sertraline - tingling hands and feet?

Have you read the accompanying slip?

*Disclaimer* read the bloody leaflet and if in doubt phone NHS 24 or whatever it's called up here, it's drugs we are talking about here, it's time for experts not the STWopinion (TM)

That aside don't panic, the list of side effects is loooooooong*, and you are still in the transitioning stage.

*I was holding out for sudden weight loss combined with sudden muscle tone. But, alas, massive appetite is what I got.

Thanks josh..tbh no I hadn't! I read the nhs site but just looked at the slip that came with it..

Tingling - check

Palpitations - check

Gas - check

tbh those last 2 had me in a&e over the weekend after what I assumed was 2 days of solid heartburn. I mentioned I'd started on sertraline but they never linked the 2

Luckily they found nothing wrong..

Very common side effect. Takes time for your body to adjust.

I've never been able to get on with SSRI's - taken for pain. Side effects were worse than the pain. Obviously, far better for anxiety and depression once you are over the initial getting used to it.

Thanks josh..tbh no I hadn’t! I read the nhs site but just looked at the slip that came with it..

If it's big and plugs in or requires self assembly just chuck the leaflet.

If it's wee and going in your body and not paracetamol or ibuprofen.

Read

The

Bloody

Leaflet

For

****

Sake

But also, good job for doing something about whatever it is that requires sertraline, I went up to 100 before it worked... Then I got a dog and weaned off it.

Yellow flag the side effects.

Consult YOUR GP

Obviously, far better for anxiety and depression once you are over the initial getting used to it.

I don’t feel my 50mg has made any difference tbh, now 6 months in.

I went up to 100 before it worked

Oh…. I’d better spend the next week trying to book a review appointment for about six weeks time then…

I'm on 50mg and certainly get pins and needles more than I used to (particularly if I spend a long time in the drops on the bike).

Ironically, compared to joshvegas, I had to start taking it because of a dog. It's worked though.

15 years on it now (100mg)

That was because of a dog too.

Luckily I married a good one now.

SSRIs mess with the computer your software runs on, the side effects can be damn nearly anything, especially in the buildup phase.

Yes, when I was on it I had this for a few weeks but it eased. Speak to your pharmacist or your GP as I’m not a medical professional.

Been on 50mg for about 3 weeks now so early days but never had tingles. I did have really disturbed sleep and a bit of insomnia for about the first 10 days but that seems to have died down a bit now.

SSRIs mess with the computer your software runs on, the side effects can be damn nearly anything, especially in the buildup phase.

Yeah reading up on this it seems the side effects are pretty diverse. A bit of tingling I can put up with but my anxiety is worse than ever (as I knew it may be) and I've lost all my appetite

Thanks for all your replies

 I had to start taking it because of a dog.

Don't a lot of people start taking it because of a (black) dog?

I’m on 100mg, for a couple of years now.
The other day I changed a headlight bulb in my wife’s car and didn’t swear at all while doing it.
That’s a major achievement for me.

but my anxiety is worse than ever (as I knew it may be)

I had the same, I was like a cat on a hot tin roof with shaky hands for a couple of days.

I had more pins and needles and dead legs.
Trouble sleeping.
Eating more , craving sugary junk food.
I do have a weird shorter breathing cycle though.
Found splitting the tablet in half and taking one at 7am and the other half at 7pm helped loads.
The benefits easily outweigh the side effects.
I'm more positive, relaxed , alot less angry, no intention of harming, suicidal ideas stopped completely,
I now only take 25mg , or half a tablet every morning, there may be a placebo effect in place but I'm ok with it.

Common side effect which should pass in a couple of weeks. Did whoever started this medication also book you in for a medicaiton review?

My memory isn't great these days, but don't recall those side effects over the last ~15 months.

Are you sure love isn't all around you? 😉

Are you sure love isn’t all around you? 😉

I only got it when it was very very very damp.

The other day I changed a headlight bulb in my wife’s car and didn’t swear at all while doing it.

If that's true, then you maybe over medicating.

Well today is grim..

Feel bloody awful. Was lying in bed earlier and could swear the the ceiling was moving..I hear it also does weird thing to your vision.

Yes and weirdly (don’t laugh) a tingling penis. Didn’t agree with me so tried other SSRIs. Have been on Escitalopram for many years now and have no intention of stopping. Tried slow weening off with help from my Dr but always end up going back to 20mg a day. It just works for me.

Well today is grim..

Feel bloody awful. Was lying in bed earlier and could swear the the ceiling was moving..I hear it also does weird thing to your vision.

It sounds like you were extremely low when you started taking it, so the pit of the first 3-6 weeks will be a deep one. It will get better - that's the point of them.

Other SSRIs are available and the effects on different people are quite varied. I found Citalopram to be much harder in the initial trough stage, but apparently lots of people find the opposite.

You should definitely be booked in for a medication review. If it really isn't working for you or the side effects are too extreme, alternatives are available.

Best of luck.

Not sure I want to be feeling like this for 6 weeks tbh..

Amongst all my other anxieties, health anxiety is pretty bad. So when I'm waking up with weird wavy lines on the ceiling I'm immediately thinking I'm having some kind of stroke!

I wasn't actually in that bad a place before hand, so may have to reevaluate whether I want to keep going with these. I'm a bit of an idiot for not doing  my research before diving in..

TP, are you drinking alcohol at all? Sorry to ask but if you are it’s not a good idea.

Had a glass of wine a few days ago but nothing more than that

Your GP should have been clear with you that things could get worse when you start taking it, and the worse you are to start with the more likely it is that you'll get worse. What's happening sounds within the realms of what's expected. Keep checking in with your GP if you're worried and ask them before you stop taking it - I don't know but my suspicion is that'll mess you up just as much.

Iv had a few beers since starting and bit found that to be to much of an issue. I was on Fluoxetine at university many years ago for a bit and I found that interacted really weirdly with drink so the sertraline is a bit of a relief.

WAIT for beer to give you THE SQUITS.

I HAVE suffered greatly in past with Sertraline

I also suffer Parkinsonian tremors.

MH meds are an absolute shitter in all honesty.

Can create more issues and cause the very thing it's meant to prevent.

100 here so half a dose

TPbiker, it does sound like it might not agree with you and maybe worth another consult? There's so many options now so bound to be one that works.  Iv found after about 2 weeks its started to noticeably level me out and allow me to start actually trying to get to the bottom of the root case and deal with things better.  Iv been doing an online CBT program via work as well which I think has been useful, can you access anything like that?

This week I think will be 8 weeks since my 3am post on here for help about work related stress. GP was excellent, signed off straight away and over time diagnosed with anxiety & depression proscribed sertraline at the lowest dose to minimise side effects.

Despite this  had weird tingling for the first few days / week too. It was my balls which was really quite odd and not particularly pleasant. Palpitations too - but when I started taking them I was a wreck.

However I saw the act of taking that tablet each morning as the first step in regaining control of my life. Don’t think the side effects lasted much more than a week and certainly was on the up by 2 weeks when dose increased.

Now on 100mg daily and planning on asking to increase when I see the gp this week.

Been 8 weeks I’ve been signed off and only now starting to feel like my old self. Calmer, less panicky. Still crap sleep tho. Body battery rarely gets above 25-30 according to my Garmin but now starting to consider my phased return to work

Keep in there OP. It’ll get better. Just keep talking to your GP

Last week, I finished gradually tapering off 50mg Sertraline over ~7 weeks.

I don't know for certain, but I suspect this is responsible for the insane itching I've had on my limbs and stomach since the weekend, mainly in the evening and overnight... Only thing I can think of similar was chicken pox and that was 4+ decades ago!

Anyone gone through this during Sertraline withdrawl?

Wife going through tapering off and stopping. Getting a buzzy feeling apparently and is a bit short tempered (got shouted ar for something that wasn't my fault today).

Hopefully your wife tapers off without bad negatives.

My better half was/is worried that I've tapered off as my own decision, even though I did it quite slow, having experienced numerous headaches after forgetting to take daily doses. All fine so far, besides this crazy itching, if Sertraline withdrawl is the reason... Whatever it is has not affected my better half, with the exception of my scratching sometimes waking her up!

Iv got a review tomorrow about potentially going up a dose. Perhaps entirely unsurprisingly not having found a way to address the causes of the issue + still sod all exercise hasn't resulted in long term success. Hoping this might help a reset whilst I try and get back on top of things. 

Hope everyone's doing ok with whatever approach they are taking, it's a bit of a rollercoaster.

Been on 50 mg for 4 weeks now, alongside 1.5 months off work for stress. First week of tablets was grim - terrible insomnia and headaches but all seems to have settled down now. Probably helped as well by giving my notice at work. Had an interview yesterday and nerves were at an appropriate level, not the paralysis anxiety I had in Feb. Will hold out with them for now as I try and get myself back on track. 

Id forgotten about the headaches and sleep issues when I started Sertraline, until I read your post, ahsat. Hope this settles down soon for you.

At the time, I put sleep issues down to coming off Mertazapine, which I simply took ~45mins before I wanted to sleep and it would knock me out for ~12 hours and then leave me super groggy for most of the day.

I mistakenly blamed the sleeping tablets I was prescribed at the same time when switching to Sertraline, for those horrible headaches that plagued me through summer '23.

It was pressure from work that started this ~2 year meds period for me, they were awful during my sick leave due to long covid and I took ill health retirement after 11 months off, back in September '23. I'm still not working again now, the ihr financial package has gone and I'm now using what little savings I have because the criteria to get ESA after assessment were insanely high.

No idea what I want or could do even part time with the ongoing fatigue and brain fog, especially with the suspected rotator cuff injury and this crazy itching thing (plus my sleep has been 0100+ until 1100+ for months), but the stress of Royal Mail feels long gone.

I've just been prescribed this for the first time and this thread is pretty grim reading.

Is there any good news?

Yes, there is. For the first couple of weeks my sleep was interrupted and I do get pins and needles quite easily. I also eat like a pig because of it. But, it almost immediately turned me back to my normal self and has been letting me get proper joy out of life again. 

I feel like it's time to start coming off it and I don't regret starting it. 

1.5 months I couldn’t even work out what clothes to put on. Yesterday I held my own in a senior 2 hour interview resulting in a job offer for a career change. I don’t think that is all down to the tablets, but it certainly has contributed. 

Posted by: Tasha

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1.5 months I couldn’t even work out what clothes to put on. Yesterday I held my own in a senior 2 hour interview resulting in a job offer for a career change. I don’t think that is all down to the tablets, but it certainly has contributed. 

That's fantastic news. Hope things keep progressing for you.

(Long time Citalopram user here, which for me at least has not had so many side effects)