Day 15 Anxiety and nausea really bad

Hi Phil

Thank you so much for your kind words, I will keep going and just hope things will get better, I do eat bananas but as I'm finding it hard to eat at all at the moment its hard, even though I do not want anyone to go through this , it is reassuring to know I'm not alone and that it is normal with this medication, thank you again and I hope you are ok

I lost about 2 stone before I could get a bit of an appetite back, now I'm eating for Britain! It will come back and you will get better. Fluoxetine is the oldest of these meds but I still think it's the most stable, especially if you miss a couple of days, it stays in the system longer. i had to literally pinch my nose to keep the food down, when I could! I'm just over 4 months in and still get some fatigue and a bit of queasiness, have today for some reason maybe not to do with the meds! On the whole though I'm so much better, no anxiety at all now. Just seemed to go, not overthinking stuff and just letting it go and confident my brain is working the way it should, and that I deserve. Keep going, it'll get better.

Hi Phil

How long did it take for the anxiety to get better, I have also lost a lot of weight as I find it so hard to eat, I get burning in my stomach along with anxious stomach, I'm so glad you are feeling better

Hi Denise, I'm afraid it did take a while tbh, about 2.5 months before it just suddenly went. So weird and subtle I didn't really notice at first but what an incredible relief now though. I had pretty bad health anxiety and even discussed anorexia with the Doc but it's just one of the side effects, don't worry too much, they'll all go in a while they're not permanent, it's important to know that as it gives you the confidence to carry on. Have look for some of the other posts from Nataliya and katecogs, they're just brilliant and even further ahead than me! It'll help you understand what the heck is going on. Try to get down the doctors and ask about the anti nausea stuff and another one which can really help with the anxiety, Propranolol I think it was. I'm surprised they didn't offer that anyway, they're quite mild ones. Can you drink milk? I'm on the really fatty Jersey one atmo, just anything really bad for a while to just get some weight back on. I'm in the same age group as you but don't care too much about bad things food wise right now after the hell of getting on these meds!! Just accept what's happening and know that you'll be feeling a lot better soon ok, we all went through what miserable times you're having now. Big hugs, keep going, keep in touch whenever, we'll try to get back to you soon as possible, I'm sure one of the others on here will be posting shortly to help support you ok.

Hi Phil, I am taking propranolol which helps with some of the physical side effects and i do drink milk a lot, as i am not eating properly, thanks for all your words of encouragement and I will keep in touch , take care

Hi, Denise.

Another 60s lady here. Sorry you're feeling rough.

I'm just into my 8th week on Fluoxetine. I lost my appetite a little to start with but more in the sense of couldn't be bothered, not nausea . I'm surprised I didn't lose weight, though, because for several weeks I had to rush to the loo straight after meals - they didn't stay in long! TMI, sorry.

Do you take yours with food? That's supposed to help with the nausea.

How much Propranolol are you on? Is it worth asking the doctor if you can increase? Or spread throughout the day? Or try the slow release?

Prop. has really helped me with the giant butterflies and the hand tremors and most of the runs.

Finally, are you taking any multivitamins? I'm trying to lose weight but because of a (finally healed) Achilles tendon injury I haven't been able to exercise much, so am on a fairly low calorie budget, and feel I'm missing out on nutrients. I checked with the GP, and she was happy for me to take them, so I'm on Holland and Barrett's Senior multivits. I figured that trying to keep my vits and mins up had to help towards not feeling generally dire.

Good luck, and keep going. Fluoxetine can be hard to get onto but definitely worth it.

Hugs.

Hi, I am taking 40mg propranolol every morning, and I take magnesium and vit D , today I am really bad again woke up at 4am with anxiety and hot flushes, its exhausting I am trying to eat a bit of breakfast before i take medication but I am having trouble eating, are you feeling better now

I'm feeling a lot better than I did. I won't say I'm completely "There" yet but I have begun to be sure that there is a "There" to get to.

The other thing that has really helped me is an app called Balance. It's the one for Meditation and Sleep, not the other, unrelated, one for yoga!

Ten minutes a day with a man with a lovely voice has really helped calm me. Also, for the past three nights I've used their getting back to sleep meditation. I still wake up after about 5 hours sleep but I turn the meditation on and so far have got another 60-90 minutes. The sleep meditation lasts 2 hours but I don't think I've heard more than 5 minutes.

You have to put card details in but it's free for a year, you can cancel your subscription the next day and still get to use it. For me, it's been so helpful that I took out a Lifetime membership when it was on special offer.

And (sorry if I'm bombarding) my GP referred me to a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner. Only 4 sessions, last one tomorrow, but they've been useful.

I'm do glad you are feeling better, I will keep going and hope I get there in the end, its so exhausting and I dont really feel like going anywhere at the moment, I know I should try to get out but , but its so hard especially with the nausea, I will have a look at balance and thank you for your support x

Hey Denise! Hope you don't mind me posting again but it's a good and healthy thing to do! I'm hearing what you're saying, deep down inside. Because I know exactly what you're going through, and it's far from nice. I've posted a bit on here in some of the other messages about fluoxetine. This is one hell of a journey, even just to get on the little green meanies, and you're so well ahead to get to this point, past the first contact with the doctor, that first hugely important step that will change your life. Be very proud. Just try to get ANYTHING down food wise, it doesn't matter at this point, nutrition of any kind is vital. Yes, you're going to loose weight, yes you're going to feel sick a lot, yes, it makes you sit on the edge of the bed crying into the mirror. BUT, you will get through it. And when you're feeling better, you'll never know such a proud moment. You WILL get better Denise. You're feeling pretty grim because the meds are starting to work, that's a reassurance in itself even if it doesn't feel like it now! Hold on tight, it's a bloody awful ride for a while to get on this stuff, but it does work, it's a L'Oréal moment, because you're worth it x

Hi Phil

Thank you again for your support, its been another hard day today , had anxiety nearly all day, nausea a bit better now but bad this morning, I get such bad physical symptoms and so many, and even though I feel so tired cant seem to sleep properly, I wake up so early with bad anxiety and crying , yes I seem to do that a lot, but because of posts on here I will carry on and just hope I can look forward to better days in the future, Thanks again

The only easy day was yesterday. Yes the nausea usually is worse in the morning, because of a build up of the hormone cortisol in your stomach, the fight or flight adrenaline, which is made worse because of your anxiety and worry frightening you as soon as you're awake. It will pass off, so many of us have and are going through that nasty side effect, you're not alone, but I know it feels like it. That's important when you said it passed off a bit later, eventually it'll go and your appetite will return. Try to eat when you feel you can, no matter what it is, just get it down. I spent many mornings after maybe only 2 hours sleep, waking up in a panic with almost hallucinations, crying like a baby, pacing back and forth in the house, but I felt better after, in the knowledge that the demons were leaving me and I was in charge. So many side effects, fatigue, ringing ears, blurry vision, headaches, sickness, shaking hands and legs, sweating, tight breathing, loss of appetite, panic, awful vivid dreams, nausea and sickness just cleaning my teeth! And more! They'll go Denise, please just hang in there. They are only temporary side effects, which we've all had to go through, otherwise we wouldn't understand how you're feeling right now. Sometimes the doctors don't know how it feels unless they've been through it too, and the information leaflet is not accurate, instead of 4 to 6 weeks, they should say months, but I guess if patients saw that, they would be put off taking it from the outset!! If you were going to have a really bad reaction it would have happened quickly in the first 24 hours. There will be much better days ahead for sure, just keep on going. Big virtual hug and arms around you ok x

Hi Phil

Thanks again for you message, it really does help me move forward, it seems its really early days for me so I will push on and wait for some relief from this awful illness, Big hugs

Hold on Denise you're getting closer each day, nearly the first month, nearly there. The side effects do feel like you're getting worse for a while but they will start to go, the nausea is awful along with the loss of appetite, do I know! you've come a long way now, it will get better, dig deep, don't give up now. Big Hugs x