Week 9 50mg

hi nervous12

can u help mw with a few questions please?

i was on 50mg sertraline for 4 weeks just over they put me up to 100mg recently took first ones last night did u suffer extra side effects by upping i felt very anxious and actually scared to take it last night if im being honest im still panicking and worrying about things i dont need to worry about but thats just me a big worrier and reassurance would be helpful i keep thinking to much about the tablets that they are not working or my minds playing trickson me over thinking ever second guess!! its mad did u get body aches and warm one minute cold the next? chest pressure yawning all the time i have problems with sunlight at the moment it affects my eyes.... !😢

hi kimberley,

Yes i did get side effects again wheb i upped to 100mg but that is totally normal. i was also given a low dose if diazepam to be taken daily until sertraline has settled. i have only used them a handful of times when my anxiety was particularly bad. But please keep in contact with your doctor and discuss how you are feeling and always take the advice of professionals as everybody's situation is different. This forum has been a source of comfort and reassurance, we are not alone. My anxiety was bad again when i upped the dosage but it will get better. Do not be afraid to take the tablet, everytime you take it, youre a day closer to getting better and woukdnt you try anything to feel better again? You CAN do this. Give tourself the oppertunity to get better and go easy in yourself x

Nervous12

Thank u soo much i will stick with it and hopefully they will work!! ur msg has been soo reasureing to me!! i cant thank u enough....

could i please ask im worried alot and panic all the time it is getting better suffered anxiety for many years but this time i feel achey and out of it sometimes! think that i am short of breath and keep yawning to get a deep breath have you had this or is this my anxiety again!!!

thank u again x

i have had this but in hindsight i think it was caused by my anxiety. things will get better and tou will wish that every single day but i promise they will and anxiety will ease. i have cut out all caffiene and trying to go for walks and be a bit easier in myself. talk to loved ones, dont bottle it up. x

the last few days have been pretty bad ocd wise, maybe i need a higher dose?

What dose are you currently on? I am on 100mg and I take mine in the morning. This is something you need to discuss with your doc. However, I've pretty much been sort of self-medicating all my life because well...I've been on this med since it went by the brand name of Zoloft instead of sert...and I can tell you that I find 100mg is usually a decent maintenance dose for most folks. If you are at 50mg, then you can up your dose by taking 1 50mg pill one day and 100mg pill the next day, which in essence is like 75mg daily. Hope this makes sense.

i am on 50mg. ive been told that it takes atleast 3-4 months to level. my doctor did prescribe me 100mg 3 weeks ago but ive not yet taken it. im struggling with no sexual desire so if i increase thatll just make it worse right?

Do you have more good days than bad?

i still dont have a full good day. i have 'better' days but still have negative thoughts even in the better days

Matt, ok, stick with 50mg maybe even up to 4-5 months. Yes, I've had this side effects, too. But sexual desire may come back. The side effects are really strange. I've been on this med on/off for more than 2 decades. I can tell you that the first time I got on this meds, I always had dry mouth and was ultra sensitive to the sunlight and I sweat like crazy. But then after I went from 25mg to 100mg eventually, I am no loger sensitive to sunlight or have dry mouth. So go figure, right? And since then, every time I got back on this med, I no longer am sensitive to sunlight or have dry mouth. Now I have stomach issues, muscles tightness, etc. And to answer your question, increasing your dosage may not necessarily increase your lack of sexual desire. Lack of libido is a side effects and once your body is used the med, then the sexual desire may come back. The thing about ALL psych meds is hard is that we want get rid of our anxiety and depression asap like Tylenol gets rid of headache, but this is much more complicated because it's our brain. So it takes time, lots of time. Be patient, keep the faith. Take care.

so would you say sertraline helped you regain your former self before whatever issues you had?

Yes! Matt, without sertraline I would not be able to function at all. And I am not exaggerating here. I get into these attacks sometimes where my OCD thoughts drive me nuts - I feel myself going crazy - I get panic attacks, I can't function, I want to not be here on earth - I also get depression. Usually when I go through an attack I waste half a year of my life, at least. Now I'm normal and completely functional. I am also a Type A personality.

So I've learned so much on how to manage this illness because I'm 44 years old now and I've been living with this since 8th grade (my first attack; looking back, I may have had childhood OCD but I couldn't tell anyone then; sometimes I wished I had so I could've nipped it in the buds much sooner). But please know that even ONCE this med works and you're out of the woods, you still have to manage your physical health and stress. I find that my problem is that I do NOT recognize my stress, try to do everything and then it hits me full force. So nowadays I try to eat healthier, get enough sleep and rest, rein in my worries and fears, walk, and express my emotions better. It's like managing your sugar intake if you are diabetes. Take care.

thank you. you have given me great hope that i can be who i am again. i like you tend to not release what is causing me stress. i allowed it all to build up throughout the years until eventually my brain gave way. onwards and upwards though!

I have just 1 more question sorry if its getting annoying. does the medication take away the intrusive thought, the obsession or just soften the reaction to the thoughts?

Matt, no bother at all. I'm here to answer any questions. That is, if I have the answer.

I don't know how it is for others, but the med takes away all my obsessive thoughts eventually, but this doesn't happen right away. After I get back on the sert, I noticed it reduced the number of times the obsessive thought would crop up. And then I noticed that when the obsessive thoughts do arise, it was easier for me to forget them - like brush it aside with another thought - and not have them linger and bother me. Then, finally (!), after being on the med for some time, my obsessive thought would completely disappear. However, having said that, I noticed that every now and then when I get very stressed, the same obsessive thought start to rear its ugly head and crop up in my brain out of the blue. So, like I always tell people, the med is a big factor to break the cycle, but once you're like out of the loop, you have to work hard at maintaining OCD-free. It's like an alcoholic - you are prone to the disease but you can sort of work hard to control it and keep it at bay. Exercise a bit, get enough sleep and rest, eat healthy, and try not to get too stressed out. Try to be happy. Learn the "triggers" that cause the thoughts to come back up. I used to even remind myself of never to be HALT (stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired) - these would cause the OCD thoughts to crop up sometimes, so take care. As you could see, I've lived with this ilness for so long - HA! 😃 I hope I answered your question here.

Hello GodsServant! Hope you are doing well. Can I just ask please what was it like without sertraline for you and what was the reason you came back on the med please? Is it absolutely unbearable without it?

Hi can you remember how long it took for meds to help intrusive thoughts and had you them for very long beforehand? ideveloped them about 18months ago due to zopiclone withdrawal. Was on sertraline for couple months but had to swap to citalopram as it made them worse and gave me ocd symptoms although it obviously helps other people Been on it just over 6 wweks but only on full dose couple weeks. It is also recommended for OCD but despair of them going away.

Yeah. i had some good weeks where i felt my obsession was leaving and i was getting some sort of normality back but the last few days ive been at square one

Bullzoer, I can do fine without sert for awhile until somehow it all comes crashing down. That's why I say I fall into this spiral I call an "attack" whereby my mind gets consumed by this obsessive thought, then I get unreasonably nervous like panic attacks, then my obsessive thought gets worse such that it consumes my mind and makes feel like I am going nuts. I think soooo much I can't sleep, eat, etc. so that it sucks the joy out of my life and I can't focus or concentrate on anything else - so I can't function at all with the ever-increasing anxieties - palpitations, perspiration, whole body feels anxious. Then I get depressed and tired and no longer want to be here. So I get back on sert and it helps me break this cycle and live again.

I have a tendency of a Type A personality sometimes. I like to take care of my loved ones and get things done. The last attack I was so overwhelmed with work and emotional conflict with my family and helping my sister with a condo purchase that I got caught off-guard and fell back into this spiral.

Sometimes my obsessive thought comes back but when I'm not too stressed I find that I can brush the thought aside so it doesn't spiral into an attack, like two weeks ago when something major happened in my life. The thought came quickly, but I was able to brush it off because I'm a bit better at self-care nowadays, HA! after living with this illness all my life. I've been on 100mg since Nov 2016 and have no plans to taper or get off of it.

I have been doing well. God is awesome. Hope I answered your questions.

Hi Lemanna, yes, I've been on sert almost my entire life on and off for more than 2 decades. When I started taking it, it was so expensive because Pfizer own the patent and it went by the brand name Zoloft.

I know nothing about zopiclone or citalopram because I never took them. I don't know how these drugs interact with sertraline. It always complicates it when you're on another drug and then get on another drug, because now you have two different side effects going and you have to wait till your entire body to flush out one med to see if the remaining other med is working. That's why I tend to urge lots of folks to stay on the meds they started with for a long time to make sure that is indeed the wrong med before switching to another one because a lot of time it could be worst and times are wasted. As for how long I find sert helps me with my OCD thoughts, I would say about 4 months AT THE RIGHT DOSAGE before sert starts helping me with obsessive thoughts. Depression takes another 2 months or so. Hope I answered your question.

Hi zopiclone is sleeping tablet acts bit like benzo was made go cold turkey by new doctor after 12 years on it. Citalopram is just another ssri I'm on 10mg which is lowest dose as very sensitive to meds also as I'm bit older can't take more than 20mg annyway. The sertraline gave me more symptoms and awful depression which was why stopped it, depression lifted once came off it. Good to know these meds can stop thoughts/OCD eventually as getting bit desperate. Tried CBT and doing the exposure therapy for over year but hasn'T eased at all. Hopefully will kick in soon then.

Have you tried St. John's Wort? Or 5-HTP? These are supplements. I am a bit older myself. 44 year old. I do hope the CBT help - my mom couldn't couldn't handle the side effects and she's in constant pain due to spinal stenosis. Of course, she's almost 80 years old and is very weak, after neck surgery last year. Prayers coming your way.

You aren't meant to take either of those with anti depressants can increase the serotonin levels too much and possibly cause serious side effects apparently according to google. Just have hope citalopram eventually kicks in least i know took you while to recover. CBT was useless had just started with psychotherapist now only skype will try her again once things calm down. The sertraline messed me up think changing meds unfortunately can make things worse for a while.

Yes you did, as you always do. Just one more question please. Ive just passed the 3 months mark on one dose, 100 mg and I still have more bad days than good. I definitely improved, as I have more good days than before and good days are better and bad days are nit so bad than they used to. Do you think it is still worth to wait a couple of weeks please? I am second time on an ssri, first time I used Escitalopram and I didnt feel anything from it, it wanst bad at all but didnt feel the benefits of it either. I used it for a bit more than a year and then weaned off, didnt have withdrawals at all, nothing. And then, in last August anxiety and panic attacks hit me million times harder, it was that severe I couldnt do anything, couldnt get up from bed for weeks, having a shower was challenging, couldnt eat, couldnt drink, vomited a lot, even water came out and felt unbearable terrible, I was sure I was dying. Doc put me back on Escitalopram, and it sent me to a state when I was begging to my GP to send me to a hospital, depersonalisation, derealisation, insomnia, deep severe depression, dull headaches, fear, panic attacks for hours long, etc etc, so they switched me to Sertraline. That was back in November and I am still not 100% well. It is extremely upsetting. I have read somewhere it takes linger to get better 2nd time but it is just far too ling now. Keep thinking on that it cant take this long, there must be something else wring with me just the ignorant doctors cant find the real health issue. I am in doubt all the time if I am doing the right thing for my healing or not. Why I am still awful? Thursday was so good, I was very close to my old self, energic, good mood, mild anxiety in the morning than eased off fir the evening, so good day, than yesterday and today bad again. Low mood, introusive thoughts, anxiety, head fog, tinnitus, and discomfort, downer feeling. GodServant did you feel this discomfort, sick-ish, downer feeling before you got better please?

Hi Bulldozer, yes! Stay on it. This drug is helping you.

What I didn't know was that you were also on Escitalopram for a year. Never having been on this med myself, I have no clue how long it takes for this med to be completely out of you system, so there may still be some residuals in your system that could perhaps making it take longer for sert to do its job to its full effects. I hope this makes sense.

But the fact that you ARE having good days is a clear indication that this is indeed the right med for you - you just need more time to build it up in your system so that you have more good days than bad. So hang in there and give it more time. Give it at the very least one more month.

OK, thank you. Evenings are good normally. Yesterday evening and night I was back to my oldself, it is a wonderful feeling 😃 How about you? Are you doing great? No blips, all fine?

Evenings are usually good for me, last evening l ate well and slept well but feel absolutely awful today. Can barely function.

Bulldozer, good to hear that you're doing better in evenings. Give it time.

OCD-wise, I'm doing great. Like I said earlier, no OCD thought at all - symptoms at bay. I almost had a small blip - could feel myself slipping into another attack when I found out my husband has a brain tumor the size of a strawberry. 4.5 x 2.3 x 2 cm. You do the math. But then I was able to reel myself back, rein it in, and not let myself fall into that spiral.

Please say a prayer for my husband. It's gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. Just found out his chemo failed, so we're gonna try a new chemo. If I weren't a believer of God, I really don't know how I could go through this and also respond to you guys. But God is awesome. Take care.

Devastated to hear these bad news! Of course I will say a prayer every single day for you both! Why always the best ppl have the worst faith? Really not fair 😦

Have just read your post to Bulldozer. So sorry to hear this latest news but treatments are improving all the time, hold on to your faith. Thinking of you.

Thank you to you and Bulldozer. Yep, I cracked upon the Book of James last night in my Bible.

Bulldozer, life is never ever fair. Like, us, why do we have to have OCD, right? But all we can do is play the best hand we can with the cards we're dealt with. That is all.

Im so incredibly sorry to hear this. My thoughts go out to you and your husband. Im sure that he is a fighter and will prevail through this! sending my love

Thank you, Matt. I wish I knew with certainty that he'd pull through, but I am scared. I try to take it day by day and pray and get the house ready for his return. I try to do what can be done, and that's it. The rest, I have to leave to God because there's not darn thing I can do about it.

But I feel so loved and supported by all of you guys on this board. I even prayed for the good Lord to give my 5 bonus years to him.