Can An Increase In Sertraline Make You Become Withdrawb

Virtually sertraline

Please note

This page will give yous general information about sertraline. It is not medical communication.

Always talk to your physician about your situation and whether this medication is for you lot.

How sertraline works

Sertraline is a type of antidepressant chosen a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

Enquiry suggests that depression or low mood is more likely to occur when the encephalon doesn't have enough serotonin.

Serotonin (also called '5HT') is a naturally-occurring chemic messenger (or 'neurotransmitter') that has an of import role in areas of the brain that control mood and thinking.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - like sertraline - are thought to work past increasing levels of serotonin in the brain. They do this by blocking the recycling of released serotonin back into the nerve endings.

Sertraline is oft prescribed alongside a talking therapy.

Read our guide to anxiety

Sertraline and everyday life

Frequently asked questions

Antidepressants similar sertraline can kickoff to work on depression within the start two weeks of treatment, and the improvement continues over the following few weeks.

It may take four weeks or longer for you to get the full effect.

For anxiety, antidepressants similar sertraline can take slightly longer to work. For some people, anxiety briefly increases at the kickoff of handling, simply the anxiety does decrease with continued treatment.

Your physician volition commencement with a low dose, which they increase slowly to a dose that is effective for you. This may take several days or weeks.

A side upshot of sertraline may be weight loss or weight gain.

Gaining some weight is more than likely, but it is very difficult to know how information technology will touch on each person who takes it.

Talk to your doctor virtually this if it worries you.

Do not take sertraline at the aforementioned time equally weight-loss products.

You may want to let your family and friends know you are taking sertraline and then they can back up yous and aid yous look out for side effects.

For guidance on this, check out our page on getting support with your medication.

You tin feel drowsy in the first few days of taking sertraline. This should get ameliorate after the showtime week or 2. If it makes you experience drowsy, try taking information technology just before you go to bed.

You could also, strangely, get indisposition (difficulty getting to slumber), and agonizing dreams or nightmares. If this happens, endeavour taking the tablet first thing in the morning time.

If you feel like a zombie, and you've been taking it for more than than a month, you tin get back to the doc and see what else you could do.

Alcohol

You can proceed to drinkable alcohol while taking sertraline, but having the ii together might brand you very sleepy and unsteady on your feet.

During the first few days, it might be best to stop drinking alcohol until you see how the medicine affects y'all, or the side effects pass.

If y'all want to drink alcohol, call back that you might be very sleepy and make sure you lot can go habitation safely.

Drinking alcohol every twenty-four hour period, or in large amounts, can make your symptoms worse and the sertraline volition non become the best adventure to human activity.

Street drugs

Methadone and heroin tin can brand drowsiness worse with sertraline. The sertraline could increment the concentration of methadone in your body.

SSRIs may reduce the effects of ecstasy and and so might make people try higher doses and therefore go more side effects.

Taking sertraline with cocaine, ecstasy or amfetamines could bring on serotonin syndrome. Y'all could get a high temperature/fever, agitation, defoliation, trembling or weird muscle movements. You lot need to go to infirmary if this happens. Tell the md that you are taking sertraline.

Sertraline does not seem to be affected by cannabis, although information technology may brand yous a chip drowsier.

Cannabis and other drugs may have their own side furnishings on your mental health, like anxiety or psychosis. For more data, have a await at our drugs and alcohol page.

In that location are many other street drugs, simply we don't know what effect taking them with sertraline will accept.

Sertraline does not mix well with some other medicines and drugs.

Practice non accept sertraline if you lot are on or have taken MAOIs (drugs similar phenelzine, isocarboxazid, tranylcypromine or moclobemide) in the last 14 days; you must wait until fourteen clear days have passed before you can take sertraline.

Tell your dr. if you lot are taking any other medicines.

Tell the pharmacist you lot are taking sertraline if you lot purchase medicines over the counter (including things you put on your skin) for mutual illnesses.

Practise not potable grapefruit juice while y'all are taking sertraline - the juice increases the corporeality of sertraline absorbed from your gut.

Taking sertraline may make yous feel sleepy, airheaded and restless, and could affect your eyesight when you start taking it.

This could affect you if yous drive a motorcar, ride a bike, or do anything else that needs a lot of focus. It might be best to terminate doing these things for the first few days, until you know how it affects you and your body gets used to information technology.

Exercise non worry - most people drive equally normal while taking sertraline.

Pregnancy

When deciding whether to take sertraline during pregnancy it is important to weigh upwardly how necessary sertraline is to your wellness confronting the possible risks to you or your baby, some of which will depend on how many weeks pregnant you are.

Remaining well is particularly of import during pregnancy and while caring for a infant. For some women, treatment with sertraline in pregnancy may be the all-time option for both mother and baby.

If you do become significant while you are on sertraline, you should carry on taking the medicine and go dorsum to your doc as shortly as possible, to run into if y'all should stop or modify your medicine.

If yous and your medico agree that you will carry on taking sertraline, you should tell your midwife that yous are taking information technology earlier you lot requite birth.

Post-natal

At that place are some other symptoms that can occur in newborn babies if sertraline is taken in the last 3 months of pregnancy, then do look out for these and get help if they happen:

fits or shaking
existence too hot or cold
feeding difficulties or being sick
having stiff or floppy muscles, or overactive reflexes
being jittery, irritable or having abiding crying
being very sleepy or finding it difficult to sleep

These are commonly balmy and go away in a few days without handling.

If sertraline is taken in the terminal 5 months of a pregnancy, it can cause a serious status called persistent pulmonary hypertension of the new-born (PPHN). This can make the baby exhale faster and look a bit blue in colour. PPHN affects around 3 in i,000 babies born to mums who take SSRIs. This compares with a charge per unit of two in one,000 among babies born to mums who do not accept SSRIs.

PPHN appears in the offset 24 hours after birth. You volition need assistance from the midwife and doctors, and then information technology is meliorate if they are looking out for symptoms.

Breastfeeding

Sertraline passes to the baby through breast milk in small-scale amounts.

Breastfeeding may help starting time any withdrawal symptoms.

Delight talk to your midwife, md or chemist if y'all want to breastfeed while taking sertraline.

Talk to your md or midwife about your feeding options.

If your baby was premature or has health issues, then yous will need to be extra careful about taking medicines while breastfeeding. It may be best not to breastfeed if this is the case, but y'all should talk over this with your doctor.

Sexual activity

Sertraline tin can have side effects that might touch on your sex life. These might include:

a lower sex drive
problems getting an erection (getting hard) and ejaculating (coming)
a painful erection that lasts for a long fourth dimension (priapism). If this happens to you lot, see a physician for assist direct abroad
bleeding from the vagina and difficulty reaching orgasm (coming) the same way as earlier
some growth of the breasts and milk period, regardless of gender (this is very rare)

These effects should pass subsequently the first couple of weeks. If they do not, and this is a problem for you, get back to the md and see what else you could try.

The adept effects of sertraline may, after a while, have a positive touch on your sex life every bit your mood lifts and you become interested in life and relationships again.

Fertility

At that place have not been any concerns about fertility problems with sertraline.

If you are trying to get pregnant, yous should not take sertraline unless you have talked virtually information technology with your doctor.

Sertraline is not a banned substance in sport.

Taking sertraline may touch on your ability to exercise things like riding a bike, competitive sports or annihilation else that needs a lot of focus.

You may as well find information technology hard to sit down or stand nonetheless at first.

It might be best to stop such sports for the first few days, until you know how it affects you.

Practice not worry - virtually people play sports as normal while taking sertraline.

Try non to take sertraline for the first fourth dimension but before your exams.

Sertraline can make you lot feel very restless in the get-go few weeks that you have information technology and may affect you when you sit down or stand still.

It can also disturb your slumber, and your eyesight.

You should talk to your doc well-nigh any futurity exams if y'all are starting sertraline. You might decide together to delay starting it until you have done them.

If they are more a month away, however, y'all might find that information technology is better to start sertraline to improve your motivation to study.

Do not worry - most people take exams as normal while taking sertraline.

Your doctor should know

You need to talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting handling with sertraline if you lot have (or have had) any of the following:
- seizures (fits)
- bipolar disorder
- schizophrenia
- thoughts of harming yourself or taking your own life
- serotonin syndrome (your md might have this on your records)
- low sodium level in your blood
- liver disease
- diabetes
- bleeding disorders
- if you are having electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
- eye problems, such as glaucoma (increased pressure in the eye)

Uses, warnings, safety and side furnishings of sertraline

Taking sertraline

How long volition I need to have sertraline for?

You will need to take sertraline for several months afterward you feel better, otherwise your symptoms tin come back.

Your doctor will advise you lot how long to take sertraline for, as information technology depends on why you are taking it. For depression it might be half-dozen months, for OCD information technology might be 12 months and for other anxiety related conditions such as PTSD and panic disorder information technology might be up to xviii months.

If you cease taking the sertraline as well presently, there is more than chance that your symptoms will come up dorsum.

If you have bipolar disorder, it is likely that the doctor will advise for the sertraline to be stopped sooner. This is because, in bipolar disorder, in that location is a take a chance of your mood becoming too high if an antidepressant is used for also long.

See your doctor if you want to stop sertraline.

Yous should only take sertraline equally agreed with your doctor

You will get the best effects from your medicine if you take information technology every day at the dose prescribed past your physician.

Brand certain that you know your dose. If it is not written on the label, check with your chemist or doctor.

You will normally take it in one case a mean solar day. When you start treatment, information technology is recommended that you lot have information technology in the morning and non at nighttime, in case it affects your sleep.

To help yous to take you tablet regularly you should choose a time that you will remember. This could be a mealtime or when you castor your teeth.

You will start with a low dose, which will be increased slowly to a dose that is effective for you. This may take several days or weeks.

You can accept information technology with or without food.

Swallow the tablet whole with a drinking glass of water - it tastes bitter if you chew it.

Do not drink grapefruit juice while you are taking sertraline - the juice increases the amount of sertraline captivated from your gut.

What should I do if I miss a dose of sertraline?

If you remember after during the day, take it as soon as possible.

If you forget to accept it by bedtime, just start once again on the next 24-hour interval. Do non have a double dose.

What will happen if I forget to accept my sertraline?

If yous forget to take your tablets for a few days, you may start getting your old symptoms dorsum, or get withdrawal symptoms (feeling giddy or shaky, sleep problems [including difficulty sleeping and intense dreams], feeling irritable or anxious, feeling or being sick, and headaches). If this happens yous should talk to your doctor about information technology.

Information technology is important to take sertraline every mean solar day, otherwise it will not work.

Stopping the use of sertraline

Stopping this medicine rapidly, or reducing the dose too much at once, may cause uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.

In one case you first taking an SSRI, the brain adjusts to having a new level of serotonin around. If you lot terminate taking the SSRI all at once, the residual starts to change again. You could become some symptoms from the alter.

Sertraline is non addictive, but you may get uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms if y'all stop sertraline suddenly, as your trunk begins to miss it. It is better to agree stopping with a dr. who volition reduce yous gradually over about 4 weeks.

Some of the withdrawal symptoms include:

dizziness or headaches
tingling feelings like pins and needles or numbness - some people describe electric stupor-like feelings downward their head and dorsum
sleep disturbances (bright dreams, nightmares, not being able to sleep)
feeling broken-hearted or agitated
feeling ill or being sick
shaking

These symptoms should stop after two to three weeks for nearly people, but a very few people can get them for two to 3 months or more.

Most people get mild symptoms, merely for a very few people they can be very intense.

Go and speak to your doctor if you take decided to stop taking your medication.

Warnings and rubber

Safety headlines

If y'all accept taken more than sertraline than the dosage recommended past the doc who prescribed information technology to you, you must go medical assist immediately –fifty-fifty if you lot practice not experience any dissimilar.

While taking sertraline, some people may think virtually hurting themselves or taking their own lives. You must become straight to hospital with your tablets if you have any of these thoughts.

Sertraline can also cause rare merely serious side effects: allergic reactions (difficulty breathing, swelling of your confront or throat, itching skin lumps), a seizure (fit), serotonin syndrome (run across 'Side Effects' tab for description), and liver bug (which may present every bit yellowing of pare and optics). Go to a hospital with your medicine if you lot become any of these symptoms.

Do not have sertraline if you have taken a monoamine oxidase inhibitor antidepressant (MAOI) like moclobemide, phenelzine, isocarboxazid or tranylcypromine in the last fourteen days.

Stopping sertraline all of a sudden can crusade unpleasant withdrawal effects. Get to your doctor if you want to finish, or if you are having these furnishings.

Sertraline is not addictive, only stopping it suddenly tin crusade problems such as: feeling dizzy or shaky, slumber problems (including difficulty sleeping and intense dreams), feeling irritable or broken-hearted, feeling or being sick, and headaches.

Get to your doctor if you desire to terminate, or if you are having these effects.

Yous might feel sleepy or restless, and may not be able to come across every bit clearly, in the commencement few days afterward taking sertraline. Practise non drive a motorcar, ride a bike or operate machines until yous come across how this affects you.

If you are significant, or thinking of becoming significant, delight read the pregnancy section (come across 'Side Effects' tab) because sertraline may impact the developing infant.

When to go to the hospital

If you accept taken more sertraline than the dosage recommended by the doctor who prescribed information technology to you lot, you lot must get medical assist immediately –even if yous do not experience any different. Go to A&E. Accept your medicine with you to show to the doctors. Tell them how much you lot accept taken. Get a friend to become with y'all, if you can, just in case you feel ill on the way.

You might get some of the following signs:

drowsiness
feeling or being sick
fast heartbeat
shaking
agitation
dizziness
in very rare cases, going unconscious

You are also at risk of getting serotonin syndrome. Symptoms include a high fever, agitation, confusion, trembling, or weird movements of your muscles. This is rare, merely you should watch out for information technology.

If yous have any thoughts of taking your own life or of other ways of hurting yourself, become direct to a hospital with your medicine. This may exist a side effect of taking sertraline, and you need urgent help. This can happen to anyone but is more likely to happen if you lot are nether 25 years sometime.

Go to a doctor or hospital straight away if you get whatever of the following symptoms:

any combination of the following symptoms: high fever, agitation, confusion, trembling, sweating, diarrhoea (loose poo), fast heartbeat or weird movements of your muscles – this could be serotonin syndrome
allergic reaction or allergy, which may include symptoms such as an itchy pare rash, breathing problems, wheezing, swollen eyelids, face or lips
jaundice (yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes) which may mean liver damage
if you feel restless and are not able to sit down or stand even so later you offset to take sertraline
if you take a seizure (fit)
if yous feel overexcited or very happy, every bit this may be a manic episode
a painful erection that lasts for a long time (priapism)

Side effects of sertraline

Some sertraline side effects that appear should go away or get better subsequently a few days. If they practise non, you should go dorsum to your doctor.

Don't stop taking sertraline until you talk to your physician or you lot may get withdrawal symptoms as well.

Very common side effects of sertraline, affecting more than ane in ten people, include:

dizziness or headache
sleepiness, feeling very tired, or difficulty getting to sleep
diarrhoea (loose poo)
feeling sick
dry oral fissure
problems with ejaculating (coming)

Common sertraline side effects, affecting upwards to one in ten people, include:

sore throat, teeth grinding, or a funny taste in your mouth
changes in your appetite (feeling hungrier or less hungry)
having nightmares
feeling anxious, agitated, depressed, nervous, or just strange
less interest in sex, or bug having sex - like difficulty getting an erection
numbness and tingling, tense muscles, having musculus pain, or shaking
issues with focusing and concentration
effects on your eyesight
ringing in your ears
palpitations, chest hurting, hot flushes and sweating
yawning a lot
being ill or having stomach and gut pain
having constipation, an upset stomach, lots of wind
getting a rash

In clinical trials, young people aged under 25 were more likely than adults to go the following side effects from SSRI medicines:

thoughts of self-harm and/or taking their ain lives
being hostile or ambitious

The well-nigh common side effects of sertraline reported in children and adolescents are headache, insomnia, diarrhoea and nausea (feeling sick).

About this information

The data on this folio was reviewed past the College of Mental Health Pharmacy in March 2022.

Visit the CMHP website

CMHP. College of Mental Health Pharmacy

More information and communication