How SSRIs work, and why you feel worse initially.

[debs71]

One of the best and most useful posts regarding SSRI's and the way they work that I have seen. Not sure how I didn't read this before!

I am certain that many sufferers who are new to taking an SSRI drug could get huge comfort from this post.

[Peachypips]

Bump- this really helps!

[Avm]

This does help understand a bit more but I fear my worries are too overpowering to be managed etc. Has fluoxetine helped anyone else like me who had anxiety and depression where most the symptoms are constant worrying and negative thoughts

[panic_down_under]

Has fluoxetine helped anyone else like me who had anxiety and depression where most the symptoms are constant worrying and negative thoughts

I hate to burst bubbles mate, but there is nothing unique about what is happening to you, nor your response to it. What you describe is ordinary, garden variety clinical depression with anxiety. It doesn't even seem that severe. Some become almost catatonic and will literally stay in one position for hours so consumed by their thoughts that they don't move.

Moderate to very severe depression and/or anxiety is what antidepressants are designed to fix. Fluoxetine may, or may not be the most effective antidepressant for you, only time will tell, but there is a very good chance one of the many antidepressants will.

In the unlikely event your depression proves resistant to both drugs and therapy there is also transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which I believe is now available through most NHS trusts, and ECT, maybe also vagus nerve stimulation.

[GlassPinata]

I certainly had this experience when starting Prozac. i began to feel MUCH worse before I started to feel better. it was probably 3 weeks before I began to feel even remotely better on Prozac.
Good post, useful information for people to know, so that they know what to expect when starting these drugs.

[Avm]

I just wish the GP would inform people about this I feel hopeless that I can't do anything to help myself because I'm so drained I can't even bring myself to get out of bed just lie here going over and over things in my head.

It's nice to know I'm not alone and I am great full for the reassurance from everyone on here.

Thanks
Abbie
X

[panic_down_under]

I just wish the GP would inform people about this

You're not alone, Abbie. A lot of misery could be avoided if GPs took more time to explain what the problem is, how it's treated and what issues may arise from the treatment.

Unfortunately, most doctors enter practice with very little training about psychiatric illnesses. Med schools don't devote that much time to them which is surprising because on any given day one or more of these disorders, diagnosed or not, is probably a significant factor in what ails at least 20-25% of the patients in a GP's waiting room.

I feel hopeless that I can't do anything to help myself because I'm so drained I can't even bring myself to get out of bed just lie here going over and over things in my head.

Yes, but as hard as it is, the best thing you can do for yourself atm is to get out of bed and move. Be as active as you can, and do something, anything, to keep your mind from ruminating about your situation. Read a book, watch the idiot box, walk, even if only around the perimeter of your folks' house, something, anything.

I endured some dark days by "reading" books given to me by friends when in hospital after first spiraling down the panic disorder hole, and I've put reading in inverted commas because what I was really doing was looking at a word and then the next one without really comprehending, or retaining any of it. I still have the books and still don't know what they are actually about. But it kept my mind off what was happening, in my case self induced severe med side-effects, not the dark pit of depression, but the principle is just as applicable.

[Avm]

Is it just a waiting game would you say?

Sometimes I can feel like I will get better then I talk myself out of being positive and think Ill never get better and nothing will work.

Its 5 weeks tomorrow since I started the fluox and propranolol and just wish I could be back to my old self and looking back Iv not been myself since about October.

[panic_down_under]

Is it just a waiting game would you say?

It is what I have been saying, Abbie. This has been a long time in the making and it won't be resolved overnight. There are no instant fixes.

Sometimes I can feel like I will get better then I talk myself out of being positive and think Ill never get better and nothing will work.

And in the process creating a self-fulfilling prophesy. This is why I urged you to do something, anything, that will keep you from thinking like this.

Its 5 weeks tomorrow since I started the fluox and propranolol and just wish I could be back to my old self and looking back Iv not been myself since about October.

There is a very high probability that you will get most of your "old self" back, just, hopefully, without the bits that bought you to where you're now at.

[Avm]

Thanks panic down under.

I'm unsure what affects me the most the depression or the anxiety my therapist seems to think I have both but the doctors said I have GAD. My therapist said it's hard to separate the two because they have the same symptoms.