Feeling of doom on sertraline
Posted , 7 users are following.
hiya everyone
I have been suffering panic attacks for 2 months every few days so I asked the doctor what would help ( current coronavirus situation isn't helping )
I started sertraline Saturday and Sunday woke up feeling horrendous, shaking, dizziness,foggy head,really bad feeling of fear and doom which was making my body shake even more and panic.
I persisted a couple of days and the feeling didn't go ,all night when I'm sat watching tele shaking and feeling awful ,feeling of doom and that I am dying.
I'm on day 4 now and feel like I can't go on what should I do ?
is this normal so feel this bad or is it not suiting me ?
0 likes, 19 replies
secret47800 charlotte301273
Edited
Hi I was prescribed sertaline for my anxiety and I will be completely honest and say I am was absolutely HORRENDOUS and had to come off it. Like you my symptoms were 100000% worse when I started taking them. The side effects do say that it will get worse before it gets better but I just couldn't cope at all. I couldn't eat or sleep I had the shakes and sweats it was really bad. My Dr did say it was normal but I couldn't cope at all. The extra anxiety was making me worse. I'd suggest to speak to your Dr but they possibly say it's normal and to wait for your body to adjust. It can take up to 6 weeks. X
charlotte301273 secret47800
Posted
so nice to hear im not the only one ,I have read a lot of people's anxiety got worse but its got so bad the last 4 days I feel depressed and don't want to continue, so down and when I get the horrible feeling it brings on a panic attack and it feels like I'm dying which is horrible:((
I don't know what to do
charlotte301273
Posted
I'm just stuck between the anxiety i had in the first place or this new nasty feeling and whether it will subside or not
secret47800 charlotte301273
Posted
Honestly I was exactly the same I literally couldn't get out of bed. Cos all I could think of was how am I feeling worse when I'm supposed to feel better? And then I started to think the symptoms I had weren't anxiety after all and it was something worse so I completely and utter sympathise with you. Have you tried any thing like breathing exercises or meditation? I downloaded headspace and blasted it in my ears to try and drown out stuff.
charlotte301273 secret47800
Edited
luckily I'm up and about and going on walks to get fresh air and try and improve my mood.
i have taken a beta blocker to stop my heart race pacimg and going into panic attacks and they have helped a bit
how long were u on them for ?
and how do I know if they're not for me ?
secret47800 charlotte301273
Edited
I stopped after a week as couldn't cope feeling worse than I already did. I suppose you can only wait and see if your symptoms improve
AnonymousWoman secret47800
Edited
I am surprised your doctor said this was normal! I have experienced some side effects coming on various drugs
citalopram - a sense of derealization/depersonalisation where I felt disconnected from myself and my emotions. I felt completely blank and numb and could hardly feel any emotion
sertraline - I don't remember noticing any side effects coming on it
quetiapine - I noticed a slowness of thinking. Sometimes I got stuck trying to speak or to think of a sentence or word. I think I noticed that I could remember a lot more dreams while on this drug too, actually.
I never experienced any physcial side effects coming on any drugs like, these thank goodness. But unfortunately, I usually have a very difficult time coming off them due to physical side effects - nausea, headache, dizziness.
Anyways, I know they list in the side effects that things that you can experience panic attacks, anxiety or suicidal ideation before the drugs kick in but your reaction sounds quite extreme to me! I think you made the right decision not to continue to take it. . . I guess it comes down to the decision of is it worth it to wait? or How much risk are you putting yourself in suffering the side effects?
crispy76 charlotte301273
Edited
Hi,
I suffer from dizziness / brain fog virtually every day whilst at my work place or it appears around people full stop - by home time my head feels very tight and like soup (if this makes any sense). I was also prescribed Sertraline for these problems linked to anxiety and have to say have not noticed any side effects other than dehydration and excessive sweating. I do notice however, that if I was to miss taking the drug for a few days that I will experience strange brain zap sensations - which calm down again after re-taking the Sertraline.
Unfortunately, I have not noticed any real positive relief from the dizziness by using Sertraline - I am not really sure to be honest how it is supposed to work ? I should really go back to the doctors but feel this situation is just going around and around with the problems being rooted in my mental state.
charlotte301273 crispy76
Posted
yep this situation at the minute isn't helping anyone and I feel like I don't have a life , least you can. get out to work ,mime is shut for a few months yet
I get strange flings in my brain like a tingle and then go dizzy but it only lasts a few seconds so maybe that's just the drug
crispy76 charlotte301273
Posted
Hi, Yes it is good at the moment that I have a workplace to go to each day but not so great with some of the people I have to share it with. An office complete with personalities such as a gossip / loud mouth / management bs talker / smelly food eater / persistent sigher - am not saying am perfect by any means but after a day with some of them - wow - my head hurts.
charlotte301273 crispy76
Posted
haha yep that doesnt sound good especially when your not feeling right anyway.
how long have u been on sertraline for
crispy76 charlotte301273
Posted
About a year and half - I start the day off feeling normal - it gets to about 11:00am and the brain fog moves in making me feel dizzy and tight in the head. It slowly eases after I get back home again and start to relax.
Do I want to be at home during the day - no, not really I would get bored / fed-up.
Do I want to be around strange people all day - well, no again !
Arrgh !
Best wishes for your journey, please give the drug a chance - I believe it would take a few weeks of usage before noticing any benefits.
AnonymousWoman crispy76
Posted
maybe you could wear headphones while working to drown out annoying noise from your colleagues? 😃
crispy76 AnonymousWoman
Edited
Haha ! If only 😃
Yesterday I had the joy of listening to my colleagues speak non stop all afternoon about:
'Downstream business continuity plans' and
'Relative Performance Matrices'
Load of old waffle !
Beam me up scotty !
AnonymousWoman crispy76
Posted
hmmm I guess you will have to practice tolerating and being patient as best you can then! I can appreciate how distracting it must be to have colleagues chatting while you are trying to work. Last year I was teaching. We had a tiny work room for us to work in between classes. Nearly all the time, people would be chatting. I could never concentrate in there!!