Sertraline making me feel like a zombie

Hi all,

i've been suffering on and off with depression for years and after the 5th anti depressant didn't work I wrote off medication, but my new doctor pushed me to try sertraline.
before i started it i was crying all the time and feeling terrible but i had quite bad mood swings too because of my bpd, so i could be feeling almost ok one moment then feeling awful the next and then anxious.
but now i can't cry. i know it sounds like a good thing, but i still feel like all that emotion is inside me but its behind a wall almost. like its all suppressed. i have been self harming again after trying so hard to stop and i find myself just staying in bed all day, staring at the wall. not feeling any better, just feeling like a zombie. and feeling really detached.
has anyone else had this experience?

I took sertraline when I was 16, 17, and I can totally relate. I felt numb, like a robot. I don't have many memories of that period, but my mother tells me it was as if I was there physically, but I wasn't mentally. It just seems to block off all emotions, and while that can be a relief, it doesn't teach you how to deal with them, unfortunately.

yeah thats exactly how it has made me. i hate it, i had a similar experience with venlafaxine too. i dunno if i'm going to stay on this, i really hate the way it makes me feel. but i don't really know what else to do. :/
thanks for replying
millie x

The goal of feeling better is to have a wide array of emotions like a "normal" person. In other words the ability to be happy , sad and in between. Just my 2 cents.

Hi Millie,

I'm sorry to hear the meds are making you feel like a zombie. For some people, especially those fresh out the hospital, that's what they need until they recover from a crisis.

If you're self harming again, staying in bed, and have no motivation, it doesn't sound like sertraline is helping you. Talk to your doctor about other options. If you can, get a referral for some CBT or DBT classes. It helps you to learn how thought patters have an effect on emotions, and how to modify those patterns so you can feel happy again.

Yes i had exactly the same experience with that drug. I remember i would sit at the computer and be looking at something on the screen and then i would drift off without even realising i was doing it. I would come round twenty minutes later and i had just been sitting there staring in to space. I told the Doctor about the side effects and he seemed to imply that it was just me having this very unusual side-effect and that everyone else was fine with it. All the same i couldn't carry on facing taking it so i stopped. I also tried Citalapram but had very unpleasant side-effects with that as well. I still suffer with severe depression but i am now looking at natural and holistic remedies as an alternative to drugs.

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm not really sure where to go from here. I've been taking it for over a month now, should I just stick it out and see if I improve? It's just annoying that I've tried so many AD's and none of them have worked and I'm still really suffering with depression. Could it be to do with my bpd? My doctor doesn't seem to acknowledge it at all.

Millie x

I think if you are still having problems with after a month then it may not be for you. I think i took it for about two months, i kept thinking that i would get used to it but i never did. Horrible stuff.

I am going to try 5-HTP which is a natural/herbal serotonin booster. It's available form most herbal stores. I have heard really good feedback when people have used it to treat depression. I had the same problem as you, i tried several anti-depressants but really couldn't get on with them. That's why i have started to think about other types of remedy.

Yes, having BPD could make your treatment plan more complicated. The emotional mood swings aren't treatable by medication alone. Take a look in the BPD forum and get a feel for what other people with BPD gain successful remission from. Do you have a psychiatrist or therapist?

Sertraline made my depression worse. The doctor prescribed it for me for psychotic depression. It was the my 8th and last medicine that I took for my disease, because it was just the worse. I also know three other people who took it and only one of them said it made him feel any better (he went to a psych ward a month later, so take that with a grain of salt). I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Sorry it made you into a zombie. Look on the bright side: you now know one more medicine not to take!