563 replies to this topic

[looneytune]

LT - Do what you need to do to have a life. 

 

Myself, I went to sertraline after 6 months of suffering after my last dose of Cymbalta. Like you, I also had other issues going on at the same time as my withdrawal symptoms. My psych dr put me on a low dose of 50 mg of sertraline for a month and then raised the dose by 25 mg a month until symptoms were under control. With each increase in dose the symptoms got better and better. The reason for the slow increase in dose was...

 

1) With each increase in dose there are stomach issues for about 10 to 14 days before disappearing. A onetime big start-up dose can really make you sick for a while before the stomach settles down.

 

2) With a phase in you can find the dose that provides relief without taking any more sertraline than necessary.

 

I also would like to mention that I have been slowly reducing my dose over the last few years when I feel I can handle it. Withdrawal symptoms have not been bad as long as I go slowly.

 

Please take care of yourself LT.

Hat........did the morning anxiety eventually lift with the sertraline? perhaps it was last of the side FX to reslove but did eventually clear up?

 

Hope you are well

[fishinghat]

With each dose increased it reduced. One I hit the right dose it went away. After each dose increase it took about 3 to 4 weeks to see a corresponding drop in the anxiety.

 

Hang in there sir

[looneytune]

Hi Folks, it's been a while. Hope you all are good xx

 

Close to 12 weeks on my Sertraline 25mg AD tabs and in many ways the introduction has been just as hard as Diazepam or Duloxetine withdrawal...check out the online horror stories about the over the top anxiety and depression with Sertraline start up. Anyway....

 

I seemed to have crisis after crisis when starting this new med program and that made the anxiety much worse....First up in the crisis department, the colonoscopy. The PLENVU prep made me ill and i was close to passing out and turned a lovely shade of grey. I had to take to my bed early in the prep drinking process and just kept getting up for the extreme projectile evacuation 

 

I was shitting for 8 hours and still using the toilet just 20 minutes before colonoscopy procedure! stayed awake again for the exam and the pain was off the chart. I had to hold nurses hand and damn near hollered for my mum.....took me DAYS to recover. That was trauma #1

 

 

A few weeks later trauma #2 arrived at my door, in the shape of a kidney stone. A 7mm kidney stone and I still have it tucked away in my bladder.

 I was awakened one night with the pain from hell and held on to the bedroom furniture for some sort of stabilising effect and then lay on bed until pain subsided 6 hours later

I thought it was my Ankylosing Spondylitis playing up and decided to ignore it

 

Fast forward 1 week and two visits to local accident and emergency at midnight and I landed in hospital for check up. The worst of the pain had passed at this point as the dreaded stone worked it's way through urinary tract. Everything they say about kidney stone pain is TRUE folks. Your whole back and side goes into the sort of spasm, the kind that you would get in your leg and the muscle turns to iron. It is relentless and beyond painful. Grown men have been found weeping in hospital rooms. Both times at A&E I got a jag in the arse that worked immediately and sent home to a blissful sleep

 

Trauma # 3 was just around the corner and was by far the worst...TBC

[fishinghat]

Oh LT, the only thing I can think to say is that things are bound to get better. They have to. Be kind to yourself and try to hang in there.

 

At 12 mg you should not have so much of an issue and after 12 weeks things should definitely have settled down. You may not be able to take Zoloft. What has your dr said about all of this?

 

I guess I was lucky, my start up on Zoloft was very smooth.

[looneytune]

Hat, I am on very nearly the whole 50mg now and doing better than I have done in quite some time

 

It's like stepping out of the fog and somehow a reborn feeling too...God, I have prayed hard and this year has by far been the most traumatic

 

I am looking forward to starting the complete 50mg in 5 days time

 

I have a couple of self penned soundbites in my head...the further you have fallen the longer it takes to get back....so I am aware I have to take my time and not expect too much

 

It's an odd feeling, like I am afraid to admit to self that I may be getting better after all this time just in case it turns out to be not true

 

xx

 

Finish my story of dreadful year later 

[invalidusername]

Hi LT...

 

So good to hear from you, and I am far from surprised that you have been through a similar experience with Sertraline as with anything else. No-one can tell what will occur from one drug to the next. It is very much subjective. 

 

I am so sory to hear of everything that occurred in your prep for the potential surgery. The first trauma sounds awful and I can't even begin to think how you felt. 

 

And then the kidney stone!! OMG!!

 

I have, thank God, never had one, but from those that I know that have... scare me beyonf my wits. rom what I gather it is a pain like no other. No disrespect to our female counterpart, but I am told it is on par with, or worse (in some cases) with giving birth. 

 

You have my most sincere thoughts and prayers.

 

If it is any help, this year I have entered into some serious trauma - the likes of which I never thought I would have to endure. Having been falsely arrested and done two overnights in prison has left me with trauma like I could never imagine.

 

I won't release too much detail, but I have not been chanrged on any occasion and been falsely blamed and/or arrested for assuault as a result of my epilepsy. 

 

Sitting in a 8ft x 8ft cell when you have chronic anxiety is horrific. 

 

But we are being looked after. Those in control will ultimately pass the price for their wrong doing.

 

As you know being my side of the pond, the Police here are mere bullies. They prey on people just to get the better of them. They like the victory is brings.

 

You may not know, but I am a big bloke, 6'3", long-hair, tattoos and well built. Took four officers to bring me down, but they love the result of course. Bastards.

 

You are never alone LT. 

 

Please keep in touch. We are all here for each other and we need to be here at all times. We will get through this by God's own grace.

 

Chin up my friend.

 

IUN

[looneytune]

Wow..take care and best wishes IUN xx

 

After saying I thought I was getting better I woke up this morn feel as bad as ever after two good weeks ( a record) is that par for the course, the tiredness, flatness and anxiety from an increase in dose?

[fishinghat]

The flatness and tiredness certainly can be expected. Usually the increase dose usually causes some digestive issues and of course with that comes anxiety.

[invalidusername]

Yes - just as Hat said. 

 

And you can expect these waves come and go. They key is to not give them so much attention knowing that they will... at some soon point... return to some level of homeostasis.

 

Please continue to stay in touch, and take care of yourself.

 

IUN

[looneytune]

Yes - just as Hat said. 

 

And you can expect these waves come and go. They key is to not give them so much attention knowing that they will... at some soon point... return to some level of homeostasis.

 

Please continue to stay in touch, and take care of yourself.

 

IUN

 

Even @ 12 weeks into course?
 

[invalidusername]

Yes - even at 12 weeks. But they should be fewer and farther between at this point. If there are still issues in a further 4 weeks, I would consider concern. 

[looneytune]

Yes - even at 12 weeks. But they should be fewer and farther between at this point. If there are still issues in a further 4 weeks, I would consider concern. 

Even although the up dose is the likely reason? Is the up dose in itself not usually the cause of these blips?

 

an up dose in sertraline would cause more side FX even although you was on them a year...no?

[fishinghat]

With each previous updose does the side effects get worse or last longer?

[looneytune]

This is my 1st up dose since starting meds 12 weeks ago....started @ 25mg and recently up dose an extra 1/4 tab 12.5mg but it's been enough to give me the jitters

 

chemist suggested the up dose as I said the tabs were making me anxious at times and she thought that perhaps 25mg was too low for me to be of any use....

[invalidusername]

25mg is a low dose for Sertraline.

 

50mg is considered the starting and minimal therapeutic dose. 

[fishinghat]

Stomach issues are very common with Zoloft updosing and certainly stomach issues can cause a significant increase in anxiety. These side effects typically last for about 4 weeks. When I went on Zoloft for my Cymbalta withdrawal the dr had me updose every 4 weeks in order to minimize this effect. I had IBS at the time so I was particularly sensitive to the updosing.

[looneytune]

L- Theanine 400mg daily

 

anyone any thoughts or experience with?

[fishinghat]

If you look at our ebook you will find that a lot of members had good luck with L-Theanine for their symptoms. The best results tended to be 100 mg four times per day.  It is important that you buy a product that is suntheanine. Regular L-theanine always has a certain percentage of D-theanine in it due to the purification process. suntheanine is purified by a proprietary process and yield only L-Theanine. 

[invalidusername]

Again - completely agreed with Hat having entered into the discussion in the eBook myself having gone through something similar myself.

 

Granted, it will be subjective - each to their own and all that, but the best start is fro what we have gathered from the experience of many other on the forum.

 

The eBook is a great start. 

 

But always remember to start your dose low in case in doesn't agree with you.

 

Highly highly unlikely with nootropics, but worth it all the same,

 

Don't underestimate the potentiality of these non-prescripticed drugs/

 

They can be fulll of sh*t.

 

IUN

[looneytune]

Fishy pal 

I had a few good weeks there on the dose of just 25mg ( been on them 12 weeks in total) but it was not a consistent good spell and chemist thought that perhaps i was under dosing so she suggested moving up a little in dose..I moved up just a quarter of a tab 12.5mg and it has thrown me back almost to the very beginning again of start up side effects.....EXHAUSTED/WORRIED/ANXIOUS

Just looking for some reassurance that it's all normal and can expect this BLIP when implementing an increase no matter how small.....having the two good weeks in a row ( a first for me) has made me think that perhaps the ZOLOFT is right for me...given
the proper dose and settling in period.....God, Hat, it's a LONG haul this depression game xx John...PS hope you are well

 

PPS says you can't receive any new messages Hat!

[fishinghat]

Hi LT

 

I just received a new message yesterday but will check it out this AM and see what is going on. 

 

The uptick in the side effects is normal with Zoloft but your case is more severe in intensity than I have ever seen. Normally an updose is 25 to 50 mg with Zoloft and the increase in symptoms only lasts 3 weeks or so. You may be too sensitive to continue its usage. Have you talked to your dr about the symptoms?

[fishinghat]

You are right LT. My mailbox was full. Just cleared it. Thanks for letting know.

[looneytune]

Only been on them 12 weeks Hat!  For many folk the meds have took longer than that to work,no?

 

Don't like to hear that perhaps I should not be on them after a particular hard 3 months and just about EVERYONE struggles on these for months until dose settles in....yup, I would agree , I am sensitive to small dose adjustments of Zoloft but I am super sensitive to EVERYTHING I have tried

[fishinghat]

I wasn't referring to it not working yet. That small a dose may not even have an effect at all but was referring to the extreme sensitivity to each small increase in dose. All the people I have communicated with do not have near this level of side effect with updosing and it clears fairly quickly. Just my experience LT. You know your body better than I do.