Please share your positive Sertraline stories to give me some hope..!!

Last line meant to say if still not happy. (Pig, don't know how that happened)??

Hi Sharon,

Thank you for your reply... This really does feel like the worst thing anyone could go through... The pain is so horrible... The constant feeling of anxiousness running through my body is eating away at me...

I really want my old life back... I want to be able to stop all of this anxiety or at least deal with it much better... I'm glad that you are dealing with throngs better and that the meds and therapy are working for you... That is such good news... And hopefully that will happen with me too...

I just wish there was a quick fix... But I have to except that there isn't and cope as best I can... I couldnt have done this without my husband... How he hasn't left me already is shocking... 4 months of hell we have been through...

I will just keep telling myself things can only get better...!! 👍 Xx

I used to feel exactly the same,, I was crying all the time and the constant feeling of anxiousness which no one seemed to be able to know how to help ( friends and my my tried ) I don't have a partner to turn to so that used to make me feel worse too, I felt soo alone and like you I just wanted to feel like my old self again.

It really will get better but unfortunately there is no overnight fix but day by day you will start to notice the difference :-)

X

Sharon's reply was great , I can identify with so much, hope your feeling better knowing we all have similar experiences. Don't worry about your hubby, mines been through years of this , I've asked him why he's still with me , working hard and coming home to someone who's so down. They obviously love us. We're very lucky ??

Hi Sharon how long was you on 50mg for before you moved up to 100mg , how long before you felt better again , I'm on day 30 of setraline 27 days at 50mg and 3 at 100mg and I feel terrible so depressed sad and bad intrusive thoughts that I'm gonna hurt someone and I don't want to be here no more , when I was on 50 mg I had about 4 good days towards the end of the course but then went back down hill again so moved up to 100 mg

Hi clay,

Sorry to hear you're struggling at the mo...

I went up to 100 mg after only 4 days of 50mg as after discussing with my doc we thought it would be best to try and get close to the equivalent to the citalopram dose I was on before they stopped working ( was on them for years) and it probably took around 8 weeks in total to feel the full benefit but I started to feel better after about 3/4 weeks but it's different for everyone, so if you have only just up the dose by a few days then I would give it a little while, I know it's hard to be patient ( trust me I was a complete mess) but eventually you will notice a little difference day by day. I know you have prob heard all this advice before but the best thing for me was to keep busy. I.e. Walks, meeting friends, family, meditation really helped me and continues to do so ( I listen to guided meditation on utube every nt before I sleep and any time in the day if needed) takes a while to really try and switch off and concentrate but stick with it.. good luck

Ps the better days will eventually out weigh the bad :-)

How long have you been on sertraline for now ? And did you suffer with intrusive thoughts at all ? I'm scared I'm turning into a lunatic and scared I'm gonna turn into a bad person dunno if he tablets have made things worse or not but don't known how much more I can cope , I have forced myself out on my bike and stuff but the thoughts just take over and cripple me , thanks for reply

I've been on sertraline since early jan this year.

I didn't get thoughts where I wanted to harm someone or myself but I suffer from health anxiety and OCD so I found myself obsessed with having to do things a certain amount of times or my family will get hurt or I will get ill or hurt, even when the OCD wasn't that bad I still got scary feelings about my family and myself ( still do occasionally but I control the thoughts now when I start to worry I keep telling myself off, my phschologist gave me a tip and says " look in the mirror and say to yourself "stop it Sharon " or "back in your dungeons" sounds weird to be chatting to yourself in a mirror but it really helped me ( maybe because I felt soo silly the thoughts for less and less frequent till zero lol

Not saying it will definitely work for you because we are different but it helped me.. im still seeing my physiologist but he is brilliant for me so if you can get any counselling that may help too..

And it's good that you get out on your bike though as exercise is def good for anxiety stress and depression

I'm having counselling now but I'm still in a massive state , it was only when I signed the counselling form and one of the questions was do you ever have thoughts of being violent and from reading that it just stuck and played in my mind and been getting worse and worse but that wasn't the original worry it's just took over since I read that form and now I can't stop it , making me to scared to even be around my girlfriend as I'm scared I'm gonna lose control even tho I never ever thought of it before but now I got these thoughts in my head I can't stop thinking and it kills me , dunno if sertraline has heightened my anxiety at the moment or what 😣

I think it gets worse before it gets better, so you may be at that stage and now it will get easier. Take a look at the side effects of starting sertraline as I have heard of it getting worse before better but maybe your doc can shed some light and chat with your counsellor and explain how you're feeling, you need to be totally honest with both of them and they may say that this is normal or they may suggest a different med for you.. stay strong you can do this :-)

Thank you Sharon really appreciate it , my anxiety\ OCD obsessive thoughts is just trying to pull me away from my girlfriend , put me into severe depression to

I think that anxiety and depression goes hand in hand, because you're so anxious all the time it gets you down and makes you feel depressed and vice versa, dealing with the anxiety/OCD should help with the depression.. it doesn't happen overnight unfortunately :-( I wish it did. I still get my bad days but I'm learning to accept the bad days and know it's just a bad day and they come and go... it's like our thoughts, they are just thoughts.., they come they go.. try to observe the thoughts as just like that. they can't hurt us.. accept them and then let them go ( sounds easy but it takes practice) and soon you will find the thoughts will get less and less and fade in to the back ground..

obv I'm no expert but this is what I've been taught and if it works for me then it's worth a shot..

I'm sure your girlfriend is caring and loves you and just wants to support you .

Oh and you're very welcome? It helps to know you're not alone as it can feel very lonely sometimes..

Very true what you say but I just don't understand how somthing like this has never bothered me it used to be health anxiety but this new intrusive thought is worse than ever , I love the girl to bits and want my life back 😞

You will get your life back and these thoughts will get less and less so that eventually you won't even notice them as you will just brush these away!. You can do this and you will do this! Just needs time..

Anxiety can present itself in many different ways and forms so don't be so hard on yourself and give yourself a break.

Try and enjoy the rest of the weekend and make an appointment with the doc if it will put your mind at rest.

:-)

Clay, I started sertraline and had intrusive thoughts, for me it was unbearable and I was told by an out of hours doctor to stop it but it doesn't sound like sertraline is causing your thoughts, mine started 10 hous after the first dose and I stopped 2 days ago and they have gone.

What I can tell you is that anxiety itself can cause many,many disturbing thoughts especially about losing control of yourself and hurting someone, I have never heard of anyone acting on those thoughts though, people who are aware that the thoughts are scary don't act on them and are not insane, if you were insane or going to act on them you wouldn't be afraid of those thoughts, they would seem normal and logical to you.

What does your doctor say about these thoughts?You do need to tell them, it sounds to me that when you were asked the question it provoked the fear of it, we doubt ourselves a lot when we are anxious but it's important to report any changes in thoughts to your doctor in case the med is just not suitable, don't just stop taking it though, I was only on it for 3 days so I doubt me stopping will do any harm but after 30 days it's not wise to stop abruptly so even if it turns out not to be suitable you will need the guidance of your doctor to stop it and find something else.

Thank you bella I have told the doctors but they just say you need to give the meds time but I don't know how long I can cope ,what did you take instead of sertraline

A few doctors told me to stick it out too but after 3 days I just couldn't take anymore, it was an emergency out of hours doctor that told me to stop.

I have no idea what will happen next, I am in the worst breakdown of my life,constant panic state,worsening agoraphobia,can't eat, husband is having to dress me,panic attacks waking me up all night, the list goes on and on and here I am so stuck about what to do next.

I'm going to call the doctors in the morning, probably get told off for stopping the sertraline but I can't cope with those thoughts on top of everything else, the way I try to see it is that it's up to the doctor to help find something else, we can only explain our symptoms and hope they have an idea of what to try next.

Don't keep suffering in silence,it's your life and if you can't cope with this med then be assertive, there are plenty of others available, Citralopram has been mentioned to me, I have a friend who has been on it for 2 weeks, no major side effects and just waiting to see the benefits, he had tried many others and given up hope but is coping on that one so it's well worth exploring other options.