On sertraline for 5 days, strange symptoms.

[adin]

As I previously wrote here my endo referred me to a psychiatrist who told me I'm little depressed and very anxious maybe due to my levo overmedication(now I take 125mcg/day). I started taking 25mg Zoloft but I have some weird symptoms like, internal tremor, increased anxiety, out of space view, dizzy, can't sleep, my arms are heavy, my mood is flat.

It is normal to have these symptoms ?

My pshychtrist told me that, in two weeks you should start to feel better and you could sleep well but I see that the opposite happens.

[55lindylou]

Hi

I have been taking sertaline for the past 4 years, when you first start to take them the side effects are awful. I had sickness, shaking, tiredness feel spaced out ext. It can take 2/3 wks for the side effects to ease, you will start to feel better. Just hang in there, hope this helps

[puncturedbicycle]

It may take longer than two weeks to see maximum benefits - six weeks is the usual figure given - and in this time the side effects should ease. If there is no real benefit and/or you're still having side effects after that time you should consider trying something else. I don't think I had any bad SEs but it was of limited use to me so I didn't take it for any long period of time.

Do you know if your thyroid is optimally treated? That's something that should be attended to as an underactive thyroid can make you feel depressed and anxious.

[vixvixvix in reply to puncturedbicycle]

I agree- I've felt really flat for over a year and feared that I needed to go back to therapy/ take AD and fixing the thyroid issue just lifted me completely out of that flatness.

I don't remember what happened going on the meds (minus the horrifying weight gain- I'll always have that parting gift from citalopram!) as it was nigh on a decade ago when I first started AD but I felt emotionally numb and a bit disassociated the whole time I was on them (a good few years)- I really needed that though as I was quite poorly and won't have been able to cope otherwise.

It does take a few weeks for the brain chemistry to even itself out so hang in there. I am a great believer of talking/ activity based therapy (the medicine only numbs you, it's not going to make any existing triggers go away) so if you feel that you will benefit from non-chemical based therapy it is worth looking into them and hopefully you can start them in a few weeks time when you start to feel better.

Good luck!

[adin in reply to vixvixvix]

Thank you for the response, what does it mean I start to feel better, what should I expect?

[vixvixvix in reply to adin]

I'd describe (for me anyways) being on ad (both sert. and cit.) meant that my emotional range was very limited- I didn't get the extreme lows of depression, but the payment was that I was never ecstatically happy either (i.e. constantly flat)- and for me that was 'better' at that point in my life. So I would say for you, hopefully you'd feel less anxious.

Looking at your response to punctured bicycle, it looks like you'd need to work on why you have fear of sleeping. I don't have the fear now (I used to have insomnia because I think there are ghosts in my bedroom and I couldn't turn the lights off- as a frigging grown woman!) but I do still get really bad sleep procrastination so I get that it's so annoying not to be able to 'just go to sleep', and you're over tired and wired the next day and it's a vicious cycle. Recently (6 weeks now, I just ordered a second bottle) I started taking ashwaganda root and because it acts as adrenal support, I've not actually had much sleep procrastination at all... have you looked at your adrenal functions? If you're quite anxious they might benefit from a little support...

Meanwhile if you are not already, try practicing good sleep hygiene. It's a real drag to start but some of it makes a lot of sense.

[puncturedbicycle in reply to vixvixvix]

vixvixvix with respect, if the meds are making you feel numb they're not working, or that is not the desired effect. I felt numb when depressed and ADs restored emotional perspective and a spectrum of health emotions for me. As a bonus they also miraculously short-circuited some compulsive behaviour that I hadn't even been aware was part of the problem.

I appreciate that all of us come to our own beliefs via our own experiences. There are a lot of people here who were fobbed off w ADs in lieu of addressing their physical problems, and there are a lot of people for whom ADs didn't help or made them feel worse, and none of those people will feel the same as I do about ADs, but I can say with confidence that the intended therapeutic effect is not to make you numb.

Ideally you should be working w someone who can give you some assurance that they will seek to restore your health and well-being maybe at the level of 60-80%. You should absolutely not be sent away w a script and no follow up, and if you see no more than minor improvements that shouldn't be accepted as 'good enough'. From what I see here a lot of bad experiences w ADs come from rubbish administration/follow-up. In an ideal world gps wouldn't be the main source of ADs but here we are.

[vixvixvix in reply to puncturedbicycle]

Thats a really interesting perspective, thanks. I always assumed that the very limited highs/low was 'normal' because the amount of serotonin was limited and constant.

I was really lucky in that I found an amazing therapist who was in my corner and fought for my mental health in every way and worked through to break through a lot of issues. I'm not saying ad was useless- I doubt that I would have been able to do the therapy work without them but at the same time I was on ad for about 3 years before I had any sort therapy and while I survived and coped with life I don't think I made much progress until I actually went into therapy. I'm so glad to hear that you've had breakthroughs just on medication!

I wished everyone had someone who would fight for their health and make sure they're improving, but sadly that's not the case!

[puncturedbicycle in reply to vixvixvix]

I'm so glad you had support. So many people here don't have good professional help.

My understanding of SSRIs is that they address the depletion of seratonin by making sure it sticks around long enough to work in the receptors in the brain, but considering the seratonin/depression question is still a chicken/egg one, plus the fact that the mental health ball of wax is huge, complex and individual, I think it's safe to say what they really do when they work is poorly understood at best. I can see if you're in emotional agony, if the ADs even you out that might feel like numbness. For me depression was relenting numbness and ADs allowed me to feel. Maybe this is just down to individual experience - ?

Just to clarify I don't want to step on anyone else's experience or say, yay, everyone should take ADs. Just like thyroid meds if they aren't prescribed correctly or if you don't get the follow-up you need you may not do well, you may even feel worse (which is why I don't feel like gps should be prescribing routinely).

Sadly you're often in the worst possible condition to pursue help for yourself when you most need it. Which is why we need pros to help.

I'm in maybe my twelfth(?) year (maybe longer) seeing my therapist and I consider myself lucky for it.

[adin in reply to puncturedbicycle]

I'm lost, I don't know what to do. So, I'm in front of bifurcations one route is sertraline and the second way is levothyroxine up/down. My endo says that my analyzes are good, so the problem is elsewhere.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to adin]

So what is your free T3 level (with range)? That's the important one. And is your B12 optimal and your progesterone level?

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to vixvixvix]

Remember there's no obvious test to show that your serotonin is low. ADs are one of the few things prescribed without proof of blood test.

[adin in reply to puncturedbicycle]

Hi puncturedbicycle, problems began when I was overmedicated and I can't sleep about two months ago. I had all kinds of hyper symptoms(fast puls, anxiuos, sweaty palms and some kind of insomnia that triggered a lots of central apneas(I sleep with cpap). I dropped my levo to 125mcg but insomnia remained (it's actually a fear of falling asleep I think) and I have many hypo symptoms(dry hair and skyn, gained, puffy face, spaced out, poor focus,etc). I don't feel depressed( or I don't realize) just anxious. My fT4 level is good now in to the range(22,14-12.22,7) but ft3 is low (4-3,6.6,8) and tsh is 0,18 a litlle low. I do not feel like my thyroid is optimally treated (now undertreated). I hope the drug(sertraline) will be able to solve my sleep problem.

[puncturedbicycle in reply to adin]

SSRIs can be unpredictable w sleep. I found fluoxetine v helpful but it makes a lot of people jittery, so even if the literature tells you one thing the only way to know is to try. If your meds make you feel a little sleepy don't fight it but take them at night. If they make you perky take them in the morning. (That sounds obvious but you wouldn't believe how people who are told to take fluoxetine in the morning then will stumble around trying to stay awake.) A lot of it is experimentation w how it affects you as an individual.

I keep saying this here, but I do wonder if you're converting v well. Ideally you'd get a trial of t3 to add in and see if you feel better. With these test results it isn't okay to feel so symptomatic. Clearly you can't just raise your levo and lowering it won't help if you still feel hypo. I do wish it wasn't like hen's teeth, in my experience it has been v good for alleviating stubborn symptoms that would not go despite my results looking absolutely ideal.

Sorry you don't feel well. I hope the meds help. They helped me a lot.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Out of whack sex hormones make your moods wrong, too. Ever had those tested?