Awful side effects on fluoxetine- any advice?

[JR35]

Hi, I'm on 20mg per day of fluoxetine for post natal depression. Two previous times i took this I was pregnant and any side effects were written off as pregnancy symptoms. I am 7 1/2 weeks in and feel as sick as at the start. I have no appetite, diarrhoea every morning, have nausea most of the day and am at my wits end with two kids to look after. My CPN insists as it worked previously and settled down that I need to continue with this SSRI. Has anyone else had these problems and switched to another SSRI that had fewer or less strong side effects??
I have barely slept for weeks and am getting very desperate despite some amazing family support. Thanks.

[LAURA48]

Hi - sorry you are feeling poorly. I was on Prozac for 15 years worked brilliant. Went on them again and was really ill - constant crying? Deep depression never had anything like it. Had to come off it - now on Sertraline so far so good although very early days - just slight nausea but nothing too troublesome. Personally I would swap to another.

Hope you soon feel better - think you have been on them long enough to know - second time around was on for 3 dreadful weeks - enough said.

Laura

[JR35]

Thank you for such a quick reply. I will definitely be pushing to switch over when I speak to my CPN. I feel like the last 7 weeks have been wasted. They even increase the dose at the weekend but I was so bad on that I reduced it myself after 2 days. It's so frustrating.

[LAURA48]

Hi - don't get me started on double dose - was put on 40mg before xmas - practically turned me into a basket case! was so frightened - the anxiety was terrible. Come off it and switch to another - you can do without this hassle whilst pregnant. CPN should know better imo!

Laura x

[JR35]

Sorry, I didn't explain very well, I'm not pregnant, I had my baby in April 12. I took fluox through the pregnancy and came off 6 months after the birth. I felt pretty good so was so disappointed to need them again in January. Annoyingly my mood is slightly better I just can't stand the side effects!

[sickandtired]

personally I think 7 and a half weeks is a long time to be suffering.
Ive been on fluoxetine for over 13 weeks now and am well on the way to recovery.....my side effects went after about a month (the first few weeks were hell)
Im still left with night sweats but I can cope with that....
it was the heightened anxiety and insomnia that drove me insane!
I would push to try Sertraline.......my friend never got any side effects from that.
good luck x

[alfredo1]

Im in week 4 of sertraline - they have had no side effects. I've put weight on though, but I'm going to monitor this

[LAURA48]

Oh sorry for the mix up - but would still change - you should not been having bad side effects after that length of time. I agree with sick and tired - try Sertraline - the side effects are not a bad a Prozac. Good Luck Laura

[JR35]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I've physically picked up quite a bit in the last hour but I have called my CPN and asked for a call back to discuss a change so that it's at least being discussed. This is my first time with depression that is not related to being pregnant and I'm finding it very tough and finding that apart from my immediate family I am not getting as much sympathy/support, just a lot of "pull yourself together type advice"

[alfredo1]

Its hard when people don’t understand what you’re going through. My family are the same. My mum just ignores that fact that I suffer with depressed she always says ‘’you’re not depressed, you just think you are’’ Yeah, that’s why I’ve been on the meds for over 10 years and in therapy!! Very frustrating. Hopefully you’ll get good advice and support from this site.