Fluoxetine Round 2- A Diary

[Clara_Destine]

History: Beginning in 09/2009 I was on 10mg of Fluoxetine for anxiety attacks, PTSD and depression. I weened myself off after a year and remained mostly anxiety and depression free until 07/2011. I began taking 20mg of Fluoxetine on 02/02/2012 for severe anxiety that was beginning to turn into a bad depression. I also have .25mg Xanax to take as needed until the Fluoxetine begins to work.

Monday 02/06/12 – Day Five

I woke up AGAIN at about 4AM, which means I probably got 3.5 hours of solid sleep for seven days in a row. I had an additional hour and a half via fifteen-minute naps throughout 2PM. Took Fluoxetine at about 10:30AM today, which gave me a funny feeling in my head that I had to counter with Xanax at about 12.

When I woke up I noticed that I was shaking slightly. Since taking the Fluoxetine, the heartburn/acid reflux associated with the anxiety has gotten a lot worse; reached a point where I had to vomit, with added thanks to anxiety. I had these side effects the first time I took it and they subsided after a week and a half.

I have needed to eat and sleep better and now the Fluoxetine isn’t helping. Everyone is telling me to hang in there because it will be better in the long run. I am so aggravated, scared and tired- if I could sleep longer, I wouldn’t be half as tense as I am in my chest/stomach. I am also down to 120lbs at 5’6”. Generally I can eat more toward the night especially if I have a Xanax. Otherwise I can only stomach very small portions of meals, Ensure, yogurt and fruit.

God give me the strength to do this... counseling intake isn’t until 02/14 

[Irishmanwrites]

Hi .

It's difficult to see the Prozac doing this to you after just a handful of doses. I have to be honest and say this is more likely probably your anxiety.

I am beginning to feel like a broken record on this, but please don't consider me unsympathetic - you need to try and turn off the part of you that's on hyper vigilance re symptoms and analysis.

I would argue that its difficult to seperate SSRI start up effects and what your normal level of anxiety is plus your subconscious and psychosomatic problems from worry re starting a med.

The above is a conundrum none of us can solve here.

[Clara_Destine]

Thank you for your reply!

You are definitely warranted in saying that a lot of what I am experiencing may still be based primarily on anxiety- I am still anxious after all! It could also be the worries about resuming Fluoxetine- I had such bad side effects for the first three weeks that I was very reluctant to restart it. However, when I started my 10mg regimen I responded to it from the get go. In a 2009 review of Fluoxetine, I wrote: "Immediately after beginning treatment I experienced heartburn and nausea that would come in waves all day long. Due to this, I lost 6 pounds in a 3 week period (worrisome because I am a normal weight). About a week and a half later the nausea started to subside-" At the time, nausea and heartburn were not anxiety symptoms. Therefore, my thinking was that the fluoxetine, especially at the 20mg dose, may be beginning to exacerbate some of the issues that existed before the start of the medication (namely the acid reflux and nausea).

I both understand and thank you whole heartedly for your advice. You don't appear unsympathetic at all. Do you have any ideas on how to lessen the hyper-vigilance?