Wanted to share my positive experience with 7 weeks on setraline

I wanted to come on and share my positive experience with sertraline. When my doctor first prescribed it to me for anxiety/extreme panic/depression, it literally sat on my dresser for six months because I was so scared to take it. I used to come on these forums and review sites and read about how horrible the drug is, how the side effects aren't worth it, how it makes the anxiety worst in the beginning, how people would need to take a week off work before they started...Needless to say, I was horrified! I said no thanks, and on top of my dresser it stayed. Meanwhile, I was suffering inside everyday, and not living a great quality of life... I work full time, I'm a mom, a wife...so having to live with this illness and also try to act normal for your loved ones is not easy. My husband was aware of my mental state, and was as supportive as he could be. But unless you have been through it, it's hard to understand. I used to be the same way...So for the last few years I would get mild panic attacks once in a great blue moon. Then last May of 2018, it's like the panic and anxiety just didn't go away. I spent a week straight in a brain fog that I couldn't get out of. It was the scariest time of my life maybe. I called out work, and I didn't know what to do. I would wake up every morning with a huge pit and fear in my stomach. Eventually the brain fog went away, but I still struggled with with anxiety/panic every single day. I was in a dark place in 2018. I wasn't so much depressed, but the 2 kind of go together, because I definitely wasn't happy. Everyday I panicked internally that something was wrong with me, I'm dying. Any little thing wrong with me would send me spiraling down. I always thought I was gonna have a heart attack. Just so awful. I would get physical effects of the panic/anxiety....sweats, chills, felt like I wanted to jump out of my skin...Anyway, New Years Day of 2019, i had a panic attack and I spiraled down really bad. It felt like a repeat of last May. So I said enough is enough, I'm starting the setraline. I cant live like this anymore. I started on 25 mgs for a month. The first week I would get tired after taking it, and felt a tiny bit drowsy in the mornings, (I would take it at night before bed.) That was the only side effect I got. As far as feeling better, I wasn't quite there yet. I thought i was better at first, but I think it was in my head because i knew i had started the medication. So I went up to 50 mgs after that first month, and the side effects were about the same. Tired after taking it, and drowsy the next morning. But that was it! Hardly any side effects at all. And after like 4 days nothing! Been on 50 mgs for almost 3 weeks now, and I feel better and better everyday. Amazing actually. Its already such a huge contrast to what I was feeling. So its definitely working. I can look back and now realize how sick I was. So to those of you scared to try it, don't be. Not everyone has those horrible reactions. Good luck and know you are not alone. 😃

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