Fluoxetine - need advice for my mum

[suburbanjellybrain]

My Mother has been depressed for years and years attempted suicide a couple of times a long time ago. She has been, very badly, counselled in the past but never medicated to my knowledge. Anyway last year she took it upon herself to go to the GP and be proscribed anti-depressants and she has been taking Fluoxetine for 6 months.

She says it has helped lift the depression but she is suffering from high levels of anxiety - I put this down to her natural anxiousness - she has never been a calm relaxing presence... and she is in a horrible flat trying to settle in a new town, but after reading some of the threads relating to fluoxetine here I am concerned that it may be a side effect of the meds.

She was given another 2 months of pills (20mgs/ day - is that high?) despite the fact she is keen to come off them. She is saying that she is not sure that she is going to take them - I am concerned I think she needs to keep going with some medication for a bit longer but I am not sure that fluoxetine is the right med - I have no idea how to advise her as I have no experience with anti-d's and so would love to hear any suggestions, advice, insight MN'ers might be able to offer.

Not sure I can help but I do take fluoxetine and am very very anxious, at times. I have discussed this with the doctor and she has advised me to go back in 3 weeks.

The thing I find with fluoxetine is that when you up the dose, it can actually make your mind work even faster and you tend to over think situations..

Thank you - I think I will ask mum to speak to her GP about the anxiety as I am not sure that she has mentioned it specifically - she should ask a few more questions and perhaps try a different med or lower dose before stopping altogether. I just want to be sensitive about it and not bossy (which I have a tendency to be!)...

20mg a day is a low dose(i think the lowest is 10mg and highest is about 80mg).i'm on prozac for the second time.i do suffer from anxiety but i have always been anxious so i dont really know if the prozac makes it worse-i think in my case when i feel really low i cant even be bothered to think about anything atall but as i start to feel better i start thinking again which means i start worrying...but if the gp gives medication for anxiety its normally tranquilisers or such like.

from what ive heard/read,the best treatment for anxiety is CBT,as it teaches you to change your thought patterns.

I found fluoxetine helpful but agree. re. the overthinking and a rather weird sensation of rushing, shallow thoughts. Sometimes I used to speak far too fast and start babbling weirdly especially when tired. I think the SSRIs do produce a disconnected twichiness. However, coming off them cold turkey will make this worse and she should probably cut down gradually before transferring to another med.

I found Sertraline gentler on my nerves, however it did not really deal with the actual depression.

I have been taking escitralopram (similar to prozac - an srri) for anxiety and depression. For the first 2-3 weeks my anxiety actually worsened and it was pretty rough but I knew that could happen so toughed it out. After that the anxiety pretty much disappeared.In the past I have had lustral for pnd and found it really gentle and really effective.

I think your mum might benefit from trying a different anti -depressant. They all work slightly differently on different people and because prozac hasn't cured all her symptoms it doesn't mean another won't. Or her dose might need changing. She must talk to gp to find a solution.

By the way I have never been given 2 months presciption, only one month. IMO 2 months is too long to go without a chat to the gp. Could she change gp's. Also has the gp mentioned counselling. AD's nearly always work better in combination with some sort of counselling - helps you change your patterns so that when you move foward to life without ad's they are permanent changes. Don't let a bad counsellor put her off. There are many good ones and she is perfectly within her rights to stop counselling if she doesn't like it and find a different one. Years ago I had counselling and would sit there and say nothing. Needless to say it didn't help. Just started counselling again and it is fab. Sometimes we even end up rolling about laughing - when she made me choose stones to represent my family Very weird and funny but it did work.

Ended up a bit of along post - sorry - but last thing is I wouldn't think of coming off the ad's for 6 months after I was feeling better. This is to make permanent changes to your life as you use the 6 months feeling ok to react to stresses differently etc. and the likeliehood of depression returning is lessened.

Thank you for the responses - it is so helpful to hear about other peoples experiences - you are all so open and honest I really appreciate it - I need to introduce mum to the internet!!
and I will speak to mum about the possibility of having counselling again but she is so very set in her ways I think it might be a struggle. I think in a way the depression and anxiety is such a part of her that she can't imagine her life without them which sounds wierd but she would need to find a new way to define herself iykwim??

she has decided to stay on the ad's for now but will be reviewing the situ soon I think she likes her GP but as soon as he tried to offer advice and in some way 'counsel' her she clammed up.