Posted , 4 users are following.
l have posted before. The good and bad days seem to be more marked. On Weds l felt good and back to normal, yesterday l was very tired and this morning l have struggled to get up. l had the same scenario about 10 days ago and have a few better days in between. Can anyone relate to this?
0 likes, 7 replies
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charles61038 c53732
Edited
Yes I can relate to you. I have good days and bad ones. Seems like the good days are getting more frequent. You don't say how low you have been on the 50 mg. Did you start on that dose? I started on 25 mg and it helped me a lot. When I went from 25 to 50, it was too much. It made me feel very odd on and off. Extreme anxiety, bad headaches... not pleasant. I went back to the 25 for a while. I am increasing slowly by cutting one 25 in half and taking 37 mg. So far that has been okay. I know it takes a while for the this to work. But sometimes it is hard.
louise24797 charles61038
Posted
Hi charles, how long were you on 25mg? I'm coming to the end of week 6 on 25mg and have noticed good improvement with tiredness and fatigue being the lingering side effect. I'm struggling with anxiety this week after finding out some bad news, but it's not as bad as before but still uncomfortable. Plus, being a woman I think the monthly hormones are playing a role too.
My plan is to stay on 25mg for 12 weeks and reassess then, but as I come across very few people of 25mg I'd be interested to hear about your journey.
c53732 charles61038
Posted
l started on 25 for 2 weeks and have been on 50 for 8 weeks. Thanks for replying.
charles61038 louise24797
Edited
Hi Louise, I started on 25 mg last November. I had been suffering from anxiety and mild depression for a few years. The worst part of the anxiety is that it was causing me heart palpitations - and sometimes very frequently. My cardiologist told me the palpitations were nothing to worry about. I wore a heart monitor for a whole month and it recorded many irregular beats. He told me they were PVC's - pre-ventrical contractions and nothing to worry about. Only that they caused me more anxiety. This went on for about 2 years... it was getting to where I couldn't stand much more of this. I get a physical exam every year. I went to my primary care doctor again asking if something might be wrong with my blood chemistry. He said no. Then he suggested that I had GAD - General Anxiety Disorder. He prescribed the Sertraline. 25 mg to start with. He told me that 50 mg was the regular adult dose, but started me on the lowest dose. After 2 weeks, I felt much better - few to no heart palpitations. After 6 weeks, I went back for a follow up and told him that I was doing much better. So he upped my dose to the regular 50 mg. After a week or two, I was having more anxiety, bad headaches, and an antsy feeling. So I cut back down to the 25 mg. I told my doctor and he said that was fine - because everyone is different with the dosage. I was doing well on the 25 mg - but I started having a bit more anxiety most likely due to the current health situation... so I thought I would try to increase the dose - but slowly. I am cutting one of the 25's in half and taking one and 1/2 to make a 37 mg dose. So far that seems to be doing okay. I've been taking this dose for about 6 or 7 weeks. I'm not sure if or when I will try to up the dose to 50. But if the 25 mg is working for you. You can stay with it. If you go to the 50 and you think it is too much, try cutting one in half like I am doing - go up slowly. You are right, most people I read about are taking 50 mg to 100 mg or more... Good luck.
louise24797 charles61038
Posted
Thanks so much for your reply, your situation sounds similar to mine and I'd been doing ok on the 25mg until this week and have had several days of anxiety. I can't work out if it's just a bad week as I wait for the meds to level or if it's because I've been triggered and the meds aren't enough to help me cope.
It's good to hear your dr supports a 25mg dose, when I spoke to a GP at my health centre about the side effects he flat out dismissed it was the meds as I wasn't on a therapeutic dose and he would've started me on 50mg. Glad I spoke to a mental health nurse first!
GodsServant c53732
Edited
YES! Been there. I was like that for weeks on end. The good news is that you are responding to this med. The bad news is that because you've only been on it for a short period of time, it hasn't reached a stable level in your body, therefore your good days are inconsistent. But hang in there and it will come once the med reached a stable level in your bloodstream and your good days will be much more consistent.
Take care and try to relax.
c53732 GodsServant
Edited
Thank you for replying. It certainly helps using this site and getting encouragement from people with experience.