I have started Fluoxetine for severe anxiety and OCD

Hi Phoebe my name is Phoebe too! Thanks for your kind words. I'm so excited to get back to my "normal".

It's a great name isn't it? 😄 I have been taking fluoxetine for over a year but I am feeling ready to stop taking it (the only reason I have been taking it for so long is because I was moving abroad and didn't think it was the best time to stop). You will get back to your own normal. I feel better than I ever did before. Just make sure you are honest with yourself and your doctor so you can both work out the best way to get you back to feeling like yourself ??

Phoebe is a pretty name, I like it!! Glad you are doing so much better!! Did you have OCD too? Xx

Thank you! ☺️ Very severe anxiety, but I believe I was also showing symptoms of OCD because of how I was coping with it! Xx

Dear Phoebe,

your post really gave me hope! I'm suffering from very intrusive thoughts, I feel like a prisoner in my own mind. I started Prozac 20 mg one week ago and will take 40 mg the coming week. How much did you take? How long did it last until it worked? And would you say you feel completely normal again? 

Thank you so much in advance!

Kind regards, Zejna

Hi Pipk

Im so sorry to hear you had a rough night. I remember i had one particularly bad physical symptom day. I woke up woozy and have bad tremors in my hands and arms. It was hideous! Im certain it will pass for you soon. I spent most of that day in bed. Are you feeling any better this morning?

To answer your other questions, im not too certain about if i had more side effects going from 5mg to 7.5mg. I was already in my bad phase then so it's hard to tell because I was already feeling liie my symptoms were worse. And yup my OCD started as a result of my illness. It started as bad health anxiety OCD. i was obsessed thinking i had cancer. Then funnily enough the harm OCD started when i tried lexapro on April. It made me scared of hurting others so i stopped it right away. But the thought continued to haunt me for months after. Then i had the breakdown in July and had a panic attack so bad that i went to the hospital to get assessed because I thought i was going mad. When i got home that day i had the thought of going straight to the knife draw and thats when the self harm thoughts started. It didn't help that i became severely depressed for weeks after that panic attack. It was the worst time ever. I was scared i would lose control and hurt myself. I had counseling and thats when i realised it was OCD and actually quite common to experience scary intrusive thoughts. I have a friend who i met on here (we chat on FB now) and she started meds at the same time as me for exactly the same reason as you - coming off birth control. She's doing soooo much better and still only on 5mg but is about to go up to 7.5mg.

My day was ok yesterday. I literally have minimal anxiety which is a miracle in itself, but i still dont feel "right". I feel on edge a bit in the first half of the day like im still waiting for the next panic attack even though it never comes. I think i have ptsd from my recent breakdown so it will take a while to trust my body not to fall back into that scary place.

Hi xx thanks for the reply. I'm doing okay this morning actually, thank goodness. Better then last night anyway. Oh you poor thing that sounds like a nightmare!!! What a horrible thing to go through! I've had the year from hell coming off birth control! It made me feel really crazy and I was so determined to get through it naturally but then I got put on progesterone cream and it made me much worse!! Yes there seems to be heaps of girls out there who have come off birth control and having the same experience! So is your friend finding even just 5mg helps her?

That's awesome your anxiety has subsided! Let's just hope the rest will follow and you will continue to get better and better.

One of my biggest anxieties is that the medication will change my thinking for the worse, so I think I keep checking myself etc and my thoughts!

Yes I do feel the 5mg is helping this Friday will be 8weeks on the meds. I had my implanon taken out June 1 with in 3 days I started to feel the anxiety and not really knowing what the heck was going on I ended up in ER with what I thought was a heart attack which was only Extream anxiety about two weeks later I was back in the ER cuz I was having horrible thoughts of killing my son. Then myself. After that I got meds that scared the hell out of me. I was trying to get threw it naturally and that's what happened. So today as I sit here I feel relief I still have heart palpitations and get crazy thoughts the week b4 my period and it gets kinda bad about 3 days right b4 I start my period but as soon as I start it it stops. I will be upping to 10mg when I'm ready to hopefully stop that! Having someone to chat with as you go threw this that understands is a huge help! Any questions pls pm me

Hi Pipk! That's my friend Becky feel free to write to me here whenever you need reassurance. I'm more than happy to chat to you. I know how crappy it can be ??

Do you mean in regards to it's addictive qualities? What type are you on?

Yeah!! Some scary stuff came up xx colozopan. Do you have to take your Xanax very often now?

Happy to say i haven't taken any in 3+ weeks now!

Try not to worry too much about the addictive qualities. Thats more if you take it every day for months/years. You'll just be on a short course and taking a tiny amount. I used to be prescribed xanax for a couple of years and took it semi regularly and actually never felt any sort of dependency! And clonozopam is meant to be less addictive than xanax

Thank you! You always make me feel better and I think you are right! X

How are you feeling today? Have you gone up in dose yet? I'm thinking about going up soon as the only side effect I'm having now is increased anxiety and increased thoughts!!

No worries! I totally understand what you're saying though, i felt the same way.

Im still good! This week has bern my best yet. Definitely in recovery but still have a way to go. It's 7 weeks for me today! I'm going to up my dose on monday will keep in touch and let you know how i go. Good luck with your dose increase. I think it'll be fine especially with small increments. What dosage will you go up to?

That's awesome you have had such a good week. Have you ever thought about just staying at 10mg?

Cool look forward to hearing how you are going!

I'm not sure what il go up too next, I might even just go 7mg for a week and then 10. Then stay at 10 for a while!

I've been getting quite bad heartburn which I hope passes!

Hi Pipk! Sorry for the slow reply this time. How are you going? Tell me everything! Also digestive problems like heart burn are a really common side effect that im sure will go away for you.

I haven't really considered staying on 10mg just because i know i will need more. I was really at absolute rock bottom a few months ago and although i have improved a lot (able to leave the house and see friends.. much better anxiety etc) i still feel like i have a bit of recovery to go that i will need a higher dose for. Im still quite depressed. I want to get back to normal and I'd say im about 60% recovered so far.

Yesterday was my 27th bday and last night i went out to a dinner party which was a massive step for me. I did really well and had hardly any anxiety.. i just felt a bit socially awkward. Its amazing! Although i woke up anxious this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks but i think thats to be expected when i had such a big challenging day yesterday. ?

Hi 💗 Oh wow! Happy Birthday xo hope you had a nice day, that's awesome you were able to go out and have some fun!! I know what you mean about feeling a bit socially awkward these days, I've never been that way but anxiety has changed things a bit.. that's awesome you are improving so much! I also just turned 27 in September xx

Okay, that's good then. I wasn't sure if heartburn was one of the side effects. I can't find much info on it. I'm actually doing okay. Prettty much feel just my usual depression and anxiety that I've had all year, the main thing is the massive heart burn that makes me anxious.. I'm glad though it could be much worse. I'm thinking about going up to 7mg on Tuesday and then 10mg the following week.. bit nervous though!

You poor thing, I know how bad the OCD and depression can get. That makes sense to keep increasing to 20mg so that you can really feel 100%. Will you go up pretty slowly?

I hope the extra anxiety this morning passes quickly!

Aww thank you! And that's so cool we're the same age!

You're definitely sounding slightly better. That's really exciting. I hope it continues for you! How many days has it been now?

My plan at the moment is to start on 12.5mg tomorrow and stay on that for 1 week and then go up to 15mg and probably stay on that for a month before eventually moving up to 20mg. That's just a rough plan but i'll see how things go. Not sure if i mentioned but i've been getting a few involuntary muscle jerks and twitches. It's not good and i know it's from the meds.. that's partly why i've stuck to 10mg for so long - because i didn't want the twitches to get worse. They've slowed down a bit but still there. Hopefully it doesn't get worse with the dose increase. They're mild, like it's not as if i'm spazzing out, lol.. no one else can see them.. but they are a bit annoying

I do feel okay, I think just feeling bit flat etc in the mornings and finding it hard to wake up.

Today is day 12! Time feels like it's moving prettty slowly.

Good luck with the dose increase today, let me know if you notice any difference.

Sounds like a good plan to me 👌I can imagine that's a bit scary with the twitches etc. really hope they pass soon. I've been getting a random twitch on my cheek. But not too bad yet!! Xx

Hey! So far so good. Just feels like a regular day even with the dose increase. Fingers crossed it continues. Its such a pain trying to get 12.5mg out of a 20mg pill and i doubt its very accurate so if things continue to go well over the next few days i might go up to 15mg as that's a lot easier to cut.

Im glad to hear you're doing relatively well! I bed you're past the worst of it. Just remember you might have bad days/moments in this time but dont feel discouraged!

Hey I'm happy to read things are going well for you! I too had twitching in my face as well as other muscles but they have stopped almost totally! I still from time to time have one in my leg or arm or my lip. I hope things continue to get better for u! I'm still on 5mg and holding steady with some days of feeling down some heart palpitations but I'm functional 😊And the thought are gone except about three days before my cycle start but I can manage! I do plan to get to 10 at some point!