Thought I would create a little memoir for people, I know when I started my dose of sertraline I spent hours searching for side effects, how long it takes to work and reviews etc.

Started on 50mg 13/05/19
Day 1: worst day of my life, I was anxious, thought I was going crazy, felt sick, couldn’t sleep at all, felt like every vein in my body was on fire. And had loose bowel movements every half hour
Day 2: much of the same except I slept a little that night. Still hadn’t eaten any food except I did drink a lot of milk ( trust me this is a life saver)
Day 3,4,5 : lots of anxiety, new intrusive thoughts that I never had before, compulsions through the roof
Day 6-10 : evenings were a little better but I was drained and starting to become very depressed, loose bowels stopped and started eating again
Day 11: the plan was always to up to 100mg as it was what I was always on before. Decided to take the plunge and get it over with, no gradual increase, wasn’t too bad, bit of the burny veins, appetite went again though
Day 12-13: low mood, very tearful, 0 energy, constantly failing asleep and waking up in a panic,

Which brings me up to today
Day 14

Still had a morning panic attack and still general morning anxiety and depression but Appetite starting to return, mood has lifted slightly, intrusive thought is still there but today it’s been a bit easier to accept ( I know though that this isn’t the end of that one, it will come and go in intensity for another couple of weeks)
Feel a bit more positive tonight, still very very tired.

Will update this regularly just so that people can see exactly what to expect, I know this is the answers I wanted when I started ( even though this is my fourth time on SSRI you would think I would know what to expect)

You are NOT going crazy, it really is the drug. Believe it, don’t doubt it, but please if you feel suicidal please seek help immediately


EDIT just to say, I suffer generalised anxiety disorder and ocd ( which both in turn cause depression if I let them get out of control)