can any one tell me how long till sertraline helps with health anxiety

[emma jo]

i have been on sertraline for nearly two weeks but im onlt on a low does had 12. mgs for a week then since tuesday been on 25 mgs . the first few days after i up my does the obsessive health worries and ocds checking for health probs werent as bad but once my bod gets used to the dose they seem to come back stronger . had a bad relapse today with checking and just wondered how long its taken other people suffering from HA and what dose they were on. i am supossed to go up to 50mgs so was going to go up in a weeks time once i been on 25mgs a it longer. side effects arnt to bad but just feel like tablets are not really helping yet any got any advice please

[southey]

I have not started Sertraline from the get go even though I am now on this drug, but have started Citalopram and Prozac for health anxiety a few times but they are similar drugs.

I always found at around the 3 week mark things started to get better and slowly improved from there to almost no health worries several months later, I always seemed to be at my worst at around week 2?

I am not sure if starting with a lower dose prolongs the time it takes for SSRI's to get working, I never seemed to have much luck with low doses and have always had to take more to see a difference?

Steve.

[emma jo]

i think you are right as still not helping been on 25 mgs nearly two weeks at 12.5 mgs for a week aswell im gonna go up to 50 on sunday so hope it helps then

[nomorepanic]

What are you hoping it will do can I ask?

[emma jo]

help with the health anxiety worries as i have the tendency to worry i have all sort of illnesses mainly cancer and get get strong urges to check my body for symptoms and my mind is always worrying about it and gets stuck on thoughts or i get intrusive thoughts about needing to check for a particular illness the psychiatrist said i should go on this at 25mgs for a week then go up after that to 50mgs but i was worried about side effects so started on a lower does. im just hoping that they will numb out the intrusive thought and worries about cancer that make me want to check as its the anxiety i get from these thoughts that im find so hard to ignore

[nomorepanic]

I wouldn't rely on the medication totally to help that as HA is as much about thoughts as anything and those thoughts will still be there if you are taking it or not.

Generally it should lessen some physical symptoms but you will still additional help to combat the HA as well

[emma jo]

i have had cbt three times now and am currently at end of my third lot of 17 sessions which not much success thats why i have been prescribed medication they said it will help me deal with things and help me think more clearly i dont expect thoughts to go just anxiety that comes with them to lessen a bit and so far thats not happened . the nhs are refusing to give me any more cbt sessions and expect me just to manage on medication . I have asked them for more but they say it wont help. I have read cbt and meds work best together so i find this hard to believe as i only just started tablets a few weeks ago but only have two sessions of cbt left .

[nomorepanic]

There are two differing opinions on meds and CBT together

Some doctors/consultants/psychiatrists say do NOT use both together and do the CBT whilst not on medication and some say use both together.

I guess it depends who is treating you and their opinions on it all.

[southey]

I have been fortunate in that taking an SSRI has almost totally removed both the mental thoughts and physical symptoms of Health Anxiety! I have done CBT courses and while helpful during an acute outbreak of HA, it's the drugs that keep me functioning properly as I do not employ any CBT techniques day to day?

It's been the same every time an episode comes on in this order....

Doing well off meds
Feel intrusive thoughts beginning
Thoughts turn nasty and constant
Full on panics and anxiety kicks in
Meltdown and hiding away
Start an SSRI
Several weeks of sheer hell
SSRI starts working
Start feeling better
Re-emerge into the world a bit dazed
Continue improving over several months
Doing well on meds

Steve.

[emma jo]

hi steve thanks for your positive words . they are encouraging