struggling with meds- need help!

[lass-in-a-mess]

New here and could really do with some advice and reassurance!

So...after 6 months of trying to be med free I decided to go back on. My doctor first prescribed citalopram which i was on once before, many years ago. Anyway, within 2 days the citalopram was making me feel horrendous- physically sick, unable to eat, tearful, terrified. I ended up having to go back to my parents house so they could look after me for a week, and stopped taking them after 4 days as the side effects were unbearable. I went back to the docs and got put on fluoxetine-I have been on fluoxetine twice before and never had awful side effects so assumed i'd be back to normal within a couple of days (once the citalopram had worn off). Its now been 10 days since I started fluoxetine (16 since citalopram) and I feel horrible. Not nearly as bad as with the citalopram but still haven't eaten properly in 2 weeks, and my anxiety has gone through the roof.

I am agoraphobic and therefore my home is my safe place- somewhere where i had conquered panic attacks and haven't had them much at home for a few years now. Suddenly I'm having them all the time, and they are really severe. I've not been to work or really left the house at all in 2 weeks....I feel like I've taken a massive leap backwards to where I was a few years ago. I'm really scared that this is going to have a lasting effect on me, even after the side effects of the pills have worn off, because I am partaking in safety behaviours that i used to use when my anxiety was at its worst. I'm starting a new job soon and I can't see me being able to get there if I feel anything like as bad as this.

I guess what I'm wondering is...has anyone else experienced these side effects and got over it? I'm sticking with the pills because I'm too far in to give up now, but I don't know how long the side effects are going to last and how I'm going to get back to normal afterwards.

thanks, lucy

[suzy-sue]

I was like this on Citalopram .It does pass ,Usually 4weeks you will feel better but it can happen earlier or even later around 6-weeks .Side effects /withdrawals from another med can make it worse .So just try to stay calm and not worry .easy to say I know ..You will get there eventually ..Take care and keep posting if you need support .Sue x:hugs:

[Emphyrio]

I was another one who recently went back onto fluoxetine expecting to respond well to it. I've been on it twice in the past, from 2003 - early 2008 and from late 2008 - summer 2011. Both the times I went onto it in the past I had minimal side effects.

Not the third time. I felt literally like I was going to lose control and felt so pessimistic about things. I completely lost my appetite, experienced funny vision, and had a flare-up of IBS symptoms. However, around 4 days ago (I have taken this for around 5 weeks) I suddenly started to feel much better - I no longer feel agitated (I'm still a bit restless though) and most importantly, the intrusive obsessive thoughts I face regularly are a lot weaker than they were before.

Stick with it - try and take it for 6 weeks if you can before you return to the doctor. Our bodies/minds can change over time so we can react to some medicine in different ways than we used to. If you can't bear the side effects then maybe your doctor could give you low dose of diazepam or something to take the edge of the anxiety?

Best wishes!

[spawn]

I was put on citalopram twice and both times i felt so ill after just a couple of days, went back to gp and got fluoxetine, im def better on these but after 2 weeks im still feeling sick all the time.. but i gather thats just part of the course of the med?

[lass-in-a-mess]

thanks for the replies. sometimes anxiety and panic is such a lonely thing so its good to know im not on my own! im going to keep going and try to remind myself that a few weeks of sickness and panic is worth it if the meds help me get my life back on track. hopefully i'll get back to work soon and have something to distract me rather than just lying in bed feeling crap!
xxx