started sertraline 4 days ago - crap day

[mandie]

Hi

Dr started me on these on thursday last week. I was on low dose citalopram so stopped them and took sertraline.

Havent been feeling to bad, but today, feel panicky anxious and just feel like im gonna have a panic attack.

I can cope with the dry mouth, nausea and slight headache, but i hate feeling lite headed, spaced out.

Anyone else felt like this starting these meds

love mandie x

[milly jones]

ive not taken those meds, but i do understand that the changing of meds can effect the body in many ways.

even a change in dosage can set off side effects.

the meds need time to settle in your system

is there anything in the nmp website or forum posts on your new meds to settle ur mind?

hope all goes well

milly x

[mandie]

Thanks Milly

Im always looking for assurance.

If i no someone else has been through the same, i dont feel as bad

love mandie x

[lesleyB]

Hi Mandie, when I first started on Sertraline I felt awfull so anxious I couldn't eat or sleep.I went back to the docs and he said to keep taking them as they take about 3-4 weeks to work . So hang on for a bit longer before you give up, when it finally settled down felt fine sleep like a log now, but a bit of over eating:ohmy:
Take care
Lesleyb

[mandie]

Thank you Lesley

Iv been feeling sick today, and slightly lite headed, but had a good day yesterday, so guess im not doing to bad

love mandie x

[sharon35]

Hello,
I started taking sertraline 50mg 3 wks ago and felt the same ,didnt know what to do and was thinking about going back to the docs, but stuck with it. the side effects have stopped now but they did take two weeks to settle down. i was advised by the very nice people on nmp, which helped me calm down. i hope we can all help you. xxxx

[mandie]

thank you sharon

i have taken for 7 days now and yesterday had big panic attack in supermarket.

i will stick with it another week and see how i go

mandie x

[mothermac]

Hi everyone
I think i have been a naughty girl as I was prescribed Sertraline a few weeks ago by my new gp who I have just registered with. Once home after reading the side effects I decided not to take them as the list of crap that you can get with them freaked me out.My husband thinks i'm mad for not taking them and got quite annoyed with me,but hey he isn't the one with the s......e going on is he? It said you can get worse anxiety with them,christ the anxiety I have got at the mo is bad enough never mind more. I am due another meeting with the gp soon so I will see then.By the sound of you all on it, it sounds not very nice at all,good luck to you all anyway and I could be joining the Sertraline club soon.

[franklin2003]

Medication is of our own choosing, I've been on Zoloft now for 3 months and I can empthize with you how I felt about the side effects. I started out on 25 MG for one week and then up to 50 MG. I am now at 100 MG..i had a few side effects, but nothing really bothersome...

When I made the decision to be on medication I looked at this way, I felt miserble with the anxiety I had to where I could barely make it to the doctor, at that point I was ready to put up with the side effects.

I'm happy I've made that decisions it's been a slow process but every day I improve and feel so much better. I can do anything now that I choose to do, anxiety no longer dictates my life. Yes I do have anxious feelings sometimes, but I have not had a panic attack since starting the Zoloft and my anxiety level has dropped dramatically. I feel like a normal person again.

It's always up to you, but really if the doctor and your family think its for the best, what's the worse that could happen?

[MessedUp]

I put off taking it for ages, then figured that if I could cope with the hellish anxiety and panic ridden life I was putting up with, I could probably manage with a few side effects. If it got too bad I'd go screaming for help to the accident and emergency room, and get sedated or something while it eventually worked its way out of my system :)

But it turned out fine. I took half-tablets (I still am) and the first one made me horribly dizzy... I had an hour of being really worried, but I watched TV to take my mind off it. It got better, but I had a whole week of feeling too dizzy to leave the house safely. I stayed in, and I think the time off work did me good too.

Eventually, after that week, I felt normal enough to resume normal life. And, 6 months on, here I am, still fine. Missing booze a little, but I find I can have a little here and there and it doesn't seem to hurt. In fact I just had a half of 'dutch courage' before going to the dentist today :)

For me it's working brilliantly. It's reduced the background anxiety that led to me not being able to fend off silly thoughts that led to panics. I realised that the panics stemmed from the anx, rather than the thought of panics causing the anx. The pills seem to reduce the anx so that any thoughts of panics are easily dismissed... which increases the confidence that I can manage.

I reckon I could probably still have a full-on doom and gloom panic if I tried to but I simply haven't. I'm still relying to some extent upon a range of calming solutions and distraction that got me through things before I took the plunge and tried the pills, but I've given up vitamin supplements and fish oil, sleeping clothed in case I have to get up, etc. I'm back in bed properly and could probably do without the comforting background sound of Radio 4 all night long, but I've grown to like it and it doesn't really hurt.

I find that it is still possible to have panic response to specific phobias though - I have once or twice had my good old mini-panics in response to my age-old trapped-in-worriesome-situation fears that I can usually avoid... but I'm not worried any more about the more recent unavoidable worries that led me to taking these pills. That was general stress about a number of personal issues which caused me so much anx that I started worrying if I could cope with things I could NEVER escape from (my own breathing, the ringing in my ears, etc). The pills have calmed me down enough that I'm no longer generally anxious, and I've got my life back.

In short, I'm not sure they will work for everyone to stop panics to do with specific triggers, but they DO reduce the anx which leads to general non-specific panics.
(NOTE this is all based upon my personal experience with just half a pill a day)

Try it, there's nothing to lose - none of the side effects would be permanent.

Best wishes

[XceteraX]

Hi Mandi :) :

I am going through the exact same thing as you are. I was on Celexa for years till it stopped working. I was on 60mg and I'm currently weening off of Celexa @ 10mg decreases per 7 days. I'm currently on 40mg of Celexa and going to be upping the Zoloft to 75mg (I started on 25mg).

I am finding that since this last decrease to 40mg of Celexa I am very anxious. I discussed this with my doctor and she informed me this was normal and in the meantime I was instructed to take clonazapam/Klonopin as needed.

I've had 2 different pdoc's over the years. My last pdoc would not ween me off an antidepressant onto another. I would just stop taking the current antidepressant and start another. The pdoc I have now is weening me off and onto another antidepressant at the same time. I don't really find much of a difference as both methods caused anxiety.

Try to hang in there and know what you are feeling is normal. You will level off in time. If you are having unbearable anxiety I would definately contact my doctor.

Take Care :flowers:

[Dahlia]

Hello

I've been on Sertraline, and was lucky I didn't get any initial side effects. While taking it (for 5 years) I did occasionally feel nauseous though, and my doctor suggested trying 'Motilium' which you can buy over the counter from your pharmacy. That usually stopped the 'sicky' feeling.

If you get dizzy and nauseous, ask your doctor for an anti-emetic that works on that - again, something my GP tried. I wasn't particularly dizzy though, so the Motilium worked better for me.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

[evilbob333]

Hi

I've been on sertraline 4 days and just spoke to my GP on the phone and he agreed that i should come off it. Making me feel crazy anxious...on another level! Also really spaced out, not sleeping. A lot worse than i was before i started on them. I'm gonna think very carefully before giving anything else a go. Might try something herbal...or just go back to my routine of lots of exercise and braving through things...its worked for me in the past and i got better so i'm sure i can make it work again.

Best of luck

[dee211]

ive been taking sertraline since 2002, and also had your symptoms,mostly feeling i was going to have a attack , i found they went after the first couple of weeks, DONT STOP taking them you will start feeling better.if you are really concerened check with your gp.