Propranolol and sertraline

[Ultrarunningman]

Hi,I was prescribed prochlorperzine and sertraline yesterday as I've been really struggling the last week or so. I've been getting huge spikes of T every 4-5 hours and it seems my brain it stuck in 'fight or flight ' mode and constantly worrying and feeling anxious.

I really didn't want to start taking tablets as I'm a huge believer in being able to get yourself better. I'm super fit (hence the nickname!) but work 12-14 hours days in a very stressful job that I've been doing for 5 years with rare days off. I'm sure my T stems from this!

I took a prochlorperzine yesterday and then had a zoplicone at night to help me sleep. Slept ok for 6 hours then work with some or the worst T I've had in weeks/months. I've not dared take the Sertraline yet (I'm afraid on becoming reliant on them!)

Anyone else had experience of the above?

[perlcoder]

Hello,

Standard Disclaimer - we are all different. Each person's experience of T, down to the tiniest details, is unique. This most certainly extends to responses to medication.

That said:

(1) Sertraline is often prescribed and seems to divide opinion more than most drugs. The position is complicated, of course, by the fact that it is often prescribed at onset of T, and it is very difficult to disentangle its effects from other causes. My own experience is that I have suffered from worsening T for more than 20 years. In 2017 I had barely slept for weeks, stayed up all night one night and crashed and burned rather spectacularly next day. I thought I had gone irrevocably crazy, the doctor thought otherwise. "You have severe depression and anxiety." That brought me back to reality in an instant. He prescribed large doses of Sertraline which reduced over a period of months until I was signed off. Although the Sertraline helped greatly with my depression, my aim from the start was to reduce it and be signed off. I doubt that anyone of your age and motivation would do worse than I. I don't think that the Sertraline was the cause of further worsening of my T - in fact it may have held it off for a while. I wouldn't hesitate before taking it again if needed. Someone else will come along and tell you, quite truthfully, that they had the opposite response.

(2) I don't know anything about prochlorperzine. There are no results for it in the helpful tinnitus.org database. Maybe it has some alternative name that isn't recorded there.

(3) The exhaustion-induced deep sleep ending in dreadful T is, sadly, a phenomenon I know well - as I think do others here. My amateur psychological analysis is that your limbic system never stops worrying about the noise, and has it's finger on the volume control. The longer and deeper your sleep, the more it worries and inches up the volume because it wants you to wake up and deal with the threat that isn't there. Eventually it succeeds, no matter how tired you are. Another recent sufferer spoke the other day of the wall of white noise that sometimes wakes her now. Same thing I think. (I don't have the reference to hand as I type, but I saw some recent good scientific research demonstrating that, in sleep, the brain areas responsible for T are able to spread their alarm far and wide, to areas that would not otherwise be involved, exacerbating the position considerably.)

Best wishes.

[Ultrarunningman in reply to perlcoder]

It's was Propranolol not Prochlorperzine (my mistake!) lack of sleep! 😪

[SimToTheWorld in reply to Ultrarunningman]

Betablockers are known causes of T. I take labutalol because in my research it shown to have the least side effects. But it's not as strong as others.

[bella2022uk]

I dont know about those meds but Ivwas prescribed Mirtazapine ad it caused spikeslike you are describing.I had to stop it after 5 days

Then I was prescribed anew sleeping med Quviviq and it has helped me so much without causing spikes. It has not cause tinitus to stop but I am able to sleep and I am less anxious during the day because I know I will be able to sleep

[Velotin]

I felt the same at first but taking Sertraline has helped me deal with T. We know at present there is no stopping T but one can but work on coping with it, with or without medication. The choice is ours alone. All the best…

[Jojo313]

it turned me into a sloth , got off it straight away

[ghlla]

As others have said, experiences and impact differs. My personal experience is I started with symptoms of anxiety (panic attacks, low mood, nightsweats etc..) and the T followed soon after. This caused sleepless nights, causing T and anxiety to get worse. I was on the verge of a breakdown.

I was prescribed Sertraline in January, and I've found it has perhaps helped a lot. My T is still with me, but is no worse. It's now more manageable as I sleep better and anxiety is under control. Eventually I'll look to wean off the sertraline and try and rely on things like relaxation, meditation, etc..