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What Are The Side Effects Of Sertraline?

Posted on Tue, 23 Sep 2014

Question: Hi, I have been taking Sertraline for 17 days at a dose of half a tablet, I have had all the normal side affects like anxiety and a small amount of sickness and a few other manageable symptoms but I have had 7 panic attacks so far today in my house, I am not doing anything that would normally cause this many panic attacks, On Saturday I had 4 panic attacks in the house with sickness and diahorra. Today I feel completely flooded by them. I then feel sick and have diahorra. The side affects are becoming much worse and I can't manage with this level of anxiety as this is what I originally took the tablets for. I thought that they should be settling down now not getting worse. I have taken setraline before which was a huge success and I only came off them as I thought I was better but then suffered from anxiety again so decided I hadn't stayed on them long enough. I didn't have any of these extreme symptoms last time. But last time I took 5 weeks to work up to a dose of half a tablet this time I only took a week to take half a dose as I thought my body would be use to them.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary (48 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You can take anti anxiety drug for short term

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for using healthcaremagic.

I read your query word by word and understand your concern. These are the common side effects except panic attacks. XXXXXXX panic attacks are rare things to occur with sertraline but yes they may occur.

Regarding time to onset of action it is likely to follow same course that you experienced last time.
For time being it is better to take another anti anxiety drug which work very fast in compare to sertraline. You can talk to your psychiatrist to prescribe some benzodiazepines for next two weeks till sertraline starts showing response. In panic attacks alprazolam and clonazepam work very well and clonazepam have low addiction potential. I hope with addition of new medication you will able to overcome side effects and will have ample time for sertraline to work.

'Hope I have answered your query. If you have any further questions I will be happy to help".
Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary (11 minutes later)

Hi, I have been given Valium should I take this as well now, should I reduce the dose too? Thanks.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary (39 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Valium can be used

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Welcome back to HCM.

Yes valium can be used for anxiety but it is not a good option in compare to clonazepam. Valium have half life of around 100 hours which leads to accumulation in body. Having said this it is effective in anxiety and hopefully you will able to overcome side effects of sertraline with help of valium.

Reducing the dose of sertraline is another option but at 17th days it is not a wise decision. If you are taking it for last 17 days reducing the dose of sertraline may compromise positive effect.
"If you do not have any clarifications, you can close the discussion and rate the answer.
Wish you good health".

Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj