Day 15- massive headaches and tiredness

Hi Smorse,

I definitely have/had irrational thoughts. I also have OCD so mine go pretty crazy sometimes. One of my irrational ones was this: I am scared of my kids getting into my medication even though it's impossible for them because i keep it up so high. Also, I use a pill cutter for my fluoxetine and it get's a build up of crumbs in it from the pills and once when i emptied it out my window i had the irrational fear that they would somehow find the teeny tiny crumbs outside in the garden, and eat them and get sick and it would be all my fault. This thought actually gave me severe anxiety and i was freaking out about it and almost went to go and find the crumbs myself, lol. 

My OCD thoughts went out of control in the early days of fluoxetine. One of my fears is that i'm terrified of going crazy or into psychosis so i started getting intrusive pseudo paranoid thoughts, like stuff that crazy people would think, although i didnt beleive them but they scared the crap out of my because i was always checking if i was going crazy. Not sure if either of these things are even slightly close to your irrational thoughts but thought i'd share anyway

Hi Aquin -- thank you so much for sharing your experience. I really do think it helps us all to understand that other people are going through the same things that we are. My most irrational worry is that I'm going to be home with my daughter while my husband is at work and that I will pass out and my poor daughter (age 6) won't know what to do and be crying until he gets home. I have no problem or disorder that would make me fear this, yet there it is. have talked to her about using the phone to call her grandma for help (my inlaws only live a block away from us) and I think she gets it but I pray we never have to find out. It's just totally unreasonable but I get these thoughts inside my head and I can't get rid of them. I haven't been diagnosed with OCD but honestly that should probably be on my list too. I try to distract myself but it's not always easy, and it's so unfair to my family because it reached a point where I didn't even want to do things with them, like go out shopping or go to family dinner. That was my breaking point that finally made me go back to my doctor. And I'm so glad I did but now I'm just trying to cope with the side effects. Thank you again for sharing, I figure if our experiences can help even one other person then that's wonderful. 

Smorse, i have that fear sometimes too! I have mild chronic fatigue so sometimes i do feel a bit dizzy and weak, but ive never actually passed out the whole time I've been unwell so i try i remind myself that. I don't like being out of the house by myself for the same reason.. the best thing we can do is expose ourselves to the fears so they lose power because we find out the bad thing doesn't end up happening. ?

Yes, you are right about that! I try to remind myself about all the times I was anxious about any given thing and everything turned out fine. I know in a few weeks when the Flu really kicks in I'm going to feel so much better - I keep reminding myself of that too, or trying to at least! 

I am EXACTLY the same way! It's the pits. I have awful health anxiety and I can convince myself I have just about any disease. My mom tries to be supportive but she'll say things like "just don't think that way". If only it were that easy! I was on Lexapro for years and it did a great job of helping me control my irrational thoughts. I'm looking forward to having the same good results on fluoxetine. I love that we can all support each other thru this process!

It's so hard. On the one hand you know you can't allow yourself to live that way but on the other hand it's just so consuming. I like to think that most people try to be understanding but if someone hasn't lived through it themselves they really don't know what it's like. Absolutely, if it were that easy to not have anxious thoughts then none of us would have a problem. I took fluoxetine for 4+ years after I had my daughter and was diagnosed with post-partum depression and it did wonders for me. Just recently (after a 7 month break) I was diagnosed with recurring depression/anxiety so I am back on 20mg daily. I don't remember having any side effects the first time around but this time I have been having headache, trouble sleeping, nausea/diarrhea .... I keep telling myself that if I end up feeling as good as I felt when I took it before then it's all going to be worth it, but at some points it's just terrible. It does make me feel better to read everyone's posts on here and be reminded that I'm not the only one going through this. I can't wait until we can all come on and share our success stories. 

I look forward to reading those success stories as well! I have read many times that the second, third, etc time on these meds is always harder. Not sure why, but it's definitely been the case for me too. Any time I want to quit, I remind myself that I really can't control my thoughts on my own, so I need to stick it out. We can do this! I'm on day 23 of 10 mgs. It's been quite a ride.

I have also read that the second time can be harder and for that reason I almost asked my doctor for something else, but we agreed to stick with flu. since I had good luck with it in the past. He said he didn't think 10mg would be high enough for me so he gave me 20, which is what I started on the first time I took it as well. I try to tell myself that too, my philosophy is if you need it, you need it. Especially if you're like me and have lost all the enjoyment you used to get out of life, nobody should have to put themselves through that.