Flupentixol worries

[itsnotmyrealname]

Have been signed off work for the last couple of weeks with work based stress and anxiety.

The first doctor i saw gave me Zopiclone sleeping tablets as i was really struggling to sleep.

However the first doctor i saw was a locum, when i returned for my review app i was seen by another doctor. He has prescribed Flupentixol.

I haven't got them yet as reading about them had petrified me.

Has anyone any experience of these.

I'm not sure whether to take them or not

Do you know why you were prescribed Flupentixol? Having wikied it just now it's quite a heavy drug to be prescribed by a GP and not an obvious choice for stress and anxiety. If you are not sure why you have been given this drug i would make another appointment before starting them.

Hmm - I've just looked it up to and it is described as an anti-psychotic and anti-depressant. Must say though that most ADs seem to be for treatment of depression and anxiety, so it is a bit odd that you have been prescribed them notmyrealname. Yes I would have a word with the GP before taking them. Does your surgery have a phone back system. If we call in before 11.00 am we can get a GP to call us back, but you have to wait in all day.

Re the side effects, I think they are scarey on any drug we have to take. I am on imipramine (an old fashioned tryclic drug) and the list of side effects is horrendous, even mentioning depression as a side effect! Think they just have to cover themselves by including all these side effects but I agree they really put you off take the meds in the first place.

If it was me, I would make another appointment with the GP. NanaNina is right- flupentixol is in the antipsychotic family of drugs, and is also used as an antidepressant. However, it is not a first-line (or indeed a second or third line) treatment for depression, generalised anxiety disorder or panic disorder, and does not feature at all in the NICE guideline for management of anxiety. The guideline recommends an SSRI type of antidepressant (eg. prozac, citalopram, sertraline- these are much better tolerated and have far fewer side effects) +/- a talking therapy. The guideline is easily available online if you want to read it.

When flupentixol is prescribed for its antidepressant properties it is usually to augment the action of another medication you are on, or when several other drugs have failed to improve your symptoms. It is definitely an odd choice for stress/anxiety when no other drugs have been tried yet.

Yes, it's true that all drugs have side effects, but flupentixol is particularly heavy on the undesirable ones, and there are other anxiety/depression meds out there.

Personally, I would make another appointment to discuss the choice of meds and other treatment options available to you. Your GP probably had a reason to choose it, but for your peace of mind go and have this discussion with him. Book a double appointment if you need to (and your surgery allows it). Another option is to make the appointment with another doctor in the GP surgery, preferably one who has looked after you for other problems and you feel knows you a bit better. It's often easier to talk to someone who knows a bit about your background already.

Good luck!

ristretto that was exactly my thoughts too. BTW I take fluoxetine (commonly known as Prozac) for work based anxiety and found it really helpful. Some CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) was also helpful, so maybe ask GP about that too. Hope you feel better soon.

funny that thought occurred to me too...about the fluoxetine I mean

Same thing as I was waking up this morning- great minds think alike, eh?

When the Dr prints out a prescription, he/she will select the desired medication from an alphabetical list on the computer screen and press 'print'. Small slip of the hand and it's not difficult to select the medication above or below the appropriate drug (like on those online forms where you need to select your date of birth from a drop-down menu- it's easy to click on the wrong day or month.)

Flupentixol is brilliant and can be used as anti depressant in low doses. (ie. you start at 1mg and possibly go up to 3mg) I found it very helpful ten years go. It is a bit old fashioned to use Flupentixol for depression, but I imagine that if you have not had sucess with better known drugs, then its not a bad idea.

The advantage of Flupentixol it is better for side than SRII anti depressants. It has a different mechanism to other anti depressants.

What is the dose he has prescribed you? If the doctor was prescribing Flupentixol as anti pychotic it would be a massive dose and probably an injection.

Flupentixol can be used for anxiety and depression.

Does anyone take flupentixol on an ad hoc basis for anxiety? I don't know if it is the right thing to be taking and would love to hear anyone's experiences on it. I take between 0.5mg and 1mg, which is a very low dose. Thanks!

It does sound like a bizarre choice of drug.

I would have thought something like mirtazapine would have been more likely (anti depressant but good for sleep/anxiety)

Did you try it?