Just got my first prescription of flu, very scared?

Hi Krazykat

I know where you are coming from. I'm on week 5. It won't be plain sailing and the side effects vary from person to person. I was scared too, terrified even of what was happening. The first week or two are not pleasant. Your emotions will be all over the place. The drug has to get into the system and it takes a while for it to be affective.

Remember that your depression has been building up over a long period of time so the cure is not going to be instant. You will probably have some reasonable days and some not so good ones but as i've found, as time progresses things do get easier to cope with as long as you can stay out of situations that will aggravate it.

Golden rules - avoid alcohol like the plague. It is a depressant and does not mix with flu. After about 3 months try it and see (i've been told).

Avoid caffeine - this acts as an irritant.

Try also taking a B vitamin complex daily. This is essential along with a sensible diet (no junk food) to help correct the chemical imbalance in your brain.

And most importantly keep writing posts and sharing your experiences however trivial you think they may be. I've found this site to be like a big family all with the same condition. Read other peoples postings. There is valuable info therein.

Stick with it and things will improve eventually.

Best wishes and good luck

Hi there. I know exactly how you are feeling. I went on flu ten months ago. I remember sitting there with my glass of water and tablet and being scared stiff but i am pleased i started them. I did feel pretty rough, sick and a very dry mouth, tired too for about 3 weeks and then it got better. It really does take time though but you have to stick with it to get the benefit. One thing is can say is take the tablet and then eat something straight after, i didn't at first and ended up with a foul tast in my mouth all day so now i have the tablet and eat breakfast immediately after. I did avoid alcohol until i felt better, about 5 weeks in and now just have less than i would have before i was on the tablets, has no bad effect on me but alot of people i talk to who've been on anti depressants say they cannot drink at all, i'm lucky i guess. Over the last month i've been cutting down to one tablet every other day in the hope of getting off them before the summer. Scared stiff though. I wish you luck. I'm sure they will make you feel so much better. x

Hey Krazykat,

I would start by saying dont think of it as defeat...just realisation. You have acknowledged that you need to make this change and honestly it is for the better.

The mood swings, suicidal thoughts and wanting to lay in bed all day will subside after about 2/3 weeks of taking flu. s scary as 2-3 weeks may sound, you will get thru it fine.

When i was prescribed flu i was not so much scared but partially excited - at the prospect that this little pill was going to eventually make me better and i could live my life normally.

I agree 100% with Sam09, when i first took flu it was every night at 10pm and then i slept for around 2-3 hours a night as it was kicking in a t the wrong time. Then i started taking it first thing in the morning with a glass of milk and ate breakfast straight after and felt much better. I slept the other night for the first time without a sleeping tablet and awoke feeling great (for a change!)

Similarly to Meganpooch, i take a multivitamin each day and this will help with the chemical balance. You dont need to buy the best one on the market, i just take a cheap Boots A-Z vitamin.

Also that every time you feel down or up even, post a message on this site - think of it as the friend you can always turn to for support because it will never judge you and will make you feel much better as opposed to bottling up any emotions.

Take care of yourself and hope to see a post on here again soon

HT

Hi Hightower

So pleased you said about vitamins. I don't take any and haven't been told to by my doc. She's just happy to give out flu but no other advise really. I'll get some multi vits today.

I find this site great and could spend hours on it just reading how other people feel, makes me feel better just to know there are so many people around who totally understand. It took me a long time to actually put something on the site.

Thanks again

Sam,

Completely feel the same, finding people who understand and can relate is a great thing.

Meganpooch recommends taking a Vitamin B Complex but do what you feel is best.

Keep the posts coming, the more you can get off your chest, the better i find I feel.

Are you getting (or considering) counselling to help you thru?

Hi

I saw a counsellor last April, only the once. He basically told me what i already knew. I had to say no to people sometimes, mostly my mum and think of myself. I'd had a baby, lost my dad, had a baby and never grieved because i was looking after 2 kids, husband and my mum. Everything is still the same but i cope with it better. I do say no sometimes. Just hope i don't get bad again once off the tablets. I shall try some vitamins, can do no harm. Anything is worth a try.

You're 5 weeks in, how are you feeling, better i hope, it definately does take time and at the beginning of taking flu i thought they'd never start to work, suddenly you just feel better, almost normal is the way i describe myself.

Thanks for listening and good luck to you

Sam

Hi Sam

It's good (in a weird way) that there are so many people willing to communicate on this site with their experiences. I had a kidney stone in October and found a similar site which really helped with the after effects ( better than the doctors at the hospital!)

Day 39 - i'm losing track, will have to convert it into weeks. I seem to be addicted to this site. That's just as well as i cannot concentrate on reading or watching telly at the moment. My appetite has fallen through the floor but at least when i do eat, it's proper food. i fancy fish at the moment.

This morning started poor with the shakes (11.30am) but mood has lifted during the day.

I find the experiences on this site are a great comfort and proves i am not alone.

Thanks again

Take care.

Hi Meganpooch

This site is great and i'm totally addicted. Wish i'd found it when i first started the tablets, would have helped alot. I spent so much time on the computer looking up tablets, depression, anxiety, panic attacks etc... I couldn't concentrate on anything, only thing i could think about was what a state i was in. God, i remember the shakes, every morning i'd wake with them, sometimes last an hours, sometime alot longer. It was awful. They did stop completely after about 6 months thank goodness. I lost my appetite, i really don't know how i survived, could eat nothing, would take about 1/2 hour to get a small piece of toast down, i lost a stone in 4 weeks. Not the best way to diet, i've put on about 7lbs now but have a whole new wardrobe. Just try to eat when you feel like it i reckon and eat what you want.

Good luck and hope to chat again soon.

Sam

Im the same as you guys i wish i had found this forum when i first started taking flu the first time last year as since i have started taking fluu again recentley and finding this site i have found it so helpfull and supporting and its really nice to know that for once other people actually know what your thinking and feeling...x

Hi Sam

Another new correspondent, great. The shakes are a combination of the drugs/

condition and knackered shoulders and neck, just another contributory factor to this problem. I'll find out tomorrow (as i've been to the osteopath today) what caused it!

The appetite is reasonable if someone else cooks or provides it, but if i have to prepare it myself i just can't be a*sed. Do you know what i mean?

It's as if everything is too much effort. I had an 8 piece flatpack magazine rack to put together. Not too tricky i thought (having put together 3 door wardrobes before depression!) but when i got everything out of the box, my brain could not cope with the 5 diagrams and i gave up. A good friend put it together in 10 mins.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Best Wishes

Hi everyone

wow this is a great site i've found so many people like me in a similar situation. I've only been diagnosed as being depressed 2 months and was started on FLU (prozac) 20mg which was then increased to 40mg after a month, i to had the shakes, dry mouth, and only managed 3-4hrs of sleep and constantly feeling tired.

Flu (prozac) didn't work for me and have been given mirtazapine instead (started the first one last night) have posted my experance of the night on this site under mirtazapine flu to mirt if people are interested.

i to will go and buy some multi vits as this may also help me.

mike

Just wanted to say, not everyone reacts the same way. You might not get such awful side affects, you may only get a few, not severe, its different for everyone. I didn't get many, and they were not severe.

Hope it goes well for you.

Hi Meganpooch

Any result from the osteopath?

I may have confused you and anyone else who's reading this, SamB and Sam09 is the same person. Haven't a clue how i did that. I'll call myself Sam09.

You said about eating if someone else cooked it, i still couldn't eat. It was ridiculous really. A few chips a day. Couldn't even drink a cup of tea. All change after about 5 weeks. Made up with it with takeaways.

Good luck tomorrow

Sam

Hi Sam09

Hadn't noticed the name difference, sorry.

The osteopaths are a husband and wife team. I know them both as i saw her for 2 years before moving to him (his elbows aren't as sharp as hers!) She said my neck looked wrong just by looking at me and she wasn't wrong. Unfortunately the whole body is a bit knackered muscle wise but rambling aside, no shakes this morn. Maybe that was a one off. I think tomorrow will be a different story. We'll see. Thanks to you and Chalkie for your kind words, i'll let you both know. :o

Could have sworn i had logged in before but it came up with guest but now says Meganpooch. Must be overloading the system!!

As you can see my memory is still Cr*p.

The food thing: i suppose if someone else cooks it, it would be rude not to eat it but i did struggle a tad.

Speak soon.

Lots of lovely snow down south - oh whoopie!