Just passed 5 week mark

Treatment and medication
1

Hi All,

So I have just passed 5 completed weeks at 20mg (prior to that I was on 5mg for 4 days then 10 mg for 2 weeks).

My main side effects were massive increase in anxiety and loss of appetite but also got low moods much worse in the first few weeks.

Morning anxiety has seemed to settle a bit although it is still there.

I was taking Valium short term for acute episodes of panic as needed (in the beginning I took it once a day at night) but I think that had a massive effect on low mood the next day after some journalling and experimenting.

Doc then changed me to Xanax 0.5mg which I take when needed (usually about twice a week).

Other major problem is sleep. I have always slept poorly before being diagnosed with depression and anxiety but I thought it was normal for me to wake up 6 times a night.

I am now on a sedative (Stillnox) but even with that I wake most mornings at 4:30.

Just wondering how everyone else is doing at the same mark, and how long I should still give it to 'kick in'.

Although I can see small improvements, its mainly to do with the side effects disappearing and not improvements as in 'better than before taking the medication'. I was in denial about depression though so I think once the diagnosis was made and I accepted it, it hit me hard, for the first time.

My mood is either very panicky during the day or quite low or sometimes just low motivation, but by the evening i usually feel a bit more like myself. (probably because I am in my safe space on the couch un der the blanket

I now do weekly CBT which is quite upsetting at times and still seeing my psychiatrist weekly until I settle on the medication. I see her on Thursday but then she goes away for two weeks which I am very nervous about!

She says that when she is back (that will be the 8.5 week mark) we will decide whether to up dose, change medications or stay where we are if its working.

I have found some books really helpful: Self help for your erves by Claire Weekes, Listening to Prozac, At last a life, and Freedom from OCD by Jonathan Grayson.

Any input and advice will be greatly appreciated.

PS. I take my Fluoxetine (Prohexal generic) at night between 7:30 and 8:30 because it makes me quite drowsy.

2

Hey there everything you say is me right now ! Sucks to be like this at 21

3

Hi Bambi,

You need to expect it to take at least 6 or so months for you to feel way better. I am at 7-8 months of being at 40mg now and it is only in the last month or so that all my side effects have totally gone and that I am back to my usual self. Your Doctor may decide to increase you now after 8 weeks if you are still feel a bit off at 20mg. My Doctor did this but increase me to 30mg for 10 days then up to 40mg. You will feel side effects again but trust me they are worth suffering through. You know what to expect when you do an increase now so it is not as stressful as when you first ever put the tablet in your mouth. 

As for the Xanax my Doctor prescribed me the same thing when I started. I refused to take it very often though as they are very addictive. I used to take them every 3 or 4th night only as I did not want to deal with withdrawls coming off something like that. 

The waking up at 4.30am is quite normal for the time of night you take your Prozac. I take mine at around the same time as you do and I am often wide awake at that time as well. I think that may be the time that our body sort of absorbs the tablet and maybe it is at our maximum. That is the way I figured it but who knows if it is correct. I used to always be wiped after taking the tablet and want to sleep and then wake up at 4.00am and be wanting to do stuff... but now it has settled in and I actually do not have that desire to sleep a lot. 

Just hang in there as it takes time!

4

Hi looking onwards . I'm 5 weeks and 3 days on 20 mg and my obsessional dreams and thoughts have increased so has my anxiety ? Should I continue going with 20mg. ? I don't want to start the process all over again it's scares me . . . Esp not going to 40 as I would have to go through everything a second time around ... just wondering will 20 fix me since it is giving me such bad side effects ??! Hmmm

5

Hi Spice.. I am not a medical doctor but what you are feeling for week 5 is quite normal with Prozac. It takes a while to balance itself out. My own Doctor refused to do an increase until I had been on 20mg for at least 7 weeks and as mentioned above he did not throw me straight up to 40mg he did an increase to 30mg to try and make the side effects less. 

6

Okay thanks I asked my pharmacy for 30 mg tablets and they said it only came in 20mg and then goes to 40mg but u have to take two 20mg tablets

7

If you look at your tablets do you see a line in between them? If so that is what is called a "score" ... you can buy these things from the drugstore in which you pop the tablet in and it cuts it in half on the score line. Do a search on "scoring tablets" ... basically what you would do then is just cut the tablet in half and take one and a half tablets and keep the other half for the next day. Do not try using a knife as the dosage can be adjusted... paying for the little thing that cuts tablets is better as it can line things up better and it is way easier. Have a look at your tablets you will instantly see if there is a line right in the middle of it. 

8

Okay thank so the ones I have re green and white and they are a capsule

9

Ok so no they can not be cut in half. I am on the white tablets but when I went on Prozac the first time around about 25 years ago I was on those capsules. 

10

Ok cool thanks are they the generic and I send u a message too

11

No I take the main brand of Prozac. 

12

Hi Hun, I think lack of motivation seems to be the final hurdle from my experience I had 2 weeks where I couldn't be bothered then I picked up more and more I'm now week7-8 had a busy week last week now two days of tiredness but hoping this will pass x