If your depression symptoms immediately worsen or improve and then suddenly get worse, it's a sign that the antidepressant isn't working properly. Whether you need a higher dose, or a different medication is up to the doctor, so be sure to speak to your physician the moment you experience any of these side effects.
Sertraline treatment should be started at a dose of 50 mg/day. Therapy should be initiated at 25 mg/day. After one week, the dose should be increased to 50 mg once daily. This dosage regimen has been shown to reduce the frequency of early treatment emergent side effects characteristic of panic disorder.
Contact your doctor if you have not noticed any improvement after 4 weeks, as they may recommend increasing your dose or trying a different antidepressant. It's usually recommended that a course of antidepressants continues for at least 6 months after you feel better, to prevent your condition recurring when you stop.
By increasing serotonin levels, sertraline can reduce the severity of depression symptoms and prevent issues such as panic attacks. It can also produce improvements in your general mood, allowing you to make progress toward recovery from certain mood disorders.
What is sertraline used for? Given its potential to boost your mood, sertraline has found itself as part of the management for conditions including moderate to severe depression, panic attacks, generalised anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.
The dose regimen for sertraline in the treatment of depression has been well established. The starting dose, 50 mg/day, is the usually effective therapeutic dose, and the optimal dose when considering both efficacy and tolerability for most patients.
“Your sertraline is working if you feel calmer. Your negative moods or anxiety will not be as intense. You should be enjoying activities more. And your sleeping and eating habits should be more stable,” says Doughty.
Adults and teenagers—At first, 50 milligrams (mg) once a day, taken either in the morning or evening. Your doctor may adjust your dose as needed. However, the dose is usually not more than 200 mg per day. Children 6 to 12 years of age—At first, 25 mg once a day, taken either in the morning or evening.
Increased Anxiety
Another one of the more common Zoloft side effects is called akathisia. “It's like feeling amped up or restless, like you need to move, or like you're unable to calm down,” explains Dr. Hermann. In some cases, akathisia can even feel like a panic attack.
The following may be signs that your antidepressant dose is too low: You're feeling better, but you and your provider agree that more progress should have been made within the time period you began taking your medication. Therapy (often used together with a prescription) isn't helping as much as it should.
Dosage and strength
Sertraline is available as 25mg, 50mg or 100mg tablets. The usual dose of sertraline is 50mg a day in adults. But your doctor may start you on a lower dose, then increase it gradually to a maximum dose of 200mg a day. If you have liver problems, your doctor might give you a lower dose.
If you feel like your antidepressant has stopped working, you're not alone. It's common for a medication that once worked wonders to become ineffective, especially if you've been taking it for a long time. Symptoms return for up to 33% of people using antidepressants — it's called breakthrough depression.
Your Mood Still Hasn't Improved After Several Months
Generally, people see improvement after taking their antidepressants for three months. If you've been on antidepressants for three months and don't see any improvements in your symptoms or mood, then it's possible your antidepressant dose is too low.
Avoid cola drinks, chocolate and caffeine containing food items with sertraline since the combination can result in a condition called serotonin syndrome with symptoms of high fever, agitation, vomiting, nausea, rapid heartbeat, trembling, sweating and weird movements on the muscles.
Sertraline is one of a group of medicines called Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs); these medicines are used to treat depression and/or anxiety disorders. Sertraline can be used to treat: Depression and prevention of recurrence of depression (in adults). Social anxiety disorder (in adults).
It simply means that your body has either not yet adjusted to the new antidepressant or that the medication may need to be tweaked to reduce the anxiety response.
Sertraline is commonly used to treat depression. But, aside from depression, sertraline can also be used for: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): OCD is a type of anxiety that can cause someone to have repetitive behaviors or unreasonable thoughts in an attempt to lower anxiety levels.
Adults—At first, 50 milligrams (mg) once a day, taken either in the morning or evening. Your doctor may adjust your dose as needed. However, the dose is usually not more than 200 mg per day.
The rate of responders, based on CGI improvement and last observation carried forward, was significantly higher for sertraline (63%) than placebo (37%).
Zoloft (sertraline) "For those suffering from OCD, bad thoughts, overthinking, depression, terrible headaches, give ZOLOFT a chance. First month don't expect much.
How will it make me feel? Antidepressants like sertraline help to improve your mood so you feel better. You may notice that you sleep better and get on with people more easily because you're less anxious. You'll hopefully be more relaxed about things that used to worry you.
Your doctor will advise you how long to take sertraline for, as it depends on why you are taking it. For depression it might be six months, for OCD it might be 12 months and for other anxiety related conditions such as PTSD and panic disorder it might be up to 18 months.
Why Antidepressants Cause Fatigue. Certain antidepressants work by acting on brain chemicals called neurotransmitters—in particular norepinephrine and serotonin—causing them to linger in the spaces between nerve cells where they carry out their job of regulating mood.
The most common side effect of sertraline in clinical trials was nausea. About 1 in 4 people taking sertraline experience it. It's most likely to occur when you first start sertraline or right after a dose increase. Luckily, nausea with sertraline doesn't tend to last.