Hello everyone, my name is Taylor and i was put on sertraline 8 weeks ago for severe anxiety, my story is posted in another dicussion just go to my profile if you wanna see it. I was on 25 mg for 4 weeks and I will be on 50 mg for 4 weeks tomorrow. These forums and the friends I have made on here have been a godsend. I wanted to open up this discussin board to those who have found success on sertraline and got back to their old selves. A lot of us on here need the encouragement and I felt if you all could flood this discussion with positive stories it could truly help a lot of people. I know a lot of people when they feel better they leave this site, hopefully there are at least a few that can shed light. Thank you all and remember. KEEP FIGHTING, i am also here for anyone who wants to talk.
Hi Taylor , i am out the other side and back to myself thank god . I went through all the side effects , the giving up and believing i would never get better .......but i did and believe me i know i can get sick again at anytime but to b where i am now is fantastic!!! Hold tight everyone who is going through the rough side effects etc as it will get better xxxxx
Thank you so much alf123. This brings tears to my eyes as I hope to be back to myself one day. I have been struggling but have had some good or OK days. My appetite is incredibly up and down and I have lost a lot of weight 
all I think about is my anxiety and how I'm feeling. Did you have anxiety or depression or both? Would you mind sharing your dosage and how long till you felt 100% yourself again? Are you at that point where you could literally wake up feeling fine and almost forget you're taking medication ?
I am on 100 mgs for the last 4 months now for anxiety /depression ! It was around 6-8 weeks on 100 mgs that i can honestly say i was really gettin back to myself ....looking forward to things again etc! I too lst alot of weight but believe me i have made up for it since lol!!!! I wasnt gettin any sleep those 6-8 weeks as my mind was just buzzing all the time and intrusive thoughts were there all the time !!! Thats all settled now , i wake up i think feelin better than i have in a long time as i NOW know i was suffering for the last yr and a half without realising it!! I wish u the best of luck , life is too short so when u do feel a bit better do something small everyday for ur self. xxx
This is so beautiful to read. I am so happy for you!!!! Mental illness is so hard but it helps so much to talk to people who understand. When did your appetite come back? Was it up and down like mine? Sorry for all the questions I just don't have a psychiatrist yet (waiting till my appointment in Feb) and my GP isn't that knowledgeable.
Probably round 8 week mark and now i cant stop .....my excuse is its xmas lol! I havent seen anybody either yet till jan but my g.p. is very good!! I couldnt care if i had to take 10 tablets and eneded up 16 stone the fact that i am better is more important! xx
I miss eating, I LOVED food now I can't stand it. Do you mean 8weeks total on sertraline or on 100mg?
Hi Taylor,
Without Zoloft or sertaline I wouldn't be her to day. I would had been gone a good 2 decades ago. I have been on and off this med for 20 years and I can tell you the side effects are no fun (the understatement of the year!) every time I get back on it, but then it gets better and I can function like my ole self again after awhile.
This is a horrific illness that I wouldn't even wish upon my worst enemy, so I feel and pray for all of us suffering. Hang in there, and remember there are good days and not so good days.
And here's to hoping that it continues to work for me for next 20 years! Cuz I am not getting off it anymore.
Btw, I hear ya. Each time I go thru this episode I lose so much weight, like 20 lbs in a month, and I can't eat and even right now, my appetite hasn't completely returned and I used to love good food. Not to mention all the other side effects.
Stay at strong to get thru the side effects, muster all your strength and be gentle with yourself. Remember: In the midst of my winter I found that there was in me an invincible summer.
Sending you hugs.
Thank you so much for the reply. I've had a bad day today and am just scowering this site to feel better. May I ask why you went off Sertraline? Was it because you were feeling so good?
Hiya taylor41,
I just checked on this site now because I haven't been on here for a couple of months and was just wondering how people are getting on , and came across your post and my hart felt for you 😪I was put on 50mg right from the start which was about four months now , and was suffering from anziety and depression for a long time before going too the doctors , when I first started taking the pill I had a lot of side affects lack of appetite bad headaches bad stomach the lot and no difference for about two months thaught it wasn't going too work for me !! But believe me one morning about two months ago I woke up and felt wow I feel better and every day from then on I started to feel like my old self again 😄It Realy does work and I was like you , but keep going and know that you will come through all this 🙏 I too have my appointment in January with I talk and feel I don't need it now , that's how good I feel 🙂
Hello Anne, just like the other posts I am crying as I am reading your post. Been extremely tearful today and and currently sitting in a cafe crying as I'm typing this and managed to swallow a bowl of soup. May I ask you some questions? I'm really really glad you are well. Very happy for you. What mg was the magic dose for you? Some days I can muster up strength and go about things and distract myself. Will there ever be a day where I don't have to even fight it? You say you are 100% yourself? I want that so badly ....
Taylor I am so glad you have started this post as I have been struggling also.i was beginning to wander if Zoloft was ever going to work for me too.i see there is still hope.We are all in this together🙂
Hello Pam,
Yes I thought that we all needed a flood of positivity and a chance to talk to others about their process as they are out the other end of the tunnel. I am mostly on this forum all day, especially when I am having bad days looking for some type of hope but when I am having good days I am out trying to keep myself busy which is why I understand why people who feel good leave the forum, they want to continue their lives!! We are all in this together and my good moments and days are what keep me going. <3
Yep, you got it. Hit the nail on the head. The last time I was on it, I was on 100mg from July 2013 thru 2015. From Jan 2016 to Sept 2016 (?) I lowered it to 50mg. Oct 2016 I lowered it to 25mg, and around Halloween was when it all came crashing down.
I don't know how is it with others, but I get these very severe attacks and when I am in that phase it consumes me 24/7 and I feel like going mad and I don't want to be alive and I can't concentrate on anything, can't enjoy my movies or tv show, can't even go to a familiar restaurant with my husband without freaking out - everything that used to be a more-brainier requires so much work and seems to drain me of all my energy and I feel so anxious and tired. Then when I get out of it, after awhile I am back to my old self, strong, selfish-confident, etc. that I even forget that I have a mental illness and I would even forget to take my med.
You would imagine that I'd learn by now. And really, I have this time. I am going to get a doc and a therapist after new year. Maybe to CBT.
I even started making a list of triggers to help me down the line, so that I can nip a lapse in the bud and not have it turn to a severe relapse like this time. I don't know about you, but after living with this all my life, I can tell you it's worse around the holidays, the winter months, around the time of your period, being stressed or overwhelmed by school, job, relationships, death of a loved one, loss, etc. Someone told me not to have HALT.
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So, my best advice and I wished I had started earlier - see a doc for med and get a good therapist, don't self-medicate like I did, and keep a journal. I started a journal not long ago and looking back I could see all the triggers and stressors and signs of the oncoming attack, but I was stupid not to review my journal when I was well. Now I will try.
You can get this under control and live with it. You will be yourself again in no time. You will smile and laugh and joke again. You just have to keep yourself occupied while dealing with the side effects before it kicks in.
YES, my anxiety consumes me 24/7. It is literal hell on earth. I feel so bad for my family and boyfriend dealing with my crying bouts and just overall hopelessness. That is why I go on here to give them a break when I feel bad cause I can see the sadness in their eyes seeing their girlfriend, daughter and sister doing a complete 180 from how she was before. So all in all your advice to me would be to stick with the sertraline till I find my theraputic dose and no matter what stick with the medication even once I get back to my normal self???? I know a lot of people that stop medication once they feel better and the way I feel now scares me so i know for sure i will not stop. It is just getting to that point of feeling myself again that makes me so incredibly inpatient and having to hold all of it in in public when all i wanna do is cry.
I am so thankful you found what triggers you and know what you need to do in order to prevent relapses and continue on sertraline. My good days are what is holding me on. I just feel so bad my boyfriend was supposed to spend the night but i feel so bad making him come over here for me to just cry or sit around with him, he doesnt mind but i still feel bad. I am going to try and stay distracted with family as sometimes that helps.
Hay Taylor , you were sitting in a cafe on this forum in tears....that was me a year ago!
It just brought me a flash back of what I was like and how much pain I was in ( mental pain)
Exshausted of the sleepless nights, weak from not eating, watching people in the cafe being normal and relaxed and not knowing what I was going through. I so wanted to be like them, I wanted somome in the room to say hay I'm feeling like you.
This forum is a life saver for me, to be able to speak to people who understand and know exactly what I'm going through was a massive part of my recovery.
When trying to explain to a friend or relative that never felt like this, they would always ask why??? Why are you crying? Why are you worried? What's making you like this?
Why are u not eating? Ahh all this would make me worry more and get more anxious, but here people don't ask why they just get it and that helps so so much.
I'm better now , I eat well sleep well laugh, I'm able to watch t.v. I'm able to cook clean , work thank god.
I still TO this day think so other people actually feel like I do??? It can't be as bad as what I feel, or what I'm going through. But reading this today has really made me see that I wasn't alone , and this is an awful illness that needs more awareness, there is not even a charity that I know of that helps support people with depression and anxiety?? If I wrong plz advise me.
I'm trying to cut down my 50mg of sertraline now as I feel well and also because I have put on 2 stone . But I will take it very very slowly indeed.
I pray for us all, I thank the person who posted this discussion and plz those of you who are out the other side and in the light, don't forget to pop on here once in a while and help others get through this tough time. It will be an illness that will most probably haunt me for ever, but life goes on. 😏
Hugs to you all and keep the faith in god , he will respond when you ask. Xxx
Hi Taylor,
I have just found forum this morning. I have been on 50 mg of Sertraline now for 8 weeks also ... and l have found l cant really taste my food anymore and l feel quite groggy and tired.... Like yourself... need some encouragement to continue.. as this groggy fatigue feeling driving me crazy... but l do feel better than l was.. as l was crying all the time and felt miserable... just want to get back to myself really but like you wondering how long it will take...
Hiya taylor
Sorry to get back to you so late , I started on 50 mg and still on 50 mg so that seems the magic dose for me 🙏 But keeping in mind that different doses are needed for other people but keep fighting on it will work I promise, I thought I would never feel like my old self even when I first started on the pills some days I felt like I was having a hart attack with my anziety.
keep posting on here Taylor and let me know how your doing 🙂 I will check on here too see how you are cooping, just know your not on your own and all of us on here have and are going through the same as you . Hugs Anne.
Hi Taylor. Thank you for your message. I am now on day 6 of taking Sertreline and I must admit my concentration levels and get up and go has improved sooo much. I am still feeling very dizzy but It is expected as a side affect. Generally I feel so much better than what I was and feel the strength to carry on. Keep your chins up guys. Things can only get better x
Hello Karen,
I am sorry for what you are going through. This is truly such a terrible time. I am happy to see that you are not crying anyore. How bad is your anxiety/depression? Are you able to manage throughout the day or are you mostly housebound? I too have that problem with food sometimes except my taste for the food has returned but i have no appetite. Also have you thought about upping your dose?