My Journey with Sertraline - Part 2
/After reviewing the previous post and realizing it was quite the emotional dump - I figured it may be helpful to close the Sertraline chapter on a more organized, succinct note. First things first, medication is not for everyone and that is OK. Whether you decide to explore this route or not is such a personal choice. Personally, I had always been anti-medication until I hit rock bottom and truly felt I had no other option. Looking back, if I could do things differently, I probably would’ve explored medication sooner and saved myself from years of unnecessary suffering but again, this is a HIGHLY personal choice and everyone is different.
With that said, as wonderful as this has been in terms of giving me my life back, there have been some recurring and/or consistent side effects that I was equally unprepared for.
Some of those include:
Twitching - Like full on head/body twitches that came out of nowhere. When I talked to my doctor about this, she suggested lowering the dose along with consistent use of a magnesium supplement which helped but didn’t eliminate it all together
Low Libido - TMI so we won’t go into too much detail here but chances are you can expect to go from a normalish sex drive to close to zero. TBH, this one has caused the most disruption in my life but will save this for a future post on how anxiety takes a toll on relationships (especially with intimate partners)
Lack of emotions - This is another really confusing one. I went from feeling everything on such an extreme level, to having very little emotional reaction to most things. This started out as an amazing side effect - I can’t explain how nice it is to be able to travel and life my life without spiraling. However, I do feel this side effect is going to be the reason I taper off the medication completely when the time is right. It’s so hard to find the balance between managing anxiety and avoiding becoming a robot
Dry Eyes - I never struggled with this until I started taking the medication. In fact, I didn’t make the correlation at first until it got so bad that I had to schedule an appt with an optometrist. He explained that this is actually a really common side effect which, again, would have been awesome to know ahead of time. I now take a high quality omega supplement specifically for dry eyes that has helped SO much I hardly notice it anymore.
Weight Loss - I read so much about weight GAIN and was totally prepared to experience this however the opposite ended up happening. I actually lost 10lbs over the course of the first full month of taking the medication. Although this is apparently uncommon, I think this was a side effect of being able to leave my house/move my body and RELAX. Everything started..flowing again.. if you know what I mean.
Dizziness - This was the most aggressive side effect at first. To save you from also experiencing this - take it before bed so you can sleep through the worst of it. Over time, your body will likely adjust and you’ll hardly notice it but there’s definitely a transition period for most.
Aside from the above, there were a few other random ones (aggressive jaw clenching, sleep disruptions/insomnia…etc.) but they faded as my body adjusted to it’s new normal. I can see how many would potentially be dissuaded after reading but the pros HIGHLY outweighed the cons for me. My belief is if something is affecting your quality of life to the point where you are in a constant state of avoiding and putting your life on hold, anything is worth a try. My main priority then (and now) was to get my life back and figure the rest out as it unfolded. Know that if at any point it became too much or the side effects outweighed the benefits, you can stop/pivot/try something else and it seems to make the decision to explore this route a little less intimating.
Again, this is definitely a highly personal decision that needs to be made first and foremost by YOU and with the help of a professional but I felt it was important to continue shedding light on the thought process and everything that goes on behind the scenes so you can make the most informed decision.
