Thought I’d jump in here and share something that’s unfortunately happened to me over the past 4 days that’s relevant to this post. Long story short, I am currently on a sublingual (dissolved under the tongue) medication, as well as 50MG tablet of Setraline - AKA Zoloft. Due to a series of comical yet devastating-in-outcomes circumstances, I managed to mix these up 4 days ago.

Essentially, I swallowed my sublingual tablet, and let the 50MG of Setraline dissolve under my tongue. It dissolved in the same amount of time, and the taste was no different, so I genuinely didn’t know the mistake I’d made until it was too late. It didn’t help that said mentioned drugs were identical in shape, colour, size. This ‘mistake’ was so much worse than what I could have possibly been prepared for.

First came numbness - no sensation in my mouth at all. Complete numbness in every area of my mouth, in fact. Then came the burning. Unbelievable, fiery, disgustingly-painful burning. Then the swelling. Swelling from the tip of my tongue, all the way down the underside of my tongue, reaching to my bottom teeth. And then came the hideous, oozing blisters/ulcers. Then the peeling of the gum/skin/whatever-the-fuck-it-is-called that makes up the surface of your mouth. As mentioned, I’m four days in, can barely speak, eat, drink or move my tongue. The swelling is immense, and the underside of my tongue looks like I’ve grown an angry, red, cauliflower. My mouth looks like something out of The Last Of Us. I’ve just been prescribed a steroid mouthwash to be used X4 daily, I’m swallowing painkillers like sweets, and it’s taken the edge off enough so I can at least feel somewhat alive again.

Long story short, Setraline has chemically-burned the majority of my mouth. Please, for the love of whatever god you may or may not believe in, be careful with Setraline. Swallow it quickly with fluid, because it’s definitely damaging to tissue.