PDA

View Full Version : Help and Advice Needed



Jacs
06-04-11, 15:25
Hi,

I guess I better start at the beginning; I am in my mid 30’s and have suffered with anxiety and depression since childhood.

6 weeks ago I was sent home from work, after a few weeks of feeling low, having burst into tears at work. I went to see my GP who prescribed Mirtazapine. However after 4 days of sleeping 20 hours a day, I went back to see my GP and asked for something that would make me less sleepy.

I was given Prozac and by day 7 my anxiety levels had risen so high that I ended up in hospital. I was given 15mg of valium immediately and prescribed 2mg x twice a day and 4mg at bedtime. The doc was reluctant, so was I to prescribe any other antidepressants because of my severe reaction to the Prozac.

Initially the valium did help and but the depression was still there and after weeks it got to the stage where I was having very distressing suicidal thoughts (I have no intention of carrying them out).

I returned to my GP once more and have been put on 35.7mg of Venlafaxine twice a day, 4mg of Valium 3 times a day and 7.5mg of zoplicone at night.

The first few days I felt very sick and drowsy but after about 8 days I did start to feel a little better. My GP has advised me to cut down on the valium so yesterday I only took 2mg at lunch time inside of 4mg. I went to bed with a slight headache and a pain in my chest.

This morning I feel sick, quite depressed again, anxious and my suicidal thoughts have returned (although again I have no intention of doing anything about them).

I have an appointment for CBT and counselling etc. but that isn’t until the end of the month.

I feel so messed up. Is it all the drugs I been on that is making me feel this way? Is it valium withdrawal or am I just having a bad day? :weep:

Any help, support or advice would be appreciated, especially if you have experience of being on one or all of the above

haz
06-04-11, 21:52
Could be initial side effects from the venlafaxline. Don't cut back your diazepam any more just now. Keep going with the 2mg reduction until your doctor tells you otherwise.

Hope you feel better soon. :flowers:

deepreason
07-04-11, 01:16
My advise would be to only ever change one drug/dosage at a time otherwise you can't really be sure which change is causing which effect.
It's a shame you didn't stick with the Mirtazapine as it's very effective and will get you a god night's sleep as well. The thing wwith Mirta is that for the first week or 2 it gives you a hangover, as you found out, this soon passes though and you won't get it again.
Personally I've found Venlafaxine to be quite a stimulating anti depressant which left me feeling over anxious. When the Prozac caused your anxiety to suddenly go through the roof, did they check you fo Serotonin Syndrome as that would have been one possibility with a eaction like that.

Jacs
07-04-11, 09:44
What's serotonin Syndrome? When my anxiety went through the roof my parents took me to causalty, saw the doc there who admitted me to the observation ward over night. Then saw a mental health nurse in the am who say it was propbably the prozac and that she would refer me to a 'managing anxiety' programme and discharged me.
I was still in a very high state of anxiety so I was taken straight to the out of hours GP (it was a sunday), who prescribed the valium.
No one mentioned Serotinin Syndrome or checked me for it

deepreason
08-04-11, 00:49
It's whn your brain gets an overload of serotonin, another name for it is in fact serotonin poisoning. It most often occurs when your go onto a new AD or increase the dose of and AD.

Best bet is to have a look at the wikipedia page here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome

With me it felt like all the muscles in my body were flexing like someone had plugged me into a high voltage cable.

They test for it by checking you blood pressure, ulse and something calling clonus which is basically refelexes I think.

sarah1984
08-04-11, 14:43
I'm sorry to hear you're going through such a rough time recently - your experience reminds me very much of the situation I was in back in Aug/Sept last year. I'm pretty sure it must be the combination of the valium & zopiclone that's making you feel sick and drowsy. Also you have been through a gruelling few weeks and persistently high levels of anxiety can leave you physically drained. I wouldn't worry about valium withdrawal as you have only been on it for a short time and at a relatively low dose, so you wouldn't be addicted. It's still very early days for the Prozac - my psych & GP have advised me to give each dose of an SSRI 7 weeks before deciding whether it's effective or not. Most side-effects of anti-depressants should wear off after taking them for a few weeks, if not, you should return to your GP. Hopefully, once the Prozac starts to take effect, you should gradually be able to cut down on the Valium & Zopiclone, until you are just on the Prozac.

The reason they didn't check for seratonin syndrome is because it is relatively uncommon and a lot of doctors are unaware of the condition. Seratonin syndrome & experiencing side effects of anti-depressants are completely different conditions. Seratonin syndrome most often occurs when you are taking two forms of medication that raise seratonin levels at the same time e.g. two anti-depressants or an anti-depressant and migraine medicines.

When I first started experiencing anxiety in July I was given diazepam by the out of hours doctor at Accident & Emergency. I was advised to take 5mg 3x a day and I found it very effective for the first 3 weeks. Taking a 5mg tablet before bed meant I got a proper night's sleep. However, the effectiveness of the valium then wore off, so my GP prescribed zopiclone to help me sleep. Again, the same thing happened, and after 4 weeks, I found I was having to take 10.5mg zopiclone together with 5 mg valium before bed. I was also taking a low dose of risperidone, an anti-psychotic, (I'm not psychotic thank god!) as low doses can be used to boost the effects of SSRIs. Unfortunately, I experienced dreadful side effects, so I had to switch to seroquel (quetiapine). Luckily, the seroquel worked really well for me and I was able to cut out the valium & zopiclone all together. I take 75 mg (25mg am & 50mg before bed) and I sleep like a baby, without feeling hungover. I also take 225 mg venlafaxine. I'm so relieved to be off the valium & zopiclone because I felt physically drained & I was so worried about becoming addicted.

I appreciate you're going through hell at the moment but trust me, I've been where you are & things do get better. Take care & best of luck.

Jacs
08-04-11, 17:54
Thanks, I was actually taken off Prozac due the the v v high levels of aniexty it caused me and was on nothing but valium for 3 weeks untill the Prozac had got out of my system.

I am now on day 11 of taking Venlafaxine, along with the Vallium and Zopcline.

I started to reduce by dose of Valium, from 12mg per day to 10mg per day on Wenesday and have fealt quite low at times.

Feel like I pumped so full of drugs, I don't know what is causing what anymore.

I just want to feel better.