This is my first time here and just wanted to tell people a bit about my time on Sertraline. I was diagnosed with deppression and anxiety in january of 2014. I went to the doc and told him about how i felt, told him that i had struggled with anxiety for most of my life. Anyway i was working away from home alot and got to a point where i didnt even want to get out of bed in the morning and felt like crying all the time. Ive had anxiety for years and do not cope well with stress. After my diagnosis he put me on 50 mg of sertraline. First off i was getting dizzy spells and upset tummy and head aches. This lasted for around a week until one day i started feeling really great. This went on for couple of months, then started to feel like the tablets were not doing much any more. So i went up to 100mg. This improved my mood and i found my comfortable dose so to speak. I didnt want to go any higher than that because of struggling to come off them in the future. I also started drinking organic green tea and eating more fruit and veg. This has all has positive affects. I still have off days and i could have gone up to an even higher dose than 100mg. But i didnt want to rely totally on the sertaline so i chose to stay at 100mg. I do stress this point to anyone on sertraline. Its there to help you on the road to recovery. It will not totally cure you. Lifestyle changes need to be made. I did not want to be on any type meds long term and are now 1 week into coming off sertraline. I tapered down from 100 to 50 mg on the advise of my doctor. And then 1 week ago stopped all meds. I felt ok at first but the last 3 days i have had head rushes and dizzy spells. I have a nasty cold at the moment and feel rubbish anyway, so i thought now would be the perfect time to come off the meds. I just want to say that i took sertraline as a weapon in the war against my depression and anxiety and it was a useful weapon. Unfortunately im going to have to deal with anxiety all my life and learn how best to deal with it. But i am thankful that sertraline was there to get me back on track. Hope this is of some interest to someone. Thanks for reading.
Hello Richard This was reallly good to read. I have been on these tablets now for about 11 weeks in total, with nearly 4 weeks on 75mg, I have strugggles with the latest increase and still dont feel 100% but at least I am functioning pretty well. I also have an additional side effect of ance with the docs say is not from the trablets but I didnt have it before sso they have given me antibiotics for that. My fear of taking tablets is certainly being out to the test! Its good to see you are taperign off them now and I hope I can do the same in time. I am also trying to do exercise and eat better and not try to get so stressed about things. Mine anxiety is minly based around health so I am also going to CBT counsellling specialising in this and also trying shiatsu treatments. I hope your withdrawal goes well and please let us know how you get on. I have found this forum really helpful with some lovely people x
Yes its good that people can come on here and talk about problems that they have. The cbt is a good idea and something that i wanted to pursue but being a contractor working away a lot i could not do it. Its sounds like your on the right track. Hope all goes well xx
I do know that the drug stays in the system for a while. So, keep us posted about how you are doing. Thanx for the info and life story!