Sertraline, beginning to help?

[Her Indoors]

Hi All,

Just a quick post to say, I think the medication is beginning to help me and I have been feeling a little better, but don't want to say too much incase I jinx myself. My advice (only from personal experience) is that it does take a while to "kick in" and to stick it out if you possibly can (believe me I KNOW how hard that can be when you feel so terrible!).

It's been 12 weeks Tuesday since I started taking it (not that I'm counting or anything, well actually I am, on the calendar and marking off the days, thank you OCD!).

Hopefully this will give any of you starting on this medication encouragement that you will soon start to feel better and give anxiety, OCD and depression the "boot".

Take care all of you.

Kind regards.

J xx

Hi Ducky, hope you are ok too and beginning to settle x

[Ccat]

Hi J

Thank you for posting this - I am new to the board- have been on sertraline nearly 5 weeks- and last week i was feeling a lot more positive - then last couple of days- i have not been so good. Had a panic attack this morning.

I think i have had side-efects of vivid dreams , night sweats and i have an ongoing problem with my left arm being numb/tingling/ occassionally a bit shaky (hate that- it freaks me out)- to be fair it did feel odd before sertraline- but have been grinding my teeth too- and i feel this may have made it worse?

I felt ready to chuck in the towel but hearing that it takes that bit more time to fully kick in is encouraging.

best wishes, hope it continues to help, Ccat xxx

[Her Indoors]

Hi Ccat,

As I said, I have been on Sertraline for 12 weeks now, at the maximum dose of 200 mg and it is only really this week that I have begun to feel consistently better. I had odd days when I felt better, then weeks when I was in dispair and was considering asking to be taken off it. Stick with it if you can (I really feel for you) as I think it is quite slow acting, but this is only my opinion of course.

I found that taking it on an empty stomach was really not a good idea (frequent trips to the bathroom, enough said) and found that eating stodgy white bread and then taking the tablets really helped.

Good luck and I sincerely hope you feel better soon. Let me know how you get on (if you don't mind).

J xx

ps hopefully your side effects should settle in a couple of weeks. I found I was very aware that I seemed to be "clamping" my teeth together during the day, but this seems to have subsided now. My hands have been quite shakey as well, but this too is settling. My thoughts are much calmer and rational now and the obsessive worrying is greatly improved and I can now sleep without sleeping tablets, which is great. I wish you loads of luck on your road to recovery.

[Ccat]

Ah- thank you so much J-

I think I had unrealistic expectations of how quickly I might see an improvement- I seem to remember the dr mentioning 2-3 weeks- so naturally that then makes you panic if you're not seeing improvement!I am on 50mg.

Thank you for the tip- i did feel a bit sick when i took it today and had only had a banana.

all the best to you too- i will update on how i'm going- and let me know how you're doing too please

C xxx

[blackbroom]

Thanks for posting this. I have been prescribed Sertraline but haven't started taking it yet and have been worried that the possible side effects might outweigh the benefits. I might give it a go now.

[Her Indoors]

Hi Ccat and Blackbroom,

Woke up this morning feeling panicky (apparently mornings are the last thing to get better, so I have been told), but this is now settling and I have had my medication and a cuppa and am feeling okish now. Perhaps it's the thought of having a day doing housework after months of doing just the basics (well sweet Fanny Adams actually) so maybe it's that!

I have found that I really need to be in bed by about 10.30 pm and get plenty of rest while I am recovering, but it wasn't that long ago when I was only getting a few hours at night due to my anxiety. From my experience I have found the Sertraline has definitely helped me to sleep. The first thing I noticed to improve was that I felt better in the evenings generally and was able to sleep. I forget how many weeks I was taking it before this started happening and was taking sleeping tablets for a while, but now don't need these at all.

Keep me posted how you go on and I wish you the very best and take care.

Jxx

[Her Indoors]

Hi there,

Just a quick post to say I am feeling so much better (even in the mornings, yay!) and my anxiety is getting under control and my obsessive thoughts are calming and I am feeling much more positive and looking forward to things again.

Try and stick with it if you can, I think realistically this medication needs a good 3 months + to start to work (just my opinion though, of my own experience).

Take care.

J xx

[LucyR]

Thanks for posting this. I have been prescribed Sertraline but haven't started taking it yet and have been worried that the possible side effects might outweigh the benefits. I might give it a go now.

Hi, I know how you feel, but I have found this medication to be really a great help and I am now feeling much better.

[Ccat]

Hi J-

it is great to hear you are still doing well- thank you again for encouragement.

I am thinking some of my arm symptoms might be cubital tunnel syndrome (where a nerve in your arm gets a bit squashed basically) That would account for elbow pai, tingliness, numbness - though no one mentions shakiness in arm

I find that the most frightenig nsymptom,

Ccat xxx

[carefree68]

Hi there just started taking sertraline 2 days ago and have been reading your posts. Great to know that you a feeling better and looking forward to the same. I was told 3 weeks and the side effects will settle down, but from reading your post this appears to be alot longer?
I started writing a Sertraline diary on here and thought it may help me get through each day one step at a time and so that I can hopefully see improvements as the days go on.
Looks like it effects people in different ways. When did you really start to notice a difference?