Feeling terrible!!!

[Jade-x]

Morning all....

Today is my 7th day taking 20mg fluoxetine.. today iv woke up feeling terrible. Experiencing horrible anxiety this morning, woke up to my heart racing and my chest feeling very tight, butterflies in my stomach. I feel on the verge of tears its awful. The night before last i had terrible trouble sleeping and didnt sleep at all throughout the night.

I've read some great success stories on here and i know i need to stick it out in order to feel the benefits but its so hard when your feeling so low.... (im sure most people can relate to that)

Iv been having a few other things which im presuming are also side effects .. headaches, dry mouth, feeling fatigued and also very distant from my partner???

I dont know if anyone else is or has felt like this but would be great to hear from you.

xxx

[Tufty]

Hello Jade and :welcome:,

All those side effects you list are typical of Fluorextine but they do go. I've been back on it now for 9 months and it does help, it's just riding out this horrible bit you're going through. They can last for a couple of weeks but may only last days, I got some Diazepam and Zopiclone from my Dr which definately helped - I think if you can have a peaceful sleep you feel so much better. Like most anxiety sufferers I don't like medication and worry about addiction but I've used them in times of crisis - just for up to a week and it's stopped the panic escalating and has given me time out from the panic so I can rest and recover.

Try not to fight or run from the feelings of increased anxiety, accept that its the medication doing it's stuff and it's a journey you're on - you will get to the other side where you are happy again.
Take Care
Sam

[Jade-x]

Thanks Sam!!

Its nice to be reassured your not the only one feeling like this, expecially us who suffer with anxiety as it does feel isolating and like your the only one going through it. It dosnt help when the people you love around you dont fully understand what your going through either but if you've never experienced anxiety i suppose its hard to understand the full extend of how horrible and restricting it can be. Im so glad i found this forum and im so glad its got people like yourself here, i feel so much more posotive already just reading what you wrote and other peoples comments. Im just going to take each day as it comes and take things slow. I understand you got to take the good with the bad so im just going to relax and make the best of today ..... (as much as i can lol)

Thanks again xxx

[loreen]

Hello Jade

Pleased you feel more positive.

I could have written your last post-we sound very similar. It helps to know you are not alone in this,and the good out comes people have are a reason to stick with it.

Anxiety is so difficult to deal with, because it is so hard to explain to people who have not been through it.Unlike any other illness it often has little sympathy from others.

Hope you have a better day

Loreen x

[Janine]

Jade I was exactly like you, you will pick up a bit and then go have anothe blip and another, the journey is not an easy one, I hit rock bottom with the tablets thinking when I started to take them that they were going to make me start feeling better from day one, I wish that I had found this website at the stage you are at, i did not find it until much later on and thank god I did as I found people feeling just like me and when I read what they had been through (all the symptons you have) it helped me so much, even at 4 weeks i was having a huge blip but someone saying on here that 4 to 5 weeks can be tough helped me so so much, there is light at the tunnel take it minute by minute, day by day, at just over 5 weeks I suddenly felt so much better and apart from a little blip I have been so good and am at 8 weeks now, I thought they were never going to work, like Sam said diazapan is good and I had it to take on as and when needed basis, my doctor also gave me propanolol slow release tablet which really did help with the anxiety, that was after a couple of weeks and I wish I had had them sooner.

hope some of this helps, it is all so fresh in my mind i think I just lost the whole of September.

we are here for you, please just post and we will try and help you through, I know it helped me get through

Janinexxx

[Tessar]

i've read lots about the side effects of prozac. having taken it many times before i think i've always thought that it wont happen to me adn that the side effects are just imagined. i do wonder if they are made worse by how you are feeling physically at the time. this time round for me i think its been about 2 weeks now; if i am honest i probably could identify lots of little things attributed to it. usually after 2 weeks i suddenly feel energised so keep waiting for that to happen. on a positive note, i do believe it works so JAde keep up the good work and hopefully you will get there on it but time is an important factor.

[Superstar7]

Any improvement Jade?? Im 12 days in and feel awful!!! :(

[pretoria]

Hey there Jade (and you too Superstar7)!

It's normal to feel these side effects when on SSRI's. Everyone's side effect story is different. You will feel very strange whilst fluox builds up in your system to a level that will start give you some real benefits.

I myself battled with SE's on all the SSRI's I have taken (in my signature) always with feelings of weirdness, unusual and sometimes disturbing thoughts and sensations. depersonalised, very panicky, yawning, twitched and jerks, difficulty urinating, night sweats, vivid dreams and libido problems.
The really bad ones such as the mental, sensation and emotional SE's calmed down within a few weeks and by my second month was just left with yawning and libido problems but had my confidence back my anxiety attacks were far and few in-between and my Uni grades definitely started to improve from a 2:2 student to 1sts and 2:1's.

It may feel like a long wait but there is light at the end of the tunnel and they can take a while to work.

Keep us posted, use this thread like a diary it will help you and others but also you can look back and see how much progress you've made say over 12 weeks :)

Hang in there!

Nathan x

NB: I have posted a thread regarding taking Fluox dissolved in Cranberry/Orange juice (it's dubbed "Cranzac" lol) which supposedly helps with intolerable side effects. Maybe you can try it?
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=123828

[Supersal1984]

Hi Pretoria,

Good to see your grades are good! Well done! Are you in your last year?


How long did it take for you to feel better. I am on 10 weeks and still up and down x

[Laura123]

Hi jade, the first few weeks are always the hardest, my advice is to try and keep stress to a minimum. If you can take some time off work. Try not to focus on the symptoms, not easy I know, but it always makes it worse. Distract if you can. You will get there xxx

[Supersal1984]

Hi Pretoria,

Good to see your grades are good! Well done! Are you in your last year?


How long did it take for you to feel better. I am on 10 weeks and still up and down x

[pretoria]

Hi Pretoria,

Good to see your grades are good! Well done! Are you in your last year?


How long did it take for you to feel better. I am on 10 weeks and still up and down x

Thanks I've graduated now but SSRI's really helped in my last year :)

I started to feel the benefits about the second month in by the third and fourth I felt pretty good apart from some weight gain so hence why this time the Doctor prescribed Fluoxetine :)

[littlemissjo]

Hi all, I'm currently in the throes of day seven on fluoxetine. I was on citalopram until before for a few months and just felt nothingy and side effects that didn't agree so asked to change. After not feeling anxious or panicky for what seems like ages. On day four, Friday, old negative thoughts started appearing and taking hold and I had a mini panic attack when attempting to eat my tea. I since haven't eaten much and feel like I have shivers on the inside, I'm fighting the negative thoughts (I've also just had my very last CBT session) but its really difficult not to associate the feelings with thoughts. And also heightened anxiety about going into work in this state when there's no way I can have any time off right now. I was on Fluoxetine last October at my worst and I don't remember noticing these side effects as I felt that way at the time anyway, but it's really quite upsetting when you think you are in a reasonably good place to suddenly have all these feelings that are associated with the worst time ever. I feel a bit like I've come so far and finding the SEs hard to deal with. I'm just trying to remind myself that they are SEs and hopefully will pass? At this point I'm not even sure that I need the medication but I don't want to sabotage myself by stopping something early again :(

[Janine]

Hi Littlemissjo, if you look back at my previous post on this thread you will see that I suffered really badly with side effects when I first stated Fluxotiene, you will have better days but you may have some really really bad days, just try to think that this is the drug working. I thought it was never going to work and hit rock bottom a few times howver at 5 and half weeks it finally started to make me feel better and apart from an odd little blip I am now at 10 weeks and feel really good. This website really kept me going knowing that I was not alone and it was not just me, hang in there and take it a minute at a time, it will not be easy but it is so worth it.

Janinexx

[littlemissjo]

Thanks for the support Janine. I guess I just have to ride it out. I just felt that even though I didn't like being on Citalopram I was in a reasonable good place in my mind with the CBT and all of a sudden my worst demons have been sent back to haunt me! I can reason away in my head and try to be mindful but the anxious feeling just heightens, and I know it's just SEs but your mind always associates thoughts and previous experiences with feelings doesn't it?

Anyway, day eight today. I had a good night last night, ate some tea, was 'up' and despite waking at four this morning I got back to sleep. Woke up though about half an hour ago and the anxiety is there again, heart rate, jittery, mind racing, feeling stressed about feeling stressed. As you said just got to keep going through it minute by minute. Thanks again

Jo