38 days on Fluoxetine 20mg

Katecogs, tomorrow is the end of week 11 at 20 mg and 6 months on Flu. 

Did the anxiety and depression make you feel sick as if you had the flu?

I might be able to take the depression and anxiety, but I just feel bad except at night when I feel normal. 

Hi Nancy

No the anxiety / depression never made me feel like I had flu, though I have ready many people do report this, so think it affects some and not others.  

When I was recovering I used to feel normal at night too, and every morning I felt dreadful.  Eventually I started feeling normal more throughout the day and then began waking up feeling normal too.  Its a very slow gradual process.

K x

You are right Kate. Yesterday I felt better. Was able to accomplish a lot. This morning is horrible. I keep trying to hold on to the good moments but it’s hard Friday will be 6 weeks. I will stay on this dose, for 12 weeks. 

Yes on those good days you'll be able to do lots, and on those bad days you just feel you can't even get out of bed.  On the good days, don't push yourself and race about doing everything - your body is still healing so treat it kindly.  Often we push too much and then those bad days quickly follow - its just your body telling you it needs a rest.

It can take 6-9 months to recover for some people - for some its quicker and for others longer.  Let the meds work for your individual body.

K x

Feeling exhausted and don’t want to move off the couch. Anxiety very manageable today. Does the tiredness come at 6 weeks usually I feel too energized. 44 days in.

Yesterday I worked at my church plant sale. I had some bad stomachache and head fuzziness this morning. I did’nt realize it took 4 to 5 weeks for Fluoxetine to reach steady blood levels. Still have a ways to go. Thanks for being here. Just amazed to feel tired>

Hi Lynn

Some days get you like that - you persevere on the meds, coping with bad and ok days, and then you get a day when it all just seems too much or you're too exhausted and you don't want to do anything.  That's fine - have a couch / duvet day and take time out for yourself.

Glad the anxiety was more manageable yesterday.  The tiredness can come and go, just as it would it you were feeling normal (without anxiety).  When suffering with anxiety we feel everything 10x more, so normal tiredness would feel like exhaustion.

Also because you're constantly inwardly thinking, thoughts focused on yourself and how you feel most of the time, it will deplete your energy levels.  This is also why we feel depersonalised, have a fuzzy head and can't concentrate.

As you recover more you're thoughts will turn more from yourself and onto other things instead and you'll feel lighter.

Its a slow process and recovery signs so slight they're often overlooked.  It can take many, many months to recover on these meds ....... though of course it becomes more manageable as you progress.

Take each day calmly - relax as you move around, don't rush about (imagine you're floating through whatever you're doing).  Your body will appreciate it more than if you're rushing / fighting / battling.

K xx

Kate, I am more than a little let down. Today is the end of week 12 on 20 mg and week 24 on Flu. I thought week 12 would be different. I still have no motivation, tired , depressed and shaky. Have your known Flu to take longer?  

Hi Nancy

Absolutely - it could be 9 months before you feel completely well, and at 12 weeks you may only be showing tiny improvements.  Many people don't recognise improvement because it's often so slight, so easily overlooked.  You won't start feeling happy and relieved but instead you may feel onlyslightly rested, but still be plagued with anxiety, thoughts etc.  Symptoms often ease bit by bit, one at a time.

Having those few hours feeling good is a sign the meds are working and you will feel bad again.  It's how the meds work.   Those good hours will happen again and so will those bad times.  Your reaction towards the bad matters - when they happen try not to over analyse it and just accept its part of recovery.

Those good hours mean recovery is happening.  Those are the small signs I mentioned that people overlook, because once those bad times come back they're mistaken for slipping backwards.  Instead think of them as a necessary part of recovery - they will happen.  It just means you're moving forwards.

Let it take as long as it needs and don't base your recovery on anyone else's.  Your body is unique.  Just patience and perseverance.

K x

Nancy how did your doctors appointment go. I hope all is well.

Kate, thanks for taking your times to respond. It’s amazing how a little encouragement  can help so much. 

Lynn, I don’t have any results yet, but really don’t think I have an UTI. I don’t have any of the symptoms. 

How did your day go?  Hope it was a good one. 

Having a panic attack but it’s settling down. Have you ever had one?

I have had three many years ago I didn’t even that’s what it was. All three times had to do with being in a confined space. They just lasted a few minutes. It essentially until the last few years that I realized what they were. 

Helps to know you're not alone in this journey doesn't it ........ Always good to chat on this forum  xx

After recovering as you have, it’s very kind of you to take the time to help those of us who are struggling.

If I ever get there, I hope I will do the. Same. 

I'm sure you will Nancy - you'll be so excited at recovering you'll just want to pass on all you've learnt, been through etc.  xxxxxx

hi kate,

l give up to easy and try another drug. finially had the genesite test. on pristiq which is the sister drug to venlafaxine. on 3 weeks, mornings are horrible but gets better has day goes on. i am having therapy with a shrink who is doing my meds will not change again for 6 months.

lynn williams

Hi Lyn

Its very easy to give up too soon, but the key is to stay on one meds for many, many months, through all the ups and downs it brings as the anxiety does finally die down and disappear.

Yes mornings are usually the worst - I also found my day got better.

Glad you're going to stick with the meds - it really does pay off.

K x

read your blog yesterday great stuff. gene site test said this one was right for my makeup 32 days in

did you have intrusive thoughts like you would loose control in public like yell or do something which would draw attention ?

i got DR WEEKES audiotapes and trying to let the anxiety pass through me and not fight it. it is so hard to give up the constant feelings of waiting to be better.

just started 5 weeks on desvenlafaxine. Getting through each day better in the afternoon and evening. it took you months

Ah you found my blog 😁 - so many people said 'write a book' but that's far too complicated and I doubt would ever happen, so I thought I'd just write things down in a blog lol.

Yes I had many intrusive thoughts and that's what kept my anxiety thriving. I did think I could lose control, but not in public. We all have our own individual thoughts and fears, and though all different they all cause the same distress.

Intrusive thoughts are just a side effect of anxiety though - without anxiety you wouldn't have these thoughts. Those thoughts of course then cause more anxiety, and the anxiety causes the thoughts. So its a viscous cycle.

Yes that's how my recovery started. I'd feel better by the evening only, but again would feel rubbish in the morning. Every evening became like this and over time that great feeling crept more into my day so that I'd start feeling well by the afternoon, then the morning and finally I started waking feeling good. I was on meds 3 months when I started noticing those changes, and it was 6 months before I felt really well and the morning anxiety stopped. I improved even more from there on.

thanks kate, i so worry about intrusive thoughts and the horrible anxiety they bring i make myself carry on even though isometimes feel i'll loose it in public. it can be crippling. i am looking to start a therapy that looks at my intrusive thoughts calledexposure and response therapy.

alsobought weekes audio book which is comforting

I seem to feel better at night also. Mornings I'm very tense. 5 weeks 20 mg and 1 week 30 mg. Your experience is giving me some hope

Yes that's often the problem - we worry about the intrusive thoughts, and of course its that worry that keeps them ticking over. Leaving them alone will allow them to ease and disappear.

Don't know if I've said this before (apologies if I have) but if you can liken the thoughts to that situation we all get sometimes, when you get a song stuck in your head and you go around all day humming it, until it drives you up the wall. We don't go around trying to work out why we've got it, or how to get rid of it, or worry it won't go, but we get on with our normal day and find that song disappears, and a day or so later we probably won't even remember what the song was.

Intrusive thoughts are a bit like that. They go round and round in our head and of course we worry about them, try and rid ourselves of them etc etc., but if treat them the same as that stuck song in your head by just letting it be, don't engage with it, get on with life you'll find that the thought will eventually ease and disappear. I know its harder because of the anxiety it brings, but it does work - and the anxiety about the thought eases too. By paying attention to the thoughts they'll cling harder, but by 'ignoring' them they'll eventually go away.

Yes exposure therapy is good too and the Weekes tapes are brilliant. She talks of the same method I explained a little about above. It really does work.

K x

Hi Postaldogg

Yes its strange how you can start feeling better at night - some people feel better other times of the day, but it was the evenings for me. At the time I didn't even know that it was recovery, but just that I felt relief in the evenings. As this kept happening along with every morning feeling dreadful, I began to see a pattern. Slowly my evenings turned into good afternoons and then the mornings too until I started waking with no anxiety. That took 6 months. The first time I woke with no anxiety I hardly dared move!! I still got blips throughout this time though but they got easier.

Mornings are always the worst for anxiety as its when Cortisol is at its highest.

Sounds like you're having a similar pattern to me then. Just let it happen - it'll come xx.

postaldogg, this is a very long process i gave up on prozac 20 after 8 weeks and probably should have kept going. tomorrow i will hit 6 weeks on pristiq. i will keep going until better. Seeing a psychiatrist is helping.

6 weeks in can you have one day better than bad anxiety the next

Definitely yes. This is how recovery seems to work. Took me 6 months to recover and had that all the way through, though it got better as the months ticked by.

Definitely yes. This is how recovery seems to work. Took me 6 months to recover and had that all the way through, though it got better as the months ticked by.