Of course, take this with a pinch of salt because everyone's chemistry is different, and I am DEFINITELY sensitive with medication of all sorts, but...
Sertraline massively screwed me up. I had anxiety/panic for approx 14 months (traumatic events/stress etc), having never had it before. I was struggling but getting through most days...GP convinced me Sertraline was a magic bullet. For me 'twas a bullet, but some nasty magic...
Loads of side effects - worse anxiety & panic, joint pain, headaches, chills, shakes etc ---where things got really bad is when, having tried 1 weeks on 25mg, then 2 weeks on 12.5mg but only gaining side effects, the GP told me to stop. I asked her about tapering, but she was dismissive given my dosage and duration.
Turns out she was wrong. The 2 week descent into hell started. All the side effects remained, my anxiety & panic went through the roof, I started getting major muscle pain all over, joint pain, constant headaches, occasional vertigo, crazy mood swings, uncontrollable crying and anger, and hypersensitivity to sound and bright light - became jumpy as hell, and now can't even spend time with my 3 year old son as,being a lively toddler, he is for me a walking trigger system. Now can't work either at the mo...
Gone from being struggling but functional to now being in the care of the mental health crisis team, now on mirtrazapine, and having my talking therapy and EMDR stopped because I'm too unstable.
Basically a bomb dropping in my life.
Mad thing is, most people I know who have tried sertraline had positive experiences, some with no side effects at all...that said further reading suggests its better for depression than panic/physically expressed anxiety.Read More Read Less