot of medication will give side effects initially and then settle- I have just had the same with gestational diabetes medication. Sertraline made me feel very strange for about a week- like I had a marshmallow head and the world was moving like syrup, gradually improved after a week but took a couple of weeks to start working, I understand that time scale is quite normal. 2 other people on it have described to me that they had no real side effects for a couple of weeks then it made them suddenly feel worse for a day or 2 before a drastic improvement. So you really have to give them time to work.

You have to push through with sertraline. Took me about 6 weeks to feel better.