How do you decide to up dose?

I was on 50mg for around 7 weeks but still having a bit of low mood, so my GP upped me to 100mg. Felt better almost straight away and now 4 weeks on I'm feeling more and more like my old self. Although I had side effects including the increased anxiety for the first 3 weeks or so on the 50mg, these went away and I did not get more side effects from increasing.

However, everyone is different. If you feel ok on 50mg then stay on 50, if you feel like there is still room for improvement then try 100mg. Ask your GP to write you up for a double supply of the 50mg tablets (rather than the 100mg tablets) so you can decide if/when to go up to 100mg, and easily drop back if it's not for you.

Drinking a lot of caffeine whilst on sertraline might make you more jittery, yes. I've replaced most of my caffeinated drinks with herbal teas.

Hi Geoff, if you still have anxiety id say you need to up. Id do 75 for a week or so then 100 to avoid such harsh side effects. Ive been on sert nearly 5 months, last 6 weeks on 150 and upping from 100 to 150 made a big difference. Each time i upped i had 3 weeks of more anxiety and dizziness, then settled. Its only in the past few days (6 weeks on 150) that ive felt pretty good, got my motivation back to go n do things, guess the sun's helped! I read it can take 3 mths to work and 6 mths to be at optimum. Its been a bit of a long haul but worth it now its working well. Id say, if you're still anxious after a few weeks on a dose, up it, there'll come a point where you suddenly realise you feel quite normal and notice youve been getting out, being productive and the things that used to trigger anxiety (like going to the supermarket for me) become anxiety-free. I started with anxiety a couple of years ago here n there but it went out of control after xmas to looping panic attacks, not sleeping at night, health anxiety over palpitations, and like you i felt like i was having a breakdown. Im not a drinker, stopped smoking a year ago and gave up caffeine 8 mths ago apart from occasionally having 1 tassimo latte (quite weak) a day, on a good day as a treat! Sad i know lol. I had noticed palpitations after drinking too much coffee at work and as thats the thing that scares me most (palpitations not work lol, though that was bad enough to warrant a career change!) i decided to cut out the things that can bring it on...caffeine, smoking, stress (hard to eliminate but not impossible to reduce it)...i probably need to work on cutting down on sugary food...sert has given me cravings and an appetite, ive put on a stone! And drink more water and do some exercise...all meant to help sort palpitations plus all thenother health benefits. So yes, cut down on tea n coffee, go to decaf but more tea than coffee as decaf coffees not too good for the nerves ive read! Hope this helps, good luck, julie

Hi Geoff

I know everyone's different but my advice is stick with the 50mg for a little longer. I too am in 50 mg and have been for nearly 5 months. It took me at least 12 weeks on them to get through a lot of different side effects. I'm now doing ok and am not even contemplating upping my dose.. id suggest if after 12 weeks you feel like it's not doing it for you then start to up the dosage. Personally don't think 4 weeks is long enough but like said everyone is diffrent..

all the best..

Hi Geoff, i was on 50mg for about 3 weeks then upped to 100mg, its been a week now and no real change. Same as 50mg, just now worse extremely no appetite....to the point where even when i force myself to eat a little makes me quite sick!

Other than that, doing ok so far.

But not planning to go any higher dose if doc suggests, as i can imagine I'll be stick woman, well already am very thin. There won't be much left of me.

See how you go, the higher dose is meant to help with sleep ...that is what my doc said. She did give me valium to aid with sleep when needed.... but i dont always take them.

All the best and good luck