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Had horrific diarrhoea/nausea/anxiety with sertraline. Help

Posted , 6 users are following.

Sam1679
Sam1679

Hi,

i have severe health anxiety where i genuinely think i am dying whenever something is wrong with me. id really like to find other people feeling similar to get some advice

the dr switched me from citalopram to sertraline about 7 weeks ago. tbh felt very low, suicidal for about 2 of those weeks - but it got better. dr increased my dose to 100mg. 2 days later i had bad vomiting and diarrhoea. then i had a few days of diarrhoea and decided to go to the doctors. imodium isnt touching the diarrhoea at all . dr said to hand in a stool sample and didnt think the diarrhoea was dose related ? she said either food poisoning or a bug. i also have IBS

Obviously ive went away and instantly thinking the worst and convinced myself i have cancer. i reduced my dose to 50mg for 2 days and then 25mg. the next day i had terrible nausea and saw on google ive probably reduced too quick. had no appetite and terrible nausea for 3 days and so decided to up back to 50mg. i then saw the dr again the next day to let her know whats happened and how worried ive been about it all and the fact she asked for a stool sample freaked me out. i broke down sobbing at the drs. been so worried about the nausea/diarrhoea and she reasured me she agreed i had reduced too quick and that she thinks i may have had a bug but then the anxiety and everything else has made the diarhoea last so long. she advised me she was not worried about the diarhhoea at all as i have Ibs too. she gave me some propranolol to take 40mg three times a day to settle the nausea. i left the dr feeling a lot bettr and took the propranolol. two days later i am anxiou again with bad diarhoe .. stomach pains too and convinced there is something wrong again. ive read propranolol can cause diarrhoea too

i am absolutely fed up 😦 this is now day 14. i have an appointment with the mental health nurse in two days time

has anyone else experienced this and can give me some reasurrance as no idea what to do

thank you

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • pete55308
    pete55308 Sam1679

    Posted

    I experienced diarrhoea while on sertraline and from what I've read on here it's a common side effect especially during dosage changes. However, no one can say for sure why tummy troubles happen so I would be honest with your doctor and see if they might give you some blood test / a FIT test / investigations like colonoscopy if you need the reassurance that it isn't anything more serious.

  • carl16912
    carl16912 Sam1679

    Posted

    I've been on sertraline for 5 weeks now and in the last week I've had lots of Diarrhea. Just came on all of a sudden after four weeks of very little side effects. Like you I am worried about the cause but I know it is a common side effect. How are you getting on now Sam?

  • Guest
    Guest Sam1679

    Edited

    Sorry to hear your having such a rough time of it. I just made a post as well about sertraline. I got bad diarrhea as well. Im off it over a month but having awful side effects including diarrhea. I have read on other forums that things get worse before they get better. For me it didn't seem like it was getting better.

    I hope you get the help you need from the mental health nurse.

    I'm reluctant to go to the doctors because I keep getting fobbed off as they don't know what to do.

  • pete55308
    pete55308 Sam1679

    Posted

    I'm also 4 weeks off and still terrible dreams and diarrhoea - almost like sertraline triggered IBS?

    • carl16912
      carl16912 pete55308

      Posted

      I've been off for ten days now and around the day 5 day mark there was a noticeable improvement and less stomach cramp (although not back to normal)..but yesterday I seemed to take a step backwards with looser stools and more cramps again. I'm wondering if anything I've been drinking or eating might have caused the setback. its very frustrating

  • marypat918
    marypat918 Sam1679

    Edited

    Hope you are doing better. Not easy. I have had several issues with my mental health, luckily now I only deal with anxiety. Don't get me wrong the anxiety is not easy .The anxiety can be debilitating where you don't want to leave your home at times due to panic attacks. Compared to what I went through about 17 years ago this is nothing. Hang in there. Hope the meds are working better. All can say is listen to your body if you don't like what this medicine is doing to you after you give it time to settle in try a different one. You must give it time to settle in though. I made the mistake all those years ago and did not demand to have my medicine changed. Every month every I explained what was going on. The good news is though I'm here today, made it through. So hang in there. Feel better. MP

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