Feeling very surreal and 'not really here' advice needed about going back to work

[starfish01]

Hello,

I've been on Escitalopram 10mg for the past 5 weeks. My main symptom is a very weird 'spaced out' feeling. It's as though I am separate from the world around me. When I see people in the street, I feel completely different from them, as if they are aliens!! I also feel like people are looking at me strangely and that I must be displaying weird behaviour.
I'm supposed to be starting back at work next week part time (I work as a kid's English teacher) but I really don't know how I will handle work if I still feel this way. My boss sent me a text today asking me to confirm whether I will definitely be going back next week or not. If not, she will find a new teacher to replace me. Now I feel really stressed and worried as I'm just not sure if I'll be ok or not. I think it's unreasonable of her to expect me to know exactly how I'll be feeling next week!! Does anyone have any advice? How long do these types of feelings usually last and should I be going back to work after only 5 weeks of treatment??

Many thanks.

[Snoodlester]

Hi Starfish
I went through a bit of this when I started Mirtazapine - I would walk to the shops and had an 'unreal' feeling like I was on a different plain to everyone else. It took much longer than I thought for the meds to work, and before I started to feel 'normal'. I don't think I'm quite there yet, but I'm much better. I hope you'll start to feel better soon.
I can relate to your work situation - I'm going through something similar myself. I've been signed off for (another) 2 weeks, and although I'm being made redundant, there are 2 days where I'm not signed off and when I finish. I've had an email from my boss asking if I'm going in next week, but like you, I don't know how I'm going to feel next week, but certainly the anxiety of thinking about it doesn't help. However I would say that when I did go back to work the first time (after just 2 weeks off) it was too early, and it took about 6-8 weeks before I started to see any improvement. It's really difficult because your colleague will need to know in order to make arrangements, but it's easy to make it feel like you're being pressured. Maybe you should take a bit more time to truly feel yourself before deciding to go back.
Good luck with it.
Sue x

[starfish01]

Hi Sue,

Thanks for your reply. From reading a few of the posts on here, it seems like many people experience these strange symptoms at first so I guess I just need to hang in there and have faith that they will eventually subside. It's tricky when you feel under pressure to go to work though. If I didn't need to work I wouldn't feel so bothered I guess! I know that I must put my health first for the moment though and concentrate on getting better...health is wealth as they say!
I hope things improve for you too.

Thanks again.