Hi all
It's my 9 week on 20mg and I feel I'm going backwards feel so low and no motivation going to phone doctor in the morning. He will probably say up the dose.
Any advice
Hi don
had to u my dose to 40mg as 20mg was not helping, this was eight weeks ago and I am slowly getting back to feeling ok, still have off days but I feel my darkest days are over cross fingers. So upping the dose did work for me so could well work for you.
All the best mate
Ray
Cheers Ray
How long were you on 20mg before you increased ?
Everyone is different .but I felt the same, upped the dose from 20mg to 40mg and felt lower then ever, lying in pjs all day ignoring the world but worryingly happy? False sense of happiness, I would tell anyone not to go in Cit, take care and please see your docter xx
Hi Don,
I would say to have a chat to your doctor, they are best able to help but don't be put off from increasing your dose. We are all different, I understand the worry about increasing but sometimes it's harder to stay in the same place.
Xx
This is normal. Along the road to recovery there'll be many too-ing and fro-ing with your mood and you'll often feel like you're going backwards. Recovery comes in waves - forward 2 steps, back 3. Try and accept it as part of recovery, understand it'll pass, carry on and you'll find yourself moving forward again soon. This will happen many, many times until everything levels out and the 'backward' times will get less until they cease to happen and your mood will get better and better.
Though we all need different doses, feeling like this doesn't necessarily mean you need a higher dose - it's just a normal process. Also even if you do up your dose you will probably still go through this up and down period.
Its trial and error getting the dose correct.
It's a long slow process to recovery and is often around 3-4 months before you feel any slightest improvement, and can be much longer.
Patience and much perseverance xxxx
K x
Morning Don,
I totally agree with katecogs. I have been here 14 months, feeling levelled out for a long time (was last year, but had personal and health issues which messed things up for a while - these were all non-Cita related) and it is hard.
However, yer in the right place, with the right people, keep reading, keep posting and keep learning from these wonderful people like katecogs.
It has all been part of saving my life!
Regards,
David
Thanks for reply
I think I'm just going to stick it out till the 12 week mark see how I feel then. I don't think doctors have a clue about these meds they just give them people and say you sould feel better in a few weeks and that doesn't help because after a few week have passed and you don't feel any better it knock you back some more. Last month it was my anxiety now it's my mood is this normal ?
Thanks David
How long did it take for you to level out ?
Yes absolutely agree with you. I've said for years that doctors should be more educated in this field and about SSRI's. I've heard so many times people post on here saying their doctor said they'd feel better in a couple of weeks. That often delays the healing process, because the patient then returns to their doctor because they aren't well, he then increases their dose, this makes them feel worse with the side effects, they then repeat this and then find their high dose makes them feel dreadful. The patient then either comes off the medication or goes from one type of SSRI to another desparately trying to find the one that works.
Increasing the dose doesn't make you better any quicker, and you'll still go through this up and down period. People mistake it for the medication failing, but it does seem a normal process.
Hopefully you'll notice slight changes by 12 weeks, but try not to put a time limit on yourself. Everyone is different. Changes can be so subtle its often hard to see too, but comparing to how you felt at the start is a good indication. When I recovered it was so slight I hardly noticed it. I've been on these meds twice (both successful) and both times I had a different experience.
Yes this time around I had different symptoms/side effects in different weeks. One week i felt nauseous, another week anxiety, next headaches .... seemed every week I'd get something different. It ended with feeling very flat - a nothingness that lasted a few months which irritated me a lot. Eventually that lifted and I began to enjoy life again.
First time on the meds was different from this.
Try and accept everything that happens, accept the time, the frustration ...... and try and say to yourself that you are recovering, and just like a broken leg takes time to heal, so this will take time too. Ride the waves and you'll find in time it'll all level out.
K x
Hi David
Hope you're doing well.
K x
Thanks
That's so true cit worked for me before for years then fell ill again and doc told me it stopep working so I tried about 5 different meds with no joy it's been I rough 2 years I'm just going to stick this 1 out thanks xx
Morning Don!
You're Welcome!
How long did it take me to level out? What a question, back in Dec 14 I had no idea, come Feb 2015 I started to feel a little better and by May 15 I was levelling out. However, after being signed unfit due to work related stress, which I came to understand why, I did not realise that my body was about to crash too!
June last year saw me in Torbay Hospital having an appoitment with an MaxFac (dental) Consultant, an extraction, a biopsy and fortunately a few weeks later an all clear. Before I could feel anywhere near to levelling out again at the end of the Aug BH I was rushed into Torbay with a burst appendix and nearly didn't make it! Oh Joy! What next? Next was the wait, with a few scans a 3D Virtual Colonoscopy and one or two more tests just to keep me occupied, I guess. They gave me Christmas and New Year off (to dwell).
So, in answer to your question 12th February 2016 is when I really, truly started to level out, I feel, for the first time. They spent a lot of money doing the scans, especially the 3D one and they decided to get the moneys worth out of it by checking every other bit of me! If they had told me they were doing that I would certainly of had some health paranoia I think, but they didn't and last week they gave me the all, all clear!
Since then I am feeling much better (got to lose 2-3 stone oops! (comfort food & drink)), I am looking for a little part-time job, feeling levelled out and good.
When I went ill Don, I had no idea what was happening to me, I had no expectations (great or small) of anything and I set no time to recover, for want of a better word. All I knew is that I wasn't the fit, hard working, tough ex-serviceman, happily divorced, carefree, jolly and loving Father of two, looking forward to getting remarried again anymore kinda chap.
My Doctor, who knows a lot about sticking plasters for the brain (and probably the best Doc in the world), my Fiancee (who knew little, but learned) and this forum (frequented, mostly, by Angels) helped me through. I read, I wondered and I posted and people reached out.
Give it time Don. Remember there is no getting better if you want to be "normal" or "my old self again", because that is what brought you here. Break the cycle, go with the flow and look to a change for the better. Try and keep positive, the best you can, and expect down time, I do even now, but after all this I just shrug it off and tell it to ---- off! What also helps me is to come here and help others as others helped me.
Best wishes, chin up (cr*p isn't it, but try!),
David
Doing ok! You'll most probably read that I have finally got over the last of last years hospital visits and level and lookinf forward, thanks to you and many more! X
Thanks 🙏🏿😀
The meds don't stop working - but sometimes something can happen in our lives that maybe make us feel not so good? This can start a wave of depression and anxiety to sweep over you which could last a few weeks or maybe months ....... but again time should be given to let the wave ripple along and fade out.
Swapping from meds to meds in a short period often makes things worse. Not allowing enough time for one to really settle before trying another. It's such a pain that these meds take so long when we want our suffering to stop right now.
It took longer for me to recover the second time for me on these meds and I had a different experience second time around too.
Yes try and stick it out, go with the flow and keep in touch.
K xx
You've had a rough old time haven't you. Not only trying to recover and deal with the meds as we all have here, but having to undergo all the pulling and prodding about these last few months only adds to the stress. Am so glad to read that you're finally well, have had the all clear and you're feeling settled once again. Have missed your posts!
Nice to see you back (not that we wanted to be here in the first place eh).
K x
Thanks
Your advice helps xx
Hi katecogs
Hope your well I've had a good weekend 😃 I'm so glad I didn't up the dose just wanted to say thanks for your advice it's helped me so much this site as been a god send I would say I'm about 60% so hopefully things will get better x
Hi Don
Hey that's good to hear!! Glad your weekend was good. Yes its often just a waiting game .... then suddenly you turn that corner and feel good :-)
You'll definitely improve as the weeks or months go by - still get little blips now and then, but the general trend is up.
K xx