Hi,
So I have been taking Prozac for depression and anxeiety for three years now. The dosage started at 10 mg and then 20 mg ... then 40 mg... then 60 mg...
I had trouble with sleeping so they put me on Seroquel (schzophrenic Drug, but helps with sleep and augments Prozac). Works fine. Then I was not able to wake up, or when I do wake up, I can't help but fall asleep. They put me on Nuvigil (wakefulness drug). Been ok so far, however, I just came to realize that... I take a pill to be awake, take a pill to be ok, and take a pill to sleep.
Honestly, scares the crap out of me. My friend has been pushing me so bad lately to stop the Prozac. She thinks it makes me feelingless, and that it makes me feel no happiness nor sadness. So, here I am tapered my self off prozac and been off for 15 days. I Still take my sleeping medicine, however, I have stopped for a couple of days trying to see if I can deal on my own... Clearly I can't.
Its 2:50 am Eastern time, I can't sleep, and I can't help but think of cutting, or hurting my self. I feel Like I wanna cry, but no one will get it.
I have to see my psychiatrist tomorrow, and I don't wanna lie about stopping the drugs, but I am afraid he will be angry and make me feel bad.
Im so scared. I have been one year and 8 months cut-free and I can't help but think of cutting.
Am so so sorry for the long thread. I just wanted to speak of how I feel.
I think you should get professional help, if the prozac is not helping, then there are other antidepressants out there. Your friend may be well meaning, but at the end of the day, she is not a professional, and her "help" may be doing more harm than good.
The quetiapine (seroquel) may not be helping, especially the dose you are given (you dont mention doses), as quetiapine is highly sedating. It may be the case that you could manage on a lower dose and not need the "waking up" drug.
The thing is that also caused your relapse is that the fact that you withdrew from the prozac. Withdrawing suddenly from an psychatric drug (this includes the quetiapine), means that you get either horrible withdrawal effects, or your original illness came back (or occasionally both). The fact you cannot sleep now, and having SI thoughts/urges may mean that you came off the prozac far too quickly, as you dont mention how you come off.
Like I said, the best thing is to get professional help. If you need to withdraw/change drugs, a psych will be able to help you withdraw safely, so that the likelihood of relapse is minimised.
Wannabe CPN : -)
"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life." - Homer Simpson "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" Sanity is a nasty disease. The world would be a happier place without it. - Rilic
RIP Kat 4th July 1987- 11th June 2013
I agree with the above, coming of medication without professional advice is a bad idea and can cause problems, including relapse.
The best thing is to discuss this with your prescriber, who can help you look at doseages (especially of the night time sleep med) to see if there is a better balance for you.
I hate to say it, but pressure from friends and family is not always the best thing. Maybe take them at their word - but discuss it with the professionals before acting on it. My Mum, for example, is against me being on any medication, despite me being at a state only fit for hospital without it, and she honestly rarely shuts up about it. My Psych and me have decided it is best to ignore her.
Be gentle with yourself.
Roiben x
If the Human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we wouldn't.
I hate to say it, but pressure from friends and family is not always the best thing. Maybe take them at their word - but discuss it with the professionals before acting on it. My Mum, for example, is against me being on any medication, despite me being at a state only fit for hospital without it, and she honestly rarely shuts up about it. My Psych and me have decided it is best to ignore her.
That is the point I was trying to put across. My mum keeps on telling me lots of times how the medication is doing me no good, and how I should be off it. But the truth is that I would be sectioned if I didnt take the medication. So really I have no choice but to take the meds, because it's better to be free and at home, than years spent at hospital (which is what would happen if I didnt take the meds because I would end up living up to the stereotype that "all schizophrenics are murderers").
So yeah that is why I said it is better to get professional help. I know that in the USA it costs money to seek help, but better to do that rather than end up detained in the local psych hospital.
Wannabe CPN : -)
"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life." - Homer Simpson "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" Sanity is a nasty disease. The world would be a happier place without it. - Rilic
RIP Kat 4th July 1987- 11th June 2013
i know what it's like to have the people who care for you telling you the meds aren't helping, and all you want to do is stop them so they stop saying "they're not good for you/not doing you any good" ... i have the same issue... and i've attempted to stop the meds to stop them saying this stuff... but in reality, if you felt reasonably ok on them, then why stop?
i've been on quetiapine for over 3 years now... and it annoys me to know doctors are giving it to people for sleeping problems because the withdrawl effects are bl**dy horrible... and when you come off them you can't sleep, so it defeats the point really... it's not a nice drug to forget to take or to come off of.... the doctors don't seem to think about the effects of forgetting or coming off =/
don't let other people make important decisions for you, the professionals need to monitor coming off and going on to new medication.
medication stigma is wrong, you wouldn't refuse chemotherapy if you had cancer because it made your hair fall out?
if prozac is giving you the boost you need to function, **** what other people think quite frankly. it's dangerous changing medication without advice etc, blah, blah, i know right.
but be careful please, it's so hard to find medication which works for people, if you've found the right stuff then use it because it's been given to you for a reason.
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" - Alice, Alice in Wonderland
♥
