Hello everyone. I began taking fluoxetine/prozac 5 days ago for anxiety, and one thing I have found useful is reading others’ accounts of how it’s going, so I thought I would log my experience! I probably haven’t done myself any favours by reading about the side effects, but it’s done now so I figured it might be helpful to others and myself to track my progress, feelings and any side effects.
I am taking 20mg in the morning. My primary symptom of the anxiety was insomnia, so given that insomnia seems to be one of the best-documented initial side effects of fluoxetine, I’m understandably a little concerned! However I keep reading that if you can get through the first 2-4 weeks, things will settle down, so here’s hoping
One thing that’s really going to be the deciding factor of whether I continue with this or not is how it affects my physical energy. I am a competitive weightlifter, and the primary reason I decided to try medication is because the lack of sleep was seriously affecting my strength and energy. I was feeling exhausted, weak and jelly-like, and found myself physically incapable of lifting weights that I’ve done a million times before. This in turn was making me depressed as I love my sport and I love to train, and struggling with it has really been getting me down. Therefore I thought if I address the anxiety, the sleep will improve, and my training will return to normal - or at least, that’s the plan!
So here goes…
Days 1-4
Not much to report. I slept ok (though I did not feel well rested even after that) and had minor headaches, but other than that I felt much the same as normal, if a little calmer. I'm not sure if this calmness is just a placebo effect or a coincidence, but either way, the anxious feelings are a little duller.
Day 5
This is really the first day that I’ve ‘felt’ it. Last night’s sleep was terrible! I think I got maybe 4.5-5 hours, and with that added to my accumulated sleep deprivation of the past months I can confirm that today I feel really shitty. I have jelly limbs, head fog and am struggling to stay awake (although even if I could go to bed right now I have no idea if I could actually fall asleep anyway).
However, it was a completely different insomnia from the one I’ve been suffering from. Before, it was a thumping heart and a feeling of being ‘wired’ and stressed that was keeping me awake – it was very obvious what the problem was, and when I was awake in the night, I was pretty wide awake and very stressed. This time, I really struggled to sleep even though I felt EXHAUSTED. I was warm, comfy, sleepy and didn’t feel stressed, didn’t have a thumpy heart (I don’t think), but I just couldn’t actually cross over into unconsciousness. It’s like there was an invisible wall between me and sleep. What’s interesting is that several years ago I went on a very low carb diet, and I had exactly the same type of insomnia – no matter how tired I was I couldn’t cross over into unconsciousness.
So anyway, today I’m quite unhappy! My limbs feel pretty jelly-ish, but I’ve become quite used to that over the past months due to the insomnia. I was supposed to train this evening but I think it's safe to say that won't be happening. I feel incredibly weak and tired.
I would be very interested if anyone else who competes in or plays sports has any experience with fluoxetine... so far in my reading I haven't found anyone who is in the same situation!
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Originally Posted by ElleEm
I guess 3 months isn't so bad in the grand scheme! Have you managed to do anything about your insomnia? Insomnia is the main reason I'm on fluoxetine since it was caused by anxiety, but it's so much worse just now! I'm definitely going to stick with it for now, and try to have faith that it will settle down and at some point I will be able to sleep 
