loulou22
03-12-12, 11:04
Just thought I would share my recent month of experience on Prozac. A couple hours of taking my first pill I actually felt kind of great, not sure if this was some placebo but I felt on a high for the whole of the evening (after taking it at 4pm). I started to then take my pills first thing in the morning (just after breakfast at about 8.30am) The first week was so tough; I had awful moments waking up in the night feeling like I was going to pass out, sweating a lot, having crazy vivid dreams and feeling terrible in the morning. I am taking it for anxiety and I felt like it had got worse, but not only that, I felt way more down and unenthusiastic then I had before (my problems were largely anxiety, and I didn’t have any problems with my mood or depression). But I actually felt so depressed, couldn’t be bothered to exercise or really do anything. Not sure if any of you can relate to this, but when I feel like that I sometimes go 5 or 6 days without showering, and days without brushing my teeth and I wear no make-up and put little effort into my appearance. I was also exhausted, to the point where I thought I would fall asleep at work (I have been working every day still-don’t ask me how!) and I often went out to my car at lunch to grab 30 minutes rest. I was absolutely exhausted in the mornings and just felt like a zombie all day. I took one Friday afternoon as holiday from work and literally slept all afternoon row. I also did barely any exercise over this 4 week period (I am used to running doing some light weight training most days. I couldn’t even be bothered to do my floor exercises which I normally do religiously in the comfort of my bedroom. After nearly getting to the 4 week mark and seeing no improvement, coupled with the almost debilitating tiredness and lack of enthusiasm for anything, especially my cleanliness and appearance, I decided to start taking the pills at night. This was about 5 days ago now, and ever since I have felt a dramatic improvement, I have a lot more energy and feel way more positive. My thinking also seems clearer and I have gone whole days without thinking about how I feel- you can probably relate to the feeling of being self-aware for every waking minute with questions like ‘how do I feel’ ‘why do I feel like this’ ‘am I going to feel like this forever’ and questioning everything you do. And over the weekend I got to the end of the day and was like, those questions haven’t been whirling round in my head, I’ve just been living and doing and going about life. It feels like it’s starting to work. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve got through the hard 1-4 week period, and after reading a lot of testimonials online, it is clear that you have to be patient with meds, or whether taking it at night has helped me. But if I could offer any advice to anyone out there struggling with the early days of meds, if they are exhausting you, do take them at night. In the beginning, taking them late may cause some vivid dreams but they settle down and having daily energy back is priceless! Furthermore, if you are in the early stages (anything up to 8 weeks) do be patient. When I was at my worst after 2/3 weeks I wondered if I would ever get to this point and be able to write about it and having come through the other side. I know I am still in the early days of my journey and I’m definitely not getting ahead of myself. But just feeling this positivity is spurring me on and I’m so glad I stuck with them, and I think us anxious lot are just a bit tired and these pills give us a chance to give our minds a break and move forward with a more rational mindset J PM me if you want to chat about anything and my experience.