Problems with sertraline.

[The Emperor]

Okay, I know I should call my doctor, but the office is closed and I don't know what to do. This is my fifth day on 50mg sertraline at bedtime. Last night I got a whopping TWO hours of sleep. The past couple of days I have been waking up and having a full bown panic attack.

I fall asleep at night initially but wake up several hours later with health anxiety or any kind of anxiety really. I feel freaking sedated all day, I rarely feel like food consumption and I guess today I am feeling very. . . unstable, I mean, I feel worse today than I have in a long time. I was having a panic attack for about an hour this morning and pretty intense anxiety all day long. I cried a lot earlier in the morning and felt like I couldn't go about my day, but I had to to take care of my little girl. I did all right and got through it, but it really really sucks and I DON'T feel right at all and I am thinking I should stop taking this drug. I was pretty depressed because of all the anxiety this morning. Is this kind of thing supposed to happen or not? Because I just won't take it tonight if this crap is going to continue much longer.

I can barely be bothered to speak and often feel like I am going to die and I don't know what to do about the next week because my baby's dad is having surgery where he'll be home, but unable to help for the next week or so. I don't know if I am doing the right thing. Usually I take it between 11PM and 2AM and by 5PM the next day, I ALMOST feel human again. Still anxious.

I have an RX for .5mg clonazapam, but I only have twenty of those. Is that going to help me calm down? I don't know what they do. What would you do? Thanks if anyone can give me advice.

[tryp]

That sounds like a really uncomfortable situation. I've never taken sertraline myself, but it sounds like you're having a nasty reaction.

1) I'd say almost certainly that you should try taking a clonazepam to see if it helps. If I remember correctly, that's a pretty long-acting benzo. What instructions were given to you on when you should take it? Either way, I'd say take one and see what happens.

2) The beginning of a drug trial can sometimes be the roughest. If you at all can, try to stick it out for a little longer and see if things get any better.

3) I'd call your pdoc ASAP. Like, early tomorrow.

[BPCharlotte]

I know it's really hard to hear this right now, but it takes time for the side effects to wear off (and they usually do) and for the drug to reaaly kick in positively. Small comfort right now, but it's worth sticking with it for at least a few weeks. Is there anyone who can help and support you while you are waiting for the sertraline to come good?

It's one of the worst things about starting a new AD, that the side effects appear almost instantaneously while the beneficial effects take time to manifest themselves. But they do. Talk to your doc asap, but please give the sertraline a chance for the time being, no pain no gain and all that? Yeah, I know, it's easier said than done when you've got kids to think about, but you're doing it for them too ultimately. They need their mom. This is the best thing you can do RIGHT NOW, that will enable you to do your best for them. It might not be easy, but you have done 5 days already, don't let that be for nothing. Stick with it. And keep posting if you are struggling with it.

All the best from another sertraline mommy

[SSA]

I would advise you to get some help for your daughter and go to an inpatient treatment center so they can help with this transition. It sounds very serious. When left to cope with day to day on your own while reacting to side effects life can be very difficult. Please consider getting some advise from someone professional as soon as possible.

[The Emperor]

That sounds like a really uncomfortable situation. I've never taken sertraline myself, but it sounds like you're having a nasty reaction.

1) I'd say almost certainly that you should try taking a clonazepam to see if it helps. If I remember correctly, that's a pretty long-acting benzo. What instructions were given to you on when you should take it? Either way, I'd say take one and see what happens.

2) The beginning of a drug trial can sometimes be the roughest. If you at all can, try to stick it out for a little longer and see if things get any better.

3) I'd call your pdoc ASAP. Like, early tomorrow.

It almost an unbearable situation, for the first half of the day, it tends to get better. I had to twist my GP's arm to get the clonazapam AND agree to take the sertraline, so I only got 20 clonazapam, .5mg each to take AS needed, no refill, since I was relatively HAPPY going in there, just anxious as shit. NOW I am depressed and anxious as shit. I just don't take the clonazapam because I don't know what it does or how it's going to make me feel or if it will make it harder for me to function in the morning. I don't have a pdoc, this stuff came from my GP, but I'll call tomorrow anyway, likely to let her know I am going to stop taking it.

Thanks for replying!!

[The Emperor]

I know it's really hard to hear this right now, but it takes time for the side effects to wear off (and they usually do) and for the drug to reaaly kick in positively. Small comfort right now, but it's worth sticking with it for at least a few weeks. Is there anyone who can help and support you while you are waiting for the sertraline to come good?

It's one of the worst things about starting a new AD, that the side effects appear almost instantaneously while the beneficial effects take time to manifest themselves. But they do. Talk to your doc asap, but please give the sertraline a chance for the time being, no pain no gain and all that? Yeah, I know, it's easier said than done when you've got kids to think about, but you're doing it for them too ultimately. They need their mom. This is the best thing you can do RIGHT NOW, that will enable you to do your best for them. It might not be easy, but you have done 5 days already, don't let that be for nothing. Stick with it. And keep posting if you are struggling with it.

All the best from another sertraline mommy

Ugh. I WANT to stick with it to see if it would work because I KNOW that in the long run, this might be a good choice for me to make for myself and my little girl. But it is REALLY hard dealing with this. Physical side effects(oh, besides when my heart rate tops 130 during an attack) I can deal with, I wouldn't stop taking it if I had to sit on the toilet all day long eating bags of donuts and trying to slap the migraine out of my head as long as it didn't make me feel like THIS. I mean, I'm really not THAT bad without medication. I mean, I am only moderately depressed and pretty anxious without them whereas, this morning I was SEVERELY depressed and haven't stopped being anxious all day. It was INCREDIBLY difficult to function. I feel WAY better than this when I am not on this crap, so for the short term, with my boyfriends upcoming sugery and all and me having to basically do this on my own, I think I am going to chicken out. It sucks, because I have already put up with five days of CRAP, but I do NOT want one more day like that. Thanks so much for the support though, I really appreciate it, and I will call my dr. tomorrow morning to see what she says, but I absolutely am not taking a dose today. Thanks again, glad everything is going well for you!!

[The Emperor]

I would advise you to get some help for your daughter and go to an inpatient treatment center so they can help with this transition. It sounds very serious. When left to cope with day to day on your own while reacting to side effects life can be very difficult. Please consider getting some advise from someone professional as soon as possible.

No offense meant or taken here at all because of this, just to make that clear. But THANK YOU. THIS was the post that made me decide not to take it today, or probably again ever. It was VERY difficult today, the only reason I didn't retreat to the bedroom and hide under the covers while under the influence of a benzo all day was because I JUST COULDN'T. There was NO WAY to get anyone to take care of my daughter. I had no option but to tough it out and go on with our day together and it was the hardest thing I have done since coping with post partum depression. And the reason this post got to me so much was that I actually thought that EXACT same thing while I was crying feeding her breakfast today. I thought how lovely it would be to be in a controlled environment while I dealt with this crap. The only good thing about me going about my day was that I was absolutely forced to fight it and I did, I had to. I was not allowed anytime to wallow and let this get worse. Anyway, unfortunately, I don't feel that at this time there is any way possible I could do this, as I stated before, her father is having a surgical procedure on Friday, and I am going to be responsible for taking care or him AND her for the next week or two, morning noon and night. We live with her grandparents, but I can't let them know how bad I feel, they would always be living in fear that she isn't safe with me when she absolutely is. So, no inpatient treatment for me, not for the next two weeks anyway, and hopefully not ever. Thank you so much for this though, at least I know if I stop taking it, I probably won't be anywhere NEAR inpatient status.

[hollywoodfreaks]

Yeah, it sounds like now might not be the ideal time to start an AD, especially if you aren't severely depressed and feel like you can get through things for now. I have a similar reaction when I start a new AD. First my depression gets worse than before I started taking it but after 3-4 weeks the positive effects start to kick in. This is why some meds have a Black Box Warning from the FDA because this initial worsening depression has lead some people to kill themselves. Maybe you can find another time in the near future to start an AD, and maybe try something else and hopefully you won't have to go through that again.