I have been on Prozac 4 months and 2 of them were better and now I'm going back to the way I was before. What do I do now? I'm so miserable and don't understand why this is happening plus I'm pregnant.
Hi Nicole,
I have setbacks just like what you are describing. I was progressing, though not as fast as I wanted, and then at about the same timeframe as you, I had what seemed to be major setbacks and didn't know when I was ever going to get better. It's just part of the long process. I'm sorry that you are suffering. Also, like you've said, your pregnancy with all the hormones is probably affecting you, too.
Did it pass or did you up the medicine? I hate it I just want to be my normal self again. I feel hopeless and thought I was getting better.
The medicine doesn't stop working, what you're experiencing is perfectly normal. As you recover you'll find that you're up and down and often feels like you're back at the beginning. Just carry on, understand this will pass and you should find yourself in calmer waters again in time. This will repeat itself as you recover, but the bad times will get less and less.
Its a long journey, but you'll get there.
K x
I haven't felt like this in a couple months I guess or maybe it just seems like that. I have woke up like this since Monday. I feel like it's stopped and I'm starting all over and it's scaring me that I'll be stuck like this forever and I'm pregnant. I hate it and don't understand it. I have a perfect life and have no reason to have this. I have intrusive thoughts and depression 
(( it never going to stop.
No, I didn't up the medicine, I just waited it out. I posted on here just like you, and I read my Bible and prayed to get me through it. I am feeling much better as of yesterday and today, but not getting my hopes up too much as I almost expect it might not last too long. So many ups and downs. I know how you feel, though. You think you've made it through to the other side and then comes another setback. I did have what seemed like a major setback around the time that you are, when I was truly wondering if I was, in fact, ever going to get 100%. After I got through that, now it seems that I am improving once again. Hang in there and do things that make you feel better, even if it doesn't last long, hopefully it will get your mind off the depression/anxiety for a little while.
I know exactly what you're feeling that you might not ever get better, but like Kate says, this will pass. Kate is a lifeline through this horrible journey. Like she said, it is perfectly normal. Please keep talking, as this really helps.
Thank you Karen I just have so much anxiety of getting worse after the baby is born and I don't think I can handle it. Do you have intrusive thoughts? It's stuff that randomly comes in my mind that's bad and I hate it. Last night I had 3 bad dreams. I hate waking up feeling like dying. I don't want to die and I don't want the thoughts I just want to be back to my normal happy self. I wouldn't ever do anything like that but I guess I fear the medicine will make it worse or make me do something I wouldn't normally do. It's so awful. I've never had depression just anxiety. I got the intrusive thoughts after a traumatic miscarriage. I took Prozac once before and it helped. This time not so much. Mornings and right before bed always seem the worse.
Oh yes, I definitely have intrusive thoughts and bad dreams that make you feel horrible when you wake up. Prozac does increase dreaming along with intensity and probably because of the anxiety, they are bad dreams. I have intrusive thoughts alot, especially on the bad days. It's very hard to counter them, but just remember that it's not you, it's the anxiety that is making you think crazy things. The intrusive thoughts will lessen also, as you improve.
Thanks Karen! It's really testing my faith lately. I pray every night and I just want God to hear me
I know what you mean. It takes a huge amount of faith, because when you feel like this, God just seems so far away. But He always hears our prayers when we are searching for Him. You just have to keep telling yourself that, because your mind wants to tell you that He's against you, and when you feel this bad it is easy to believe it. Just keep praying and reminding yourself. It is a battle, but in the end your faith will be stronger.
I forgot to mention that when I took prozac in the past, it seemed to work quicker, too. But this also seems to be typical, as I have heard others mention the same thing. My mornings can be very bad and relief finally comes in the early afternoon.
I took it for 8 weeks and was completely healed and now 2 years later here I am I guess I was extremely lucky and took it for granted. I guess I feel like I've done something wrong and I'm being punished. I've always had health anxiety so this is a whole new ballgame for me besides the intrusive thoughts after my miscarriage.
I know, it does feel like you've done something wrong,but that's just your feelings right now because of the anxiety and you can't trust them to tell you the truth. When you are full of anxiety, you can't think straight and your feelings follow what you think. That's why you need to come on here often to talk. Keep reminding yourself that you will come through this and God loves you.
Thank you! I really appreciate it. On a better note I just had an obgyn appt and the baby is good!
That's wonderful, Nicole!
Unfortunately this up and down business is part of the recovery process and many people go through it. Think of it as a side effect .... just let it be there (difficult I know), and you'll find it will start to disappear again. It's hard to believe it when you're back in that feeling again, but it'll go.
I also never had a reason for being depressed and anxious - just stress that started mine off, but once I had it, it stuck to me like Teflon. I was ill on and off for about 15 years and nothing helped, but as soon as I started on the SSRI's it slowly started lifting, and around 6 months I was feeling good. I had the up and down period too and it came back every so often. Eventually it disappeared completely.
Intrusive thoughts are side effects of anxiety too. Your mind becomes tired, and thoughts begin to stick to a tired mind and end up going round and round. I had intrusive thoughts, daily, and scared myself half to death. As Karen says as you begin to recover the thoughts become less scary and lose their importance, eventually being put to the back of the mind where they came from - they really won't bother you eventually.
Remember this isn't you - this is the illness - and as you start to recover everything will be put back into perspective.
Ive been there, suffered for years and never thought I'd get better. Didn't understand it either and thought it was just me. There was no internet, so no sites like this, and kept it to myself for years.
Thank god for medicine, site like this, family, friends and people here to talk to who understand.
K x
It's just an awful thing to go through. I have awful intrusive thoughts that make me feel like I'm a monster. I had a traumatic miscarriage 2 years ago which caused them and I took Prozac 2 months and was cured. I had another miscarriage last sept and then in dec they started again because I became really depressed. My intrusive are awful though. I had the pregnancy terminated because of a lot of problems (hydrops) they said it could kill me to carry her and she had fluid around all her organs and she wouldn't never be able to breathe. So I get flash backs of that. I have thoughts of harming myself (which I don't want to die or do anything like that) I get thoughts of hurting my loved ones or someone else doing it. I don't know if it's because I feel like I killed my baby or what I feel so messed up. I would never hurt anyone and I think that's why they drive me crazy. I'm suppose to start therapy because I'm pregnant now and I was on birth control. I don't even want to tell anyone I know about these thoughts or a psychiatrist because I'm scared of what they will think. I wouldn't ever hurt anyone and it's so upsetting that stuff would pop in my mind. I hate myself for having these thoughts and don't know how to make them stop.
I'm sure you probably think I'm some lunatic now I also only taking 5mg of Prozac because I'm scared it will hurt the baby now. I don't want it to have any mental problems.
Nicole, no one on here thinks you're a lunatic. And you certainly didn't kill your baby. The baby would not have lived and you might have died. It was the right thing to do. God forgives you and you have to forgive yourself. Ask the Lord to help you.
I had the same types of thoughts when I had my third child. I had impulses to do things that I would never normally do, and it was very scary. Sometimes when I would be sitting in a chair and one of my children was sitting at my feet playing, I would out of the blue get the impulse to just kick them in the head, which I would normally never even think something like that. Also, when driving I have had the impulse to go off a bridge with the children in the car. When you have thoughts like that just refuse it and realize that it is not you, it is the illness and start cleaning or something else that will occupy your mind. I thought I was going crazy for a while and could not tell anyone, until I finally saw a therapist and got on prozac. They can really help you to sort through what is going on and help you to understand that you are not yourself right now. please tell them everything so that they will understand what you are going through and can help you better. When I went to therapy it did help alot to know that it wasn't the real me thinking those things and that I would get back to normal. When do you go in for therapy?