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Prozac not working the second time??

Posted , 3 users are following.

Dengirl29
Dengirl29

Anyone experience awful side effects the second time they tried to take Prozac...brain zaps, racing mind, shaking, jaw clenching..

1 like, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • david_25160
    david_25160 Dengirl29

    Posted

    hiya Nicole, yes the side effects especially in the early days are quite horrible, for some worse than others, but as a rule they do gradually improve, but if they progressively worsen then you may have to up your dose or perhaps change meds altogether. not sure what dose you are on or length of time taking them, when you say second time do you mean second tablet or second course of treatment? if it's your second course of treatment then hopefully you had some good experiences the first time round, the thing is it takes time unfortunately, some long days and nights ahead, but please try to be strong as the rewards are so worth it believe me.... best wishes for your journey Nicole, hope to see you here in a few weeks excited with your progress and the darker days just a memory, keep smiling yeah smile
    • Dengirl29
      Dengirl29 david_25160

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your encouraging words. I had a miscarriage a year and half ago and took Prozac afterwards for 2 months I was fine and tapered off the pills and have been off ever since. I had another miscarriage in August so now Im having another bout of depression. I tired to go back on Prozac back in June for anxiety not depression and had had horrible side effects on the second pill. Shaking, jaw stiffness, brain zaps, racing thoughts... I'm taking paxil the last 3 1/2 weeks and it has worked but I've had many ups and downs. I cannot stay on it because you can't become pregnant on it and my psychchiatrist wants to try Prozac again so I'm terrified to try it and of if I worsen. I would like to try one more time to have another child.
    • david_25160
      david_25160 Dengirl29

      Posted

      aww god bless you, that is so tragic having repeat miscarriages  sad I pray that you get the child you so wish for. It is no quick easy fix with the fluoxetine sad to say, it will take several weeks to start working to its capacity, usually 8-12 weeks on average. Yes I know that sounds like a lifetime, but with the right support from family, friends, your partner and indeed the lovely people on here, you can do it, you have to be strong and have a goal in mind- to be your normal happy go lucky self again, and hopefully pushing a buggy around in a years time! I truely feel for you Nicole, it could be a slow process with the odd bad day but if Fluoxetine does work for you you will soon forget these awful days and start living your life again. Obviously you will get far more relevant advice from the mums on here regarding your forthcoming pregnancy redface but I do try! Take care yeah, and good luck smile

       

    • Dengirl29
      Dengirl29 david_25160

      Posted

      Thank you! Is this your first time taking fluoxetine? The first time I took it was way to easy I wish I would have never stopped taking it. I have a daughter now that's almost 6 and never experienced depression before the last two episodes in the last 1 1/2 years.
    • david_25160
      david_25160 Dengirl29

      Posted

      Hey you do'nt have to thank me, it's a pleasure to chat with you and offer my advice smile Yes this is my first time on Fluoxetine, I'm at roughly 14 weeks all told, I did 8 weeks on the 2omgs but did'nt get the results so they upped it to 40mgs and slowly but surely I'm dragging myself from the depths, it's no easy ride though as I said, you can have two or three good days then without warning a couple of awful days, but in time they get further apart thankfully. I'm so pleased to hear that you do already have a daughter Nicole, bearing in mind the recent sad events sad I would hazard a guess that if you took it before, and it worked then, then it will work again for you, in time, perhaps at a greater dose if need be, but early days yet. So try and stay strong, visit here when you have five minutes and interact with the other mums etc, everybody is so supportive, I know because I had a few "dark days" where I questioned if I was wasting my time, but everybody told me to weather the storm, and see the rainbows in the very near future smile keep smiling, we will get there! smile
  • helenbest
    helenbest Dengirl29

    Posted

    Hi Nicole - yes I totally experienced that - I had been on Prozac several times pretty successfully and uneventfully in terms of side effects (apart from loss of sex drive). This time my anxiety was huge (don't suffer from that as much as depression so that was new for me), couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, felt really incapacitated - didn't know whether to push through it or come off it - I pushed through it for about 6 weeks - but then with help of gp through at least some of symptoms might be negative reactiont o drug - didn't make sense to me as I'd been fine with it before - but I think this is fairly common - and also I am menopausal and apparently that can change the way your body reacts to things. I changed to sertraline - as soon as I stopped prozac - within a few days _ i felt less awful - not good but less awful - kind of back to where i was before I started taking it which was a relief to be honest - sertraline took a while to kick in - one day i work up feeling ok and human and am still broadly in that mode 4 months later! it's so hard to tell what is something to get through and what is an abreaction - thinking of you x
    • Dengirl29
      Dengirl29 helenbest

      Posted

      Do you think your improving on sertraline? I only ask because in June I tried to go back on Prozac and it was terrible after the second dose. I'm currently on paxil and know it's working I'm not where I wouldn't like to be but better than three weeks ago. The only problem is my psych wants to switch my med to Prozac or sertraline because I want to try and become pregnant again. Which is why I'm on this for depression. The Prozac worked the first time a year and half ago and I took it for 2 months after a 5 1/2 month tragic miscarriage. I was good then had another one 2 months ago and now I'm back to being depressed. sad I guess I'm scared to go off paxil because I'm scared sertraline won't work and I can't take the racing mind/ increased anxiety.
  • helenbest
    helenbest Dengirl29

    Posted

    Hi nicole - sorry it's so hard for you - and I think hormones are such a big part of this - if we are sensitive to hormones then so vulnerable to pmt and pre and post natal depression and menopuase for me - has a big impact - but simple answer is yes - i'm feeling great - never had sertraline before - but very stable now for over 4 months (well as stable as I get) - much better baseline - when life is crap i feel crap but when life is good i feel good - i feel 'appropriate' to my circumstancdes and like me - i really struggled with changing though becaues it felt like starting again at square 1 - some people said so, my gp said it wouldn't be - it certainly felt like it at first - no horrible prozac side affects - but it felt like it took as long to kick in as if i hadn't been on any ssris up to that point - tough choices for you hx
    • Dengirl29
      Dengirl29 helenbest

      Posted

      Yea I'm suppose to go tomorrow to decide. rolleyes ugh I don't know if I could handle starting over.
  • helenbest
    helenbest Dengirl29

    Posted

    so hard to decide - all I know is different drugs do different things to me and at different times - but the pregnancy is obviously very important to you to try for and if you can't do that on paxil....?
    • Dengirl29
      Dengirl29 helenbest

      Posted

      Have you tried paxil before? I tried Celexa for 8 days it made me 10x worse depressed I thought I was going crazy and couldn't tolerate it
  • helenbest
    helenbest Dengirl29

    Posted

    no only these two - various family and friends have depression and everyone's reaction is different to all of them I find - my brother tried prozac and came off after a couple of weeks - went from very depressed to extremely actively suicidal and that went as soon as he came off - you just can't tell how each is going to interact iwth your body - major bummer - when i was really bad doctor prescribed me some valium - did nothing - couldn't feel it and yet i know it's great calming for loads of people....good luck hx
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