loopylu
25-05-15, 12:14
I have used this forum & found it helpful when I was very desperate to get some help for my Anxiety, so I thought I would try & return the help. I had spent 25 years trying to deal with really acute anxiety & did not want to take any medication unless it was natural (which was never nearly strong enough) because I did not want to feel half asleep all of the time. This belief came from watching my Mum live on Valium & other stuff all her life. I spent years reading self-help books seeing Psychologists & having hypnosis etc., I always felt better for a while, but in the last 2 years my Anxiety got so bad I thought that if I could not get some sort of permanent help it was not worth carrying on with my life. I finally went to see my GP in tears & we had a long talk & he helped me make the decision to take Sertraline. I started off taking 25mg in the morning for the first 6 days & then went onto 50mg & finally after 8 weeks to 100mg. Initially the side effects were horrible but I had the belief that if I could ride these side effects out & stick with it for the first 6 weeks (which were the worst) I would be OK. I am so glad I did this. I put up with the nausea where I even bought up my food once, the sweating until I dripped, the teeth clenching, the shaky hands, the sleepless nights and worst of all the increased anxiety, I didn’t think it could get any worse. To help with the upset stomach my GP gave me a script for Metoclopramide HCL 10mg to be taken half hour before meals as I could not eat food, my appetite was gone partially due to the increased anxiety as well as the upset tummy. To help with sleepless nights I tried sleeping tablets which are addictive & for me fairly useless as they only helped me sleep for 2 or 3 hours then I was wide awake again so I found a product called Melatonin 2mg which I got another script for as the natural stuff from the health shop was not strong enough, I took up to 2 tablets 1 hour before bedtime & this worked for me & is not addictive.
To finish this with hopefully a helpful comment, when reading many of the comments on this & other forums, many people trying Sertraline get some of the side effects which are not pleasant, for me personally the Anxiety was ruining my life & I was willing to try anything to fix it even if I had to suffer more for a while to create a life worth living, it was short term suffering & after 6 weeks life improved drastically. I increased my dose to 100mg & other than a couple of sleepless nights & mild sweating I had no other side effects & again after a couple of weeks all was fantastic. Now after 14 weeks I am so very happy & mentally relaxed. This is my personal experience & I always did everything with my GP’s OK & my wonderful husband who was so supportive, god knows how he put up with me :yesyes:
To finish this with hopefully a helpful comment, when reading many of the comments on this & other forums, many people trying Sertraline get some of the side effects which are not pleasant, for me personally the Anxiety was ruining my life & I was willing to try anything to fix it even if I had to suffer more for a while to create a life worth living, it was short term suffering & after 6 weeks life improved drastically. I increased my dose to 100mg & other than a couple of sleepless nights & mild sweating I had no other side effects & again after a couple of weeks all was fantastic. Now after 14 weeks I am so very happy & mentally relaxed. This is my personal experience & I always did everything with my GP’s OK & my wonderful husband who was so supportive, god knows how he put up with me :yesyes: