Sertraline - questions on dosage

[NE21 worrier]

Hello everyone,

First time I have posted in this part of the forums but I have a lovely welcome on the other boards. Since last Tuesday, I have been taking 1x50mg Sertraline tablet.

However, I have v little knowledge of SSRIs or, more likely, cannot really remember what I have been told:

*Does the doctor usually increase the dose as time goes by, and does this increased dose make the side-effects worse?
*When would the doctor consider doing this?
*Finally for now, what actually is the medical reason for increasing the dose?

By the way, not sure if this is relevant at this stage but the GP made a forecast that he expects I will be on the Sertraline for 1-2 years.

Many thanks,
Peter

[Emphyrio]

The doctor will normally give you a standard 'therapeutic' dose in most cases, and if you're not showing any response after 4-6 weeks then he/she may work upwards. So 50mg sertraline is a useful starting dose. However, for bad anxiety/OCD the doctor may try to get the dose up to 100mg or more fairly quickly given that higher doses are (typically) more effective in these circumstances.

I'm on 25mg of sertraline but the side effects are bad enough as it is (mainly antichlorergic side effects like blurry vision). I also responded to low doses of prozac so I probably will stick with this dosage.

Interestingly enough, 9mg of sertraline inhibits the reuptake of 50% of serotonin (at 50-200mg its 80-90%). Thus some people can get a therapeutic benefit from really low doses.

[NE21 worrier]

Thanks for your reply.

An update: Today is day 10 of me taking 50mg of Sertraline, and it is still not going particularly well. In fact, it has almost been a total wipeout.

Last night, after a better day in which I got out the house and went to town for a couple of hours in the afternoon, I fell asleep at around 10pm, sleeping through until 4am. I woke up then but only for an hour before sleeping from 5am-8am. The second time I woke up (after nine hours sleep), I still felt absolutely exhausted.

I was up for a doctor's appointment anyway, and he told me not to be concerned and that the side-effects will go away and that I would also still be sleeping so much after the shock of an episode of panic.

However, it should be pointed out that I don't actually feel particularly anxious anymore at this point in time. After all, the panic attack was now more than a week ago.

Anyway, I returned from the doctors at 9.15am, had toast for breakfast but then felt an overwhelming desire to sleep again, and so I did from 11am-2pm, ripping out the middle part of the day, just as had happened on Tuesday.

I guess I am not the most patient person but I am getting quite frustrated by my complete lack of energy

[reddevil]

Hi,

I'm at the 12 week mark and I have noticed that I'm feeling more tired of late.

Red