Sertraline 5 weeks in little improvement

Treatment and medication
1

I have been taking Sertraline for 5 weeks for anxiety and depression. Before I was on venlafaxine for about 10 years but it stopped being effective.

I have spent 2 weeks at 50mg, 1 week at 75mg and 2 weeks at 100mg.

I haven’t seen a big improvement in my symptoms and still feel depressed and anxious. I am having trouble sleeping (I take it in the morning) and am exhausted during the day.

Would be interested to hear from people who have experienced the same symptoms. Do things improve with time? My psychiatrist wants to try for another 3 weeks before adding pregabalin, which I am reluctant to do as I hear you can become dependent.

Thanks

Ed

2

Hi! I'm not sleeping at all on Setraline. 6 days on 50mg 4 days on 75mg. I have felt some relief from the anxiety and depression. My dad took Sertraline for months but it wasn't enough for him. He was also given Pregabalin which helped him lots. He doesn't take Sertraline anymore but still takes the Pregabalin. If it works then I think it's worth taking so you get better.

3

i am 9 weeks in and atoll anxious amd the reason is i am still wothdrawing from citlapram which i was on for 18 years

4

hi pal it took best part of a year for me to recover i did 3 month on 50mg and im on 100mg at the minute. i took phernagan til my sleep good back to normal.

5

And how are you feeling on 100mg?

6

Thanks Seashell, I am a bit worried about starting Pregabalin because of the dependency, but it might be an option if the Sertraline doesn't work. Has your dad had any issues with dependency on Pregabalin?

7

Thanks Deblou, so you think think that the anxiety is due to the Citalopram withdrawal rather than Sertraline or the underlying condition?

8

Thanks Andrew, do you mean it took a year before you felt normal again? Did you find that your symptoms started improving before a year? Not sure I can hack feeling like this for a whole year! Cheers, Ed

9

hi , feel great tbh been a long road though for me , never thought id get back to my old self

10

about 10 months to stop waking up with anxiety that was the last thing to go . They was little bits of improvement thats why i persevered with the tablets. i was on citalopram before and they stopped working for me

11

withdrawal definately just have tp ride it out

12

Why did you come off citalopram? Iwas on it for couple months stopped because was making hair very thin. Sertraline been awful after 9 weeks making anxiety worse and worse also affecting my hair. So going back on citalopram as sertraline just ended making things lot worse.

13

Hope you feel better soon, when I took citalopram years ago I found that I started losing my hair and I switched to venlafaxine.

14

Thanks for getting back to me. Glad you are doing well now and hope you stay that way!

15

andrew did you cross taper from cit? ihave and feel awful 10 weeks in x

16

Hi Ed, My dad still takes Pregablin. He's not tried to come off them but they have made such a difference to his life.

17

You have done so well to perservere with the Sertraline for so long before being anxiety free. How did you find going from 75mg to 100mg? Ive done 4 days at 75mg, had a calm if not joyfull afternoon and evening and slept for the first time in 3 nights. Today though by lunch time feeling very anxious and low. It's so hard trying to find the correct dose.

18

no i swapped straight from 30mg citalopram to 50mg sertraline for 12 week then upped to 100 mg thats when i started to feel alot better , felt terrible i suffer with OCD my thoughts was scaring me to death if anyone as this give ocdrecoveryuk a look on instagram puts alot into perspective

19

I think ill give it a few more days at 75mg then up to 100mg if still not settled.

20

hi, i didnt do 75mg i went straight from 50mg to 100mg , i think the trouble is me aswell the drs say you should be feeling good again in 4-6 week and you expect that when in reality it takes a lot longer. you need to change your mindset everything to beat it