Struggling

Treatment and medication
1

Most of the time I feel like i'm dying, slowly wasting away due to the side effects. Some mornings I wake up and feel fine, other mornings I wake up and feel awful. Sometimes I can eat food without a thought, but lately I seem to dread and struggle eating.

I feel like i'm going mad, like I keep slipping up and I can't get control. I've locked myself up, spending my time at home trying to distract myself. I get scared thinking this is what my life will be like from now on. When really all I want to do is get back to normal.

I feel so tired and upset, I want to breakdown but I can't. I get these moments, these sudden positive thoughts and feelings where I tell myself it will be okay. I keep saying 'give it a month, you've only finished week 3'. 

I just don't know how much longer I can take, the nausea and lack of appetite really gets to me. I just want to be able to enjoy food again, eat sugar, drink tea, eat at a restaurant.

The shaking and insomnia really irritates me too, I just feel so weak sometimes.

I keep being told it will be over soon, and I keep saying to myself 'in a months time, you'll look back at this and realize how beneficial fluoxetine has been for you'.

I just hope normality returns soon, I miss being myself. 

2

I so feel for you Robert. My week 3 was horrific. I am now on week 6 and things are a bit better. I still have insomnia and may increase my dose, but feel more together. You really are in the worst part at the moment while Prozac rewires you brain. And you will improve.

Here is the famous timeline in case you missed it. Keep fighting!

Week 1: This week can go either way. Some find almost immediate improvement while other see the side effects (see weeks 2-3) after the first day.

Weeks 2,3: These are almost always the most difficult. Anxiety and depression can get worse than before the medication. Side effects kick in, these can include sleeplessness, nightmares, diarrhea, nausea, hot flashes, excessive sweating (especially at night), dry mouth, muscle twitches, overall muscle weakness and pain, zero appetite, and very negative mental outlook. My advice is, take these one day at a time and try not to get discouraged, not every day will be bad and better times are ahead!

Weeks 4,5: Some improvement. The side effects lessen to some point, and there are moments when you start to feel normal. Typically evenings are the best and mornings the worst. Many start playing around with dosage at this point because they are told that the Prozac should be working, my advice: hold the course!

Weeks 6,7: More improvement. Maybe 50% to 70% better than before starting. There are often blips where you feel just terrible for a few days, but not usually over a week. Some side effects lessen, but also you may get new side effects. Hang in there, you are getting ready to turn a corner!

Weeks 8-10: Even more improvement. There still are blips, but they are less severe and shorter, maybe 1-2 days. Not normal yet, but getting better day by day. The side effects are usually 75% or so gone. Light at the end of the tunnel!

Weeks 10-12: Maybe this is wishful thinking for me (I'm not here yet), but this is where most see the best results. Some quotes from this time period: "best in months", "Amazing", "Feel good", "brilliant". Again, this is for the people for whom the prozac did work, not everyone, and for those who stuck to their original dosage. For some, this happens at 7 weeks, for some, 3-4 months. But, from what I have read, 10-12 weeks is the payoff time.

3

Thanks for your reply Dom,

This week I have felt some improvement in the evenings, feeling better and being able to drift off a bit more when sleeping. Some mornings I have felt alright as well. I have brief moments of normality that come and go. Been suffering with heart palpitations a lot lately.

I'm just hoping the nausea and vomiting clears up soon, along with the shaking. I feel like a frail hospital patient sometimes. 

Hopefully within the next week or so there are more improvements, I have a lot of things coming up that I really want to enjoy. 

4

I had the palpitations Robert and breathing in through nose as far as I could, holding for 3 seconds then breathing out through mouth using lips to breathe out real slow helped massively.

Week 3 is early days and you will definitely start feeling better soon. It sounds like your sleep is way better than mine already!

5

My sleep fluctates, some nights it is better than others. I do try deep breathing exercises, sometimes it works. Other times the ovethinking gets too much.

6

Hi Robert!

I'm sorry to hear you are feeling this way. I completely understands and know the feeling of just wanting to get back to your normal self...

I took 10mg for ~18 weeks and thought I would never get better, and the side effects were horrendous. My worst was definitely week 4 when I thought I'd need to go to a mental hospital. But slowly after that week, things improved and I stopped focusing on it so much, and actually achieved my best semester in Uni so far despite extreme anxiety. The 10 mg isn't enough so I have recently upped my dose and am going through the same side effects just not as extreme.

I promise though, that you are going through the worst now and it will soon fade. Just take it one minute at a time, you are doing well distracting yourself, and go on walks when you can.

 After a while on the 10mg I realized I was doing things I was too scared to do before. I am still nowhere near where I need to be, but I know that with time and the increase, I will be able to implement things into my regiment to improve my life.

A great idea someone gave me was to buy a big calendar and mark on it milestones and cross off dates like "week 4" and "week 5"... I loved doing that and I then put the monthly calendars on my wall, and I am proud of how far I have come, when a couple months ago I couldn't even communicate with my boyfriend.

Good luck and keep us updated. Xoxo

7

Hi there,

I was put on 20mg Fluoxetine, the side effects have been absolutely awful. A lot of the time I feel like i'm going mad. 

I'm really hoping it will pass soon, I'm just so fed up. I've been tempted to ring 111 today and get some advice on the medication. A lot of people have told me that the side effects will pass and that i'm going through the worst. 

I'm just hoping my confidence comes back soon, I'm so tired of feeling like this. x

8

Yes, I completely understand, and it must be especially difficult since you were started on 20mg, which although is a normal dose, mine was less and my side effects still horrible. I am at a similar timeline as you on my increase and going through the worst now...i also felt mad and thought that the medication wouldn't work for me and I had got it all wrong.

Now though, my anxiety has decreased little by little as well as confidence increased. It's not dramatic, but it is a Great Leap Forward for me. I know how it feels to want to return to your normal self, you will get there. And you are not alone. If you need someone to talk to about detailed issues and if you can't talk to family or friends, feel free to private message me, as I found that helpful with others my first time around. 

9

Hi Robert I also was put on 20mg fluocetine 6 weeks and 2 days ago I feel dreadful it has not helped yet I am struggling to say the least have problems lying still panics and great discomfort my head feels like it is on fire I don't think this is the med I think it is pure anxiety I so want relief I long for peace you are not alone