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One week on Sertraline

Posted , 5 users are following.

julie76198
julie76198

Hi, I have been on 50mg of Sertraline for the past week so far the side effects are ok.

I have felt a little tired and experienced a dry mouth and thats about it . I must say my mood has started to lift and i do feel positive towards trying these tablets. I have previously taken fluoxitine and they only helped short term. It is only when you go onto a forum like this one that you realise so many other people are experiencing depression ect and you are not in the minority so that helps me. as i feel my partner does not really understand he thinks antidepressants just space you out and mask the

issues he can not get his head around the fact i am taking them so i can feel normal just like him and am able to function productively on a daily basis. I wish you all the very best on here and for those of you who do not feel the current meds are working, firstly give them a few weeks chance, then go back to the Doctor and try something else, life is too short to spend it feeling that you dont want to live it to the full xx

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • katharine63063
    katharine63063

    Posted

    Hi Julie

    Good luck to you! I am glad you are seeing the benefits so soon. It's sounds very similar to me, although I did go through some horrendous headaches to start with. I have just come off my second period of meds - first time I only took it for about 6-9 months but the second time was longer (about 18 months). My advice would be don't be in any rush to come off them. You are spot on when you say they are simply helping you to function at the same level as someone who naturally produces enough serotonin. I know it's more complicated than that, but when I'm explaining it to people that don't really understand it, to keep it simple I compare it to if someone's eyes didn't produce enough tears, they would simply use eye drops to alleviate the discomfort and that's what the Sertraline does for me - when I need it, it helps to correct the imbalance of hormones and receptors in morey brain.

    Hope you continue to flourish and don't let anyone (most of all yourself!) make you feel bad about taking them :0)

  • liz54943
    liz54943

    Posted

    Hi Julie

    I'm so glad the sertraline is working for you. It didn't agree with me at all, and I had to come off it after a month because the SEs were so awful. But, I'm now on amitriptyline and it's working beautifully for me, I feel like 'me' again, and much more positive and pro-active.

    My husband is very much like your partner, he's against ADs because he assumes they're just 'happy pills' which will make you not bothered to sort out the REAL ISSUES which are causing your anxiety/depression. And, so they don't solve anything, just mask the real problems.

    He's sooooooo wrong. ADs don't make you 'happy all the time' (oh, if only they did) but they do restore your natural, inner balance which allows you to deal with life effectively again, instead of just wanting to hide, and for it all to go away.

    My husband thinks I stopped taking ADs after my very short but very horrible experience with sertraline - he doesn't know I just switched to amitriptyline, instead. In the short time I've been on A, he's remarked that I seem 'much more like my old self' - hah, hah.

    And I have also successfully tackled a very thorny situation at work which has resulted in a slight pay rise and more commission for me. Something I just couldn't have even faced doing a month ago. My husband thought that 'happy pills' would make me just 'not care' about my unhappy work situation. Instead, they have given me back the inner strenght to tackle the problem head on, and win!

    I'm going to take great delight in telling him that the 'happy, old me' and my new pay rise are actually down to the tiny blue tablets I take every night!

  • liz54943
    liz54943

    Posted

    Hello Katherine

    You make a very good point. My GP explained my anxiety/depression was caused by my brain becoming depleted of serotonin, because I had endured a very stressful 18 months. He explained that cortisol (which is the stress hormone) destroys serotonin, hence why you end up feeling so low and anxious when you've been under a lot of stress for a long time.

    I'm sure it's actually 10 times more complicated than that, but as I don't have a medical degree he was explaining it in ways I could understand, and relate to.

    It's just the same if your body was thirsty, it would tell you and you'd have a glass of water, right?

  • kevin16268
    kevin16268

    Posted

    Hi Julie Sertraline worked for me to. I started on 50mg but unlike you they didn't work straight away or to be exact the dose wasn't strong enough for me. So i went up to 100mg and put in a situation where i told the doctor, i'm a lot better but not quite there, still a slight bit of tension but a lot better so we decided to go to 150 and that is when the real change for started to happen. So I stayed on 150 for a few months. I am now trying to come off them and now i am on 100mg. at first i had a bit of tension return but it seems ok now, I will see the doctor in about 5 weeks time to see where we go from there.

    I'm glad they work for you and i hope you get better soon. the only advice I would say is don't be to eager to come off the tablets give them time, unless of coarse they course you any problems. good luck and take care.

  • katherine_56299
    katherine_56299 julie76198

    Posted

    Hi Julie I no this was 4years ago and I was wonder if the sertraline worked in the long run I take them but only took my first tablet and feel like my mouth is dry, light headed and faint was wondering if I should just stick it out 
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