Sertraline advice - Please help

[KellyT]

Hi All

I have been reading up about Sertraline, does anyone who has bad panic attacks take Sertraline and is it good for helping with them, have been suffering really bad and had an awful one earlier today, am going to doctor tomorrow, do you think it would be good to ask for Sertraline ? Please help

[tulip123]

Ask your doctor would be the sensible thing as they are after all the only people who are supposed to be the experts. Drugs effect people in different ways. They are not a magic wand. As for me I was on Sertraline and it made me sick for months and months. I went back to the doctor and all they could say was try another brand - No thanks!!!!! Its best to go for talk therapy which was the only thing that helped me out of it. But thats my opinion.

Tulip123

[chick33]

Hi KellyT,
Well, I have only been taking AD's for 3 weeks. Week one was Citalopram 10mg which did nothing at all apart from make me feel so spaced out, was then put on 20mg by GP, but that just made it even worse, couldnt sleep, legs wouldnt keep still, couldnt relax, felt really jittery, breathlessness was horrrible. Am now on 50mg Sertraline will be a week on Wednesday, still feel odd, breathlessness still there, have not been able to be on my own if i go out (not that i have wanted too, more forced than by choice). Again everybody is different, I am sooooooooo tired as I cant sleep at night. The panic attacks have been awful, its nothing in particular that triggers one, it just happens even watching tv. Ive been signed off work now for the past 2 weeks, im an Auxillary Nurse for cancer patients and have not been able to face work at the moment, my GP has advised me against work till my tablets have kicked in properly. Both my parents suffer with depression, my father is a GP himself and saw the signs of depression, panic and anxiety in me. They have both had a nervous breakdown which really worries me too, both are worried about me as they have experienced the same feelings, but 100 times worse.
All I can say is good luck, if you have felt like me I sympathise with you as its the worst feeling ever. Could do with advise myself, how long am i gonna feel so out of it?

[mabelina]

Ive been taking Sertraline for 12 years and i have honestly found them a life saver. I cant praise them enough. I didnt have any side effects what so ever, except for a lovely calm feeling, not tired or zombified.

[KK77]

Hi everyone!
This is my 1st post...l've read a lot of the stories/experiences on this site and found them to be extremely helpful because one of the hardest aspects of depression is the feeling of being isolated and alone in your suffering. The feeling that no one understands or is going through your particular "hell".

I have been suffering from so-called "recurrent depression" for about 15 years and have been on nearly every single antidepressant (apart from venlafaxine, thank God!). I spent 7 years on paroxetine (seroxat) and when it stopped working for me (after about 1 year!) l couldn't get off it... Somehow did manage though and suffered for ages after - the withdrawal was pure hell. After a period drug-free l had another episode of severe depression (it kind of creeps up slowly over a few months, then Wham! it suddenly hits you) and went onto citalopram. That didn't work after a while (2 months or so), so then fluoxetine. That gave me worst agitation and anxiety imaginable and l only managed 2 weeks of it... Then my doctor (who suffers from depression himself and is VERY patient) suggested mirtazapine, which just made me eat and eat and still feel depressed. I avoided venlafaxine or duloxetine (after paroxetine withdrawal l wasn't stupid enough to suffer like that again) and now l'm on sertraline which so far has been the best for me. I'm lucky that l didn't get many physical side effects (just a bit of nausea). It's not so common in the UK, bigger in US - the drug companies have pushed paroxetine and citalopram more here - but l must say that it, so far, has been good...and l suffer from melancholic depression (which is severe). (In between l was also on tricyclic ADs which l just couldn't tolerate (bad anticholinergic SEs...))

Sorry this is so long - just wanted to tell my story... Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences...knowing that we're not alone is the 1st step of many...