dose increase
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hi all!
So am on my 3rd week on 20mg of flu and as i expected ive been upped to 40mg. Its not my first time on that dose but it's been many years and this time everything seems to be working out differently and worse.
Im having the worst ride of the past 14 years and although i trust the process i find myself in need of reassurance...
Ive also been given zopiclone to sleep to help me in these first weeks. (Quite scared of liking those too much but i need them right now...) do was going to prescribe beta blockers too (for my anxiety) but changed her mind when she saw i had asthma.
anyways, can someone offer a word or two in terms of how it was to increase so early?, my SE were just starting to calm down a bit , what should i expect? Strugglin to see benefits still...
0 likes, 61 replies
carl58303 ana15328
Posted
Rough time, eh? Is that from the Flu or do you mean you're having a rough ride in life right now?
I've been on 20mg Flu for seveeral months and feeling great. I don't know what it is like to increase to 40mg but I can tell you a bit about Zopiclone. I was on it before I started Flu, certainly stayed on it during te early weeks and for a while afterwards. Then I noticed I was sleeping well enough and decided to come off Zopiclone - I had been taking it every night for ages. I did it by decreasing a half tablet every other night and when I got to no Zopiclone every othherr night I just extended the number of no drug nights until I didn't even think about taking any. I was scared at first, not taking any - concerned. BUt all was well and a slow decrease worked well for me. I am still sleeping soundly.
So I'd say don't worry about the Zopiclonne. Take it while you need it and until you find you are sleeping well enough again, then wean yourself off. Might take several months, as it did me.
Flu has worked and continues to work for me - and I hope it does for you, soon. You know it's a rough ride getting onto it - and I assume the same for an increased dose, but don't know - but there should be great benefits once you are fully on it.
Good luck, stay with the programme and think of the summer months ahead.
ana15328 carl58303
Posted
Am having a rough time depression and anxiety wise, fluoxetines side effects just add to it but that i hope and know it will settle so its ok.
Its really good to know zopiclone neednt be a problem, good to know you were able to wean yourself off without problems. I just dont want to think ill be adding any more issues by taking them. They are helping me A LOT,so ill take the relieve they give me for now until im in a better place.
Thanks for the reply!really helps!
carl58303 ana15328
Posted
Zopiclone is an aid to your recovery, same as Fluoxetine. You have to stop Zopiclone sooner or later - but that is a decision you need not worry about just now. Now is the time to be good to yourself - and hopefully it will become a habit you don't give up.
ana15328 carl58303
Posted
I have recently started to look after myself a bit. I always tend to put everything and everyone else before me because i think i can do without or i can push myself a little more and obviously it hasnt been working very well... so trying to put me first a bit and do what i need to to get back on top of life. Am starting therapy soon also, that should come in handy. It just seems like a never ending road sometimes but i will get there, just a matter of time
X
karen76145 ana15328
Posted
ana15328 karen76145
Posted
I find that too with the ups and the downs and try hard to not forget the ups when i hit a low but still find it so hard to put things into perspective sometimes. Am hoping anxiety will not arise too much again, i find my mornings very anxious but i have had overall less anxiety since starting flu. Hate the anxiety the most, just eats you up.
I keep thinking how glad i am to have found this site because im finding you all so helpful i cant even express it.
XxX
karen76145 ana15328
Posted
karen76145
Posted
ana15328 karen76145
Posted
Today i found myself quite hyper and upbeat, quite good actually but do have quite a bit of anxiety. We'll see how it goes!
xxx
Richo67 ana15328
Posted
It seems you are getting some great advice on here - Carl....wow! You have hit the nail on the head.
This is about having confidence in you - you are the important thing here. Whatever your duties/responsibilities to others are - if YOU are not right, there IS NO you and others will suffer for that too.
I upped after 3-4 weeks (initially to extra 20 every other day) and the side effects were bad. It didnt seem quite as bad as others on here, but when i think back to it they were.
I have shared both my treatment/side effects and my reasons for being in this situation with some work friends. It is amazing the support that they give to me. In turn, they have shared their problems and we seem to have formed a small mutual understanding community. It is really nice to have others you can trust and talk to without the stigma that goes along with mental health issues (however minor).
I recommend this to everyone - a small number of semi-strangers (now friends - good friends) - it is easier to share things with them than closer family.
Wow - just typing this has made me realise how important this is to me.
ana15328 Richo67
Posted
Am hoping for these pills to kick in already and staying hopeful itll happen sooner rather than later
carl58303 ana15328
Posted
"( i never ever share my problems with anyone)" - and now I'm taking pills.
"I realise we're never as isolated as we think we are if only we reach out". - and that's the way to get back to good mental health and off the pills.
I don't know a single person who does not have troubles and concerns of one sort or another. Sharing ourselves is te only way to dicover we are not alone, not weird or strange or so very different. We are just part of the human experience in all its richness and diversity.
In my experience Flu does not 'kick in' - it kinda creeps up on you along a wavy line. I'm eight months in and still noticing change with good days, better days and the ocassional chocolate and ice cream day.
Richo67 ana15328
Posted
When I have people I can tell stuff to....AND... they still talk to be as though I am normal (i.e. don't avoid me or the conversations afterwards) it's like acceptance..... it IS acceptance.... My current anxieties are related to a loved one with drink problems.... I sought help - they did not. I can now get through the week without the constant dread of another untriggered confrontation in front of (or involving) my children. I am stronger and not reduced to the nausious, quivering jelly that i was previously. My children need me to be able to face life and it's challenges - not run away and quake. My "friends" offer me advice, comfort and sympathy (when I need that most). This helps me to be me, whatever happens.
There you go - once more shared!
karen76145 carl58303
Posted
Thank you, Carl, for saying this. I so needed to hear it! I'm 14 weeks in and last week for almost the whole week I felt really good and now I'm back in a bad slump, which was making me really worried. I guess we just need continual reassurance that everything will even out eventually.
Thanks again for your words.
ana15328 carl58303
Posted
You are very right indeed.
Although i know is not good for me to keep things and wouldn't advice that to anyone i do tend to do that myself. Find that i can be of such great help to others but somehow don't apply my own words to myself. Im trying to start now though .Little step by little step .
And yes, while they dont just kick in, i cant help but hope for a time where i have more ups than downs i guess. Just looking forward to a bit of inner peace, instead of the extreme lows, the anxiety and the constant monologues i have trying to rationalise things and convince myself that im gonna be ok. The more i type the more im realising im my own worst enemy! Haha a lot of selfwork on the horizon for me!
karen76145 ana15328
Posted
You said it exactly! Thanks
carl58303 ana15328
Posted
When I was in the mire of the first few weeks, Kate from here told me about the joy of living that would come. She was absolutely right! I get lots of joy tese days. The sun is beating in through thhe open door and instead of bemoaning the dazzle on my computer screen, I'm warmed and happy - joyous - at the feel of the sun on my skin. The cats are dozing, thinking about supper maybe, my stomach is telling me to get some lunch, a very important match on TV this afternoon - life is good!
Do you know a good way to stop those monologues? Physical activity until you are out of breathe. Run up and down stairs, down your street, hoovering like a demented hoovering-person, whatever, You know the triangle - thought, feeling, action - change one and the others necessarily change, too. Of course you don't feel like doing it - which is exactly why we should.
If only I took my own advice, I'd never have needed Flu in the first place!
karen76145 carl58303
Posted
karen76145 carl58303
Posted
Thank you, Carl, for saying this. I so needed to hear it! I'm 14 weeks in and last week for almost the whole week I felt really good and now I'm back in a bad slump, which was making me really worried. I guess we just need continual reassurance that everything will even out eventually.
Thanks again for your words.
carl58303 karen76145
Posted
ana15328 carl58303
Posted
True about the activity,my house hasnt been this clean in years! I cant just sit down, always doing something... but running out if things to clean, 10 months ago i used to run 8 miles 3 times a week, i havent been out running in months, need to get back on it..
Hope your afternoon is being as pleasant as your morning sounded, been having a pretty decent day myself, lots of playing in the sun with the kids and behaving like one myself
x