Breathlessness feeling , sertraline for anxiety.

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hi for the last 8 weeks ive had the feeling of having a tight chest and not being able to breath this has been every day , the only relief was when i first wake up for about an hour, then it starts. I would overbreath and then feel bloated my chest would feel tighter so i would make myself burp to release some pressure on my chest , Our docs are only doing telephone app if they can because of covid so phoned mine Docs thought it was my asthma and changed inhaler and gave me a course of steriods , but said if they didnt work it was likely to be anxiety. Other than the breathless feeling and having to take deep breaths ( which was bad enough ) i felt ok in all other ways. My doc decided to prescribe sertraline for anxiety and im on day 5 was on 50mg but have cut it to 25mg as i feel so ill on it aches chest hurts feel generally horrible, to the point im thinking of stopping them, although apparently i have read the first 2 weeks can be bad, has anyone else had this .

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5 Replies

  • Posted

    It could be asthma, yes. I have a history of three really bad asthma attacks that ended up hospitalizing me and the symptoms are pretty much the same. Your anxiety makes it worse. I'm going through the same thing right now. Try to keep calm, stay strong and take your medications. And call your doctor if something goes wrong, just because there is a pandemic, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't give you the medical support you need if necessary.

    Good luck!

  • Posted

    HI, My suggestion is to ring your doctor first about the medicine and affects its having on you before you stop them. If your still burping ask your doctor if it could be Gerd and because if its in your stomach. Gerd can react to what medicine your taking and along with upset set stomach can give you a sore chest and burping. .

    All the best Martin

    • Posted

      hi thanks for your comments , as it happens i do have GERD, im on several meds as i also have high bp and have had a tia bit of a wreck really . im on day 6 of taking sertraline breathing not bad but still feel yuck going to perservere for a bit longer and see if it improves.

  • Posted

    Ok, Having gerd could explain why you are have reactions with your medicine but your doctor will tell you that . I have high blood pressure and gred. Just recently when the gerd was playing up my blood pressure pills were reacting with gerd and the doctor told me not to stop taking them. Like you I was getting chest pains but when burping it relieved it also getting dizzy and all settled down once the gerd settled down. I also found the more exercise I do the better it is. Also more fibre in your diet and less spices helps heaps

    All the best

  • Posted

    hi i spoke to my doctor yesterday who has suggested i keep taking the sertraline for 5 more days, but if im still feeling rubbish they will look to change it. He is hoping this feeling awful will go but did confirm that at begining alot of people do feel rubbish on this drug. I am fed up of being aware of every breath i take and feeling like im not getting enough air when obviously i am , in fact im breathing too much which is making me bloated adding more pressure and making my breathing worse . its going round in a circle and i need to find a way of breaking this, as breathing is something we just do and not think about.

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