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Sertraline 25mg... side effects?!

Hi,
I just wondered if anyone here took sertraline and could tell me their experience of it. I have anxiety and I have just been prescribed 25mg but feel very apprehensive about taking it and how it may affect me at work.
😃
I had fatigue & lack of motivation at 50mg with the occasional, very painful indigestion.
Reply 2
Original post by Cremated_Spatula
I had fatigue & lack of motivation at 50mg with the occasional, very painful indigestion.


Did that pass?
Original post by katie543
Did that pass?


I moved up to a higher dose, the idigestion passed, seems I only had it in the first 2 months of taking the dose.

I couldn't wait to get off it but it does do the job of dulling your emotions.
I'm on 150mg and my side effects are weird dreams and dull emotions

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Reply 5
I was on 50mg. I had insomnia, migraines, loss of appetite, shakes, weight loss. It really depends on you. If the symptoms don't subside after 6 weeks, go see your GP. :yep:
Reply 6
you should have a VERY extensive list of possible side effects from nausea to death, these medications have a rather broad set of possible side effects but re generally very safe.
Original post by katie543
Hi,
I just wondered if anyone here took sertraline and could tell me their experience of it. I have anxiety and I have just been prescribed 25mg but feel very apprehensive about taking it and how it may affect me at work.
😃


25mg is a very low dose (generally people start on 50mg or 100mg and it can be increased from there) so the chances of experiencing side effects are low. Sertraline is an SSRI and these can take 4-6 weeks to work, so it's important that you give them time to work properly. Often with these drugs it takes quite some time to find the drug or drug combination and dosage that works for you so it is a case of trial and error. If you are experiencing side effects that are unmanageable or that are concerning you, go back to your GP. It's dangerous to stop taking these sorts of medications suddenly as there is a risk of withdrawal symptoms, so again, important that you get guidance from your doctor before stopping taking them if you feel you need to.

If you are really concerned about taking it at all, my advice would be to go back to your GP as they should be giving you full information before starting you on any treatment. There are many other treatments for anxiety which don't involve medication which are often used alongside drugs but can be really helpful on their own such as CBT, mindfulness, counselling and so on, which are certainly worth a try if you haven't looked into these already.
Reply 8
I'm currently on 100mg and started on 50mg. I had some nausea and tummy trouble the first few weeks but that was it.

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Reply 9
I've been on 75mg for 8 months and haven't experienced any side effect.

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I can't remember my dosage, but I took it for two weeks. It was awful. I was constantly fatigued. I couldn't get out of bed. I'd sleep for 18 hours, then I'd get up, and in 2 or 3 hours I'd just be so tired and I'd end up going back to bed. I felt completely dull, I wasn't interested in anything, I didn't want to do anything. It was pretty much all the symptoms I was taking it to treat, but it made them much, much worse. I stopped after 2 weeks because it wasn't getting any better.

But honestly, I don't think it's worth getting other peoples' experiences before trying an antidepressant. The same medication can have completely opposite effects in different people. Sertraline might completely change your life. I've tried 6 antidepressants and none of them helped me, but each of them is used by thousands of people and they'd tell you they couldn't live without it.

So I'd recommend giving it a try. If the side effects are really bad and they're still there after two weeks, stop taking them and try something else. If they're bearable then stay on it another 2-3 weeks, because it can take something like up to 6 weeks for antidepressants to start working. If you're not feeling any better after 6 weeks, you can just try something else.
Hi :smile: in my experience of trying several anti depressants, you don't know how you will react until you try it. I'm on sertraline and my only initial side effect was tiredness which passed. I'm on 150mg as the moment and feel a bit emotionally dulled so I'll probably go down to 100mg soon :smile:

Im going to give you my opinion which is completely opposite to what doctors say so you should take it with a pinch of salt: i knew straight away that this was the one for me because on the others i got side effects straight away and stuck with them for ages even though it made me worse. So try not to waste too much time if it isn't working for you. Keep talking to your doctor and you'll find the right one, just be prepared that it MIGHT take a few different tries.. But hopefully this is the one for you :smile:
I started taking them a week ago, but have come off them as I started to feel better anyway and would rather avoid drugs if I can.

Unlike Citalopram, I didn't experience many side-effects. I felt a bit nauseous and more throat was sore, but that could have been something else entirely. For me though, nothing major.
Reply 13
I was on 150mg for years. 25mg will be very unlikely to give you any trouble. It's one of the "cleanest" SSRIs.
Reply 14
Original post by katie543
Hi,
I just wondered if anyone here took sertraline and could tell me their experience of it. I have anxiety and I have just been prescribed 25mg but feel very apprehensive about taking it and how it may affect me at work.
😃


So... you're anxious about taking anxiety pills?

Sorry Ill walk myself out.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 15
I've been on sertraline for over a year now - started on 25mg and I'm now on 200. I didn't get many side effects but I've been on a lot of different medications throughout my life (strong antibiotics, migraine prevention etc) so my system is quite used to drugs and I don't have much trouble. I really hope it works out for you though! It only really kicked my anxiety when I started increasing the dose so if you don't notice anything in a few weeks ask your Dr to consider upping them! good luck x
i was on sertraline for almost a year for depression + anxiety, i eventually got up to 200mg and stayed on that dose for four months. i got taken off of it really quickly though because it started giving me severe problems with dissociation/memory loss :s-smilie: i think i was just on too high a dose for too long, i should have reduced my dose immediately after i started getting those symptoms but i just didn't.. oops

when i first started on 25 mg, i immediately noticed that i got really depressed during the mornings. like, REALLY emotional. it was pretty tough. the upside was that by the time evening rolled around, i was euphoric. it was honestly really weird. i was also constantly restless, and had trouble sleeping.

after about 5 days or so the depression/euphoria evened out to something in between, and the restlessness died down too. whenever my anxiety started flaring up again my doctor upped my dose. the restlessness was never an issue after that, but depression/euphoria thing still happened every time my dose increased. the effects weren't nearly as bad though, since it does a pretty good job of dulling any intense emotions.

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