19 weeks sertraline success story

Sertraline success story 19 weeks

I promised myself that when I was feeling better I would post a positive story 😃

I was one of those people at the start feeling hopeless and desperately searching for positive stories to get me through the dark days.

Anyway here I am and proof that sertraline works!

I realise now that I had been under an enormous amount of emotional stress - affair, breakdown of marriage - but thought I had been coping okay.

However, when my husband moved out I started to get anxiety and panic attacks, not for any particular reason they’d just come over me. Having had them about 15 years ago I tried to keep healthy, exercise (even tried St. John’s wort) but I wasn’t getting any better and they were getting worse and more frequent over the course of 6 weeks.

I was so afraid of going places as I was worried that I’d have a panic attack that I started to become really withdrawn and the attacks would be followed by low episodes. The final straw came one afternoon in work where I had the worst anxiety attack and felt like I was having a total breakdown, couldn’t cope with anything, or deal with the simplest of tasks and felt completely hopeless that it was never going to go away. This was my rock bottom.

The next day I went to the drs who prescribed me 50mg sertraline. I knew some info about antidepressants- particularly that you can feel worse before you feel better but I was not prepared of what was to come.

The first 2 weeks were horrific, I suffered badly with side effects, increased anxiety, foggy, loss of appetite, struggled to leave the house I was way worse than before HOWEVER by the end of the 2nd week things started to improve. HANG IN THERE! Luckily I had a very understanding boss and I had some time of work before doing gradual return.

Over the next 10 weeks, each week I was gradually getting a little better. It might not be much but I was realising that I was slightly more motivated to do things than I had the week before, simple things like cook a decent tea or clean!

Recovery is not lineal so expect to be up & down & do not too hard on yourself. This is easier said than I done as I used to (and still do tbh) get frustrated when I felt like I was on the up but dip down again, but this is part of the recovery process bear with it and keep in mind the recovery you’re making overall.

Interestingly the dr said to me that other people will notice a change before you do and this is so true! I found having a friend to reassure me and be positive about how I was doing massively helpful when I was losing hope at the start.

I had counselling (through work luckily) which helped me with coping methods for the panic attacks. But the biggest realisation I made was the changes I have to make personally to keep myself well and prevent this from happening again.

For me Antidepressants have been a ‘crutch’ to help me cope but I think (in some cases and certainly for me but appreciate everyone is different) you need to look at what you’re eating, how well you’re sleeping and looking after yourself in general.

Diet, exercise and meditation (through the calm app) have been enormous factors in my recovery.

By week 12 I’d say my anxiety had 95% gone but I was left with periods of low mood. Dr suggested I try upping to 100mg. Because of the side effects I had at the start I was hesitant about upping the dose, at the start of the increase there was fogginess again & a slight increase in anxiety which was hard but at the end of the 2 weeks the fog lifted & I was feeling better & the increase in dose was totally what I needed - wish I’d done it sooner!!

From 14 -19 weeks I have just been getting better and better. I am a different person to where I was at the start. I’ve even been through a really stressful time at worked and survived! I still get the odd wave of uncomfortable emotion / wobble but can deal with it and know it will pass.

Hope this helps someone, there is light at the end!!

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