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And1404
03-04-09, 11:29
Hi. I have suffered from what I now think is health anxiety for about 18 yrs. Started when I was approx 14 when i had am I really here feelings and panic attacks. Convinced I was gonna die. Have never been normal since but have had periods in my life that have been worse than others. Am a mum to two great kids and my son has real bad eczema. The last few months have been real hard cause his skin has gotten really bad and we have had loads of hospital appts and uvb treatment etc and nothing has really worked. I have been going out of my head worrying about him and having to take time off work when he cant go to school etc.

Anyway, I went the docs a few weeks ago cause i was feeling totally crap, short tempered, wore out, palpitations and feeling anxious. Doc put me on fluoxetine 20mg a day, for the first wk I felt fine, calmed and quite normal over the next 3 weeks I got progressively worse. Feeling on edge, couldnt sit still, couldnt go to work, developed a phobia of bed time because when I go to bed I was going to sleep ok but waking up in the night feeling strange, fuzzy, out of it, drenched in sweat which was followed by a burning/stinging/tingling feeling coming over me working up from my toes right through my body to my head, nausea, feeling like I was about to lose conciousness/faint even though I was in bed and my heart racing like mad. This would carry on and then eventually calm down, then I would go back to sleep but wake up again to repeat the cycle. I felt so terrible after four weeks that I went back and the doc said it was prob the meds and to tail off them. I reduced my dose (I had only been on the meds for four weeks) to one every 3 days and only done that twice as every time i took a tablet I felt worse. I had this fear and I did not even know what i was frightened of.

I made an appmt to see another doc to tell him I could not take even one more of these tabs. He agreed and put me on proprananol 10mg one or two tabs 3 x per day which i am currently taking. I had felt a little better through the day but am still waking in the night with the funny feelings, however my heart does not race and the other symptoms are not as bad as they were but still happening and still really worrying me. The doc said that the fluoxetine would be out of my system in 4 days so it cant be withdrawal from them. Or is it, as they have such a long half life, how long will it take for this dreaded fluoxetine to get out of my system? I am currently only taking one 10mg proprananol per day as I am a bit scared because they are heart tabs. I am thinking I should start taking 2 and am gonna discuss it with doc. we also discussed me starting on 10mg citalopram which i have taken before and not reacted to in the way i reacted to fluoxetine. However I am very wary now about meds, even though i dont know if thats what caused the problems in the first place. I have had blood tests at the docs which all came back fine except for my ferritin level (iron stores) which was 5. Should be between 12 and 200, so I am currently taking iron under the doc too.

Sorry for rambling but any help would be appreciated, I am so scared of going to bed at the moment knowing what awaits me in the night and am convinced there is something seriously wrong.

Thanks for listening xx

KAREN L
03-04-09, 11:46
OMG!!
I think you are my clone!!!

I suffer from health anxiety
I have 2 children, 1 with eczema
I too had bad experience with flux meds ( first time they did work, second time made me worse)
I have been taking propranolol now on and off for 5 years, like you they don't cure me but help with my heart racing. They are very safe don't worry about taking them i take 1x80mg per day.
I also have low iron stores and i am on iron tablets.

Please talk to me whenever you want, maybe we can beat this together.

Take care, try not to worry
xx

And1404
03-04-09, 11:51
Thanks Karen, you dont know how pleased I am you replied to me. Its hard for people to understand what you are going through if they have never experienced it. Do you wake up in the night too with the night horrors that i do and how long did it take for the fluoxetine to get out of yr system. Thanks again xx

KAREN L
03-04-09, 12:12
Hello

It took about a week until i felt the drugs were out of my system.

Yes, as part of my ongoing HA i too have what you describe as night terrors.
They are just awful, you just have too try and go with them. Deep breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. I also use a counting method, count backwards from 100 in multiples of 3 (sounds silly but does take your mind off the panic!!).
I currently don't have them during the night, have them in the morning instead - great when your trying to get the children ready. Mine are only minor in the morning at the moment, last for about 1/2 hr then my prop meds kick in.
I too hate going to bed, so i no how you feel.
You can PM whenever you like. When i first found this site ( about 2 years ago) i had a lot of help from a lady like me, she was fab. Unfortunately for me but maybe a good sign for her - she no longer uses this site.

I am here for you, lets kick this HA's arse together - shall we?
xx:hugs: