Fluoxetine changed to sertraline

How long have you been called on sertraline for Kieran? What dosage are you on?

Can you remember how long it took to work?

Sorry for all the questions but like Katie I'm feeling pretty desperate.

Clare

I'm on 50mg I had horrible side affects racing heart which I still get tremors which I also still get, blurred vision, dizziness and headaches were worst but have gone now. I'm week 16 and am bad in mornings but learnt to cope and gets easier you just got to come to terms with it do something makes you feel happy. Exercise is so good even a walk. Force yourself anxiety is like clouds it comes and goes just acknowledge that its anxiety nothing's going to happen then occupy yourself. It took me 7-8 weeks but everyone is different 4-6 weeks you would notice change.good luck

Hi Clare.

No i dont have depression but the physical symptoms of the anxiety and then a bad 9weeks on fluoxetine did make me depressed its the whole 'when am i guna b back to normal' dreaded feeling and not seeing a way out which is so scary. I am quite a negative person tho!

Was you depressed before taking medication? Has it got worse??

Iv been off work 10 weeks now which gets me down. I get so short of breath and have a heavy chest and get light headed and no motivation and worry i cant do my job feeling like that.

You get worse before you get better it does take time.

K

Hi Katie,

I have suffered with low mood in the past and was on and off citalopram for 11 years but consistently on a very low dose for the last 4/5 years with no issues at all. So much so that I decided to wean off it in August.

I was absolutely fine for about 6/8 weeks but 7 weeks ago today I woke up and felt like I'd been hit by a ton of bricks. Severely low mood like I've never known before. I went straight back on the lowest dose of citalopram and over the course of 4 weeks I went up to the highest dose. Did absolutely nothing for me.

On 29th December I saw a physiatrist who put me on 50mg sertraline. The first few days were pretty bad as I had heightened anxiety, very intrusive obsessive and suicidal thoughts. No appetite, acid reflux and generally just feeling dreadful.

I then had a couple of not so bad days and my appetite started to come back. I then really started to dip again.

The physiatrist upped my dose to 100mg on 10th January which I took on the Tuesday and Wednesday. On the Thursday I started a new pack of tablets. The box said 100mg sertraline take one daily. I continued to go downhill and on Sunday I ended up with a really bad tremor in my right arm. I was seeing the physiatrist again on Monday so I decided not to take another tablet until I'd seen him.

When I saw him he said that we had given the increased dose enough time (7 days) and he wanted to change me to venlaflaxine.

I was really reluctant to change so quickly as everyone says sertraline does take time to get into your system plus the reviews of venlaflaxine weren't great so I decided to stick with the sertraline. I went to take the tablet again yesterday from the pack I'd been using since last Thursday and I noticed that although the box said it was 100mg the foil pack said they were 50mg tablets! That means I took 100mg on Tuesday and Wednesday last week and then because of the mix up I was taking 50mg from Thursday through to Sunday. Not sure if this is what has caused the problems in this last week but I'm feeling pretty horrendous.

Anyway I've decided to stick with 50mg for the next week and hope that things settle down at least a little bit and then I will look at increasing again next week.

This truly is the cruelest illness. I'm becoming overwhelmed with suicidal thoughts because I simply can't live like this.

I just hope I start to see at least some improvement really soon.

Clare xx

It really is cruel...

Thats really bad about the 50mg in the 100mg box, well done for noticing. Yeh i dont think 7days increased dose is long enough to change meds. I think you are doing the right thing taking 50mg for a bit then increaseing next week!!

I know you feel worse before you feel better.

Anxiety is so dangerous it can trick your mind. The more you listen and let it affect you the stronger it will become. I know it is so hard but try n think positive even if its just one positive thought then praise yourself for being positive, be kind to yourself and allow your body and mind to heal.

Hi, I had a couple of ok days in the first week but I've gone really downhill again.

How long have you been on sertraline for and what dose? Can you remember how long they took before you started to see an improvement?

Clare xx

I started back aug sept time started on 25 mg for a few days then upped to 50 mg took weeks to c an improvement abt a month maybe a bit longer stayed there till 2 days ago coz my anxietys back so hopefully u'll c an improvement soon if not increase ur dose u'll know in a few weeks or not wether the dose is gonna work for u

I know what you mean about it comes in waves. I do have times when i think wow i cant believe i just did that im deffo improving then other days i cant be bothered to do anything. I was on fluoxetine 9weeks now day 10 of sertraline 25mg so im hoping iv already had the initial start up side effects im just dreadin my increase in 4days time.