Side effects?

I have taken 4 doses of Fluoxetine so far and I thought I was ok but I think the side effects are kicking in. This is what I have:

- tingling skin
- very high anxiety
- mild headache at back and side of head and stiffness
- stuffiness
- thirsty

I do also suffer from sinus problems so the last two might be sinus or stress. Anxiety is through the roof and I have woke up through the night with massive panics and dread feelings.

I have had reactions with sertraline and citalopram, with the latter being terrible physical effects while sertraline affected my anxiety and chest more.

How long does it take to get better?

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Originally Posted by flappergirl

I have taken 4 doses of Fluoxetine so far and I thought I was ok but I think the side effects are kicking in. This is what I have:

- tingling skin

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That is a common side effect of most serotonergic antidepressants. Serotonin isn't just a brain neurotransmitter. It has many functions in the rest of the body too, including in blood vessel tone, i.e. contraction and dilation, and in wound repair. The skin and its blood vessels use about as much serotonin as the brain so can also be affected by SSRIs, especially at the beginning. The tingling usually diminishes fairly quickly. BTW-serotonergic ADs can make the skin more sensitive to light increasing the risk of sunburn so wear a sun block if you're outside for any length of time.

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- very high anxiety

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The most common initial AD side-effect triggered by an immediate increase in serotonin activity. However, the longer term AD affect is to reduce serotonin synthesis and expression so the heightened anxiety usually diminishes after a few weeks. Talk to your doctor if it becomes to severe as there are ways of minimizing it.

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- mild headache at back and side of head and stiffness

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Another fairly common initial side-effect cause by the same affect on blood vessels as the tingling. Most of the over the counter pain killers should alleviate the headache, however, SSRIs are mild anticoagulants so the none blood thinning paracetamol, aka acetaminophen, is the better option if a pain killer is needed for more than a few days.

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How long does it take to get better?

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ADs typically take 3-12 weeks to kick-in from when a therapeutic dose - minimum 20mg for fluoxetine - is first taken. Fluoxetine has a very long half-life so tends to take a little longer to get going that some of the other SSRIs.

Antidepressants have no direct effect on anxiety, or depression in the way say aspirin has on a headache. They work by stimulating the growth of new brain cells (neurogenesis) to replace cells killed, or prevented from growing by high brain stress hormone levels. The therapeutic response is produced by these new cells and the stronger interconnections they forge, not the meds directly, and they take time to bud, grow and mature. For a more detailed explanation see: How antidepressant drugs act.

Wow, that is such a lot of helpful information! Thank you! The worst side effect currently is the anxiety and I may my gp later in the week if it is still as high as it is currently. Thanks again