My mind is going at 1000mph, feel like im going insane!

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Hi guys, Hope your all doing ok.

I am having a really bad time. 6 weeks on Prozac and I feel worse than ever. I don't know for sure if its the Prozac making me feel like this or just my anxiety but im pretty sure its a combination of the 2.

My mind is going at 1000mph constantly, I cannot stop the mind chatter in my head, every thought is over analysed and everything I use my brain for is over analysed. I have been freaking out this morning, was going to go to hospital as my head was just going crazy and I couldn't calm down or think straight.

I don't think I can carry on with Prozac, Im 6 weeks in at 20mg every other day and even at this low dose I feel completely strange and my brain just seems like it doesn't take a break for even a minute.

I just don't know what to do, I cannot carry on like this. Anyone have any advice?

[HoneyLove]

Hey there, sorry you're having such a horrible time xx

It's probably best to go and talk to your doctor about the prosac, none of us here will be able to advise you on medication but your doctor is the best one to talk to. They will be better able to judge your situation.

Are you doing anything along with the medication to help with the anxiety? You sound like a good candidate for CBT and relaxation techniques to help you come back down to earth again.

Have you eaten enough today? I often feel like that when I don't get enough to eat, you can't stop your head moving so quickly and it's hard to relax.

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Thanks, HoneyLove.

Yea I have had CBT - didn't work out for me, if anything it made me worse. I will have to go back to the doctors about the Prozac at some point but whenever I go back there they don't exactly advise much. They will say stick with it for 1 or 2 more weeks.

At the moment I don't see myself leaving my bed. Yea I have eaten as normal really.

[HoneyLove]

What do you mean that the CBT made you worse?

[hadenough]

I am in exactly the same boat and when I ask the gp about it she just says I should persevere as the way Im feeling isnt down to the meds not working but due to my high level of anxiety about my health. I was on prozac for a very long time several years ago and it worked really well then so was hoping for the same outcome this time but so far its just making me feel like c**p.

[Gotagetthroughthis]

What do you mean that the CBT made you worse?

Well before I went for CBT, I was on the waiting list, I was med free for about 8 months I had been using a technique where whatever anxiety I felt or however ill I felt I would just accept those feeling and live my life as I would if I didn't have anxiety. So I was going about life accepting the anxiety feelings but not letting them stop me do anything and I actually started to get a bit better and make some progress, I was probably the best I had been since this anxiety started.

Anyway, then my CBT came through after being on the waiting list. So I started CBT but it kind of defeated the technique I was using to get better at the time. CBT made me focus on my symptoms and Anxiety again instead of just going about life with them there in the background. So in the end I started to feel worse and focus on my anxiety a lot more again.

Pretty much all of what the CBT therapist was teaching me I new anyway, from reading so much anxiety information over the past couple of years. In the end the therapist said I don't think CBT is for you and I agreed and we left it there. I can see how CBT would help some people, It can help you understand how anxiety is causing your symptoms and not to be afraid of them. But I already new all this but that didnt stop my anxiety.

[HoneyLove]

Well maybe you can try going back to that acceptance technique then? Claire Weekes has an excellent book around this topic called Self Help for the Nerves that you might like to read.

Start putting the measures that were first working for you back into place, build your self support system again.

Are you doing daily relaxation or getting exercise? Have you looked at the stimulants you might be consuming like caffeine or suar?

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Yea I have to try get back to the acceptance technique like you say. I Just have to get past this blip because I can accept anything right now, I need to get my head straight, I just feel completely weird.

I play football once, I week, Go to the Gym 4 times a week. I dont drink any caffeine and rarely anything sugary. Yea I have that Claire weekes book hun. Sounds like im just rebuffing everything you say with a "already done that" answer. Thats one of my problems. Hope I dont come across rude.

I do really think its the meds that have pushed me to going this low and feeling this weird again. Its just hard to calm down when your brain feels so weird and is working on over drive.

Thanks for you support, it means a lot.

[HoneyLove]

No I understand, I've had problems myself with anxiety that didn't seem to shift even when I was trying everything. Sometimes it takes a while to work it all out. It sounds like you're proactive and really trying, that's important.

It does sound like you need to talk to the doc about the prosac, chances are it's not agreeing with you.

What way does your anxiety manifest? Is it usually your mind racing like that, or do you have panic attacks about certain things, are you worrying about things, is there something in particular that triggered it for you? What's going on in your life right now?

Do you notice anything in particular that triggers the dizziness? Do you tend to get travelsick?

Have you tried meditation? You know it has been shown to help balance out that sympathetic nervous system reaction that might have your head running so fast - it will help your parasympathetic nervous system to kick into action and will calm you down. Even a small amount like 10 mins daily is enough to see signignificant reduction in stress levels, health problems and anxiety.

Pull out the Claire Weekes book and read it again, or just dip into the bits you know will help you. It sounded like you were doing really well before, and it should be possible for you to get back to that again x

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 ----------

I just had a brief look at your post history and wanted to ask you some questions, I hope that's OK!

I notice that you've posted a lot about feeling dizzy, fuzzy, foggy and lightheaded - has any of that gotten better for you? Do you ever find yourself off balance, not necessarily falling over but maybe feeling a little drunk or like your balance isn't quite right? Or have you had vertigo? How would you describe your dizziness?

Do you tend to be very tense and get neck pain or facial pain? Or do you grind your teeth, clench your jaw at night or when anxious? Do you ever get vision problems or struggle looking at patterns/movement/crowds? Have you found yourself sensitive to light or sound?

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Wow there's a lot of questions there lol. My dizzyness I would usually describe as lightheadedness, sometimes feeling a bit drunk or like I might pass out. No I dont get facial pain, I sometimes get some neck pains, but mainly pains in my head. I do clench my jaw. The vision and sound thing, no I don't think so.

[HoneyLove]

lol I know there's a lot of questions there, unfortunately I've come to learn a lot about balance & dizziness because of health issues!

Is your anxiety related to the feelings dizziness or fuzzy head, like do those symptoms come on suddenly and they make you anxious - or is it more like you get anxious/panicky and it makes you feel dizzy?

[Gotagetthroughthis]

The dizzyness is there most of the time and it makes me anxious hun. I know your going to say I should go to doctors about the dizzyness and your asking questions to see if my dizzyness might be caused by something other than anxiety.

[ARandomSparkle]

Hi there :) I was prescribed Fluoxetine (Which I believe is Prozac by another name) and I can understand the symptoms you describe. I used to be a bit of a reckless rock and roll teenager (probably has had an effect on my mental health now!) but many years ago I did take 'party drugs' such as ecstasy and amphetamines - the side effects I experienced with Fluoxetine made me feel like I did back in those days - crazy energy, jittery limbs always twitching, talking at 100 mph, lights seemed brighter and noises seemed louder. It drove me crazy. After a couple of weeks, insomnia kicked in. I was awake for 5 nights in a row, completely alone with these mind racing symptoms. Its soul destroying. I would recommend visiting your GP, and asking for your meds to be changed. I am now taking mirtazapine (knocks me out so helps with the insomnia) so your doc may be able to give you something which can calm you down. I also clench my jaw a lot, often without realising! And then I worry how I must look to others! Best of luck to you, and thankyou for posting on here. Just reading other peoples posts makes me realise that I am not alone in feeling like this, and that helps a million. Much love and peace to all of you xx

---------- Post added at 13:35 ---------- Previous post was at 13:30 ----------

P.s!! I also suffered from dizziness and still do. I had been told when I was experiencing anxiety to take deep breaths. I have been doing this for weeks and still no better. Another therapist I spoke to told me my dizziness and also the tingling sensation I experience in my hands, face etc are due to me having 'too much oxygen in my body'.....apparently I've been breathing too deeply! When you do your deep breaths, try to do it naturally - your natural breathing rhythm I mean. Singing weirdly helps! put on your favourite music and sing your heart out, as well as being a welcome distraction, it will help with breathing techniques. Controlling our breathing too much can have adverse effects - dizziness and tingling. I've even fainted in the past! xx

[HoneyLove]

The dizzyness is there most of the time and it makes me anxious hun. I know your going to say I should go to doctors about the dizzyness and your asking questions to see if my dizzyness might be caused by something other than anxiety.

Exactly! :)

It's like this, for 7 years I was told that the dizziness and weird feelings I was getting were all in my head, it was anxiety apparently. One doctor even told me that god had sent me to his surgery to be put on antidepressants! I did a lot of work in therapy, CBT and similar in order to get better but I could never quite get over it. I felt unwell a lot, and just not right. I came in random patches after an initial dizzy 6 weeks where they thought I had an inner ear virus. Then last November it came to stay and got very bad for a while, which is when I pushed to get some help with it.

It turns out that I actually *do* have a problem with my balance and it was sparking a lot of anxiety. If your balance system is a bit off then it naturally can spark anxiety in the body because your brain is confused and getting mixed signals. I was feeling weird and dizzy a lot, just off and fuzzy headed, and that made me massively anxious and stressed. So part of it was the balance issues, and part of it was me worrying about it because stress made it so much worse. It was a VRT therapist who explained to me how balance & anxiety are connected. He helped me to pick apart the weird way I felt into definte symptoms and triggers and helped my world to make a lot of sense.

So whenever someone on here comes in talking about feeling odd and dizzy then I ask questions to see if there's any connection or if they're really just dizzy from anxiety. That's not to say that everyone here who talks about dizziness has some kind of balance problem, or that it's an issue for you, but it's definitely something worth investigating where there is persistent dizziness.

It might be worth having a look around where you live to see if there are any physios who specialise in a balance therapy called Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy. You can ask them to assess you, tell them that you've been having dizziness problems and are not sure if it's just anxiety or not. They should be able to listen to your symptoms, have a look at your balance and see if there are any issues. They might not be able to give you a full diagnosis, but they might be able to help you figure part of this out. If it turns out you do have an issue they can help you out with balance exercises and physio. If it turns out you don't have an issue, well then you know.

Sometimes doctors assume that dizziness is all just anxiety, but it's because they know so little about it. It's worth talking to someone like a VRT therapist who knows so much more about balance and the vestibular system.

They think I might have something called migraine associated vertigo, where I have chronic migraine sypmtoms every day without the normal headache. Instead I just get dizzy a lot. It seems to be triggered by muscle tension, especially in my face because I clench my jaw and grind my teeth, but it can be triggered by other stuff too as with any migraine problem. It causes a whole range of odd symptoms that have been putting down to anxiety for literally years. I discovered that issues with any part of the balance system can spark anxiety or weird symptoms that you'd never connect to a balance problem.

Clenching the jaw is enough to spark feelings of dizziness and fuzzy headed symptoms without the migraine problem. I think it's to do with muscle tension. It might be worth looking into that symptom to see if you can relax the clenching and resolve some of the headaches and dizziness. A dentist can help you see if you're having trouble with your jaw joint (called TMJ) that may be the source of the clenching (if you're not doing it out of stress).

Sorry that's so long, but it's just some stuff to think about. Consider the VRT and the jaw clenching, think about some relaxation techniques that you can do to help with that.

I hope this wasn't too waffly and made some sense to you.

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Good point HoneyLove and thanks for the in depth explanation and it is something I may look into in the future.

But right now my main problem is health anxiety and always thinking there is something wrong with me so if I keep trying to look for answers as to why im feeling like this then the anxiety will never go.

If I get to a more steady state with my anxiety again and am still getting the bad dizzyness I will defo look into what you have mentioned.

[HoneyLove]

That sounds like a good plan to me, and very sensible.

Talk to your doc about the meds, work on relaxation side of things and then see where it leaves you.

I hope you're feeling a lot better soon x

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Continuation of yesterday. Think im going to stop Prozac.

[HoneyLove]

Talk to your doctor about coming off this medication first, suddenly stopping an SSRI is not advised - call & see your GP about it as soon as you can.

[Fishmanpa]

Continuation of yesterday. Think im going to stop Prozac.

Agreed with HLove.... it is ill advised to go off psychotropics cold turkey. Talk to your doc about dosage or "weaning off".

Positive thoughts

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Thanks guys, I didn't mean I would stop the meds cold turkey. I would taper off.