Been on Sertraline for 8weeks for anxiety, still not myself, advice?
Posted , 8 users are following.
Hello, My name is Taylor and I am 20 years old and have been lurking this site for 2 months. I have always been one to have social anxiety but never something that being with family or going into a comfortable atmosphere couldnt fix this past year i finally started branching out and becoming more social and was the best self i could have ever been, i was truly happy. On october 23rd my entire life basically changed. I was with my boyfriend and all of a sudden i started feeling weird, sick to my stomach and dizzy. I went to his room and told him i was having some anxiety, usually it would be a stomach ache and pass. This time, i started hysterically crying because the anxiety was overwhelming and i went into a full blown panic attack. lost my coordination, vision, could not speak, was throwing up, limbs were tingling and numb. was rushed to the hospital, ruled it as a panic attack and was given xanax .25 mg and sent home. The following week was ok, slight anxiety but nothing crazy. then a day came about where i had to go to work and was so scared that i was going to have a panic attack that i did, and almost blacked out again. This was a friday, went home, took half of a .25mg xanax felt a little better. Then Sunday came around and my boyfriend asked me to come over to his place (the site of my first panic attack) and by association i freaked out. Long story short every morning after i was waking up with TERRIBLE anxiety lasting the entire day, every anxiety symptom you name it, nauseaous, gagging, shaking, crying, loss of breath, tight throat. I tried to fight it for a week thinking it would pass but then it developed into this depression/anxiety hybrid. I was crying non stop, was not eating, thankfully I had no trouble sleeping, the sight of anyone or anything made me nauseaous and sad and i basically wanted to die. I made an appointment with my GP and she put me on 25mg of sertraline that I started on November 5th along with more .25mg xanax to take till it kicks in. I honestly could not tell you what side effects I had vs what my anxiety was causing cause it was seriously that bad. I know for a fact it made my aversion to food even worse though and anxiety much higher and also muscle twitches and jerks. A week or two went by with really no change, then week three i felt better, i got out the house and my mood lifted, still had a tight throat 24/7 and mild anxiety and little appetite but i started getting hope but still nowhere near better. Then a week later i CRASHED, back to square one with that terrible depression hybrid. Went back to GP and we raised it to 50mg. The following three days were the worst of my LIFE, i literally thought i was going to be put in a mental hospital i was having such bad thoughts and anxiety. the past couple of weeks have been a rollercoaster. I have a better lifted mood about everything, depression seems to have lifted somewhat but the anxiety is still here. I am able to enjoy things i used to more but always feel like im out of breath and dizzy and sometimes the anxiety builds up so much i just cry. I have to say i do feel a lot better than i was 8 weeks ago but no where near myself. At night i feel more relaxed and can actually do things, and have had some good days. Something that worries me is my appetite is so incredibly poor and im loosing a lot of weight that i cannot afford it has peaked some days where i can eat pretty well but not good. I have a lot more hope now and those hopeless feelings have gone quite a bit but i never feel relaxed and cant do much without being out of breath. All in all im scared and do not know what to do. i want my life back so badly. i am tired of waking up every morning and anxiety hitting me like a brick and sitting there for a long time shaking cause dont know if i can even get up. I am in talk therapy as well but i really feel like it isnt doing that much. I am wondering if there are any success stories, if i should up my dose and most of all if this drug will ever help me feel like myself again?!
0 likes, 31 replies
Cinderella81 taylor41
Posted
I am also on 25 mg which is very low and I also feel much better but not perfect. You might have to increase it. And lots of people say that they feel better after 3 month or so. Go back to your GP and talk about how you feel. I know I should increase it.
taylor41 Cinderella81
Posted
Thank you so much for the reply Cinderella, I guess I'm kinda scared to up my dose cause of the scary thoughts I was getting. Are you in sertraline for anxiety as well?
Cinderella81 taylor41
Posted
Yes, I am not depressed but I am anxious. Plus two month ago my mum passed away so you can imagine. I was scared to take it because I've had terrible physical symptoms and didn't want to feel worse. But I started with 12.5 mg and now I am on 25 mg even if the doctor says take 50 mg. I didn't have terrible side effects because I think I slowly increase it. So if I would do it ( I think I will soon ) I'll do 25 ( half of the tablet ) and a little more. And then I'll try the whole tablet. Some people might think it's silly but who's got anxiety understand it for sure.
As I said I am also not perfect but I would say I am 70 % ...
taylor41 Cinderella81
Posted
I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother, I couldn't even imagine . Are you able to eat on sertraline? It takes a lot for me to get up and get going but every day is still a struggle.
Cinderella81 taylor41
Posted
My appetite was terrible because of the anxiety and I had terrible diarrhea. Still I have at mornings ( nearly every day ) but during the day I am okay. I am not eating as much as I did before and I've lost weight but I do eat more. So many people takes 100 mg or more so we shouldn't be scared :-)
Morning I also I don't feel great but better how it was.
taylor41 Cinderella81
Posted
Yes , I think maybe upping our doses might do the trick. It's just a hard struggle, I've heard the reason it takes so long is because your brain has to create new receptors for the serotonin, I can imagine that takes awhile. We just have to keep strong.
suzie43139 taylor41
Posted
Hi Taylor. I'm sorry to hear what you've gone through. I've experienced something similar and my advice to you is to stick with it because you really do start to see the benefit after about 6 weeks. Each time you increase you will suffer side effects again and it will then level out again. I started on 25 and after a few weeks I increased to 50. Now 12 weeks in I'm nearly back to normal with the odd bad day every now and then. I could increase but I'm trying to be patient as the drug takes a while to build up in your system. I hope it works out for you. This is my second time round on sertraline and the first time I returned to normal and even came off of it for a few years.
taylor41 suzie43139
Posted
Thank you so much for the reply suzie. Should I be worried because you said start to see benefits around 6 weeks. I'm 8 weeks in
.
Some people say they felt it like a light switch when they felt normal again.i feel an extremely slow gradual change and when you say you felt normal again do you mean 100% back to your old self? Cause that's what I really miss. My poor boyfriend has to do such simple things with me like sit at home because going out is a lot for me when going out before was all I wanted to do! Thankfully he's extremely sweet and understanding as well as my family. This is a tough battle but going on these forums helps me a lot.
suzie43139 taylor41
Posted
Hey Taylor. I didnt explain myself very well. I meant to say that I felt the benefit of the 50mg 6 weeks in. But before that I was on 25mg for a while. 80% back to my original self now. Over all I've done 12 weeks and a bit back on the sertraline. And the last time around I did get 100% back to my old self I'm working towards getting there again but I know it takes a lot of patience and time. Mine is slow and gradual but I see it as quite normal as I was the same last time.
We're all here to help on this forum so never be afraid to ask anything. I've made some friends for life on here - all going through the same things as me. X
taylor41 suzie43139
Posted
Yes I love these forums Suzie, whenever I start feeling really bad I just come on here and it gives me loads of hope. I have also made some friends for lif on these forums, they are truly a godsend. I am just really hoping the sertraline tackles my morning anxiety I get just upon waking up, and gives me my appetite back, I used to be a ravenous eater and LOVED food, now I just dont really care for it. Another thing which is bothersome is the amount of neck, shoulder and back pain I get during the day cause I am so tense as well as my throat is so tight and I feel like I can never catch my breath, I can run up the stairs and be huffing and puffing like I just ran a mile. This is very disheartening to me because I used to be a runner, 3miles or more at the gym now I feel like I cant even walk far without being out of breath and having to sit down. Are these all things the sertraline will kick in the butt? It's just amazing how fast this anxiety came on yet how long it is taking to control
by all means sometimes I just sit and cry but I do also make myself go to work and hang with family and go out even though it is really hard sometimes. Sometimes I find crying very theraputic but I also do things like watch youtube to keep me distracted so I am by no means wallowing around yet sometimes I would love to. Are all of these things something you also experienced and were they completely resolved by sertraline? I am also by no means expecting sertraline to make me happy, just to how I was before this nightmare.
taylor41
Posted
Update: 4 weeks on 25 mg, 4 weeks tomorrow on 50mg. Past couple of weeks was starting to get my appetite back now it seems to have decreased to nothing again. Last night went out to a movie and it was difficult but I stuck it out and managed to eat a little personal pizza and that's it. Woke up this morning very anxious and nauseous, depression is seemingly gone but spent the morning dry heaving in the bathroom. Is this normal at this stage? Feel very weak and tired from not eating.
taylor41
Posted
suzie43139 taylor41
Posted
Hi Taylor. I'm sorry to read that you're not doing too well. Dry heaving, lack of appetite and the morning anxiety might just be your anxiety still.
You've been on the medication for enough time that I don't think it is side effects. My advice would be to give it another few weeks at 50mg and see if you start feeling better as time goes by and see if the anxiety starts to improve- if it doesn't I would increase up to 75mg? And give it a few weeks on that to see if you feel any better. People increase so quickly these days however they never give the ex time to settle in the system.
A few people I know stayed at 50mg but only really saw a benefit 12 weeks after they went up
Suzie x
taylor41 suzie43139
Posted
suzie43139 taylor41
Posted
Hi Taylor. I'm fine apart from having the flu 😩
How are you doing ?
X
taylor41 suzie43139
Posted
Hello suzie
not too well I've been anxious cooped up in my room all day searching forums on the edge of tears thinking this medication won't work for me. I have to wait till Monday or Tuesday to call doctors they're all closed. My anxiety has been making me feel very detached today
suzie43139 taylor41
Posted
taylor41 suzie43139
Posted
suzie43139 taylor41
Posted
taylor41 suzie43139
Posted