I have been on Sertraline/Lustral since Feb this year fo...

Hi,

From my own experience of depression (including my current bout) I would say that the drugs can help enormously in preventing you from hitting rock bottom but aren't a panacea. Depression can change your mental habits such that you withdraw from the world and this reinforces the depression further as you lose confidence and self-esteem. You need a balance of engaging 'normally' put not putting too much pressure on yourself to do so (as this can worsen the depression!). Don't feel ashamed of using Sertraline....you wouldnt feel bad about taking drugs if you had a heart complaint would you? Take care and I hope things get better soon

[i:632943573a]This message was automatically imported from the original Patient Experience[/i:632943573a]

N. Guest,

I couldn't help from reading your post, that what you have described is exactly the way I feel.

[quote:9824fdf2e5]This is the most strange \"disease\" to have don't you think? No one understands. There are no obvious indicators. No broken bones to mend, no stitches to heal.... Who knows what a brain pain is all about?! I have it and I can't say! It's driving me mad and making me sad! [/quote:9824fdf2e5]

I just started Sertaline yesterday and took me a month to finally get professional help after hitting rock bottom. I have never experienced anything like this before. Sure there are days when I am low on energy, sad or depressed, but it's only temporarily (not continuous for over a month). I've been frustrated that I can't control tears that flow for no particular reason, sleeping much more than I normally do yet still lack energy, can not concentrate (even reading a newspaper article can be difficult) and been so withdrawn (especially since I'm the kind of person who is very social).

I'm wondering now, how long will I have to be on meds? Hopefully my life will be back to normal soon as I am sad not to be doing the things that I enjoy and mad that it's taken so long and I can't get rid of it.

Hope you are well...

Hi I've had bouts of problems similar to yours. Most people at work think I'm quiet and confident and getting on with work. Most days however I'm falling down inside.

I've changed jobs regularly to stay one step ahead and therefore seen lots of GPs as I've moved location- physically I'm fine but I'm coming to terms with the fact that emotionally I'm not. So I've taken the doctors advice and taken Sertraline after 10 years of trying hypno, vitamin treatment etc etc.

Good luck to you

You are surely not alone and yes the withdrawing from the world provoked by the depression may lead to a loss in self-confidence as you stop having the contact with people. I am a very social person and have always had depression (but only some 9 years on medicines for it, with some breaks).

From my experience the kind of social self-confidence everyone has, that is, to be confident in dealing with other people, is a result of practice. The more you deal with people the more you become self-confident in it, the more you withdraw from social contact the more you become shy, have low self-esteem or some of these mental phantoms.

Surely you´re not alone. I´m writing this having slept for 10 hours and I woke up, took my Sertraline dose of 100mg and now I´m feeling sleepy again... and not in the least motivated to do anything today. It is terrible.

I got tired after 7 weeks taking Sertraline with very little efficacy and so I am seeing my doc today and will ask him to change it to Fluoxetine which works better for me, although fluoxetine takes my libido completely off so I´m anyway again in a depressive crisis (i´ve had tens of it already) and it is very bad indeed. I just hope you get better as I do hope this week I will be able again to interact normally with people as I do when I am not in a depressive crisis. The worst thing is that I can´t tell people I´m depressed because most of them will label me ill and try to avoid me or have bad views about me. The medicine, doing some kind of physical exercise and meditation have helped me and are helping me even now. Don´t hesitate to tell your doc you re not responding to Sertraline, telling her how you feel. Why make a fuss about this? Just in some minutes you get over this, tell her 'to be honest I haven´t felt any better with Sertraline I wonder is there any other medicine which could help me with this?' . No big deal!

Hi my dad is 73 and is suffering from depression and is on lustral sertraline he takes 100 mg a day and is suffering bad side affects dry mouth dizziness shaking etc feels as though he wasn't here how long do these side affects last mad when will he feel better thank you