A timetable for recovery on Fluoxetine / prozac

[Avm]

Hi everyone!

Firstly Peachy I am so happy for you; I hope your post gives others the power to keep going I know it has me. Hope you can enjoy life again.
Update for me is that I’m at week 16 on 20mg fluoxetine and I’m still very up and down at work I feel around 70% better but dread the weekends when I don’t have work, still having negative thoughts a worries but they don’t affect me as bad as they did before. In general I think I’m about 60% better beginning to enjoy the odd thing here and there again but still hoping for more improvement. I am still having therapy which is psychotherapy I’m doing and my therapist is digging to find out why this breakdown happened.
Still debating whether to up my dose but still petrified about doing this, I had a review yesterday with my GP and she said if I feel like I need to then do but she is happy for me to stay on the 20mg.

Suppose it’s just a long long road of recovery for me, it will soon be 4months in and hope one day I will get there.

[1st Timer]

Hi everyone!

I'm on day 20 on 20mg, and what a ride. I have been so sick and my anxiety and panic attacks have been through the roof. Much worse than prior.

On top of this I have been on Zopiclone, as I can't sleep (this was prior to going on Fluoxetine). During the first 15 days on Fluoxetine the Zopiclone stopped working, but for the last three nights it has started to work very quickly, but I wake up at 4am every morning. Some sleep is better than none...

I'm a first time user and I'm really hoping I'm starting to turn a corner. I'm just so stuffed and concerned what I have and am putting my family through.

This has been really supportive for me, as this is the single hardest thing I have ever done!

Let's hope the worst is behind me...

[Debos72]

Hi all, I have been on fluoxetine for 4 weeks, the first 2 weeks on 20mg, then a week on 30mg and am 4 days into 40mg. Side effects have been nausea, heavy head/tension, insomnia, nervousness and anxiety which is what the we are treating! Really hoping to find some relief soon!!

[panic_down_under]

Hi all, I have been on fluoxetine for 4 weeks, the first 2 weeks on 20mg, then a week on 30mg and am 4 days into 40mg. Side effects have been nausea, heavy head/tension, insomnia, nervousness and anxiety which is what the we are treating! Really hoping to find some relief soon!!

These are all fairly typical initial SSRI side-effects maybe made worse than they needed to be by the high starting dose and rapid increase. They should begin easing soon as the brain and body adapt to the med.

[jelly2010]

Thank you for sharing this. I've just started back on fluoxetine for the third time and hating the increased anxiety and insomnia.

[Boleyna]

I am so glad to have found this timeline!

I am in for 4.5 weeks now (on 20mg for mostly anxiety and some depression) and week 3 and 4 have been the worst so far.

My first week gave me almost immediate results in regards to both anxiety and depression (though I had terrible stomach ache for about 2-3 hours after taking the meds), by the end of week 2 the anxiety started to slowly come back (stomach ache gone). Now I have been waking up with full anxiety, which slowly improves towards the afternoons. This is when I get my shopping etc. done. In the evening I feel just about normal again. Looking at the timeline gives me hope and encourages me to stick to my 20mg. Only yesterday I asked my Doc if I should increase my dose but now I want to stick with 20mg for a little longer.

My side effects (aside from the anxiety) are some dry mouth (which just started last week) and waking up after 4 hours of sleep. Sometimes I nod off again for a little bit, sometimes I don't. I really want my sleep back! I take Prozac in the morning, so it shouldn't interfere with my sleep.

So thankful for this forum! Feeling hopeful that next week will get better. And always grateful for tips and hints on how to get better.

(I was on Zoloft for 1.5 yrs before which worked wonders pretty quickly the first time (which is why I tapered off), but quite the opposite this second time (it was hell). I was cross-switched from 50mg of Zoloft to 20mg Prozac and did not expect the ups and downs that come with this med).

[Buzz]

So thankful for posts like this in my end of first week. Finding it difficult but these posts are helping me hang in there with the medication

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 10:18 ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 ----------

So glad to read posts like these to help me stick with medication

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

[TuesdayBlue]

For me, a week in and I'm already feeling better on Cymgen, an SNRI. But after 6 months it stops working. And then there's the terrible side effects and brain zaps of coming off it...

[Bike Rider]

Hi Tuesday, it only works for 6 months? and do you not taper down to come off them?

[aspire35]

A bit of an update from me.

In total I have been taking prozac now for 8 months.

Early days were horrendous, not only was the anxiety out of control but the side effects of the meds were just awful. I just felt like I would never recover.

I am pleased to say that like others I stuck with it and have made a full recovery. I have just reduced my dose over the last month from 20mg to 10mg per day and feel better for it.

Anxiety is a horrible illness and for me I know it will never go away completely. I believe I have had undiagnosed anxiety for most of my life and have struggled to cope. However, I now have some great coping strategies and I am hopeful that I will never go back to where I was at the end of 2016.

Many thanks to all those who have supported me, especially Betterdays, who started this timeline for recovery, and to Peachy and Blue who started on prozac around the same time as me and struggled thought the early days with me.

I just wanted to add my success story to the others so those who are struggling can have hope that they will get better - it just takes time.

My experience was:
Month one - very challenging
Month two - still difficult but getting a little easier
Month three - starting to function again but still some bad days
Month four - making a recovery
Month five onwards - fully functional at work and socially. Using coping strategies to deal with difficult days (yoga, meditation, counselling, exercise, good food etc)

Best wishes to all.