Light headed

Thank you. I cannot decide if it's the tablets or my anxiety that in taking them for

For me, I would say the tablets. I find that a lot of the time, the negative feelings are gone, but they are  replaced by a weird 'empty' feeling, like light headedness. It like then you have a really bad headache, and when you take painkillers, the pain is gone, but you can still feel the headache there.

I don't get headaches. Just light headedness.

yeah thats not what I mean, I was just using it as a comparision. Ok take for instanance you have a cut. You put a plaster on it and it doesnt hurt but you can still 'feel' it in a non-painful way. Its like that in your head. What causes you anxiety is still happening, but you cant feel it...instead you get this light-headed ' empty' feeling? At less thats how my depression feel x

Hi Jen I'm new here on this forum hope u don't mind me joining in. I been in flouxetine since Dec. last yr for general anxiety mostly about my health. I been 20 mg for 12 weeks then doctor up my dosage to 40mg. as i still feel light headed most of the day which is my first complain before being diagnosed with anxiety. Its been 3 weeks now on 40 mg but i still feel ( foggy head ) as what u call it. Can u tell me what dosage are u in? Hope u had a good day. 😊

Hi no problem

I am on 40mg in the mornings too. I started on 20mg as you do but very quickly was moved up as it was not working at all. I have been on it for about 6 months (if not longer, I cant really remember when I started....). I am going to find a doctor today and book an appointment. I think that maybe I should try something else and the shaking and the lightheadness are a huge problem at work.

Jenny x

Hi Jenny

Thank u for answering back to me. I suffer light headed b4 i been diagnosed with anxiety. I had many been done they all come normal. When i was diagnosed with anxiety my dr. prescribed me flouxetine AN its light green n white capsule. B4 i take it i read the side effect so i know what to expect. First i don't wanna take the tablets coz one of the side effect is dizziness or light headed. I said to myself what on earth would I take this that i already suffer lightheaded now i have to add more to it? I want my weird feeling on my gone not make it worse. Anyway i eventually decided to give it a go go go. So i start on 20mg i had a few side effect. So like everyone else i keep searching n reading online for the people who suffred anxiety stress realated eg health,,, to see what they taking, how they going and how long the med to take effect on u. Then find out its a slow progress so i start my journeys coz i want to feel better snd want my old self back. I used to do a lot of things scrap booking, jewelry making, love karaoke singing with my kids during weekends but now i don't feel like doing anything. Its not nice feeling at all 😢

Pam

Hi Pam,

Yeap it takes time. I must admit most of the time I feel a lot lot better. I have kind of condensed feeling rubbish all the time to just have a few 'blips' which are very intense but come and go in a day or so. And these are getting less and less frequent. Like you say though, the trade off is with this light-headedness, which means that although you don't feel down all the time, it can feel like you are very detached from what is going on around you.Unfortunately, there is no all-in-one cure with no side effects, so its a trade off as to what you can put up with. Having said that, I am going to a new doctor in a few weeks (becuase I have moved away) to see if I can maybe try something else, or at least find a way to counteract the light-headness. I will let you know how it goes

Have a good day and chin up

Jenny

Hi Jenny

Thank u for the rply. Hope u had a gr8 day today. I've seen my dr the other day and prescribed me tablet for trial for my light headed issue and i will see him again on two weeks. He also said i might have to see the ENT specialist.

Keep in touch.

Have a safe easter break 😊

Pam

Yeah, head fog is a good way to describe it... if anything my head feels more 'heavy' than 'light' and I just cant think without a struggle. I must admit, I dont know much about anxiety, I am on these for depression, but I had a 'blip' last night (my term for bursting into tears for no reason + having my head feel like its about to explode) and I felt less foggy afterwards. Although it seems to be back this morning.

I hope you are feeling better today, let me know how it goes.

You just want m? x

Thanks for the response Jennifer. Accidentally hit reply on the last part, sorry haha. I'm about the same as yesterday, brief moments where I feel I got it together and then terrible again. Head fog might be what I'm calling depression symptoms. Yeah my head doesnt "feel" right, but there's definately more going on that that. I'm also finding it easy to obsess over stupid stuff, which makes everything worse.

How are you today? I hope it is one of the good days

Sorry to hear you not great today. I had a bit of a stressful day too, so wasnt great, but I fell asleep rather than having a 'blip' which was better. I totally get the obsessing. Its so annoying because you feel like the world is going to end over the fact you dont know if you want to go out tonight or not lol I dont know if this will help, but I find when I notice I am obsessing over stupid things, I take a deep breath and try to think about which option makes me the most 'happy'. Or if try putting the desicion in some elses hands. Like flip a coin. If you are really unhappy with the outcome then you have made up your mind Excuse my rambling, its the blind leading the blind really. Have a good day x

Thanks for the advice Yeah the obsessing and unwelcome thoughts can be brutal. Sometimes it seems like I do it because my mind has nothing else to do, and I kind of fear times I know I'll be alone, which is a new feeling for me because I'm sort of an introvert.

My day started off promising, anxiety was mild and manageable for most of my day and my mood was pretty good. But it kinda fell apart this evening. What you said about the world coming to an end rings true...like when I cant let go of an obsession or when my anxiety is in the red, it really does feel like that.

Sorry to hear you had one of those days too, but a nice sleep certainly sounds better than a blip. Hope we both have better days tomorrow

 

I am glad to hear the beginning of the day was good. I often find I can go to work, have something to do and I am completely fine, then come home and ...

Do you get that 'I don't want to do anything...' feeling, and then threat over the fact that you dont have enough of a social life, you need more friends etc.?

Thanks, and I hope we do too x 

Hope you are doing well today Jennifer!

Most of the time, I don't really get down on myself for lack of social life...and that is true...but what disappoints me and gets me down is when I'm nowhere close to feeling like my old self and that I just want to go back to being him one day. I was 90% there for a span of about three weeks until last Wednesday when the anxiety and old feelings slowly started creeping back in. But I'm only on day 31 of prozac and about week 7 since my initial breakdown, so I am looking for any signs of improvement.

Hope to hear that your day was better, and thanks for your support!

-Neil

Hi, yeah, everyone suffers differently, which I surpose is one the reasons its easy to feel isolated. I wasnt very fond of my old self, so I am not too worried about going back to that (I had depression for about 3 years before I agreed I should see a doctor). I doubt this is what you want to hear... but maybe trying enbracing being a new person? I would love to change! What about your old self did you really like? Can you build yourself into a new person, working on all the bits you still want to make up you?

Thank you and you are most welcome, it is nice having someone to talk to x

Yeah I agree it's great having someone to listen

Oh I am 100% committed to being a better person when it's all said and done! I had many phobias and inner fears which got the best of me and caused my nervous breakdown/anxiety/depression. When I said that I just want to go back to my old self, I just meant I want to feel better again...and not just for a few minutes or hours at a time, but better all the way. But I'm realizing that it may be a long process and when I get there I am going to do things differently to build myself into a new person like you said!

I'm trying to start now by trying to ignore all the negativity in my head but it's hard, the fog is as thick as pea soup today but tomorrow is a new day!

Hope you are doing well !

-Neil

Do you want to maybe talk about what those fears were? Yeap, i agree all I really want is to not have this weighing me down, like I really feel like I am trapped in a cage, and I get angry I cant get out, then I just get tiered and upset about it. Sorry to hear yesterday was not great for you but I am loving the positive attidude (its kind of inspiring me to practice what I preach lol) Ignoring the negativity is sooooo hard! But remembering to accept it for what it is helps. Its just illness propagander!

This might be weird but I found they helped me for a while before I started to get too used to them and fall asleep. Have you heard of Paul McKenna? He does some books / audio cds about reprogramming your mind. When it works its so weird, because you feel like you have fallen asleep and cant rememeber anything he has said, but you wake up when he gently tells you to! I mean, they are great to begin with, but after I while, I just started actually falling asleep and not waking up and the end.

Have a good day

Jenny

Hiya Jenny,

Yeah, to make a long story short, I've had "manageable" social anxiety and OCD for years. But recently I found myself obsessively worrying about things outside my comfort zone more and more to the point where I couldn't think of anything else. Last week of January I finally blew a mental gasket over it all...it started as anxiety attacks over the obsessing and then some depression set in and I've been on a rollercoaster ride ever since.

I like how you phrased that, the negative thoughts are propaganga for the illness..thats perfect! I love it! I'll have to check out Paul McKenna sometime so thanks for the tip Sometimes I'll put on relaxation videos to help me sleep. I find some of the "asmr" tagged vids to be soooo relaxing.

Last night was decidely better than the day. It's like all the fog lifted and I felt almost completely normal for 4-5 hours Today isnt as bad as yesterday but not as good as last night but its a start!

How was your day? Hope your having a nice weekend!

Neil

Hi

That does not sound good at all, but the silver lining is now that we have tipped over the edge, we can get help and hopefully get better (although I hate admitting I need help! It makes me feel so useless!). Its always darkest before the dawn

My mum also suffers from a very similar depression from me, and we like to joke 'its all in your head'....'yeah thats the problem!'.

I am glad you felt normal last night, its a good reminder that is is achievable! But dont bet yourself up about feeling worse today, I am always doing that and it sucks. I have been having a nice weekend thanks, I was alittle down yesterday afternoon but nothing major. The nice thing about weekends is that is does not matter if I feel foggy. Its work days that are stressful because I cant focus on what I need to. Hows your day been?

Jenny x

Jenny,

I used to think like one of those 'all in your head' people. My mom has always been an anxious worrier and my sis has battled OCD, anxiety and depression for years. I never said it to them, and I was supportive, but I would think to myself..."why cant she just stop worrying and be happy" looool  Now I know why.

It almost sounds like these things can run in the family and be inherited, so at least we can tell ourselves that its genetic and that its not our fault.

Glad you had a nice weekend! Today is another soso day for me. Started off slow as I didn't want to bother getting up from bed. Then the early day anxious feeling kicked in and forced me out. Head is cloudy as hell, but I can tell there is a sun somewhere above those clouds..its just not peeking out yet. 

I can't decide if work days are better than weekends. I was dreading this weekend knowing I'll be all alone, but now I feel like you do. If I'm gonna have a bad day, I'd rather be home. Anyways tomorrow is a new day and lets keep fighting the good fight!

-Neil

Yeah I guess it must be hard to understand if you dont have it (my dad tries his best but he never knows what to do!) I meant 'its all in your head' as joke, because I like to think of it as an imbalance of chemicals...in my head. I didn't mean to offend you or anything

Yeah it turns out most of the females in my mums side of the family have had something, so woap woap genetics!

Sorry to hear you had a bad day today. I used to get the not wanting to get out of bed becuase....mwhaha.... feeling too, I think its something the pills will help with in time because I dont often get it anymore. I am just sleepy which is the downside because I STILL hate getting out of bed .

I used to have job that was physically demanding but did not require a huge deal of brain power, which was great because it kept me busy and it was not the end of the world if I felt foggy - therefore the weekends were sh*t because I had nothing to do. Now I am back to studying so the foggy is really distracting in the week and it is painful to stay awake at my desk. Not a good look, but being a student I can tell people it is due to 'late night study/partying' rather than the pills hee hee.

The alone feeling is horrible, and to be honest is the part I still suffer with the most. I moved away from home again to study, so I am being forced to make new friends, which is stressful because I basically need people to say in black and white 'I am your friend!' before I stop doubting that they actually like me.

That was a really long message, sorry!

Anyway, hope you have a good day today and it might not be a huge deal of help, but your not alone... you have me and the others on this website! Not to mention, family, and I am sure friends!

-Jenny x

You are totally right, today is a new day!  

Arh! Just wrote a reply but I dont know if you will get to see it because being a naughty girl I swore in it and now it is being moderated

Basically it was to say that I didnt mean any offence when I say 'its all your head'... I mean it a a joke because it is all an inbalance of chemicals / illness....of the head. Also that the alone feeling is the worse part for me too! I doubt that people actually like me, even if we are friends (I kind of actually need them to say 'we are friends!' before I believe them).

You are right, today is a new day and its going to be a good one!

Jenny x

Hiya Jenny,

No worries, I knew exactly what you meant! What's funny is that I never minded being alone before, never bothered me one bit. But since all this started, when I'm having an up day I feel like it won't last unless I can interact with people, preferably family or friends. But on bad days I just wanna be alone to think it thru and ruminate.

Hope your day is going better than mine. I felt so good last night, I should have known where today was headed. But I'm trying to be optimistic and tell myself that it won't last forever.

Btw, I finally read your story on here and for whats it worth, I think you're very brave and have a great attitude! I think you'll get your energy back when the fluox finally finds a settling down point in your system. I'm just on day 34 so I'm still just starting

Hi

Its funny I know what you mean about the good days only lasting if you are surounded by people. Its a bit like acting to me, like normal people are constantly surrounded by friends, so maybe if I do the same... but then it never works because I start panicing I dont have enough friends and they dont actually like me.

Sorry to hear you day was bad...exactly, chin up! I sometimes find once I have got a 'blip' out of my system I feel better for a bit so hopefully you are in for a good day today

I also had a very rubbish day. Part of the light headedness can be this weird sense of forgetfullness, and it looks like I forgot to take my pills over the weekend (might explain why I felt good for a bit) so today when I woke up I felt like I had been hit with a train. I have to anaysis videos at work, but I could not keep my eyes focused. Later with my supervisior I mentioned this, hoping that we could maybe chage the anaylsis approch slightly, but I also managed to blurt out that 'pills I am on make me a bit sleepy'. I though all sorts of things did this... but he just looked at me and was like 'I understand, my sister has it too'. Everything he said after than hinted that he had twigged I had depression and I was so paniced about it afterwards (I still can believe I got the job/PhD so I panic people are going to find out I dont deserve it). That all just set me off. WOW ok story time over sorry about that, just wanted to get it off my chest. I also told him (and my mum) I would go to a doctor (something I hate with a passion) and see if I could try something else. I have been on them for about 6 months so maybe I should be over side effects by now?

Anyway thanks for listening and thank you, its really nice of you to say so. Have a good day

Jenny x

Hiya Jenny,

Sorry you're having one of those days, but it's just a blip and it'll pass. Just keep telling yourself that and know that it is true. Of course the negative thoughts is just the illness talking...like you said its just propaganda. I would say you deserve the PhD and your job more than anyone else because you did it battling depression. That takes immense inner strength and will power! You did it, and no one can take it away

My day has been a bit better here. Last night was pretty good, I felt positive and did 'normal' things not just doing things to keep me busy. I'm just telling myself to enjoy the better days!

I would go back and see the doc and see what he says. Some people may need higher doses than others and you may still be feeling the side effects since you went to 40 mg. Some have said they kept seeing improvement in side effects and mood well after 6 months to a year on a given dose. Or maybe he can prescribe something else to give you an energy boost.

Keep your head up and think positive thoughts!

-Neil

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the surport. I feel kind of silly now, as you do after a blip. You can't believe you fell for it all gain, even though you know its all just the depression talking. Today was better, my alarm didnt go off so I ended up having a bit of a lie in which was great for keeping me awake all day.

I am glad you hear you had a better day too. 'Normal things' are perfect! Keeping busy helps and normal makes you feel like you have a handle on it

Hope your mood continues today

Jenny x

I know exactly what you mean when you say that you fell for it again. I almost feel kind of ashamed of myself for being silly, but of course it's not or fault.

Glad today was better for you as well. Being busy helps for sure! Today is going pretty good here again. Some head fog and morning anxiety but very manageble and it seems my appetite has returned too

Have a super day!

Neil

Ha ha, the moment a blip passes I tend to just sit up straight, comepletely fine again and say 'well that was stupid'. Its kind of becoming a catchphrase lol. Time to eat all the things! Lots of happy foods and no worrying over the concequences! You are poorly and need special treatment hee hee! I have a cold now, which is actually quiet nice because for some reason I am feeling self-pity, and that is telling the nasty stuff to back off and is being nice to me! Have a good day!

Jenny x

Aww sorry about your cold Jenny, but I think you're right, it will give you something else to think about...like feeling physically better haha

I've noticed my blips are getting shorter and shorter since i hit the wall in week 4. Like the need to think negatively and obsess is still there but doesnt have the grip on me that it did and my ups are pretty good, almost euphoric lol. It's so strange.

Anyways feel better soon

Hi sorry for replying so late, I was back home for Easter I am feeling much better now thank you, and the trip homw helped with my mood considerable. I am going to the doctor on thursday to see if I can do something about the lightheaded sleepyness, although since not being at work its not really happened so I think I might just be being lazy lol really glad to hear you are feeling better. The downs suck but you just have to ride them up and make sure you enjoy the highs even more!

Jenny x

Hiya Jenny, no worries! So glad you had a nice holiday and are feeling better! Hope you can find an answer soon for the foggy lightheadedness! Do keep us posted on how the docs visit goes

I'm starting week 7 tomorrow, and I've had around a week of decent to good days. Of course there are still lows but the highs are getting higher(i swear Friday evening/night I had a 12 hour stretch where i felt like i had awoken for a bad dream and felt totally normal and in control...and happy!)

I saw my doc today and we both decided it's a good idea to stay at 20mg though he did up my dose on the beta blockers to help combat the morning anxiety..which is still with me but its improving too.

-Neil