Sertraline Diary

[Ferry1995]

Thought i'd do another one of these to help people going onto this med or switching from another AD, I've been on clomipramine 80mg for 5 months and my doctor's taken me off one imediately ( no tapering ) and going straight onto 50mg of Sertraline, suffer mainly from depression with a bit of obsessive thinking/anx and the occasional panic attack.

Day 1

Missed my dose of Clomipramine last night and took the first Sertraline tablet today, felt in a pretty positive mood all day, anxiety doesn't seem to be playing up at all today, main difference seems to be the bad side effects of clomipramine have worn off slightly ( didn't wake up several times during the night which has been a major problem on the Clomipramine, and feel much less spaced out/dizzy ) obviously early days but feel majorly optomistic after today!


Day 2

Another decent side effect free day, not much to say about today, no discernable withdrawal symptoms from the clomipramine and nothing new from the Sertraline, still early days but hopefully If there were gonna be any side effects they would have appeared by now?

Day 3

Bit of a crappy day, weather put me in a bad mood, had a night of really lucid nonsensical dreams which were a bit uncomfortable, felt spaced out mid-day and nearly had a panic attack in college but stuck it out and felt much better afterwards, spacey feeling has faded and feeling pretty optomistic tonight

[Ferry1995]

Day 4

Lucid dreams calmed down a bit last night, seemed like the previous night was just a one off, anxiety has totally faded which is pretty reliving, the depression has been horrible today though, still no side effects from the sert or withdrawal from the clomipramine really so I suppose it's going well in that sense

Day 5

Another night of weird dreams, not a lot to comment on today, depression was pretty bad and didn't have a very good shift at work, not ruminating on my thoughts as much which makes getting through the day a bit easier, feel a little tired but I think that's just with me being a bit run down anyway, side effects are still non-existent

Day 6

Bit of a shitty day today, was at work most of the day and didn't really have the energy to speak to anyone, ruminating thoughts have been a major problem and the depression is kicking right back in, mabye this could be the clomipramine leaving the system before the sertraline starts to work? luckily had work to distract me most of the day and a full week of college next week should keep me sane... no physical side effects still though

Day 7

Strange day today, getting some strong DP/DR feelings and almost had another panic attack which I'd normally class as an awful day but somehow feel generally pretty hopeful, had some serious tension headaches that would usually get me thinking "brain tumour" but I was quite easily able to rationalise them today, no effect on the generally melancholia but feel optomistic

Day 8

Great day today! feeling a lot better, had a good 7-8 hours sleep as opposed to the 6 i've been running on, haven't felt too anxious all day and manage to have a totally productive day getting out to college/the gym etc, the brain chatter seems to have subsided and the world doesn't seem so bleak, massive leap from yesterday!

Day 9

They're working! Or it seems that way anyway, even the depression is starting to pull back a little now, feel much more task focused and motivated than I have done in a long while too, feel so positive for the future, only thing that's still bugging me is the brain chatter and the awful memory.

Day 10

Bit of a worse day today, feeling a lot more tired on a morning, still better than the zoned out/tired feeling I got on the clomipramine, got me a bit down that my friends were all drinking having a good time and I couldn't join in, may see how my alchohol tolerance is on the tablets after a few more weeks

Day 11

Pretty flat day today too, did however notice the social anxiety has lifted a little for the first time in almost a year, tablets are still making me pretty sleepy early mornings and night which is probably a good thing since my sleep's been messed up over the last few months

Day 12

Another rather flat day, don't feel particularly happy or sad, just seem to be floating along, kinda noticed i'm not getting any libido issues any more which was a major problem before going on the meds, that and the better nights sleep are reason enough to continue taking them, still not feeling the full effects but under 2 weeks is still early days?

[NoPoet]

Hi, funny, in 2 years on cit I never had the weird dreams other people described, but the negative thoughts... wow.

The initial effects of the SSRI class do seem to increase feelings of anxiety and depression fairly quickly, sometimes on the first day. You seem to have noticed it on day 3.

This does level out at some point - by day 20 of citalopram 20mg, my anxiety started to climb down slightly and I was definitely sleeping better - and then you'll probably notice the antidepressant effects kicking in.

SSRIs are powerful medication. I personally can't tolerate them, but plenty of people here can. See my Citalopram Survival Guide, a lot of stuff in there will help you.

[Ferry1995]

I've had quite a few reads through the survival guide in the past and must say it was the first thing to really make me consider SSRI's,generally helped me get a better understanding of anx too so just saying thanks for going to the trouble of doing it! before that it was just pretty much a case of, everyone I've ever known has found SSRI's unbearable so why bother? But short of a bit of a crappy mood it's not bad at all, If anything I'm sleeping better and have a much better appetite, not feeling hopeless at the moment, I've got an evaluation in another 3 weeks so if they haven't kicked in by then I can always up the dose