Sertraline side effects

Please, please stick with it. I have been suffering for anxiety for years and was diagnosed with depression in December. I started sertraline on the 6th December 50mg. I have before this refused to take anything. But I felt so bad that I had no option this time. I felt even more anxious the first two/three weeks and am only now starting to slowly feel better. This chat area has helped me understand and cope better. My advice to you is to stick with it and it will get better. I know how hard it is to reduced and overcome anxiety but it will get better.

Thank you bernie.

I know that one of my biggest problems is being impatient, and not being able to see light at the end of the tunnel. Im worried il step into something worse and theyll be no turning back. Do you think 2 days is too soon, and what im feeling is not a side effect?

hi i felt the same way when i first started taking sertaline ,iam now 4 day into the treatment and not having as many panic attacks as i did befor xxx

 

Hi,

I started taking 50mg of Setraline on New Year's Day, after 2 months on another drug (the side effects made me feel worse!) I should also say that I've been prescribed Sertraline for ongoing suicidal depression (about 3 months now following a trauma 3 years ago). From reading the forums, the majority of posters seem to suffer from anxiety.

The side effects so far have been disrupted sleep, heart palpatations in the middle of the night, manic all day Saturday (mind racing and talking non-stop). I have also noticed a slight tremor in my hands and today a slight tightness in my chest. They say the early days on a new medication are the worst, as your body gets used to the chemical effects on the body and brain.

Most important, I hope that you have a health professional with whom you can discuss your particular side effects. Perhaps not since you have posted the question here, seeking reassurrance. It's difficult to offer advice only on the strength of one's own experience. I would say you know your body and behaviour patterns more than anyone else. Listen to your body. The massive panic attack was obviously very scary. I'm hoping that it will subside after 24-36 hours. If not, then please do seek your doctor's advice as a matter of urgency. I read one posting on the forum that someone was vomitting after just a couple of days on this drug. It obviously doesn't agree with everyone and they need to find the right drug for them, with medical advice.

Please let me know how you are getting on. I'm conscious that I often need to calm my thoughts and distract myself from the physical symptoms of depression - they are often not trustworthy even though they are real. Listening to music or going for a walk help my to find my calming "happy place" but I know it is hard to break the vicious cycle of constant worry. Whatever you are experiencing is valid and you are not alone and not the first person to feel like this. Things will get better. Let's make sure this is the right drug for you so hang in there buddy :-)

Love & best wishes,

Digsby

x

Hi,

I'm on my 13th week of Sert. In my 2nd or 3rd week, I had a panic attack almost identical to yrs! Altho I was prescribed sert for anxiety, I hadn't had an actual pa until that week. I was walking along a main rd and felt completely overwhelmed and had to ring my dad to pick me up.

This is my 1st time on ad's...we're all different of course but it took quite a while (about 10 wks onwards) for side effects to completely subside. Now, my only thing left seems to be tiredness/yawning. But having said that, I'm now in a position where altho thankfully side effects have diminished, I kind of feel like I don't know how different I'd feel without them - whether I would've improved naturally over time.

So to answer yr question...as others have said and experienced, heightened anxiety seems to be quite common early on. For the first week I just took half a tablet (25mg) to ease it into my system. U really do need to give them at least a few mths to get past all the ups n downs of side effects (many of which will only last a few days each) and to then judge it.

Best wishes x

Hi all, just to update I have stopped taking sertraline. I know that there are side effects when 1st starting this drug, but these were just unbareable. I'm usually quite good with illness and my gf always comments on how no matter how Ill I am I'm always chipper one way or another. I truly believe it's just not the drug for me. 

I took 3 doses of 50mg and then went cold turturkey today, I was so so ill; sick, headache, eyeache, confused, spaced out, anxious. It's been quite a 24 hours.

its now been about 38 hours since my last pill and I feel much better, cant believe it affected me so fast.

I was on seroxat 8 years ago and only got side effects when weening off,  so I know this isn't the drug for me.

Thank you all for the support.

I know this was posted 3 years ago. Just wondering how you got on? I started sertraline two days ago and since have had two panick attacks to the point I thought I was having a heart attack as I had chest pain and tingling in arms. I phoned 111 who put me through to a doctor urgently and she asked if I was on any medication how the pain was if it had changed if hadn’t. She said that sertraline can make you feel like this and that my doctor should have explained that to me. I still have fear that I did have a heart attack but these recent symptoms have been since I started taking. I also have costocondritis so maybe that made the pain of a panick attack worse but the feeling I had in my chest felt like cold water. Just wondering if anyone has suffered like this? Are they worth taking? I tried taking at night but the palpitations woke me up.