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Terrified to start Sertaline

Posted , 10 users are following.

Caroline71441
Caroline71441

Some help, advice, support please. I have some sertraline but I am so terrified to start. I have severe depression and very severe anxiety. Am currently finding the days unbearable and at night sleep is so difficult as I can wake and start to panic if i thing about the future (or lack of it). Getting up requires all my strengh and is also unbearable.

I have been off work for ages and am not really functioning properly or seeing friends or enjoying anything i used to. Because of the severity of my symptoms I am so scared of starting sertraline. My resiliance and coping are an all time low and I could not deal with an increase in anxiety and agitation yet that is what seems to happen. It would be torture lying awake with agitation and racing thoughts. I also have a very senstivie gi system so nausea and stomach problems would add to the severe stress an sanxiety. I take a stomach acid reducer (a PPI) but hate taking it as it makes me feel tired and unwell as well as increasing my anxiety and depression. I live alone and having scary side effects with no support adds to the fear. I am in such a dilemma i seem to spend all my time searching for the magic med which does not exist. Sertraline seems pretty powerful and energising which I don't need as I hae too much nervous energy anyway. Suggestions and help would be much appreciated - also any good alternatives to sertraline though i realise we are all different.

ps I am having cbt but am in such a bad space mentally that the techniques aren't really working.

0 likes, 28 replies

28 Replies

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  • richard172
    richard172 Caroline71441

    Posted

    Hard as it is Caroline .... ride through the storm , try the meds. It works for so many people, it can work for you too. Chin up , stay strong and believe in yourself.
  • lattifa7777
    lattifa7777 Caroline71441

    Posted

    ok I was also like you very severe depression and anxiety racing thoughts , I thought I was going mad, I was soo scares to take sertraline too, I was prescribed 50mg . took me a week to pluck up the courage. so I started the first 2 days with a quarter of the tablet then a half the after 10 days I was on the full pill of 50mg , and yes I did get worse to the point I was suicidal and went to a&e. I was given some Diazipam 2mg I was also scared of that too. but I thought nothing can make me worse than I am! I kept on taking it and counted the days to 4 weeks , how I did it was lots of walking trying not to be alone. I couldn't eat or sleep list loads of weight. at 4 1/2 weeks I felt a lot better not 100% but so much so that I could smile put makup on and laugh.

    plz plz take the meds and do what ever you have to to take ur mind off it. Maybe ask dr for Diazipam just for wen it's really bad it really does help. you will get better. talk on here to me as much as you need.

    • colin1965
      colin1965 lattifa7777

      Posted

      I have taken citalopram and Sertraline for the past 5 months and dont feel like the tablets are doing me anygood.I've got permanent nervousness and sweats and dont seem to be Improving at all..
    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 lattifa7777

      Posted

      Hi Lattifa - A&E that is so scary - did you call an ambulance. I would be scared to do that as I have been rerferred to the community mental health team  I would be frightened they would section me. Did you get worse gradually or when you were on the 50mg?? I am living alone and don't have anyone to support which is wy I am particularly scared if i get worse symptoms or get suicidal. I find walking so difficult - well anything really - in such a bad place.
    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 lattifa7777

      Posted

      Hi Lattifa - I did reply to you a while ago but it is not showing - I don't know why. Anyway am replying again so you might get duplicates. I am so scared to go to a&e as I am with the community mental health team I would be frightneed of being sectioned - the thought of being in a mental health unit terrifies me. I don;t know how you managed to cope. I feel so terrible I don;t know what to do. When did your side effects kick in was it right at the beginning or later on.?
    • lattifa7777
      lattifa7777 Caroline71441

      Posted

      not straight away no, I think a week into the 50mg, I don't know how I did it either to be honest , I remember walking so much and crying a lot, spoke to samaratans too, tried to give my self a talking to, but above all talk to god, ask him to help he is the creator of all things. xxx

      big hugs to you sweet hear I know what you are going through. YOU WILL BE OK

    • iris46
      iris46 Caroline71441

      Posted

      Don't worry about being sectioned....:it means nothing to the outside world. It would only be done if you weren't eating/drinking, not taking care of your basic needs, or doing anything dangerous to yourself. It means you'd be taken into temporary care for your own safety.
    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 lattifa7777

      Posted

      Lattifa  - i posted a discussion regarding the terrible side effects on just a 1/4 of 50mg - I really cannot cope with them. I feel terrible today still really dizzy and sick with a throbbing head - i has made me worse and that is what is frightening. I don;t know how you did it.I feel so weak but cannot cope with the side effets I got on top of the terrible depression and anxiety. I don;t know what to do.
    • lattifa7777
      lattifa7777 Caroline71441

      Posted

      oh hun, I know how you feel I really do, how long have you been taking the meds for now?

      it honestly does get better, it's soooo incredibly hard , you have to have to keep thinking positive, that's what everyone kept telling me and it got on my nerves a bit because I thought how can I be positive when I feel like I'm dead inside and theirs no point to anything. but then I realised I have to tell my self that I will get better I will be ok and this will just be a memory. I still now get scared that it might happen again. but I just have to try and not think that, at the end of the day it can happen to anyone no one is immune to it my dear. plz plz talk to me as much as you need to private message me if you like and we can chat more.

      but do try walking, putting somthing funny on TV and watch it over and over if you want , I didn't laugh but it helped a little. go to beautiful places and look around, talk to god plz try that too because only God can take away spiritual pain.

      lots love to you and big hugs xx

  • mark56500
    mark56500 Caroline71441

    Posted

    Caroline,

    Sorry to hear you are going through all of this. I have found from reading through many posts that anxiety strikes most of us from out of nowhere. While what we worry about is real, the constant over worry and ruminating thoughts are not normal.

    I have the same issues as you. I worry about my future....constantly. Sertraline has helped me a lot. I am now able to get through my days calmly and I only have blips of anxiety some days (like today).

    Everyone is different. Only you can decide what is right for you. No one else can do that. I've been on 100mg of sertraline for about 7 weeks now and I am so much better than when I started. It took me about 6 weeks to get past the side effects and to start feeling the positives of the drug. It got worse for me before it got better, but it has gotten better.

    Hope this helps.

    Mark

    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 mark56500

      Posted

      Thank you Mark. My issue is at the moment I feel so unbearable it is all I can do to keep going so anything that makes me feel worse  don't know what I would do particulary re. depression and agitation. What side effects did you get and how did you deal with them? Are you working? I've been off for nearly 7 months - it has got very entrenched ...
    • mark56500
      mark56500 Caroline71441

      Posted

      Caroline,

      Yes, I am working and have been through my entire ordeal. I am 52 yrs old and have never had anxiety before like what I went through just a few weeks ago. I was barely in control, but pulled myself up and got to work. I did miss 2 work days from side effects, which were: increased anxiety, nausea, head aches, jaw clenching and sexual side effects. Please note that all of these have passed.

      I have many more good days than bad now, but I still have bad days. Today, I have some mild anxiety, but it is manageable. Not like it was just a few weeks ago. I needed Xanax (a mild tranquilizer) every day then. I took one .25mg Xanax today, which is a very low dose. Before today, I have gone 8 days feeling normal and enjoying the things I used to.

      My advise, for what it's worth as a fellow sufferer, is to take each day, hour and even minute as it comes. Thoughts are what are causing our discomfort, so let them come and go as they will, but try not to let your thoughts, which are not reality, control you (us). Try to live in the moment and enjoy the little things.

      This will pass in time. If you feel you need help, seek it out. Life can be so wonderful if we let it! If you are religious, pray. Be thankful and try to smile and laugh!

      Mark

      Mark

    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 mark56500

      Posted

      Thank you Mark. The worry is I have been off work for nearly 7 months with this. This depression and anxiety came on after picking up a parastiic infection overseas which took ages to diagnose and treat that led on to other health problems and then depression and anxiety. It is so bad at the moment I feel uncomfortable in my own skin  - it is like torture so it is almost as if the physical sensations are causing the mental issues and of course the negative thoughts feed into the physical, I could not imagine working at the moment and do not see friends as I am so uncomfortable. It feels really extreme and I am so scared. I try but cannot be thankful it is so powerful and frightening. I feel ashamed of feeling so hopeless but I am really at my wits end and so worried that ad's will make it worse.
    • iris46
      iris46 Caroline71441

      Posted

      Caroline, hopelessness and helplessness are both symptoms of depression.....I've felt it.  You want to move on, but you don't know how to, or what to do.  I'd still say take the meds
  • iris46
    iris46 Caroline71441

    Posted

    Hi Caroline...I really do feel for you, but you DO need something to help you. You need to be brave and start taking your meds. Yes you'll have some discomfort but I promise you it won't last forever. What's the alternative? Things are pretty grim at the moment and can only get better. Do you sit out in the sun to get Vit D, do you take B-complex (50mg of each), or Omega 3 oils....all helpful to naturally increase serotonin in the brain. I'm not keen on cooking at the moment, but I buy ready cooked chickens, salmon in an oven bag, oven chips, microwave veg, salad boxes, etc etc. do you eat such foods to keep you healthy? You need to take positive steps Caroline....the first step you've already taken by communicating in this forum. Keep in touch. Iris
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