Sertraline (Oral Route)

Free

E-newsletter

Subscribe to Housecall

Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics.

Precautions

It is very important that your doctor check your or your child's progress at regular visits. This is to allow for changes in your dose and to help reduce any side effects.

Do not use this medicine if you have used an MAO inhibitor (MAOI) such as isocarboxazid (Marplan®), phenelzine (Nardil®), selegiline (Eldepryl®), or tranylcypromine (Parnate®) within the past 14 days. You should not use pimozide (Orap®) while you are taking this medicine. Do not use the oral liquid form of sertraline if you are also using disulfiram (Antabuse®). Using these medicines together can cause serious problems.

For some children, teenagers, and young adults, this medicine can increase thoughts of suicide. Tell your doctor or your child's doctor right away if you or your child start to feel more depressed and have thoughts about hurting yourselves. Report any unusual thoughts or behaviors that trouble you or your child, especially if they are new or get worse quickly. Make sure the doctor knows if you or your child have trouble sleeping, get upset easily, have a big increase in energy, or start to act reckless. Also tell the doctor if you or your child have sudden or strong feelings, such as feeling nervous, angry, restless, violent, or scared. Let the doctor know if you, your child, or anyone in your family has bipolar disorder (manic-depressive) or has tried to commit suicide.

Make sure your doctor knows about all the other medicines you or your child are using. Sertraline may cause serious conditions called serotonin syndrome and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS)-like reactions when taken with some medicines. Do not use sertraline with linezolid (Zyvox®), lithium, tryptophan, St. John's wort, or some pain or migraine medicines (e.g., tramadol [Ultram®], rizatriptan [Maxalt®], sumatriptan [Imitrex®], or zolmitriptan [Zomig®]). Check with your doctor first before taking any other medicines.

Sertraline may increase your risk for bleeding problems. Make sure your doctor knows if you or your child are also using other medicines that thin the blood, such as aspirin, pain or arthritis medicines, sometimes called “NSAIDs” (e.g., celecoxib, ibuprofen, naproxen, rofecoxib, valdecoxib, Advil®, Aleve®, Celebrex®, Motrin®, or Vioxx®), or warfarin (Coumadin®).

This medicine may cause hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood). This is more common in elderly patients, those who are taking diuretic medicines for high blood pressure, or those who have decreased amounts of fluid in the body due to severe diarrhea or vomiting. Stop taking this medicine and check with your doctor right away if you or your child have headache, trouble concentrating, memory problems, confusion, weakness, or unsteadiness.

This medicine may affect blood sugar levels, which is especially important if you or your child has diabetes. If you or your child notice a change in the results of your blood or urine sugar tests or if you have any questions, check with your doctor.

Sertraline has not been shown to add to the effects of alcohol. However, use of alcohol is not recommended in patients who are taking sertraline. .

This medicine may cause some people to become drowsy, to have trouble thinking, or to have problems with movement. Make sure you know how you react to this medicine before you drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are not alert or well-coordinated.

The dropper dispenser contains dry natural rubber (a derivative of latex), which may cause allergic reactions in people who are sensitive to latex. Tell your doctor if you or your child has a latex allergy before you start using this medicine.

Do not stop taking this medicine without checking first with your doctor. Your doctor may want you to gradually reduce the amount you are taking before stopping it completely. This is to decrease the chance of having side effects such as agitation, anxiety, dizziness, a feeling of constant movement of self or surroundings, headache, increased sweating, nausea, trembling or shaking, trouble with sleeping or walking, or unusual tiredness when you stop the medicine.

Before you have any medical tests, tell the medical doctor in charge that you or your child are taking this medicine. The results of some tests may be affected by this medicine.

Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements.

Copyright © 2013 Thomson Healthcare Inc. All rights reserved. Information is for End User's use only and may not be sold, redistributed or otherwise used for commercial purposes.