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First time on Fluoxetine

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leah89345
leah89345

Hi, sorry for another beginners post on Fluoxetine!

I'm 18 and on my first few days of 20mg, prescribed for depression. It's taken me months to finally go to the GP, after a bad few things in January prompting me to go, but now I have I don't feel any more relieved..

I've felt tired in the day and wanting to fall asleep, but at night I'm awake and struggling. I've had the dry mouth side effect and sometimes chest pain. I also feel restless and unsure what to do with myself resulting in pacing around the house!

I read on the recovery chart post on another site for Fluoxetine that weeks 2/3 can be the worst, I'm scared because I can't imagine feeling any lower than I already do

Has anyone else felt like this in their first week? Thanks in advance smile

0 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • JKT123
    JKT123 leah89345

    Posted

    Everyone is so different. I was a bit like you, took a while before asking for help, but very open minded when prescribed flux as I had tried for a long time to become emotionally at peace again but came to terms with the fact I needed assistance. 

    It takes around 3wks before your mood becomes more balanced which is a great help & seems to resolve all the anxieties & digestion problems caused by stress. It does not cure the problem, you have to tackle that yourself. Just see how you go, but I certain,y didn't feel worse when I first started them. Just make notes of any side affects you might experience. Look up fibromyalgia, those are the side affects I & a few others have experienced after 8wkd or so. I am weaning myself off the, now I have tackled the cause as the side affects for me after 8wks are proving very debilitating. I started 25th Oct 2014 on 20mg daily, for a week now 8 have dropped down to every other day, my next one is Sunday so it will be every two days & so on. Good luck. ;-)

  • vix167
    vix167 leah89345

    Posted

    Hi leah

    Welcome and do not apologise for being beginner you daft thing!:-)

    Sorry that youre feeling so troubled but its great youve sought help, that can be the hardest step. Everyone is different in how they react to flu you may get hardly any side effects and fly through quickly.

    If not this forum will help you through the ups and downs. In my experience its not a quick fix so please dont expect fast results. Tiredness and insomnia seem to be the most common but you kinda get used to it.

    I had constant nausea before i started on flu which they said was likely down to anxiety so I already felt dreadful n very down ao not sure I could have felt much worse. My physical symptoms and side effects eased around wk 6-8 but I had lingering "blues" for quite a while with a few bad days feeling physically rough again. Im at 16wks ish now n feel back to myself in fact feel great so irs all worth it for me.

    Take it one day at a time, be kind to yourself and dont expect too much too soon. Talking to family n friends helps and keeping active and busy, distract yourself as much as possible.

    Speak to your dr and make sure they know what symptoms/side effects your suffering esp if having chest pains (these could be due to a short term heightening of anxiety which is common with flu). Id say see what the next few weeks bring, you probably need to give flu 6-8wks to get into your system properly.

    Hope your journey is a quick one. Youre not alone n theres lovely people on here that can offer support and understanding. Just ask :-)

    Take care

    Vix

    • leah89345
      leah89345 vix167

      Posted

      Thank you this helps a lot!

      I've also accepted that it's not going to fix straightaway- that took me longer to except because I'm used to just dealing with things haha so going to the doctor made me realise this.

      Yeah talking does help. Before I eventually went to the doctors I got counselling myself which I paid for, but this stopped when things happened in January. The Doctor has put me on her waiting list for counselling but she said its a long list.

      Have you had any experience with that? Do you think it's worth me going back to paid counselling?

      Family is a bit harder to talk to really, not all of them are as understanding about depression being an illness and not something that you can just wake up from.

      Thank you both for the replies though - good to know I'm not the only one going through this!

    • vix167
      vix167 leah89345

      Posted

      Im waiting on counselling, had assessment few wks ago but up to 12 wks from then to start.

      My dr recommended a book depressive illness the curse of the strong. Its good book for explaining the whole illness and recovery, helped me feel better about it. It would help your family/friends understand it better to. Worth a fiver off amazon. :-)

      Good luck honey x

    • leah89345
      leah89345 vix167

      Posted

      Thanks I'll look into that book! I just keep getting the usual response of "you shouldn't be depressed at your age" which isn't helpful at all haha
    • JKT123
      JKT123 leah89345

      Posted

      If you can afford the private counselling then I really think it is worth it. You have had some experience of it so you must have a view if it helped you? This cognitive counselling seems to help people so might be worth looking for someone in your area. It depends what your issue is I guess? Honestly talking your problems through I believe is the best way of helping yourself, looking at your issue from different angles is very interesting. Looking at the positives that might come out of negatives can be quite surprising, it's just your train of thought that might need adjusting. 

      I can honestly say, the five years of heart ache I had has had a profound affect on the happy life I have built since.

      I did have two lots of counselling, but I was very lucky, I have several good friends that I could talk to & listen to too.  It's not until your emotions are under control you gather the strength to deal with the issue the best & honest way in order to improve your life. ;-) 

    • leah89345
      leah89345 JKT123

      Posted

      Hi,

      Yes I've had counselling and that would've been my 3rd lot of counselling (the paid one) which was the best so far, so I was just wondering views on GP counselling and the waiting list.

      I feel like counselling does help if you have the right counsellor you can connect with and last time I did, unfortunately it was just circumstances that meant it had to stop

      Like you I've got 8 years of issues to get off my chest which hasn't subsided so far but I've never had the counselling alongside medication so hoping it works :-)

    • JKT123
      JKT123 leah89345

      Posted

      I have done the GP counselling, I had to wait about 4 months I think, but I know people who have had to wait months & months, by which time they have sometimes felt it was too late & feel they have got through it by themselves. As you say, it all depends on the counseller, but with the GP we don't have the choice, we get who we are given. So yes, it's always worth a try to see how you go on, you have nothing to loose as long as you don't get too anxious waiting. Even if you do private counselling in the meantime you should still do the NHS on when it eventually comes along.  ;-)
  • LittleLR
    LittleLR leah89345

    Posted

    Hi Leah,

    I'm sorry to hear how you've been feeling, I know what its like and its an awful place to find yourself in.

    I've been on fluoxetine for almost 7 weeks now and initially I was anxious, felt sick, sleepy in the daytime, wide awake at night and lack of sleep was making me feel worse. Went back to my dr who advised me to take the fluoxetine at night instead and prescribed a short course of sleeping tablets so I could actually get a sleep!

    Unfortunately as the weeks went by I didn't feel any better, in fact i felt worse and was finding myself wanting to have wine more as I felt it made me feel better, in actual fact I've now realised it wasn't doubg me any favours and I have decided on no alcohol for a while. I also saw my doc again and explained I felt like I was in a black hole and wanted to hide there forever. I knew fluoxetine was likely to inutiyally make the depression worse, but not this bad. Anyway my gp has upped my dose to 40mg do I really hope to see a difference soon, I want to feel like me again!

    My advice to get through the first few weeks is to take it a day at a time, and if you are feeling considerably worse please see your gp again.

    I really hope the next few weeks are better for you, if not try and surround yourself with friends and those who care because I hid away initially and it made things worse.

    Take care of yourself

    L x

    • leah89345
      leah89345 LittleLR

      Posted

      Thank you for this, I have had the advice of taking it night time and I've started to do that :-)

      I hope upping your dosage helps you, I just can't wait for a few weeks time when I'll start to feel better - feel like I'm wishing my life away!

      Surrounding myself with family and friends who understand is hard like I mentioned earlier, I'm glad it helps you though and this forum has already settled some of my worries

      Good luck with 40mg, hope it improves for you :-)

  • sara_20584
    sara_20584 leah89345

    Posted

    Hi, my Dr just put me on flouetine for pms, but I'm not sure if it's really for me, I'm a little bit concerned about the siderfects, and I don't want it to make me feel dawn all the time, 😔 if it could help I'm willing to give it a try x just wish the siderfects wasn't so bad,
    • leah89345
      leah89345 sara_20584

      Posted

      Hi,

      I'm on my 6th day now and I already feel a bit better than I did at the start. Yesterday and today I've not felt any where near as down as I did at the start and it's making me feel more positive for the next few months that I'll be on it

      So far I'd recommend giving it a try for the first 2 weeks like the Doctors say, and hang in there :-) this forum has really helped me too to feel more normal about the side effects that might come and not everybody gets all the side effects so try not to worry before you've taken them and just take it as it comes. I'm glad I started them!

      Good luck :-) x

    • sara_20584
      sara_20584 leah89345

      Posted

      Thank you, I think I will give it a try for a couple of weeks and see how I feel, I don't feel dawn all the time just get really bad for about 1week each month then back to myself again but sometimes it will last for a while longer, x
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