sertraline made me manic has anyone else had this

Hello Natasha

I'm sorry to here about your problems. I suffered an extreme reaction to sertraline recently. Within, 24 hours of taking the first tablet I suffered my first ever anxiety attack, my appetitie disappeared completely and I couldn't bring myself to eat even my favourite foods.

After a few more days of taking sertraline, my thought processes had completely changed. I became irrationally panicked about very mundane things (for example I suddenly became very scared of the dark, for goodness sake). I was waking stupidly early, with a racing pulse and shaking hands. The whole time, I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown - and that I was barely in control of myself. I was totally restless, and would just pace up and down in the living room.

Some of my lowest ebbds were standing at the top of an escalator and thinking "I could just jump over the side, and I will die, and then all this will just stop." Another was waking my poor husband at 4.30am, and telling him I didn't love him, or our children, and that I was going to drive to the nearest 24 supermarket and buy 10 packets of Anadin, and take them all! Luckily he managed to talk me down, and stop me doing something so stupid.

Yes, I was definitely manic and out of control.

In just 26 days, Sertraline turned me from being a normal, capable, confident woman who was just experiencing slighty anxiety and stress - to someone I didn't know, or recognise. Someone who contemplated suicide and who couldn't even bring herself to smile at her own children.

For me, Sertraline was a vile, filthy, poisonous drug, and I would NEVER take it again.

thank you so very much for your reply. it's reassuring to know it isn't just me. I feel the same about it now and would never recommend it to even my worst enemy.

it changed me the same way and the person i became was frightening.

so sorry for your experience but thank you for your reply i really needed to hear i wasn't alone.

Glad I could help you Natasha

I do know that many people really benefit from taking sertraline, but I certainly wasn't one of them. I stuck it out for those 26 days, because I knew that it can take several weeks for the side effects to wear off. But in the end I was just so desperate, that I had to go back to my GP.

They told me, that in rare cases sertraline (and many other ADs) can cause these manic episodes, and thoughts of suicide, and that people do kill themselves. I can completely understand, now, how people can be so driven by anxiety and fear, that they will resort to anything to just make it all stop.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you and I, were some of those 'rare cases'.

My GP told me to stop taking sertraline immediately, and changed me to amitriptyline, they also gave me diazepam to take for just a week while the sertraline left my system, and the amitriptyline started to work.

Within 48 hours I felt SO MUCH better. Within 5 days, I felt like my normal self, and now a month later I feel great. I have no trace of anxiety, I feel bright and breezy, and full of enthusiasm for life again.

i wish i had had a more understanding GP who despite my insistence i wasn't myself in terms of being manic, havin rashes all over me and constant periods maintained it was because i used alcohol on occasions. suffice to say i found a new gp and didn't grace her door again.

despite now being on my preferred citalopram the history of those violent episodes haunt me and i still hold some fear that one day they may return, probably unlikely but the episodes were so severe i feel the fear washing over me as i even type about them.

i'm glad you've got sorted, i've heard some horror stories about amitriptyline too but if they work for you thats all that matters.. i long for the day when i feel bright and breezy, i know its not far away as i can feel the enthusiasm slowly growing inside me.

take care and thanks for your help x-

I have had a meltdown at work today - told everyone what I think of them and walked out. I have been a bit snappy for a couple of days but this time I really lost it

sorry to hear that Tony. how long have u been taking them

Six weeks, saw the doc today, he's now sending me for blood tests as it might be down to something physical. So I'm staying on sertraline for a couple of weeks until he has my results, then we'll decide whether I come off them or if I need different meds. He says meds wise there's only a couple of options available and doesn't want to switch me in case I can come off all together.

in my opinion docs are very reluctant to admit they've prescribed the wrong meds. what do u feel? as ive always said we know our own bodies and when summats not right. do u think its the meds or summat else. trust your instinct

I'm not sure, I had terrible side effects which are starting to subside. But I have had bouts of illnesses which coincided with people at work having similar ailments, I've also hade styes in both eyes and cold sores so I don't know if I'm run down and picking up every bug going. I can just about function for two days but hen need a day in bed. I'm light headed all the time and have little concentration.

I had none of this before I started on Sertraline and I guess I'm finding it difficult to cope as I am so rarely ill. It doesn't help when people keep making me feel like I'm letting them down because I can't function properly and telling me to pull myself together.

I have a friend and another colleague who are both on Sertraline and have had no problems at all. - this makes me feel like a fraud.

I had my first counselling session last week, which was just admin and an introduction, but I'm feeling positive about this if only for being able to get things off my chest.

I really can't comment about doctors as this is the first time I've seen the same one twice as visits to the docs are so few and far between. He seems to know his stuff. He went back over my notes and double checked his diagnosis and recommended course of treatment.

Just want to feel normal soon, instead of just wanting to curl up in bed and hoping the world goes away.

i really feel for u. it has to be said that sertraline affects people in different ways. me personally didnt have any initial side effects it was only a few weeks in where i started to become agitated easily, more manic in my demeanour and like you to, said and did things at work that i normally wouldn't and are totally out of character. counselling can't be a bad thing at all but i do think if ur not usually ill and ur so run down that something is having a negative impact on you. i'm no doctor so won't blame the sertraline but it would seem the 2 go hand in hand.

i understand all too well of that feeling of wanting to lie in bed and wish the world away. i wouldnt answer phone calls or the door and dreaded it if i had to go to the shops. it does pass, it does get better, the inital stages of any anti depressant arent pleasant, you do get worse before you get better but some make u like that more than others. i now take citalopram and have about a week of lethargy, dry mouth, sweats but it passes quickly and i start to feel better. sertraline i felt no side effects in the first few weeks it was the weeks that followed that turned me into a hypomanic freak.

from what ive read on this forum there are a lot of advocates for giving it time, but we don't all have the luxury of time and given the side effects ur experiencing it may be worth discussing alternatives with your gp.

i really hope you get something sorted soon. x

I think Prozac is Sertraline and when I was on it years ago - have been on another that I can't remember the name of after that and then Citalopram ever since, every time I get Depressed. The winter months do it - grey skies, etc. I don't mind the cold but I can't stand dull weather.

Anyway, I came of them cold turkey and I got such a surge of energy, I couldn't sleep for about 3 nights.

My GP then gave me 2 Diazepams to let me get to sleep and they did BUT I took the first one just before taking the dog out for her last walk and when I was coming back, I was staggering so much, I thought my neighbours would think I was drunk! The following night, I took it just before getting into bed and when I was lying there, it was as if I was on the ocean. (I have experience of that, my ex was in the Merchant Navy). I felt as if the bed was going up and down. Not pleasant.