This is my first time on meds but the third time in 4 years that I've been assailed by Anxiety and Low Mood. It's health related anxiety but once it kicks in, it sort of becomes self-feeding, because all I'm anxious about is having the anxiety. Really difficult to shake, which is why I went for meds this time.
I haven't enjoyed the side-effects ~ feeling woolly-footed; nausea; post-breakfast diarrhoea; trouble sleeping. My anxiety is 99.9% focussed on the fear of insomnia. It's not logical but that's the nature of the beast.
So, by week 5, my anxiety was generally a lot better, and my mood wasn't bad. I was still anxious every night about whether I'd sleep or not.
This week is maybe not quite as good, mainly because I'm getting very anxious about sleeping. I just can't think of a way to calm that down. I was very low about it yesterday.
I'm going to give it 8 weeks, and then see whether I need to up the dose.
Hi.
it took me about 8 weeks to feel the full benefit of sertraline
my anxiety prob got better after week 6 had good and bad days.
i was thinking of coming off them but I’m pleased I stuck at it, my sleep pattern is still up and down, I’m only on 25mg because I don’t want to feel like Have have no emotion, I still some days have a bit of anxiety but I can cope at the moment.
i have health anxiety, a few of my loved ones died at an early age, one being my husband at the age of 54. So any little lump bump aches and pains I think iv got something sinister. These are helping to take the edge off all that.
hope everything settles down for you so you can start enjoying life again
How have you been feeling, Ailidh?
Hi Julie, I'm starting week 6 on zoloft and have been upped to 100mg. i've been on 100 mg for about two weeks now. I was wondering if you ever experienced any dizziness on it? I feel like I keep getting dizzy spells and don't know when this will subside.Any guidance would be appreciated. :-)
Hi bre.
I had on and off dizzy spells up to week 8, I get the odd one now and again.
But you’ve had your dose upped so I would think it’s due to that, they should subside when your body as got use to that dose. I was feeling spaced out too, but that feeling as gone too.
Hope that helps and don’t be worried if you want to ask more questions.
Thanks so much for the reply Julie. Yes, it's like an air head, spaced out, kinda feeling like I lost my balance type of feeling. Sounds like I need to wait it out a bit more. My dr is having me switch to take the zoloft at night instead of the morning. I doubt it will fix the problem immediately, I think my body may still be adjusting like you said. I just figured that two weeks on 100 mg would be enough time for it to adjust.
I'm also getting vivid dreams and shaky hands, I've had those since the start of taking zoloft and they still have not lifted. I've had some improvement with sleep and the dry mouth went away...so I'm hoping all of these things will pass in time. The dizziness is just what bothers me most, it really scares me when I feel like this.
Did you experience the dizzy spells up to 8 weeks after the last time your dosage was upped? Or was it 8 weeks total from when you initially started it?
Good morning Bre.
i havnt uppered my dose, I’m managing on 25mg because I’m sensitive to medication so I find this is enough for me at the moment, anxiety does creep through some days but every body needs a bit of anxiety, I don’t want to feel numb and I want to have the fight back in me instead of taking crap from anyone,
But it wasn’t that I got to week 8 and hay presto I’m good, I had good days and bad days from week 6 to week 10 then I was feeling pretty much normal, well anxiety free at about the 10 wk mark.
A lot of people on here just had side effects for a few weeks, but mine seem to go on for ever, one point I was going to switch, but I didn’t want to go back to square one, so carried on.
yes I did have dizzy spells up to week 6-8.
if I get tired I still get them, but I don’t no if that my blood sugar getting low, I’m a cook and when we are busy I don’t eat for hours.
My dreams are so real and they are mainly about ones I have lost, my husband my mum.
I havnt had the shake for weeks but last Friday I had the first in months, but I do think that the side effects creep in from time to time.
hope this helps.
hope you have a good day today.
Thank u so much Julie, you've been really helpful. I kind of wonder if it's due to sleep as well. I seem to notice it more when my sleep isn't normal. But I'm not sure if it's due to lack of sleep or too much sleep. This is definitely frustrating to deal with.
This is such a busy forum, that it's easy for one's own posts to sink.
Ashley, thank you for asking!
I'm in week 9 at the moment, and have got to the point where I feel roughly normal - but that normal does include free-floating anxiety some days. I'm loathe to up the dose, though, because while the idea of "feeling the bliss" is seductive, I want still to feel like me, and me has a degree of anxiety attached.
Based on my 2 previous experiences of Anxiety and Low mood, for which I didn't have any medication, the time will come when I just feel better most of the time. I think the Sertraline has helped in the background this time, and while I don't have objections per se to being on it for life, I think I'd rather not be. I'm looking forward to the time when I don't feel I'm constantly monitoring how I feel.
How are you doing, Ashley?
I just hit the 8 weeks mark today, and I had a pretty good few days last week where I was able to go and do things and start to get back to my daily life. Well, a couple of days ago I had a series of panic attacks after making a bad decision. I don’t feel like I am back to square one, but it has definitely made the past couple of days rough to say the least. I haven’t been exercising, getting enough rest, taking my vitamins, or praying as much while I was feeling better, so I think that could have a lot to do with why I am having this blip. I still need to do those things even when I am feeling good, Trying to look at it as a speed bump and not a mountain. You got to take it slow to get over the hump. When I was at square one I wasn’t able to leave my house. Right now I am on my way to my inlaws for Thanksgiving. Am I anxious? You bet ya. Do I feel like jumping out of my skin? Yep. But I am going to do it anyways because I am living this life, not anxiety and it doesn’t get to make my decisions! Who knows, maybe I will have a great day. Hoping everyone has a good holiday. I know how stressful they can be.
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, and well done for not letting anxiety make choices for you!
Hi Julie, just wanted to give u an update since we last chatted last month. The dizzy spells didn't let up so my dr had me down my dose to 75mg. This did help a lot but I'm still experiencing a light headedness particularly in the morning time and sometimes throughout the day. Sertraline has helped significantly with my anxiety and panic. Although I still experience it throughout the week it's not as bad as it used to be. I'm hoping I can use my own coping tools to get rid of the rest of my anxiety. Anyway any tidbits or guidance you can throw my way is appreciated. 😊
dealing with the same, week 4 and 5 I saw improvement and now I have bad anxiety at week 6