Morning depression

[richrocks]

Hi all

I've been on 20 mg of fluoxetine now for about 5 months. I've purposely stuck at it because I have wanted to give it chance.

My main concern is mornings. I wake up and generally I have a headache which I tend to be able to control with a propronolol but I am also in a really bad mood / depressed for the first few hours of the day, normally just past lunchtime. It is quite intense and affects the quality of life.

I take the med at morning. I wondered if it's worth considering any of the following options...

Increasing my dose from 20 to 40

Changing meds completely

Changing the time I take it. Eg at bedtime.

I would love to hear if anyone else has had similar experiences and how you resolved it.

[anthrokid]

Hey richrocks,

I'd recommend chatting to your GP or psychiatrist (whoever prescribed the medication) and seeing what they think. Given that they work with this medication a lot, they may have a better idea as to what options may help reduce the morning depression/bad moods. Experimenting with the time you take it is something you could do without consulting your doctor. It may be that the time you take it is causing you to have lighter sleep, which means you are waking up tired, headachey and in a bad mood. If you take it in the morning, try switching it around to either lunchtime or before you sleep and see if it makes a difference. But as for the other options, that's something you'd need to discuss and decide with your doctor

[richrocks]

Thanks for replying. I took your advice and visited my GP.

Her advice was that 20mg is a low dose, so this has been increased to 40mg to see if it has a more beneficial effect.

She has also given me 80mg SR Propronolol.

Tomorrow, my new regime begins...

[anthrokid]

Great to hear that you saw your GP and made a decision together Your GP is right - for application in anxiety, 20mg is a lower dose. Hopefully going up to 40 will have a better effect for you. Let us know how you go!

[richrocks]

yes, that's exactly how the GP saw it. I'm glad with the decision.