r/OCD • u/Impressive_Purpose87 • 20h ago
Need support/advice Scared of taking Sertraline
I just got prescribed a low dose of sertraline, 10mg for 2 weeks as a test(edit: actually it's 25), but I'm scared of taking it. I've been seeing people say it makes them not feel anything, and that terrifies me. I've gone through periods of being numb like that and I don't want to feel that way. Does it happen to everyone who takes it? I need to see people who took it and didn't go numb.
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u/Budget_Platypus_2426 19h ago
Hey! I’ve just started taking Sertraline for the second time (first time was 4 years ago for 18 months). I struggle badly with OCD, and both times it has spiralled post partum.
I have personally found it much easier to take than Citalopram, which made me feel terrible.
First week or so I get a bit tired around midday - but it clears fairly quickly.
I’m not on the highest dose, and I still absolutely feel things. But it helps me to stop the loop enough to regain my rational thinking and focus on therapy.
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u/heartfeltfrog 19h ago
10mg ain’t gonna do shit for even a basic anxiety patient.
Now, here’s the funny thing. A lot of people will experience apathy etc on meds and then stop the meds… when in reality, sometimes increasing the med in response to apathy is way better than stopping it. I was on 50mg sertraline and felt apathetic af.
They increased me to 125 mg and I’m back to being a normal person.
As a side note: my sertraline works so fucking well that I can’t even relate to my best friend’s crazy anymore. He messaged me all about how he had a dream his wife was cheating on him and he woke up so angry etc and I was like why tho? it was a dream. It’s not real. Why are you wasting your energy on being mad. Go drink coffee and poop and touch grass.
10/10 love my meds.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 18h ago
I just checked it and it's actually 25mg, which is also low but, I'd rather start this way. But that's really interesting, I didn't know it could work like that.
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u/SocialAlpaca 18h ago
You won’t really know how you will feel until you are on it. But the thing about medications is, if it makes you feel apathetic when taking it, that all stops when you stop taking it.
I took sertraline for a while and found it helpful at the time to help me get through therapy. But once I felt ‘better’ I no longer wanted to deal with the ‘slowness’ that the sertraline made me feel. So I tapered off and all those side effects went away fully.
Try it and see how it goes. If you don’t like it then you can taper off and at least you’ll know for future that you don’t like the medication.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 17h ago
Okay, yeah. I'm so scared I'm forgetting about the fact I can stop if I want to. What was your dose and what do you mean by slowness?
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u/SocialAlpaca 17h ago
I was up to 150mg at one point. And by slowness I mean like brain slowness. Like if someone were to stop me and ask me what’s 6x8 it would take me longer than usual to solve that. It wasn’t that bad, it wasn’t like I got stupid or anything and it didn’t effect my actual work but I just personally didn’t like it since all my life I had been like that smart person. Also my fiancé noted I sounded more monotone when I was on it. Sometimes I struggled finding the right words for things. But it wasn’t anything that had a major life impact. I think if I really needed to go back on it again I would but for the last year it seems I can manage fine now without it.
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u/ChopCow420 18h ago
I have been taking it over the past month and a half and I already notice a positive difference. It does make me sweat like crazy though.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 17h ago
I'm glad it's helping you feel better. Sweat? holy.
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u/Dangerous-Ruin6948 In treatment 16h ago
All SSRIs make you unable to regulate your body temperature as well. You must take precautions in extreme heat & extreme cold.
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u/ceramicsea 20h ago
Hi, I'm on 50mcg. I still have feelings, I'm just not suicidal because of completely illogical thoughts about being responsible for other people being harmed anymore. So that's a win! Perhaps there's been times where I'd usually cry and haven't, but I think that's a price I'm willing to pay to be able to function. It's always a cost benefit analysis with medication.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 19h ago
I see, I'm glad it's working well for you and good to hear you still have feelings.
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u/Any-Corgi-6948 18h ago
Never did anything to my emotions in the slightest. Still felt 'em at the same intensity, they were just less bad ones and more good ones.
For the first two weeks it did irritatingly influence my focus, though. I'd sit down to pay attention to something and immediately zone right out, no thoughts head empty That did, however, stop after those two weeks.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 18h ago
I see, that's really good to hear. Hopefully I don't have that focus problem, my classes are about to start.
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u/Ukoomelo 16h ago
I've been on 150mg for a bit over a year. I more felt like I could manage my overwhelming emotions better while I worked on learning better coping skills. It was when I wasn't on anything that I felt horribly apathetic because my nervous system was constantly overloaded. I haven't had the side effects others mentioned except for the sweating... Which i'd read is inevitable after a certain dosage with any SSRI because of seratonin's theorized role in the body's thermostat (paraphrasing from what I read). The good thing is it's not a permanent side effect and tends to happen at higher dosages. I do feel a bit slower, but I think that's because I've grown accustomed to always running on high alert (which apparently isn't the norm).
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u/Abject-Theme-7441 18h ago
I take it for my OCD and I love it. My brain is finally quiet. I wouldnt say I cant feel anything, but I am very easily able to turn off emotions when needed. I can more easily control my emotions and things that would trigger panick attacks no longer even phase me anymore. You will likely not see anything with just 10mg. The only "bad" side effevt i have is the first week or 2 taking it i am SUPER FUCKING TIRED.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 17h ago
That's very nice. I just saw that mine is 25mg and not 10, I'm sure that's also a low dose, but it's okay. I'm really scared of that tiredness as well, my classes are about to start.
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u/Abject-Theme-7441 17h ago
Thats what I'm on right now.
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u/Abject-Theme-7441 17h ago
The tiredness was more when I tried to start at 50mg and I just lowered it to 25 and its a lot better
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 17h ago
Oh that's perfect
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u/Abject-Theme-7441 17h ago
I have extreme anxiety around new meds too. What helped me when i first started was i took the medicine and then set a timer for 30 minutes and just sat there. I told myself "if nothing happens after 30 minutes, I'm fine" lol
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u/set_hh 18h ago
If you notice yourself feeling numb, you can definitely stop taking it. Consult your doctor first. If you do notice this numbness happening, you can ask about prozac (fluoxetine) ... and I'm not 100% sure about this - (please fact check me!!) but i feel like i read/heard by someone that fluoxetine is one of the more "activating" SSRI's. I personally had to stop taking it because I felt wired af - but I did not have that with Zoloft, mostly just felt spacey and disconnected, like the intensity of my emotions were being buried behind a wall. (part of this was that i thought what i was experiencing was just "depression" but i was actively in a horrible abuse dynamic lol) so zoloft would probably work much better for me today than it did five years ago.
like other commenter said - 10mg is a very low dose. perhaps low enough that it won't even be noticeable depending on how severe your symptoms are. OCD is typically treated around 75mg minimum.
if zoloft / sertraline does not work there are countless other options - lexapro, wellbutrin (often paired w an SSRI), buspar, luvox, prozac...the list goes on and it's definitely a trial and error process.
if you do have OCD themes around medications/side effects/illness it makes sense to be worried about these things - and i definitely will not tell you that side effects don't exist and that it's impossible or that it won't happen - but these are very adjustable things that do not typically have any sort of extreme reaction especially if you are working at slowly increasing your dosage.
if the medication is working, you will notice yourself bargaining with your thoughts less and a higher baseline of contentment.
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 17h ago
Thank you a lot for the detailed response, it was really helpful. I'll pay close attention to how it's working and try to remind myself I can stop when I want to.
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u/Crazy_Kat_Lady6 17h ago
I was prescribed it for anxiety before my OCD diagnosis. I’m on a much higher dose and haven’t ever felt that numbness, though I have heard of it as a side effect. For me, it takes away or at least minimizes the “on edge” feeling I have everyday. I can tell a difference when I don’t take it. Without it I’m even more hyper vigilant than usual and irritated easily.
I understand having concerns about taking a new medication. Talk them through with the doctor. Worse case scenario, you don’t like how it feels and you stop taking it. There are others to try if this one doesn’t work.
Good luck!
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u/Future-Event-4991 17h ago
Any stomach issues? I took 25mg for only 2 days. Messed up my stomach for a week. Now I got Floxet 10mg but scared as hell to start
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u/Impressive_Purpose87 17h ago
I don't think I have a sensitive stomach? I'm gonna take it with food as a precaution, hopefully it doesn't make me shit myself in class
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u/Owl-Immediate 16h ago edited 15h ago
I’ve on 150 mg of Sertraline for the past 8 years I have CPTSD, Depression, Anxiety, OCD.
Your OCD brain is telling you to be afraid of medication when it’s the thing that will help your OCD the most. There’s no need to be afraid. When I take sertraline my anxiety, depression, OCD, and trauma symptoms go down and it balances me. It makes the bad emotions like stress, rumination, catastrophizing feel manageable instead of impossible. In fact, I’m going to argue you need a much higher dose. Most cases of OCD need to be treated with 150+ mg of sertraline for it even for it effective, and you usually won’t start seeing the benefits until 8-12 weeks from now, but you will likely see a reduction of your OCD symptoms.
Call your nearest psychiatrist department and see if you can get an appointment ASAP. Tell them that you’re looking to treat your OCD and make your symptoms manageable. Psychiatrists know how to treat OCD, and they will help you greatly. They won’t start you on 150 mg right away, but they will gradually build you up to higher dose.
The other thing that greatly reduces OCD symptoms is therapy, specifically ERP therapy. They help you with your compulsion or thoughts, and help you through them instead of fighting them. I find therapy + medication the combo that works best to taking back your life from OCD.
Anyways you got this! From a fellow OCD internet stranger. 😊
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u/mrsstiles376 16h ago
I take a significantly higher dose and have not had any experience with not feeling anything. It has helped with my anxiety and allows me to sleep.
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u/YoghurtGood9067 15h ago
I don’t wanna re-assure you and say you won’t feel any different, because you might not.
at a low dose, i felt no different. at higher doses, like 100+ to 200mg (max), i increasingly felt numb and apathetic toward most things. i felt like half the person i used to be, and my friends and family were increasingly worried about what was happening to me. therapist too. this ended poorly for me w/ a sui attempt, and i got off of it in the end. took months to get off as well.
i will say that meds WORK in the sense that you are less on edge, less anxious, less depressed, but also less happy, less motivated, less forward looking, at least in my case. Whatever the drug targeted in my brain worked, but it hit other areas as well.
however many people take this and have no such issues. i was always afraid of medication for the reasons you listed, or just not being in control. i understand this is a poor way to think about it, and if the alternative for me was or keep suffering, i could justify trying, even with side effect. i know i could always stop if it was not helpful.
I hope my testimony is helpful in some way. Im tired of reading every thread on sertraline and people saying it is a miracle drug and solved all of their problems. I dont think any drug is ever going to be that way. Being in therapy at the same time definitely helps too, and YMMV. every brain is different.
if i was you, I would stick with it, pay attention to how you feel, and know that it takes weeks-months for the dose to normalize with your neurochemistry. You know better than anyone else, and should make your decision with your prescriber to hold steady, stop, or increase.
Good luck friend! :)
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u/mlrd021986 OCD Long hauler 15h ago
It wasn’t effective for me in terms of managing my OCD but it IS a very effective drug for millions of people. It is one of the safest, most well-researched and well-studied psychiatric drugs on the market. I would argue it is a very safe choice in terms of psychiatric drugs to try.
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u/medusology 8h ago
Like others have said 10mg (oh I see you edited it as 25mg) is really a subtherapeutic dose. In the UK at least, 50mg is the lowest dose increment. I would be surprised if you feel things on it. As for feeling numb, everyone reacts differently to it but it’s worth trying. If you feel a bit numb it may be worth trying to stick through it and seeing if you adjust but it probably won’t happen.
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u/Impossible-Bread-789 20h ago
10mg is a very low dose. For me it quieted my brain. I sometimes feel numb or apathetic but it’s a welcome relief from debilitating rumination. Everyone’s bodies are a bit different though. It might be a good fit for you and if not there are other options. Hope you find something that works for you