Sertraline

[bluegas]

Hi up until 6 months ago I had been taking floxutine anti depressant (about) 15 years after long time going back and forth to docs I came off meds ... in that time I moved house and changed docs!!! I  have been doing really well until recently I been having a hard time went to new docs . And he basically had no interest in me just said take these and wrote percription for sertraline. Come back in a month !!! Dose anybody have any opinions on these drugs !! Really don’t want to go back down anti depression route been taking for 5 days !! Making me feel worse but I know that’s to be expected and will take weeks to kick in !!! Any advice would be great ta 

 

[Deb79]

I have just recently started taking them (week) 5 starting this week. 

I've have a few side effects, but nothing crazy. Increase anxiety, just the usual stuff with any SSRI. My GP said that steraline is the best one fir OCD, but that's not fact, think it's just most commen one prescribed. 

My advice would be start off 25mg and work your way up if you feel you can x x

[Ashley123]

I have been on Sertraline for almost 7 years. I have had almost 0 side effects. Or maybe I have but I've been on them so long I can't tell. Sertraline helps to calm the OCD a bit so I can work on CBT a bit easier and take more risks with doubts.

[sufferer]

I've been taking Sertraline for 2 months now and had awful side effects that didn't go away, so currently weaning myself off (under DR supervision) and going back onto Fluoxetine.

Others find them great though, so...

[bluegas]

Thanks for your reply’s definitely seems a bit of a mixed bag  he started me on 50m !!

[dksea]

16 hours ago, bluegas said:

Hi up until 6 months ago I had been taking floxutine anti depressant (about) 15 years after long time going back and forth to docs I came off meds ... in that time I moved house and changed docs!!! I  have been doing really well until recently I been having a hard time went to new docs . And he basically had no interest in me just said take these and wrote percription for sertraline. Come back in a month !!! Dose anybody have any opinions on these drugs !! Really don’t want to go back down anti depression route been taking for 5 days !! Making me feel worse but I know that’s to be expected and will take weeks to kick in !!! Any advice would be great ta 

Hi Bluegas, sorry to hear you are having a rough time of it lately.  Though I am not from the UK, I do know from these forums that the preferred treatment in the UK is CBT first so I'm surprised and disappointed that your new doctor just foisted medication on you without making any effort to pursue that alternative.  Though I believe SSRI's can make a huge difference (and I take them daily myself), that doesn't mean they are for everyone, and given that CBT is a proven effective treatment I think its wrong that they simply prescribed medication since thats not what you were interested in.  You shouldn't just be made to take an SSRI if you did not want to.  I personally think you should pursue a non-medication alternative if thats what you truly prefer and your doctor should support you in that.  I'm sure that OCD-UK has resources/information to help you with that option (I know self-referral has been mentioned many times) so there are options!  If you do decide to keep taking the medication yes you might have to wait out some side effects during the initial period, but be sure to keep track of any side effects and let your doctor know if they get beyond what you feel comfortable dealing with.  I'd also add that if the fluoxetine was effective for you and not causing significant side effects that you ask why it would not be better to continue that rather than take a gamble on a different SSRI that you have no experience with.  Good luck!

[bluegas]

On 01/07/2019 at 01:28, dksea said:

Hi Bluegas, sorry to hear you are having a rough time of it lately.  Though I am not from the UK, I do know from these forums that the preferred treatment in the UK is CBT first so I'm surprised and disappointed that your new doctor just foisted medication on you without making any effort to pursue that alternative.  Though I believe SSRI's can make a huge difference (and I take them daily myself), that doesn't mean they are for everyone, and given that CBT is a proven effective treatment I think its wrong that they simply prescribed medication since thats not what you were interested in.  You shouldn't just be made to take an SSRI if you did not want to.  I personally think you should pursue a non-medication alternative if thats what you truly prefer and your doctor should support you in that.  I'm sure that OCD-UK has resources/information to help you with that option (I know self-referral has been mentioned many times) so there are options!  If you do decide to keep taking the medication yes you might have to wait out some side effects during the initial period, but be sure to keep track of any side effects and let your doctor know if they get beyond what you feel comfortable dealing with.  I'd also add that if the fluoxetine was effective for you and not causing significant side effects that you ask why it would not be better to continue that rather than take a gamble on a different SSRI that you have no experience with.  Good luck!

Hi thanks for taking time to reply I’ve since been back to doctors and seen some body else who was lovely. We both agreed it would be better for me to stop taking the meds and within 2 days I feel better already still a long way to go and going to try cbt  again for about the 100th time  !!! All the best to you 

[dksea]

5 hours ago, bluegas said:

Hi thanks for taking time to reply I’ve since been back to doctors and seen some body else who was lovely. We both agreed it would be better for me to stop taking the meds and within 2 days I feel better already still a long way to go and going to try cbt  again for about the 100th time  !!! All the best to you 

I'm glad to hear you are doing well and that you were able to see a Doctor who was willing to work WITH you and take your concerns and preferences in to consideration.

Regarding CBT, its a good idea to remember that CBT is not meant to be something you do for a few weeks and stop, that would be like going to a personal trainer for 6 weeks at the gym and then going back to doing no exercise when its over!  To get the most out of it you should try and keep practicing these techniques beyond your sessions.  You will probably need them less often as you improve but you can always break them out again if things start to get a little rough.  Hopefully that would help minimize the times you need to go back too see a therapist for CBT.

[bluegas]

Thanks again this has been my down fall in the past I’m determined to work harder this time !!! I think I’ve got it all sussed then bang out of nowhere it gets me good luck to you and thanks for your time

 

[Headwreck]

Hi all.

Sorry to comment on an old thread but didn't want to start a new one with one already being around.

I have been on 50g Sertraline for one week straight. I have been extremely tired, suffering with nausea, increase in anxiety, stomach issues, twitchy muscles etc but trying to plough through it in the hopes that I feel an improvement.

Has anyone got any success stories?

Also I suffer very badly from social anxiety and heard that this medication is brilliant at treating it. Does anyone else suffer with social anxiety? How did medication affect it?

Thanks.

 

[Closed for repairs]

Hi @Headwreck,

I'm on fluoxetine, so not directly useful, but I also have social anxiety, (and GAD, and mild depression, and possibly on the autistic spectrum, )

I don't think it's helped with the social anxiety, but I do think it's calmed me down over all, I was in a right state when I started them otherwise I would have never have gone to the doctor's.

[Headwreck]

Thanks @Closed for repairs 

I was on Fluoxetine previously but found the side effects too much. Was just hoping that the Sertraline would do something for the social anxiety as well as the anxiety and OCD, it is something that really gets me down a lot. Feel very lonely and isolated.

[Closed for repairs]

I think it's helped with the GAD, and the depression, and has left me in a better state to do something about the OCD, and the social phobia, but in the end I'm going to have to do the work to fix those. I can't become less socially anxious, hiding from the world in my shed.

[Guest Paul92]

I started taking Sertraline 50mg back in March. I was on it for about a month. It didn't agree with me at all. It made my anxiety a lot worse, I couldn't sleep, constantly restless. It just felt like something was 'leaning' on my brain. Suicidal thoughts are everything. I hated it so just stopped taking it. Prescribed Citalopram after and I just felt the same on those so stopped altogether. I think it took longer than the docs say for it all to leave my system. I felt like I was kind of half drunk all the time and had a real don't care attitude for weeks afterwards.

Having said that, that is not to say it won't work for others.