Started Taking Sertraline and feel Insane

[Will.Brenes]

I started taking Sertraline 3 days ago and I'm feeling a little psychotic today. I went on a run and felt like every time i started to pick up pace my mind would start running with random thoughts to the point where I could barely tell if I even existed. The first two days on the medication really helped calm me down but today I just feel terrible. I don't know how much longer I can take it and all of the psychiatrists in my area seem to be unavailable at the moment. I want to try different medication and I want to stop taking these but I don't know if I can go the next few days without medication, otherwise I will get to anxious. If there is anybody out there that can talk about this with me as they feel similar currently or have in the past please feel free to comment. It would be great if there was someone facing the same issue right now so we can talk each other through this. I'll probably need to wait till Monday to get any help from a psychiatrist so I'll be on this thread all weekend for help and advice.

[lele19]

Hi Will.

I suffer from chronic dp and dr and have for 13 years. But I have never experienced anything like the sertraline induced dp/dr states. I felt absolutely horrendous taking sertraline. It hit me after my first dose but through the advice of my doctors I continued with it for 30 days. That was the worst month of my life. I now take Mirtazapine which is making a world of difference. You're not insane, dp/dr is intense, terrifying, horrific and so so scary. The sertraline made mine worse in my opinion. I stopped cold turkey and had minimal side effects.

But this is just my experience.

[Just2kisses]

I would wait a while Will.
3 days is not long to be on an ssri and the side effects are at their worst in the early stages. Speak to your doctor but rather than just getting advice on here!
I'm guessing you have a pre existing anxiety/depression problem- derealisation is linked to the anxiety which subsides once the ssri has balanced.
Don't worry buddy

[Jenijar]

I took sertraline for 18 years without side effects, but then the dr switched me to a different anti-depressant (because I was experiencing anxiety with DP/dr and the doc thought sertraline had lost its effectiveness on me), after a few months of being on the new AD I didn't find it was making me better so I asked to switch back to sertraline. Anyway this time around of starting it, after around a week or so I felt like I was losing my mind, I tried to stick to it but I gave up after 3.5 weeks as I felt so bad and it was making my DP/DR worse. I'm on escitalopram now and didn't get any start up effects like that on it. Sertraline did really help me the first time round and for many years but starting it up the 2nd time was just awful!

---------- Post added at 19:28 ---------- Previous post was at 19:24 ----------

I suffer from chronic dp and dr and have for 13 years..

Hi Lele, I find that so depressing that you have suffered with DP/DR constantly for 13 years! I've had it for a year and can't bear the thought of having it for that long. Do you manage to go to work and have a social life? Do you feel like nothing is real all the time?