Due to stuff going on at the moment I’ve be prescribed sertraline to try and level me out, been on it a fortnight and find I have zero energy and if I try and push myself on the bike feel like I want to throw up, also run warmer and need to drink more, is this common?

Cheers

There are a lot of potential side effects for those tablets including feeling tired. You might stop feeling so tired in a few days

All of them are pretty normal and they pass so ride it out for a little while. The nausea and thirst is annoying but it’s gone in a few weeks. I found the tiredness a God send as it meant I could actually sleep!

That all sounds familiar, and it’s all passed for me.

150mg daily, for frikkin years 😐

I’m always knackered, but then I’ve got a fairly physical job I suppose and I’m well old, 45.

Hopefully it’ll pass for you and help you.

I’m 47, have gone from 50 mgs to 100 to 150 to 100, and am now back down to 50. I have been taking it for over four years.

The side effects lasted with me for about 6 weeks, but I have had no problems with it since. So I would say stick with it for now. You won’t feel much benefit until after the fourth week, by which time you should have made it through the bad stuff.

Good luck.

As per SaxonRider. 6 weeks then the side effects seemed to drop off and they seemed to kick in properly. Make sure you don’t miss taking them. I have a couple of times and felt like crap next day.
Definitely feel better for taken them so persevere.

Thanks for the feedback, just need to let it run then.

Yep! Like the man says don’t miss them. Things go funky when that happens…

Sertraline is one of the few medications that has given me side effects, even on my low dose (and I was on quite a few when I had AF).
Made me feel out if it for a few weeks and also couldn’t ejaculate or barely get it up which was weird. All back to normal after 6 weeks.
It’s the 3rd time if been in antidepressants but this time I think I’ll stay on them this tine, I’m not seeing any negatives after 14 months

I’m off to the GP to go on it. Had AD’s last summer associated with pain, that’s been sorted through CBT, physo, exercise and a bout of counselling that finished in Feb. Things were going well until ‘work’ started piddling us about saying 4 of us had to re-apply for our jobs in April. It’s really set the 4 of us back in terms of respecting our bosses, but we, as a group, managed to overturn them as the ‘job’ they said we were to apply for, we could demonstrate how we were already doing it.

Two other staff have just been slotted into the jobs. That’s on top of major re-organisations that’s left me covering other roles as nobody is doing them. Just can’t take this any more and need something to level me out again. I’m accessing support through a healthcare company that via work, but it’s only initially on the phone, and it’s a wait to get an appointment.

I’ve had bad reactions to duloxetine in the past.

I’ve been taking Sertraline for years and am wondering lately whether some of the things I am experiencing are side-effects of the drug.

For starters, I am always extremely tired, really bad. Often fall asleep in the daytime and generally can’t cope for long when I have to do anything computer-based.

Mostly though I just have this feeling of being a bit ‘out of it’….all the time really. I notice it a lot riding when I’m wanging it down trails, and just always feel like I’m not fully in focus. Keep blinking to try to be clearer.

I get real bad twitching in my right eye which I’ve always linked to tiredness and that doesn’t help with the spacey feeling either.

I guess I’ve felt it so long now that I just kind of accept it, but perhaps I shouldn’t be.

I think a lot of people have experienced that feeling you have when you forget to take it for one, maybe two days? It’s a bit like a milder, constant version of that I suppose.

Anyone relate to any of that?

Mostly though I just have this feeling of being a bit ‘out of it’….all the time really. I notice it a lot riding when I’m wanging it down trails, and just always feel like I’m not fully in focus. Keep blinking to try to be clearer.

Can’t speak personally, but that sounds a lot like what my wife said she was experiencing, and why she decided they weren’t for her. She also found she was getting forgetful, and didn’t feel ‘herself’.

@kayak23 I forgot mine the other day, whilst busy at work I was OK, but the drive home mind just switched off, hadn’t even registered the CD had changed till I stopped at home, so lesson learnt there.

One thing I have noticed tho, I always take it first thing in the morning, so by the time I go to bed I’m half dead lol, but taking it at the same time after a night shift I fall asleep but then after a couple of hours my sleep gets disturbed, which until I started taking sertraline I got better sleep after a night shift than at night!

The trouble with most antidepressants is you get the side effects (nausea, lethargy, headaches etc) BEFORE the benefits (hopefully) kick in.

I encourage people to TRY to push through the SEs if they can, as they should pass.
If at 4 wks you still feel shite, and feel no better mentally, there’s loads of alternative ADs that can be offered.
Hopefully your GP has asked you to come for review at the 4 week mark…

DrP

@DrP yeah had a follow up at 4 weeks and due to go back in a couple of weeks which will be end of month 3, some days are better than others, also spoke to the company nurse as my manager suggested it so that if I had a bad day at work and blew up at someone then my arse would be covered so to speak, nurse suggested counselling so going to ask about that when I see my gp.

Where do you live?
it might be worth googling to see if NHS counselling is available as a self referral (the vast majority are)..in which case you can get the ball rolling now..

DrP

Two weeks in for me, after 3 months of trying to manage with exercise it was clear I needed something else to balance me out. First few days the thirst was annoying, but not noticing too much at the moment. Although I did go out on the road bike on Friday in the Peak District and struggled with 20 miles, like I’ve felt at the end of a really long ride all the way through, no energy at all mainly. I have my review at GP later this week, and hopefully after the 4 week mark the physical effects will subside.

Hopefully your GP has asked you to come for review at the 4 week mark…

Yeah. I’ve had loads of reviews, been taking it probably 6 years or something, maybe more. Always just thought my feeling a bit spacey was just me feeling a bit spacey. Having history of anxiety and depression I guess I’ve never felt particularly clear of head, so it’s hard sometimes to identify what is abnormal, abnormality.

Think I’ll go and chat to the Doc again at some point.