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Sertraline & ChronicFatigue

Posted , 5 users are following.

Sal60
Sal60

I've had CF for ten years and with every relapse comes a feeling of fear and anxiety which leads to depression.  

For years I took 15mg. Mirtazapine an anti-depressant but weaned myself off it, foolishly I now realise as I wasn't able to cope with a big emotional upset, had a round of 'boom & bust' crashes and had to start taking them again.  However, they weren't working as well as before and my GP has changed my medication to 25mg Sertraline. This is a different type of anti-depressant and I am in transition having been on them a week.

I've read & been told that when starting these SSRI drugs you can feel worse before you get better.

Can anyone tell me,  how bad is worse?  

I'm feeling pretty bad at the moment, lots of side effects and mood swings not helped by the CF.  The local pharmacist tells me I should feel better in another week after when the tablets really start to kick in.

Anybody had similar? Or any words of encouragement please.

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • Guest
    Guest Sal60

    Posted

    I started on 50mg sertraline , uncomfortably dialted pupils, sensitive to light and got diarrhea every morning until around 1300 then it would calm down - it was horrible...after say 2 weeks it settled. I also felt weird and scared. Then we upped to 100mg per day and i felt really ill, i couldnt deal with after weeks of suffering.

    Now i put my dose down to 50mg...and i feel ok i suppose, but to be honest i dont think myself, the makers of the drug or those taking know their own minds ...the pharma companies admit openly that they dont fully know how ssri drugs work - well how reassuring.

    The who ssri for anxiety seems like one big joke and scam - diazepam and etizolam work for me...so i dont care if they are addictive ...so is chocolate...but they make you chill and feel good.

    Ive tried 4 different ssri and im convinced the whole industry is a big confusing mess making billions of money from innocent sick vunerable people who are confused as to whether they are working or not.

    Spending my mornings having the squirts, with dilated pupils and feeling odd in my opinion is not helping anyone...they say stick with it, but why ? ..so our bodies adapt to the poison and it effects us less....giving us the impression thst its working because we dont feel nausea and sickness all day long !?

    • don45258
      don45258 Guest

      Posted

      This is one of the best statement I've read on this site it's so true
    • e37242
      e37242 don45258

      Posted

      I agree too. These drugs are ferocious!  And most of my post are how awful the withdrawal is coming off os SSRI.  Just awful, life-ruining awful.  Yes some people just can't cope without antidepressants, but many, many like me should never have started down that path. Took me 17 years to finally be strong enough to battle the side effects of withdrawing. I'm finally done and 100% me. I'm only here on this thread to support hopeless people....
    • don45258
      don45258 e37242

      Posted

      I think I need to take a leaf out of your book 2 years of anxiety and depression tried about 5 different ad,s with no joy I think it's time to try and do it the natural way how long after you stop taking them did you feel better ? What was you on then for ? What side effects did you get ? Mines intrusive thoughts and bad anxiety did you get them ?
    • e37242
      e37242 don45258

      Posted

      I felt fine, though kinda numb, on Sertraline. The last and only successful time I withdrew, I took 6 months to recuse do. Went from 100 to 50 mg for two months, then 25 mg for two months, then 25 every other day for tow months.  A very common side effect are what many call brain zaps. This time, because done slowly over time, I had no brain zaps.  I did cry for two straight months. Ugh, awful. My doc gave me Xanax for take at the worst of it, and that was a life saver. Xanax is very addictive though so I took one occasionally.  Then the high crazy anxiety set it. Feels like a heart attack, very heavy chest. Had one nocturnal panic attack. The worst. BUT I WAS DETERMINED TO GET OFF.  So I hung in there.  It was 3 1/2 months till normal.

      what I recommend to people who want to stop:

      you must do it slowly

      chose a time in your life that is pretty calm, not many problems

      try to eat as healthy as you can, little red meat

      drink tons of water

      do slow, very deep breathing a minute or two at a time during the anxiety. It really helps.

       

  • shay22603
    shay22603 Sal60

    Posted

    I started 4 weeks ago after a break from propanalol of 2 years for anxiety. My first week I had runs, sickness, panic attacks and couldn't eat for 4 days. I had to cave and use diazepam aswell. After this week I stopped diazepam as perked up a bit. I forsed myself to get out of the house and go for walks and eat. Even though I felt so bad big in the house and not eating made me worse. After 2 weeks my appetite has increased and I have not had another panic attack. I still get the odd headache and slight shakes but I feel much better than I did. I am on 50g and this seems to be kicking in and working.
    • Sal60
      Sal60 shay22603

      Posted

      Many thanks for the reply,  I'll hang in for another week and see what happens.
  • e37242
    e37242 Sal60

    Posted

    I've read here that many people have those symptoms, sometimes bad. I had chronic fatigue as well and was on Sertraline.  I never had bad symptoms on Setraline, just coming off.  I tried twice unsuccessfully to come off Sertraline and because of the CF I totally couldn't handle it, so went back on.  This time, after 15 years on antidepr I finally got off them.  Word of caution-  I would work on healing yourself from the CF, through multiple methods, before ever trying to get off antidepressants.  The withdrawal symptoms can and usually are ferocious and you need to be your best you to handle them.  
    • Sal60
      Sal60 e37242

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply.

      I completely understand about being careful when trying to reduce anti-depressants with CF.   

      I do need some chemical support at present, my brain chemistry is not functioning well, most CF sufferers have this problem when they have a relapse...the brain fog we all know.

      I'll keep going for another week and hope this is the right one for me.

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