Setraline 50mg, 11 days in

[smartie76]

Hi everyone
I was on citalopram for two years (ended on 40mg), and although i was getting "breakthrough" anxiety and depression, on the whole I was coping. My GP has changed me to 50mg Setraline, and I am just not sure about it at all!. I adjusted well to citalopram, and was not expecting the switch to be too difficult, in fact, he was so postive about Setraline, that I was may be expecting it to be wonderful. It isn't.
So far, I have had nausea, really bad dizzy spells, where I felt I could hardly raise my head without the world spinning, and the most awful horrid anxiety with feelings of unreality. Each day i wonder if i feel any better, and almost monitoring myself to see how I feel (as in thinking "Do I feel anxious, do I feel depressed?". I know this is daft, and I am paying far much attention to how I feel, and wonder if that is half of the problem. I just want to feel "me" again, and wonder if maybe Setraline is actually making me worse?, can it do that? I am due to see my GP in two weeks, and am hoping I will feel more like "me" by then, but judging from similar posts on here, I am not sure if that will be the case. DOES it get better?. or should I ask to switch back to Citalopram? Have I given it long enough, or maybe do I need a higher dose? Is 50mg Setraline the same as 40mg Citlopram, or, if it is less, might that be the problem? Sorry to go on for so long, but there are times I almost feel I am taking something that is bad for me, and I dont want to do that!.

[AuntieMoosie]

I would give it more time hun, wait, at least till you go back and see your GP

I was also switched from Citalopram to Sertraline last year, though I have been on Sertraline before.

With any of the SSRI's you do have to give them a fair bit of time to kick in properly and 11 days is pretty early days really.

Sertraline does make your anxiety rise a bit when you first start taking it, but that should settle down within a couple of weeks really

I do find Sertraline very helpful for my anxiety, better than Citalopram, which just left me feeling devoid of all emotion, the only problem I'm having is insomnia, which seems to be getting worse. I'm not sure though how much of that is due to the Sertraline, it's probably a mixture of different things, so I shall see.

Just hang in there, I know it's horrible in the first few weeks, but it wont be too long now before you should be feeling a bit better

[spikerez]

sounds like you could do with a tranquiliser to help you sleep,ive been taking sert for many years with chlorpromazine at night...can't sleep with out the chlorpromazine

[AuntieMoosie]

Thank you

I shall discuss that with my GP, but it sounds good to me if it makes you sleep

[smartie76]

Thankyou . I think I feel a little better, the awful dizzy spells have stopped anyway, but still getting quite a lot of anxiety. Just telling myself I am seeing my GP next week, and if I still feel the same, then I shall ask him about maybe either trying something else, or maybe my dose isn't high enough? I think I have read that other people get this because the setraline is not at a therapeutic dose? Hope that is all it is, I had such high hopes of it, and don't want to have to change again, but admit to thinking back to how much better I felt on 40mg of Citalopram. Early days yet though as you say!