Sertraline Panic

[NATLITT]

Hiya

I have redcently been given Sertraline 50mg to take for my anxiety and OCD. I started 4 days ago and I read the side effects stupidly as I have health anxiety.

I have convinced myself that I am having seratonin syndrome and that I am going to die.

I feel really out of body with a tight head and the other day I felt like I was really overheated (it has been hot and sunny).

My eyes feel like they are moving really slowly and I have a tight head. I rang my doctor and he said that I need to persevere with them and that the feelings will subside, but I suffer with health anxiety and am panicking that I am going to collapse and die. I hate feeling all over the place and out of body. I am also super super tired like I can't keep my eyes open and so am worried that I am falling unconscious.

I am sorry for the long post, but can anyone help?

Thanks

[rbm]

It takes time to work, it can.t be overnight.i take the same dosage and i have no side effects.it actually says on medical sites that it is among those meds with very few side effects, so be glad your dr prescribed it to you.i took prozac at first and thought i could die any minute.it hurt me overall so much i fave it up 2 weeks in.but with sertraline i was fine at first and then better and better.now i am fully functional, sleeping through the night, i.m able to laugh again...hang in there it will get better.

Ps : every med has lots of things written as side effect, yet they don.t happen . If you are convinced you have a disease, your body will create symptoms to back that up.you don.t want that do you??

[Justanutter]

NATLITT - I didn't have a good experience with Sertraline but that's not to say people don't have positive ones. Yes, it has awful side affects sometimes but you need to ask your GP for some valium to assist you through the worst for the first few weeks. They usually are happy to do this and it will make a big difference. I think anxious people tend to get more side affects to be honest - me included as I also have terrible HA.

Good luck.

[Lifelonganxiety!]

First up, reading the side effects is a smart thing to do. You should be aware of what you are putting in your body.

Second, it sounds like you have the more common side effects when starting taking this medicine. I've been there, and it sucks for the first couple of weeks but if the medicine works, after a couple weeks it can be life changing.

All I can say is tough it out. If it becomes unbearable, then maybe this one isn't right for you. You'll get through it though and once you normalize you'll feel a lot better!

[ServerError]

My doctor told me I "might not want to read the side effects". Strange advice from a medical professional but I read them anyway, and then I took the pills.

God, the first few weeks were horrible. Borderline unbearable, actually. But I got through that stage and everybody is saying how much better I seem. It's helping me turn my life around.

[Noivous]

No way you're having serotonin syndrome. But you may have started off on a little too high a dose. I mean it won't kill you but you may feel some high anxiety for a bit. A lot of people start at 25mg and gradually tart rate up. But you do not have serotonin syndrome.

N.

[.Poppy.]

I think one of the risks when reading the side effects is you may fixate on the super bad but rare ones and start to imagine they're happening. Especially so if you have HA.

I'm not on this medicine, but I was afraid of serotonin syndrome too. From what I understand, it's pretty rare and mostly occurs if you are taking multiple medications that mess with serotonin.

I agree with the others that you may have rougher side effects at that dose but it's a pretty common level.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Poppy is right. Serotonin Syndrome itself is rare and the issue is combinations of Serotogenic agents. This is why they tell us that if we are on meds like SSRI/SNRI's that we can't touch St. John's Wort, 5-HTP, etc. It's what they call a "therapeutic duplication" and some of these need medical supervision. For instance, you may get a psychiatrist combining more than one antidepressant and they know to monitor for the syndrome.

The thing is too, if you learn about drug elimination in the body, you quickly work out that pretty much anyone switching meds has a duplication as one med ends and the other starts because the body is still trying to eliminate the old one as you add the new one. But doctors understand this and keep an eye on us and look how common switching meds is?!!!

Doctors are supposed to tell us about the side effects accorinding to NICE guidance. I've always found that a curious one then when the list of side effects is as long as your arm with some of these meds. :doh: How can GP's have time for that? I think some are cautious of scaring the patients too and chance their arm on them being lucky in not having side effects. Honestly, on some of them you will see worse than Serotonin Syndrome listed but I ain't going there for obvious reasons on this board! But to add a bit of perspective on this syndrome, it comes in varied degrees anyway. There have been a couple of people on here who have been through it and it wasn't the horror story you read on the internet, it was mild and easily sorted by their doctor.

Please don't worry. Thats sounds daft to say on this website! But really, many of us have worried just like you and we are still here.

[NATLITT]

Thanks so much for the reassurance.

I do worry that I am on a high dose but will persevere with it.

Today I am feeling very spaced out like my brain is fuzzy and my eyes are slow.

I am shattered and having bad dreams at the moment so that could be one of the problems.

Thank you all for the help and advice.
x

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's a low dose, it's the equivalent to 20mg of Citalopram.