[Elana05]

I have been taking sertraline for about seven months. I have noticed a difference. The depression and anxiety have both decreased for me. I usually have pretty bad PMS, though. Today is the first day I have felt depressed in a long time. It's mild but it's there. I had a trigger, due to a financial issue and now I just feel more dejected, tired, sad then I have in a long time. I suspect this is in part due to PMS because the days seem lined up exactly when I would be experiencing it. Anyone have an experience with depression worsening due to PMS? Did you ever increase your AD use during this time? I am going to ask my doc when I see him next. I was just wondering if anyone had ever heard of this.

Thanks. Elana

[sunrise]

SSRIs are sometimes prescribed for women to take as needed for PMS symptoms. This is different from how we think an SSRI should usually be taken--every day--but it has been shown to help. You are not describing PMS symptoms, though, but increased depression symptoms during PMS, so I don't know if increasing dose during those days would help in the same way an SSRI taken as needed helps with PMS symptoms. But I think it is worth talking about with your pdoc.

The 3 SSRIs that are FDA approved for decreasing symptoms of PMS are sertraline, Prozac, and Paxil.