DO I NEED TO TAPER OFF FROM 10MG IN SIX DAYS?

Hi Thanks for your reply.  Ok im dreading another day on this stuff. I feel dreadful so aggitated. Cant sleep. Sensitive to noise. Tearful. Nauseous.  I feel like im not me. I can't concentrate.  Even watching a movie is difficult.  Ive lost interest in doing things I liked b4 I started.  I'm too anxious to go out in public for long periods at a time.  The night is the worst.  I'm actually scared to go to sleep.  In case I might die in my sleep.  I have terrible anxiety. even if I see a fight on tv or if someone raises their voice I panic.  

Ill tell my doc all this too. I've started to write it all down.  Im very forgetful and I have weird feelings like deja vu. 

Thanks so much for your reply deb. Its so helpful knowing im not the only one suffering. At times I feel so lonely and a sense of being trapped.  It's just awful. Only 6 days in and its making my husband start to lose his patience everytime we go to bed I have an emotional breakdown in fear that I will die in my sleep. Anticipating sleep. bed time . Waking in a panic.  Really gets to me. 

I am staying positive though I have a four year old son who picks up on my mood very easily and its not nice when he tells me to smile.  Cos I look mad.

 because im usually the most happy positive person to be around.

I hope the withdrawals don't last too long or are too violent because realistically I am still withdrawing from the original meds that caused the panic and anxiety in the first place. 

Fingers crossed 

Hi claire Thank you so much for reply it's 3am my usual wake up time in prozac. My four year old son jumped into bed with me. And this of course jolted me awake in a complete panic. My mind started racing about why was he in my bed does he know im going to die? Of course this led to me nearly have a full blown panic attack. Impending doom feeling hit straight away. I managed to grab my phone. And sip water and that ceased the panic.  

As for the tapering I have prepared my last two 10mg (20mg cut in half) and cut them so they are 5mg each will last 4 days.  I think ill be ok fingers crossed coming off it. I always seem to feel better in the mornings until I have to take my flu.  Then im a mess an hour to two hours after I take it...........

Ill keep posting. It helps alot. 

How many mgs did you start on?

Don't forget, Claire, that panic attacks are nothing more nor less than fear - imagined fear that you will die when asleep - causing adrenaline to be pumped into your blood and brain. Breathing into a paper bag is supposed to calm you down - I've never tried it, though, I use slow deep breathing to achieve the same end. You've never died in your sleep so far so why should you tonight? I know the Fluoxetine makes the panic attacks much worse but the same applies - try to calm yourself. Easy to say? I've just done my fifth week on it sso I know what happens in the early days - horrible - but you can lessen it a bit with trying to keep calm. Distract yourself from your thoughts and fears if you can. It doesn't matter how, calming down does - as much as you can manage. Hard to do, I know. Good luck with it.

Yip. Im trying.  But its easier said than done. Especially when its such an enveloping overwhelming feeling. 

Ha ha I actually have thought that myself that I hadn't died in my sleep. I can laugh about it now but the feeling does come back. 

I take my hat off to you for being on it for 5 weeks! !! Well done.  Hope your feeling better?

Only 5mg,I'm obviously a bit of a lightweight!

Yeah I reckon I am too because I find with other meds. Even rec. Drugs im more sensitive than others.  

What was so frustrating was that I'd never had a panic attack until I started the medicine! I was put on it to help symptoms of chronic fatigue. The first time my husband called an ambulance as I really thought I was having a heart attack,Since then I've learnt to stay on top of it with breathing techniques,but until you're reassured that you really arent going to die it feels like a real possibility,especially in the night.

Even now,anxiety/panic feels only a few steps away all the time,something I never had before.

 

Thats crazy.  I would get off them and start looking for natural alternatives.  I was doing bikram yoga once a week . The donation class was all I could afford. Whilst on my meds that caused the panic attacks (topirimate . Topamax) . And thinking back I didn't have any probs with panic attacks until I stopped going to bikram. 

Im going to get back on that wagon this week in order to help me with the symptoms of now having to come off fluoxetine.  Garghhhhhhhhhhhh im so mad at myself for not tapering off my topamax. 

A few steps away is great!! I started with a millimeter and widened it from there. It felt like I was carrying a stomach full of molten lead for two weeks - nothing but anxiety and adrenaline. You will NOT DIE from a panic attack!! Would your husband give you a back massage during the next attack? Anything to distract you from your thoughts! Calm your nerves, reassure you that all is well except adrenaline puimping around you.

My second session with a psychotherapist was spent having a panic attack, just talking about getting old and broken - my huge fear brought on by not grieving my losses about a very damaged back. All that is back where it belongs - in the future. I'm alright and functioning right now.

Similarly, you are alright right now - hopefully nothing wrong with you except Fluoxetine induced anxiety and fear which itself brings on another panic attack. You are not going to die of a panic attack! Horrible as they are, you will survive every one of them, no harm done to you.

Be gentle, kind and loving toward yourself. Sleep tight and wake to another day. Give yourself time and space and be gentle with yourself.

Hi claire

Well it's been 7 days since stopping and im very slowly getting back to normal.....SLOWLY ha ha I have periods of time where I feel semi normal then days where my anxiety and depression peaks and I can feel the pressure in my head build and just cant seem to shake it this can even happen for a couple of hours and then all of a sudden ddissappear.i still feel quite flat most days. Really bad insomnia still. I have to take nausicalm and melatonin every night otherwise I would stay awake alllll night.  Heightened sense of smell and taste too which is really odd. And I feel very very tired by 5.30pm but not sleepy. Taking magnesium and b vitamin complex.  Will probably start st johns wort in a couple of weeks just to make sure the fluoxetine is completely out of my system first. Can you relate to any of these withdrawals. ? And did you ever feel like your old self again. ?

Woops that previous reply was for carl. I think