Sertraline - positive stories please!

Hi all. I've just been put on Sertraline and badly need encouragement as I've been having a v rough time on meds. As of tomorrow I will be on Sertraline 50mg and just hope this one will help. Thanks to you all.

I'm thinking of it too so again positive reports please

Joy

I took sertraline for 7 years and it was the best antidepressant that I have tried. The most effective with the least side effects.

50mg is the starting dose. I generally stayed at 100mg as a maintenance dose, sometimes going up to 150mg for a very few weeks, and sometimes going down to 50mg. It all depends on the person. Good luck.

Lisa :hugs:

Thanks so much Lisa. I am generally a v positive person but having been 'experimented on' too much this year, have lost my faith in the choice my Psych is likely to make. It doesn't help that my 91 mum with dementia is ALSO on Sertraline!! I guess I'm in good company there...

i too feel like a guinea pig with all the different meds etc i've been put thro this last two years and its my choice it seems what to try next, but the shrink at least didnt objet. doesnt it give you a lot of faith??????

Joy

Hi Joy. Yeah I just can't get my head round the hit-and-miss way they prescribe drugs now. It's like picking a number out of a hat. And you can make any suggestion you like cos it's all got to be Patient Choice! Heroin? Cocaine? Arsenic? Sure, well we can give it a go... I am so sick of this laissez faire attitude and the way the service is stretched to the limit so no health professional has the time or patience to stick with you through the ups and downs. Anyway - that's my rant over. Good Luck with yr new drug regime and I hope things get better for you! Janey

Hiya

When i was very badly depressed a few years ago i think i tried just about every anti depressant and anti psychotic medication there was.

Some anti-d's made me feel so tired all the time and i just couldnt be bothered to get up and dressed half the time and the one thing i remember about how sertraline affected me differently from other anti-d's was i suddenly felt like i had so much energy again with it. I know it probably affects everyone differently but that was my experience. At first it annoyed me cos i couldnt sit still but then i began to appreciate that effect i got from it as i felt motivated to do things whereas when i was so sleepy with others i would just stay in bed all day if i could.

Im not sure if emotionally it worked for me any better than others but certainly that effect of actually wanting to do things made me feel a bit better. I started on 100 but was still so bad i went up to 150 then a few months later was on the highest dose at 200 a day. I stayed on them for about 1 year before my doctor changed me to another medication again as he had expected big improvements after so long on the highest dose, however i really believe it was because i was still on so many other meds that i didnt improve the way he had hoped, i think it was them that held me back

I certainly dont have anything bad to say about it
Good Luck

Emma :)

hi there
After years of prozac, citralopram and mirtazipine i thought nothing could help my panic and anxiety. About 8 months ago the doc gave me sertaline at the lowest dose, and even now im still on same dose and must say i think its brill!!!!

good luck with it

luv tracie

Hi Janey, I have been on Sertraline for 1 year although it make you feel bad when you first take it, it has done wonders for me. good luck:flowers:
Lesleyb

Thanks all so much for your encouragement. I'm really struggling with insomnia at the moment and it is good to know there may eventually be a point when this drug actually does me some GOOD! I love this website - it can feel so lonely otherwise with all the angst of 'am I doing the right thing?'. Love you all - we're all such Stars!

Janey
How are you doing on sertraline? Took my first tablet this morning and kinda waiting for the sky to fall in!!! Any thing to report so far as perhaps we can continue this sertraline journey together


Love Joy

Hi peeps just started on them myself a week ago im a bit all over the place on them at the min! But i was like this going on to seroxat too so im sure every thing will be fine!!!

I was wondering what being all over the place means as I too stated Sertraline a week ago on 50mg and so far no side effects except the anxiety is quite high but thats what I'm taking it for.

Maybe us 3 who have recently started sertraline should post regulary to compare how we are getting on

Joy

Hallo my best friend Joy

Why dont you start a new heading like "Sertraline Progress" - that would be good then you could all do a daily report on how you are doing. xxxxxxx

Hello my best friend too
I've asked Nicola to put a sub heading for sertraline

Love Joy

Hey - there's at least THREE of us!! Great to have the heading for Sertraline on the Meds forum - now I can obsess more easily! Am 10 days into taking it and am at last sleeping so much better, just taking Zolpidem. It hasn't been easy and I'm finding the palpitations on waking really vile, but despite a very stressful time at the moment and the distressing death of my friend's 23-yr-old daughter this week, I am actually not crying all the time any more so take that as a good sign! I just hope and pray it will be a really helpful drug (though I'd rather not take any) as I don't think i can take any more changes in meds - I WILL go mad. Good Luck to all of us. Let me know how you are doing. xx

hey janey

I've not noticed any improvement yet but I'm 3 days behind you!!! What meds have you tried in the last year may I ask? I havent really had any side effects except the insomnia .It hasnt helped with the early morning panic as yet which is my worst problem.

Love Joy

Hello again Joy! We must stop meeting like this! A brief resume of my medical history... Years back I was on a combination of Nardil (MAOI) and Surmontil (tri-cyclic) which worked well for quite a few years but then i was persuaded to come off Nardil because they thought it was about to be withdrawn. At first I tried Cipramil instead, which did nothing for me at all, and eventually I was put on Venlafaxine/Effexor which worked well for 5 years but had LOTS of side-effects(breast cysts galore would you believe, and they have now gone away!) and I never felt really me. SO this year I asked the shrink if I could go back on Nardil seeing as it hadn't been withdrawn and he said yes. I came off Venlafaxine in May and began Nardil early July I guess. Caused terrible insomnia although my mood was fine and anxiety too. Eventually in Sep I found out it had been 're-formulated' in 2003 and that there were lots of complaints about it since, so my shrink and I decided to get me off it - again- and after it was out of my system, she put me on Duloxetine. That was horrible and caused terrible insomnia too - stupid shrink - so now she's switched me to Sertraline, and I am at least sleeping. Well, that wasn't so brief after all!

WEll you have been having fun>>>>Not
Wont bother going into all the meds I've tried but in the last chance saloon with sertraline.
At the moment making the anxiety worse i think and no appetite.

Waiting for something good to happen!

How you doing

Joy

Hi again Joy. So sorry to hear you're struggling a bit. Anxiety is a treal bummer and it's never easy to decide what's causing it. If you can, just float above it for the time-being and trust that it will get better. The appetite bit I can identify with, especially as Sertraline can give you nausea, but I could do with losing some weight anyway! My shrink doubled the dose to 100mg yesterday, so wish me luck!

Hi Janey

Your shrink is ramping you up quickly. Did he say why???

I havent got nausea but no appetite.

Are you having any good effects yet??

Love Joy