Six months on fluoxetine and suddenly feel horrible

Also-I started back on 20 mgs recently & I was dead tired so much that I had to go take a nap in my car at lunchtime at work!   I also am taking Klonopin before bed (per my doc) because I am sleeping horribly.   I dont want to stay on Klonopin, so I bought some over the counter sleep aid called Unisom.   It has helped!

well said!   Ughhhhh, the early morning anxiety is the worst!

Absolutely.  It hits you as soon as you open your eyes   I believe its something to do with our cortisol which is a stress hormone that is released shortly after waking in the morning.  At its peak it promotes alertness and helps regulate the circadian rhythm.  A little bit of science there lol 

But yes, the mornings are awful.

Lol.   And yeah I googled it once & remember the word cortisol.   

hi kate. i miss chatting with you! i wish messages would return. i have had some stressful days at work as i am changing positions and while it has all been positive changes i feel so down. 22 weeks now on 20mg. blips can happen at this stage? i dont recall if i had these at this stage before. i dont think i need an increase but i feel tired and low even though everything is fine around me.

Hi there

I know isn’t it a pain - you can’t chat the same on the forum as its not between just 2 people.

Blips can happen at any time and it doesn’t take much for your body to dip, and am guessing the stress has had a little effect.

Remember acceptance - whatever comes just let it happen and try not to pay much attention to it or analyse it. It will pass.

hi Kate! i miss you and think of you often. hope you are well. So I got a promotion at my job recently and I am actually quite proud of myself. The process was stressful and I made it through. Then I took a small trip to visit some family and there was some drama quite a lot and I wasn’t expecting it. Managed my anxiety well there too. Came back and had a super super hectic week; and got low. Very low. Flat. No desire to do anything. Landed the dream job but now no feelings I almost worry can I even manage it all. I am positive this is a blip. Also my pharmacy gave me a different manufacturer so I wonder if it’s not suiting me? They said it shouldn’t make any difference. Six months on 20 now. This is a blip huh? I am following all the advice the do nothing the continue as you are, just be and let it be. But need some assurance as usual reaching out to u. ❤️

Hi Pinkrozez

Yes thanks, am well 😄

Hey congratulations on the promotion!! How fabulous 😃

Its quite understandable to feel flat at the moment - you’ve had quite a busy time of late and your body often react like this. Its just recharging itself……

So yes a blip can crop up if you’ve overdone it a little, but don’t try not doing these things as they’re part of normal life.

People without anxiety will often feel a little flat after a high feeling, rushing about or a difficult time, so people with anxiety just feel it a little worse.

Try not to dwell on the feelings - treat them as before, do nothing about them, don’t analyse them or head chat, just carry on - and just take things easy with yourself too, look after yourself, rest up, don’t rush about. It will pass.

I know some people find a different medicine manufacturer may affect them - worth asking the pharmacist for your usual brand or find a pharmacist that stocks them.

It will all pass though.

Hi Kate. So nice to hear from you. So the pharmacy has given me both brands in the past, but the mistake I made was that I mixed them all in one bottle (for myself to have less to worry about) but that was a mistake. it appears that I do better when I take one brand and then if i do need to switch the brand, I keep taking one kind consistently. I just determined this for myself, but it would have been nice to have been told! Thank you so much - I am proud of myself for achieving this, because as you can understand it came at such a hard time and my nerves stayed calm for it. the Blip has lifted. it's absolutely insane when you are out of the Blip, to wonder how did I ever get to that point. I am waiting for the day when I can ride the blip without worry. I get so absolutely afraid, and it's like it will never end. Thank you as always for the encourgagement dear friend. I hope messages come back soon so we can stay in touch.

Hi Pinkrozez

It is strange how we can feel the difference in brands - I guess our body is so sensitised that it feels these slight changes.

I don’t think GP’s or even pharmacists realise people feel the difference of brands, as this doesn’t seem to happen with other meds.

Glad the blip has lifted - and yes, its weird that as soon as you’re out of the blip you think differently. The best way to deal with blips is to try and ‘behave’ as if you haven’t got it, and don’t analyse it. Leave alone and it will pass. The more we think and obsess about how we feel the more it drives it.

When we have these blips, feelings or thoughts, we actually have to be able to feel these in order to pass through them. Think of anxiety as a feeling that will help you recover, and not the enemy it feels like.

Not reacting and adding on head chatter to how we feel, carry on with our day and take those feelings with us without analysing them, is the way forward. Absolutely true. Hard to do I know.

Yes will be good for the messaging to be reinstated, but am guessing they’ve had issues it being abused so probably aren’t in a hurry to open this up again. Hey ho …

Kate. I cannot tell you how I have felt lately. It has been one thing after another after another. I have had chronic back pain, had to get some MRI's, then husband lost his job (but now has another one thankfully), and to top it all off.. I have family visiting this weekend so we went for COVID testing to be safe. Kids/Hubs came clear, mine came back "inconclusive". Let me tell you that has thrown me entirely back to square one. I had to get another test and now I am waiting for the result. I had NO symptoms and I felt fine. Would not have even known if I had not gone tested. But now I am staying away from everyone just because I "May" be positive. And I felt like I could not breathe, I felt so suffocated. like I said, back to square one, Keep in mind the Covid thing is a HUGE trigger because I got it in January and that's exactly what got me back on these meds. I am having such bad thoughts, as if I will have a breakdown, or what if I just cannot get over this blip. It's terrible. I am practicing the methods, pushing through it calmly and letting it be. But as you know, it's Super hard. I don't think an increase is needed but not sure. I am at 9 months almost now of 20MG. please help 😦

Hi

Sorry to hear you’ve had a lot of stresses lately. Do you send your Covid tests off - as you can get free rapid tests from the chemist to do at home.

You never go back to square one - whatever progress you’ve made or whatever you’ve learnt, though you may have setbacks its never a backward step.

Things can be thrown at us which can trigger anxiety, but however you feel today doesn’t mean you’re ill again. Your test may be inconclusive but instead of may being positive, it equally it may be negaitive.

Even if you did have it again, this time round you’ve no doubt been doubled vaccinated which would minimise symptoms.

The anxiety is making your head race which is typical of anxiety - they are just thoughts. Let those thoughts comes and go and try not to head chatter about them. Leave them be and they will ease off.

You will get over this - its a blip (blips come and go).

It will be hard, but stick with it. You may have a few days feeling like this but it will ease. Feeling bad is the perfect time to practice.

thanks so much Kate. the second did come back negative. it took me about 48 hours to recover from the setback but i definitely knew it was a setback. it was just such a difficult one! yes you are right its the best time to practice and i kept reminding myself of this over and over. today i feel the heart racing less and the cold sweats decreased. just like magic it disappears when the anxiety stops. unbelievable. sometimes i think i spent 30 some years with no such condition and now its probably with me for life but that is ok because it could be worse. thanks for giving me the reminder. my goal is to ultimately go to 15 then 10 ... but for now i need to stay on 20 i suppose. as long as i can keep positive outlook ahead, thats all i need. we have at home kits but they were sold out so i went and got tested at a lab. very relieved i am

negative. thank you so much dear kate. you are a comfort to so so so many.

my reply is being moderated i hope they post but thanks kate.

Hi Kate. So in a few days I'll have been on this 20 MG 8 months again. I thought it was 9 but i started in January. i have improved but I am not quite where I would like to be in terms of how I feel daily. I still am kind of all over the place with some great days, decent days and some horrible days. This is my second time around and I do recall you mentioning to me it takes a bit longer sometimes the second time. In your opinion, do you think sticking to 20 is a good idea? I personally think it is (for the most part), but it seems that when you mention to the doctors, they just want to increase and after reading so many people's experiences, sometimes it does not seem that the increase helps for sure. Just curious in terms of at this stage in the game, where should one be in terms of improvement? Is the up and down still normal or should you be "recovered" for the most part with occasional blips? Mine have been more frequent so now I am a little concerned and lost.

Hi

Wonder why they moderated your post …….

It is strange isn’t when we have a life time of being anxiety free, and then it hits us and everything changes. Anxiety isn’t a lifelong condition and we can all recover from it - I know its extremely hard but medication and understanding really do help.

I stayed on 20mg for about 10 years then reduced to 10mg for another many more years and I did well on that dose.

Yes it took me longer the second time round on medication - can’t remember if I returned to the 20mg or the 10mg then.

20mg is a good dose though its different for everyone. I guess if you find you’re still not quite right after a good spell on the meds then speak to your doctor about maybe trying a little more? Did you take 20mg before (can’t remember now).

If it were me I’d give it until Xmas before thinking of a small increase?

If you’re not quite there then being up and down is going to happen. Are you on a different brand?