Sertraline help

[Cashew1964]

I started taking sertraline 11 days ago for anxiety . I have taken it historically and it did help. But dosing up this time is causing me to have worsening anxiety symptoms. Will this dissipate . I’m so scared and agitated . Please ant tips advice

[CAGgmb]

I'm on day 10 of starting sertraline after being on paroxetine for 17 years. It stopped working, and the recommended switch was to sertraline. I am also experiencing heightened anxiety and some panic attacks. SSRIs work differently for different people. You might feel better in 4 or 6 or 8 weeks. When I started paroxetine, it took over 8 weeks. I lost my psychiatrist years ago, recently saw a nurse practitioner who told me to just suffer through. Not an answer I wanted after trying for 12 weeks to find help. Yesterday I finally was able to find a psychiatrist accepting new patients and my health insurance. I can see her in a little over 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I see my PCP tomorrow. I'm going to ask for some medication to use as a safety net to get me through the worst times until the sertraline kicks in. It's really hard now, isn't it? I fight to keep going and get help. Why should we just suffer?

[Cashew1964 in reply to CAGgmb]

Yes it’s hard. I taking it for anxiety and it is making it worse . But I’ll stick with it . My psychiatrist used to dose it with lorazepam to manage the side effects . My gp won’t give me lorazepam and I’m truly suffering every day .

[CAGgmb in reply to Cashew1964]

PCPs and even psychiatrists worry about addiction issues with benzos. But they can be a safety net to get you through temporarily. I've seen just a nurse practitioner, who can't prescribe them anyway, but I finally will see a psychiatrist in about two weeks. Maybe by then I'll be feeling better anyway. Again, the suffering issue. If doctors want to alleviate physical suffering, why wouldn't they help with mental suffering accompanied by physical symptoms? It feels unfair.

[Mxtmxxn]

Hey Cashew, I'm on Lexapro 20mg for 18 days now and at first it had taken away my anxiety but after almost 3 weeks my anxiety is very heightened as well. Everyone keeps saying that it's normal for that to happen and I know it's super tiring, I'm so tired just typing this. I guess we just need to keep taking it until 6-8 weeks to see what the effects are.

[Chinaadventure in reply to Mxtmxxn]

Mxtmxxn, I'm in the process of switching from Zoloft to Lexapro I was doing fine during the original switch but now that I am totally off there Zoloft and on a 10 mg dose of the Lexapro my anxiety is extremely heightened. I get heat flashes and overheated very easily. I usually do not have a problem falling asleep, it's just staying asleep and having a sound sleep. I'm usually up anywhere between 4:00 and 5:00 my mind just races. I too have been doing a lot of reading on the chalkboard and on the web. For my past experience as being on an off medication I know it takes a lot of time for your body to adjust. I've also been coming off of gabapentin which I'm down to 100 mg once a day. I just think it's my body reacting to all of this medication change and I'm just trying to take a day by day moment by moment. With God's grace we will all get through this. Just keep your toolkit handy do what you can do to try and relax take the rest of the breathers when you need them. Reach out to anybody who could be a good support for you. Stay strong and keep moving forward! 💪🙏❤️

[Nurse001]

HiAnxiety is horrible and difficult at times. For me, I didn't do well with ssri. Have you tried Buspar? It's not an antidepressant and works well for me. Be careful with benzos, highly addictive and difficult to get off.

I can relate as anxiety has practically ruined my life. Had a horrible withdrawal from 14 years of benzo sleeping pills and I'm determined with the help of God to have victory over this. Keep trusting and pursuing!