My SSRI/PROZAC Success Story
Posted , 23 users are following.
I don’t find a lot of positive stories about antidepressants, or I find stories where people are taking the antidepressant the wrong way.
I wanted to share my experience. A positive one.
I’ve had generalized anxiety disorder, SEVERE OCD, and panic disorder for as long as I can remember. My first memory of having an episode was when I was 4 years old at my kindergarten interview. I feel as though I was born with the illnesses mentioned above, right from the womb. When I was a child I was extremely anxious, had bad separation anxiety from my parents and had extreme OCD, I was just a kid and thought that the way I was feeling is how all kids felt, I didn’t realize that I was different. This went on, and got even worse in middle school. I began developing trichtilomania in middle school. In high school I went from being a 90% above student, to failing every class within a couple of years. I couldn’t leave the house. My panic disorder and gad caused debilitating physical symptoms. I would be shaking when I had to leave the house, I wouldn’t drink alcohol because I was afraid of vomiting, I was suffering so much, for my whole entire life with severe phobias, fears, and anxiety. I prayed and prayed and prayed to God every night for it to go away. I was a 16 year old living in a prison of her own mind. It never went away. Every single day was the worst day of my life, I would wake up and the thoughts just started, I never had a break. My life was exhausting.
I am of east indian background and my parents didn’t understand mental illness well. It is very taboo in my culture. I went to tons of doctors and they told me it was just growing pains, no doctor ever told me that maybe I should see a therapist. I didn’t have any support. When I was 22 I attempted suicide. Luckily the attempt didn’t work and I was forced to go on medication. I was livid, I was so against antidepressants, I was so so so scared, it felt unnatural. My general practitioner put me on Effexor, I took it for almost 8 weeks, it helped me to not want to kill myself, but It also made me gain tons of weight which made me depressed, and it make me hear voices. One evening a voice told me to choke my mom, and I started freaking out and my parents drove me immediately to the hospital. At the hospital I talked to a psych nurse who calmed me down, and got me an appointment with a psychiatrist the next day. This appointment and this psychiatrist saved my life, and changed my entire life.
I want to really mention that you should not be going to a General Practitioner for mental illness medication, you should ALWAYS…ALWAYS go to a psychiatrist no matter what. If your GP is the only person you are seeing to help you manage your meds for ocd, anxiety, etc, that is the WRONG MOVE. That is such a common mistake people are making, you NEED a psychiatrist in order to get the meds right, please do not just go to your regular doctor, you’ll be cheating yourself.
I went to the psychiatrist appointment the next day. It was the first time I had ever seen a psychiatrist. I got into her room and we talked about everything, my childhood, my phobias, my ocd. She then brought my parents into the room to explain the whole situation to them and the fact that I have a chemical imbalance in my brain and that I have been suffering for way too long. My parents were so supportive. The doctor told me I was on the wrong medication, that I never should have been placed on Effexor which is an SNRI, and that I should be on an SSRI considering my main problem is OCD and GAD. We talked a lot about it and she told me she would like to place me on Prozac. She said for me, because my neural pathways have been the same for 20 plus years, that I would need a higher dosage of Prozac especially for anxiety and OCD. I see on this forum, that so many people are on 20mg, or 40mg for anxiety disorders. You should be on 60mg atleast, do not be afraid to go higher. People that say Prozac or an SSRI didn’t really do anything for their anxiety or ocd is because they are only taking a 20mg dose, That is not an OCD dose. 40-80mg for anxiety, and 60-120mg for OCD. Please up your dose. Use the medication, REALLY USE IT. Do not be afraid!
My doctor started me on 40, eventually took me to 100, and then I went back to 80. Yes the side effects are insane, I was nauseated, I couldn’t sleep, I was shaking, I had anxiety, but she prescribed me Ativan and said to use it until the Prozac kicked in. That the Ativan would keep me comfortable until that happened. Don’t try to be a hero, use your Ativan or your Xanax or whatever to stay as comfortable as possible.
I could write so much more, but I’ll conclude with this. 4 months after being on 80mg of Prozac everyday, I woke up one day and I was cured. Yes cured. I had no OCD, I had no anxiety, I no longer had fears or phobias. I was cured. You have no idea how that day felt. It was like the first day of my whole entire life. I woke up being the real me, who is free spirited, and loves alcohol and isn’t afraid of anything! I was finally free, I was no longer a prisoner. I didn’t even have to go to therapy. I just woke up one day a brand new person, from taking a high dose of Prozac every single day.
DO NOT go off of the antidepressants. Your ocd, your anxiety, depression etc will come back. I WOULD never dream or even think to come off of my antidepressants, I have an illness, that will return if I go off the medication, because I have a brain disorder. OCD is a brain disorder. Do not stop taking medication for your brain disorder, do not try to fix your brain disorder with just a 20mg or 40mg dose. Own your medication, be on it for life.
It’s been 5 years since I have been cured. If it wasn’t for Prozac, I would be dead.
1) You need a psychiatrist
2) Do not be afraid to take more than 40mg of Prozac to treat panic attacks etc, I am on 80mg a day and my life is a ball. It is so wonderful and so carefree.
3) Do not stop the meds. Be on the meds for life.
7 likes, 43 replies
Dengirl29 raya44397
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Can you please private message me? I feel like I'm going thru the same thing. I'm not sure if it's depression or OCD.
pamela16260 Dengirl29
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Dengirl29 pamela16260
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pamela16260 Dengirl29
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Believe me, I understand. I too have O.C.D. But I have been studying mental illness and there are primary as well as secondary illnesses. In other words: your primary diagnosis may be ANXIETY with a secondary diagnosis of O.C.D.
Something like this scenario: the anxiety being the "root" (mental cause) whereby O.C.D. comes as a by-product of those emotions...... sort of a coping mechanism that comes out as a physical symptom.
One of my mind's physical manifestations was: over-eating to deal with depression. I have a friend who is an over-drinker which is his symptom of underlying depression.
Another person I know has delusional thoughts of grandeur and schizophrenia and her body's by-product/emotional and physical symptom is a lack of empathy. This may of may not be your case, but I feel that it is something for consideration. This is whole concept is not too far fetched and I would be interested to know what others think of this......
raya44397 pamela16260
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Hello Pamela,
I believe that's true. I was diagnosed with OCD as my primary illness, and anxiety as secondary.
pamela16260 raya44397
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raya44397 pamela16260
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hope81 raya44397
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Hi there. I'm glad to hear you are doing well. My doctor put me on 10 s to 20 s then 40s starting this week. My eyes feel like my pupils aren't dialating right. This makes my vision off to the point I don't feel comfortable driving. Did you have any vision issues and if yes did they fix itself.
pamela16260 hope81
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Your eyes probably aren't dilating properly. My vision seems impaired for good, and very little driving these days. My depth perception as well as level of alert peripheral vision was damaged. I had 3 wrecks in 6 months. I hope your issues improve even though mine have not. Good luck.
raya44397 hope81
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Hello hope81, I never got that side effect! I'm so sorry you have it.
Guest raya44397
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Today is my 16tj day on 20 mg
and I feel like this will never friggin work I don't want to leave my house
Luke7580 raya44397
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Hi Raya, I have just read your post....SEVERAL times, it's absolutely uncanny, I literally am you, apart from I'm still suffering.
Everything to wrote I can relate too, the fears, phobias, the first experience at a very early age (I think I was also 4 or maybe 3 and just come out of school and gripped my nans leg in total fear).
Around this time last year I was put on 20mg of fluoxetine, stayed in for about 4/5 weeks then dr increased it to 30mg, after about 7/8 weeks on 20/30mg I suddenly started feeling better, the best I have felt for 25 years, sadly it lasted about 2 months, after 3 months on 30mg I increased to 40mg for another 3 months, if anything this made me worse, so I decided to go back to 20mg, the theory behind this is I thought maybe 30mg...and 40mg was too much for me, and maybe 20mg was my magic number.
I have been on 20mg for 5 weeks now, feeling very low at the moment and will try my very best to stay on 20mg for a 12 week period.
I, like you, have suffered primarily with GAD and OCD, I know it's a 'chemical' thing with me as on the odd time I've tried living without any meds I'm a complete and utter mess, basically I, like you, have a chemical imbalance, I'm 99.99999999999% certain of that.
I sincerely hope you can advise me, thank you Raya... Luke.
Dengirl29 raya44397
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angela9793 raya44397
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Thank you so much for your success story. I saw a psychiatrist right after I had my first child, I started having racing thoughts about the devil and how he was going to posses me into doing something to hurt my child among other scary thoughts of hurting loved ones and I was very scared and felt that if I told anyone what I was thinking they would put me in a nut house. But it got to the point were I could no longer take it anymore and broke down and told my parents, I was about 22 years old. I finally got in to see a psychiatrist? and they put me on paxil an SSRI which changed my life. I was on it for quite some time, about a couple of years but I did notice that it made me very tired so they changed it to Celexa which seemed to be the one for me. So I stopped seeing the psychiatrist? and my regular doctor started to prescribe it to me. It was all great and was on it for a long time but my symptoms got a little worse probably just due to the stressors in life and she told me that she could not prescribe me anything higher that 40mg of Celexa. So we went to a different medication, another SSRI because those are the ones that seemed to help with my anxiety and OCD (racing thoughts) this time I was put on Escitalopram 20mg which is supposedly the highest dose you can go on that medication, which worked well for me until two weeks ago where everything started to come back, the racing thoughts(OCD) and anxiety because there has been a lot of stress in my life in the passed year. The father of my children passed away a year ago, I have a son with autism which is a true blessing in my life and it can be challenging at times and I also have a son who is transgender and transitioning into a beautiful women. So I am under a lot of stress of not only being the mother but playing the father role as well and being as supportive as I can which in turn can be very stressful. So this is why I feel that the medicine is no longer working for me. So my doctor has put me on 30mgs of Prozac which is definitely helping but I feel I need a higher dose because I still feel a little anxious and the thought quickly come and go but they are still there and I want them gone. Which I already know that the highest she will go is 60mg. So I have an appointment this week to talk to a counselor and there is a psychiatrist on site if meds need to be adjusted. So hopefully I can get back on track and start living again and enjoying my children as I did not to long ago. Thanks again for your success it has truly help me get a better understanding and know that doctors only seem to go only so high on meds when a psychiatrist? can take it a lot higher which is what we need.
Dengirl29 angela9793
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