3 monhs on Sertraline - anxiety returns
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hey everyone.
I've been on Sertraline for 3.5 months. After 7 weeks my panic attacks stopped and I was feeling much better. No anxiety at daytime. But I still had trouble sleeping one or two nights a week.
Three days ago I started feeling anxious again and it has gone downhill ever since. I now have bad anxiety, restlessness and insomnia again.
Did meds stop working? Do I need increase the dose (Im on 50mg)? Can someone still get anxiety after so much time on Sertraline?
PLEASE help me.
0 likes, 7 replies
kimberley69393 maja1208
Posted
Hi maja1208
i would speak to ur GP i was on 50mg sertraline for 4 weeks they upped me to 100mg due to my anxiety and panic attacks....its good to speak about these things so they can put u on the right dose also is there something that has triggered these effects again on urself ?
vikki87350 maja1208
Posted
hey, im sorry to hear your stuggling
Sertraline isnt a great A/D anyway so you could do to ask him for something else
ive taken Venlafaxine and i feel the relief daily
my auntie is a general nurse practioner for 40 years and she also suffers with her M/H and since that time my sleep returned and i also realised my thoughts were speeding my heart up,
so i became aware of my babbiling out loud then i became quiet, focused and Conscious
Remaining conscious of my emotions helped me cope and slow things down
Today, i feel a better person for the experience because now i live fully aware of everything around me
i hope you get some rest soon
GodsServant maja1208
Posted
Hi Maja, either something recently happened to you that increased your stress level such that you feel more anxious or I would say that you may need a higher dose. Please work with your doc, but 50mg is a on the low side. He may up your dosage by having you take 1 50mg pill a day and 1 100mg pill every other day, so in essence, you'd be on 75mg a day.
Also, regarding insomnia, do you take your meds in the morning or evening? I take mine in the morning and the side effects of insomnia went away after awhile. I heard some say that they take it in the pm and have insomnia, but when they switched to taking their med in the am, the insomnia went away.
I know how bad this is, but hang in there. You are stronger than this!
maja1208 GodsServant
Posted
Hey. Thank you for your answer.
Yes, my anxiety was triggered by an event. But I had occasional bad day before and was thinking about going up to 75 mg. I am just worried that maybe I should lower the dose to 25mg not upping it. What if dose is too high and not too low? I am now on day 2 at 75mg and I took Olanzapine because my anxiety was heightened.
Today I wont be taking it at night (11 pm), will take it tomorrow morning at 7. Do you think I will have side effects from changing time?
GodsServant maja1208
Posted
So you know the event that triggered this, so write down this event so that you become aware of it. I cannot stress this enough - regardless of what dosage you are currently on, if an event in your life is so awfully overwhelming then it will cause you to have what I call a "flashback" of some OCD thought. I've been living with this illness almost my entire life and now I'm only starting to feel I've finally gotten a little bit of a handle on it. Things like divorce, a death in the family, a breakup, a new relationship, a new job, etc. It could be both good things as well as bad things that are triggers for a flashback. The important thing is to recognize this and to rein in the thought process. You must learn how to do this.
As for too high a dose. You will find out if it's too high a dose if it makes you ridiculously giddy like it did me - and then I reduced it slowly. For me, it was more important to overshoot and then reduce it slowly than to suffer the pain for longer amount of time than necessary.
What else? I have always taken mine in the morning with some food. Serotonin has a big effect on your gut - read up on it - and so I noticed if I don't eat after I take it, not long my stomach will make loud grumbling noises. As for side effect, there shouldn't be anything major, except psychologically I feel that it would help me more throughout the day because presumably I'd be asleep so I won't have OCD thoughts and don't need the med at night.
Hope this helps.
maja1208 GodsServant
Posted
Thank you.
I have just one more question... I did post on forum about it.
One thing bothers me. I can sleep normally for 5 days and have trouble sleeping 2 nights a week. I take Olanzapine (antipsychotic) so that I can sleep these two nights. Over and over and over again. I had 14 nights of normal sleep at week 6 and 7. And then this. I recently switched from taking Zoloft at night, now I take it in the morning. And I still have trouble sleeping. And i upped my dose 7 days ago, from 50 to 75 mg. What can be causing this? Anxiety, Olanzapine?
GodsServant maja1208
Posted
Maja, I honestly do not know the answer to this because I've only taken sertraline alone. I've never combined it with any other meds. I'm sorry - I was under the impression that you take sertraline alone. I cannot answer this question because this is the issue when you combine drugs. You don't know which drug is causing the issue. So, in order to find you, you would have to isolate one, which means stop taking the other, and you can't really do this. Then, on top of this, both drugs alone may be find, but when you take them together, the could interact with each other and produce other side effects. Or, it could be neither meds, but just your anxiety that is causing your insomnia.
I wouldn't be concerned too much about the causes of insomnia right now. If I were you, I'd be much more concerned with dealing with the insomnia so it doesn't bother me too much. Can anything help, like intense exercise before sleep on those days? Decaf tea before bedtime? Soothing music? Aromatherapy?