What first and foremost led you to Sertraline? Depression? Anxiety? Panic?

Posted , 5 users are following.

Hi all - on the back of today's research findings in The Lancet, claiming that anti-depressants 'are' more effective at treating depression than placebo, I'm interested to know how you came to be prescribed Sertraline in the first place.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/21/the-drugs-do-work-antidepressants-are-effective-study-shows

With so many anti-depressants available, what were your major symptoms? ... and did you specifically ask your GP for Setraline or did he/she recommend it?

Also interested to hear whether anxiety OR depression is your worst symptom. Mine is anxiety with depression a secondary symptom.

I was amazed to read in the above report that older anti-depressants including amitriptyline and mirtazapine were found to be more effective than fluoxetine and citalopram....

As an anxiety sufferer I've tried fluoxetine, citalopram and am now on Sertaline (3 months in) - setraline suits me better than the other two, but then there's escitalopram which the report found to be one of the most effective meds.

 

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7 Replies

  • Posted

    Interesting report that, certainly hit the headlines. My problem is depression, although I'm very much on the anxious end of the spectrum of that, so that tends to be the main symptom. I've been on Citalopram, but changed to Sertraline as the GP thought it better suited to anxiety issues. I was also surprised about the older meds being the best, particularly as the report suggests they are also OK in terms of tolerability, whereas my understanding is that they have far worse side effects than newer meds.

  • Posted

    I've also read that ecitalopram was rumoured to be just a cheeky way of keeping the patent going on Citalopram, as the change is minimal!

  • Posted

    I’m as rurally not on Sertralin right now but was for 18 yrs and at that time it was for severe anxiety. I stopped Sertralin 6 months ago but got a major relapse and tried starting on Sertralin again but the side effects where horrendous. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat and was vomiting all the time. Anxiety was over the roof.

    I am now on Cymbalta and Mirtazapine. Tried to ditch the Mirtazapine a month ago - relaps again so now I’m back on Mirtazapine which seems to kick in after only a week or two. Not properly but noticeable. So yes - my conclusion is that the older antidepressants work rather wonders with almost no side effects.

    When I’m staple we’ll need to figure out what antidepressant I should try as Cymbalta apparently isn’t sufficient and on Mirtazapine I’m having weight rapidly so this isn’t a long term solution. 

    Oh the joy... 

    • Posted

      I just wondered if you tapered slowly off the sert

      And when you went back on it did you do it very slowly with 25mg increases. I wondered why it worked for all those years but not anymore. Maybe you needed to go slower and give it more time

      But I am no expert

      🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄

    • Posted

      Well, what actually happened was that I simply in the end forgot to take the Sert - and one day I simply though "Oh, I'm only taking 50 mg (I used to take 200 mg) now and have forgotten about the pills for several days, so I might as well stop". And so I did without any tapering down what so ever.

      I do remember Sertraline to have awful side effects (and to be frank it actually first started to work when I combined it with Mirtazapine at that time as well), but then again I'm not sure whether it was the anxiety that made me vomit and not sleep of whether it was side effects. Could be both and probably was.

      I haven't went back on Sertraline just yet. Right now I am on Cymbalta 60 mg and Mirtazapine 30 mg and am feeling... not so good at the moment. A good sign today is however that I haven't cried a million times. I started the Mirtazapine 5 days ago again so must be a bit more patient. When I am stabile I think I need to try Sertraline again ... or maybe escitalopram as the studies in the The Lancet apparently recommends. 

      It's a jungle, it really is.

      How are you doing? 

       

    • Posted

      I'm getting there very very slowly. I do not have depression just anxiety and really bad panic attacks and chronic fatigue . I have been on sert since December and have gone slowly from 25mg to 100 mg. Horrid side effects. My panic attacks have stopped but I have very low energy and still have to stop and sit down if I do anything physical like hoovering or picking anything up. It's crazy. I'm getting a bit better but i still can't go out..only driving to drop kids off

      ...i can't go in shops.

      I hope you get sorted out soon and find something that works for you

      🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄

  • Posted

    Anxiety for me. Had a horrible bout with insomnia throughout December last year where my mind was just running at a 100mph when I'd try to go to sleep so I'd get up and start pacing. One night I had woken and thought my heart wasn't beating so I got up and started pacing again and had a panic attack over it. Once I calmed down I looked into Dr offices and made an appointment the next day where I was told I have severe anxiety and she recommended we try Sertraline.

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