Sertraline and diarrhoea

Hi Adam,I'm glad you went to your gp,beta blockers are meant to be good. I'm so sorry to hear none of the ssris have helped,that seems so unfair on you. Do you try anything else for the anxiety,yoga,relaxation etc? I am looking to try yoga if I can find the confidence to join a class! Also have you tried Escitalopram,the ssri I will be trying next? Kind regards,Justine. 

Thanks Adam,I appreciate your advice. I'm waiting for cbt through NHS 'time to talk'. Really hope things get better for you soon. Kind regards,Justine

Hi Adam,hang on in there...I'm day 11 off Sertraline,and am just noticing an improvement. Are you using Immodium? It does help,I know it's not meant to be a long term measure,but it may help regulate and possibly reduce any inflammation. Also take Dioralyte sachets after every loose movement to replace lost fluids and electrolytes. Did you GP recognise that Sertraline causes significantly more diarrhoea than any other ssri? Still haven't started the Escitalopram...very wary in case of side effects. Glad you find cbt helpful,hoping I don't have to wait too long. Kind regards,Justine. PS.is the 1972 at the end of your name,the year of your birth? If so,snap! 

Hi Justine, thanks for all your good advice and reassurance.  By my calculation, I only have another 9 days of this torture to go before things start to improve - !!  I've not used immodium yet but I went to work today for the first time since this all started and wished I had some.  By inflammation do you mean of the back passage or the intestine?  I read a previous post about microscopic colitis which freaked me out a bit, although I tell myself that surely 6 weeks on Sertraline would not be long enough to cause such a condition.  No, my GP never mentioned diarrhoea as a particular side effect of this drug which frustrates me as I seem to have a particularly sensitive tummy when it comes to SSRIs.  I was born in 1972 and share my Birthday with Madonna - 16th August!  I would never recommend this medicine to anyone - it didn't ease my anxiety.  In fact this prolonged episode of frequent watery diarrhoea has increased it dramatically.  When it comes to anxiety and depression, the experts don't seem to have many answers.  The best answer seems to be talking therapies but they are so stretched and under resourced you invariably have to wait for weeks if not months, during which time the problems deepen.  It's like banging your head against a brick wall.  Thanks again, Adam

Hi Adam,

Sorry to hear about your loose bowels, Are you still on Sertraline? Microscopic colitis seems to be linked to it as i discovered far too late.

If your still having loose watery and or slimy bowel movements despite using immodium (i found this just seemed to delay the inevitable diarrhoea to a few hours later - it didnt bulk out or slow the bowel movement down). Also i found that peppermint capsules actually hurt when they passed through as it irritatted the back passage like you would imagin menthol would - agony!!!!!

If your bowel movements dont settle themselves and/or your still on Sertraline then get back to your gp. I dont know how long it took it to give me microscopic colitis but i was only on it for 6 months max but by that time it had got really bad and i was almost suicidal just with the bowels alone.

hang in there, thinking of you and sending you good thoughts

t x

 

Hi Tanya,

Thanks for replying to my posts.  When the diarrhoea began last Sunday I took it upon myself to reduce the dose by half to 25mg and then stopped completely on the advice of my doctor on Wednesday.  I have noticed a slight improvement today.  Justine's advice was really useful too - Yakult, diarrhelyte, peppermint tea, although I haven't yet taken immodium.  I hope today is the start of my recovery but the last 7 days have been dreadful, unable to live a normal life let alone work.  This drug was supposed to help ease my anxiety.  Instead, it made my anxiety steadily worse over the last 6 weeks (I couldn't see it at the time but realise it now - too scared to get out of bed) and made me really poorly over the last 7 days.  One doctor suggested I increased the dose from 50mg to 100mg - I shot him a look of absolute horror and he swiftly moved on to a different approach, thank god.  Fingers crossed, I'll be back to work tomorrow and my life can resume again, no thanks to the devil drug certraline.

Hi Adam,I am on day 13 of no Sertraline and a slow and steady improvement with the bowels so hang on in there. By Inflammation,I meant of the colon/intestine. My previous post which is waiting to be moderated,due to a website link said that Sertraline causes significantly more diarrhoea than other ssris,also that it is least liked by people with anxiety as it is so activating. I certainly found this,insomnia,diarrhoea,vivid dreams and night sweats. Am sure Sertraline works for a lot of people,but I for one am glad to be off it,and you sound the same. I too got freaked out about the link between Sertraline and microscopic colitis,but like you I'm trying to rationalise that just being on it for 5 or 6 weeks,wouldn't cause that. I'm a March 72 baby! Really hope every day improves for you and you can start to relax :-)

Hi Justine,

I just wanted to say a big thank you for your supportive messages and advice which helped me immensely over the last week when I was in a dark place and full of worry.  I'm feeling noticeably better now - bowels settling down to their normal routine and emotionally more settled.  Had my 3rd session of CBT today which was also really helpful.  It's not easy in the sense that the root causes of my anxiety are being challenged and I need to try to phase out my safety behaviours which will take courage.  It took several months of pressing my GP but I fionally got it so I hope it might be something that helps you too.  Thanks again,  Adam  

My pleasure Adam,I'm so pleased you are feeling better. It's good to know the cbt helps,hoping my appointment will come through before Christmas. Take care,kind regards,Justine

Hi Mazza,  

Sertraline upset my bowels dramatically after 6 weeks of being on it (as you may have already read).  A few days after stopping the medication there was a noticeable improvement.  None of my family was ill which would suggest it probably wasn't a bug in my case.  Sertraline made my anxiety worse - I felt unable to cope and scared to get out of bed.  I feel far more confident to face the day having ditched sertraline - in hindsight, sertraline slowly dimmed the lights without me realising and I ended up in a kind of numb darkness.

If I'm right in thinking a higher dose doesn't agree with you and a lower dose doesn't ease your anxiety then I'd suggest asking your GP for an alternative medicine.  If it's another SSRI the side effects of coming off certraline shouldn't be too pronounced as the SSRI group of medicines work in similar ways.  The alternatives to SSRIs include beta blockers like propanalol or the older trycyclic anti depressants, both of which are designed to slow the body's reactions to anxiety e.g. reduce the release of adrenaline.  

Hope that helps.  Try to relax and stay positive.  Best wishes,  Adam    

Hope today is a better day for you.  Break stuff down into tiny baby steps and big yourself up about the smallest achievement, even if that's just having a shower, getting dressed, eating some food.  Everyday stuff like that felt so hard to do because I was dweeling on everything I had to do during the day and feeling overwhelmed rather than breaking it down into manageable tasks.  Propranalol is easing my anxiety much more than sertraline.  I feel calm and relaxed but alert and feel able to cope.  Believe that you will come out the other side of this. Take care.