Sertraline

Hi Beverley, if it wasnt for the terrible anxiety that it can cause one could probably put up with the other side effects, hope you find the right tablet, I think sometimes the doctor doesnt quiet realise how sick their patients can get on this sort of tablet. Keep us informed, it helps us all, good luck.

My doctor and pharmasist told me that this medication usually takes up to a month to begin working properly, and in the first couple of weeks, it is likely that most people will suffer terrible anxiety/depression. Make your doctor aware, and they may suggest perservering for another couple of weeks.

Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Rob thanks for the support ,but honestly the sickness is far greater than the anxiety at the moment but not sleeping for two nights didn't help. Was on mitazapin 15mg for 8 week and felt great but the anxiety was creeping back so the dose was increased to 30mg. This increased stopped me from sleeping 8 hours to surviving on 2 hours a night. Was then prescribed citaolpram which gave me the same effects as setraline, so why give me setraline that belong to the same family of drugs ? . I am not a doctor but this doesn't make sense. Know what they say " One mans poison is another ones medicine"

Hi Beverley, I was also prescribed Citalopram, which gave me virtually the same side effects as Setraline, especially insomnia, nausea and upset stomach. Then was put on Setraline and boy the same terrible side effects. For some the side effects are not so bad, but these two meds were real toxic for me. I was then put on Seroquel (Quetiapine) 300mg, wow what a wonder drug, plus Epitec 200mg (mood stabilizer) and Luvox 200mg. Again the Sertraline was hectic, the anxiety, and added dression lead to suicidal thoughts, and thats serious. Thats why you must be very careful, theres a fine line when you can handle the side effects and ride with it till they sort of even out, and toxic side effects which can lead to a worse state of depression/anxiety and possible suicide. Please take care and see your doc as soon as possible. Rob

HI Rob today the headaches have increased and i cannot seem to function in a zombie state and I must say the depression has worsened. Do you know how long they last in your system?. It can't be long as I only took them for 5 days

Hi Beverley, from my experience the nausea and stomach problems are the first to stop, the anxiety, depressed state and insomnia takes around 5 - 7 days to stop. Remember this is what I experienced.

The whole ordeal, leaves one with a low confidence lever regarding am I going to get better, does the doc know what he is doing etc, and then theres more time that has to take another set of tablets. Hang in there, alot of us have been there and can understand what you are going through.

Thank you. There must be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so I will keep looking. See even talking in a zombie state lol.

im on sertalin i been taking these about 9 months now, but since ive had them i been doing very strange things i get bad temperd easily shout at people/i start arguments, ive even cut my arm open deliberatly infrount of my bf this it not somthing i would normly do at all im very shy timid person, and in the last month i missed my apointment and had no setrilin for 5 days in thes days i had vivid dreams and very realy thought that its for best to end my life i think i realy need to get off these demon drugs. i also get the sweats, i wake up freezing cold but soaked in sweat, i twitch when people are talking to me coz i get more nervous than ever before they are not helping my deprssion at all , they making me worse. also i resently found out they are also called' zoloft' in other countrys and on reading the things this mrdication can cause under its other name i found them to be very dangrous scary mediction i cant wait to get off them

Hello Vecta, I was on this medication after I had my twins they will be 3 in october. I was at 50mgs then went to 100mgs. It worked great for me! Yes there is people that it works great for. But what a person also has to do when they are trying to help themselves with meds. Is to close off the comunication with the people that are toxic to their lives.

Hey im currently on Sertraline and is working for me. unfortuantly ive ran out and have allmost been of it for 5 days...so far very bad, im a mess...crying..feeling of lonliness....the usuall crappyness of Depression..im just wondering how long of this more i can take...im told by my GP it will take upto 48 hours...to them may not sound liek much..to me sounds a life time...and anything bad can happen in that space of time. Im wondering if any of you know of anything i can take temporarly untill Friday or Sataday when i hopefully get my meds back. cheers

Hi Vectra,

I've been on Sertraline 50mg for a year now and I have to say that the first fortnight was sheer HELL. I had chronic fatigue and nausea and could not keep my eyes open for five minutes even. However for me it improved radically after about 10 days. The nausea dissapeared and the chronic fatigue and also had no anxiety or panic attacks and slept well. Also no depression.

Doctor wanted to see me every two months and has kept this up which is good.

I was definitely better on it than  off it and for about 5 months I felt really O.K, best I had for years.

I did get some side effects like night sweats and sexual dysfunction, also overeating and short term memory loss. But nothing major and the list of side effects really worried me like heart attack and even cancer?  

However I did feel a lot lot worse during my period, like chronic fatigue and some

depression. But I am Menopausal too and always put it down to my hormones.

However, I think Sertraline is a bit like the devil and the deep blue sea....the last 6 weeks or so I have begun to have chronic insomnia and some anxiety and panics again. It's like it wears off to some degree and they have to up the dose.

I wonder if there is a better drug with no long term side effects? The insomnia is making me stressed and anxious and my quality of sleep is much lower. Going to see what Doc says, I need to exercise more. I have also had Asthma again last week which I hadn't had for years.

I think exercise is key and diet, certainly fresh air really helps. Does anyone have any answers to the insomnia please? I would be really grateful. I don't necessarily want to come off Sertraline yet but I don't want to stay on it for ever either. It's pretty hardcore and wonder what it is doing to my brain?! It's like it's being rewired....I forgot two tablets the other week and I felt horrible, shaky and

low which really surprised me and scared me too.

I think it suits some people better than others for sure but is there a better way? 

I can get to sleep but then awaken every 3 hours which I have never done in my life before.

I hope this helps anyone else on Sertraline and I would say no way to more than 100mg. 50mg should be sufficient but this seems to vary with Doctor?

I would say to persevere if you can but dicuss it with your health-care provider every other month.  

Perhaps I should start learning Spanish or soemthing at night. I am finding it very hard to adjust to being awake when I should be asleep.

I am also experiencing TERRIBLE insomnia taking 50mg of Sertraline a day. My main issue is EVERY anti depressant I have tried seems to have the same effect! I have discussed this with a doctor, but the only possible solution would be a sedative; not ideal for weight or having a full time job as a teacher! Totally at my wits-end; having had no more than 3 hours sleep for about 2 years now! I find it ironic that a pill that is meant to help with depression causes the depressive symptom of insomnia!! Please help!!

No sleep for a week ..been on zoloft for 4 weeks...constantly in pain ....crying ...horribly depressed. .brain zaps....this is not good. ..back to doctor this week....can't go on like this much longer. ...