Increasing ADs by myself?

[xoguineas]

Has anyone ever increased their antidepressant dosage without speaking to their doctor first?

I've been on 20mg fluoxetine since October 2018 (and for a year before that) for PND which had been helping but for the past 2 weeks now I've been feeling so down, have been sleeping more than I should and can't stop eating. I have had a lot of stress recently (stressful job, family fallouts, bereavement and moving house) so this has probably triggered it but I have a little girl and I feel like I have no energy to do what I should with her and at work I just feel so distant and constantly just want to cry.

I'm not able to get a doc appointment for at least 2 weeks as my GP surgery is always so busy but I don't want to keep feeling so awful for much longer. Is it safe to increase my dose to 2 tablets a day? Has anyone done this? Just feeling so low

Yes I have many times. However 20 years on a medication and always do tell doctor when I see them. I know my medication, myself and depression, have read hugely on it so feel confident to do so if the alternative is a depressive episode.
I have doubled my dose if necessary probably three times in liue of appointment.

Also please remember there are emergency services if it gets really bad. X

Are you currently on 1 tablet a day? I feel like doubling the dose without a doctor’s advice is quite a big jump. Is there definitely no way to get an appointment sooner than 2 weeks? Do they not offer any same day/ emergency appointments? An appointment would be preferable to increasing yourself as they’ll be able to give your suggested dosage or they might even want to change to a different antidepressant rather than increase this one.

If you are going to increase the dose I would increase by less than double and increase slowly as a sudden increase will increase side effects. I would suggest only increasing by by 1/2 a tablet (or less) at a time if you’re not doing it under the guidance of a doctor. And obviously if you are going to increase your dosage book an appointment to discuss this with your GP ASAP.

@MyNewBearTotoro yeah 1 tablet just now. There are emergency appts but they are reserved for children or elderly. Last time I made an emergency appt whilst in a lot of pain I turned up and got a hard time about why that appt isn't for me and I should just book routine next time. I'm worried to increase the dose by myself incase I end up ill because my daughter needs me but I just feel like I can't do anything that I'm meant to be doing just now and I don't want to feel like this for another few weeks

Are you able to speak to your doctor over the phone about it?

ring them and say mental health emergency

they did actually double my fluoxetine once - my father had cancer - it was quite a big jump and I was worried in case it upset my stomach or something while I was doing bedside hospice! They said once the drug was in the system, it was unlikely to have that effect.

this was all done over the phone btw. I told the receptionist I was absolutely cracking up and needed help. They are lovely at my surgery but I would hope most surgeries would get a doctor to call you back in that situation.

I hope you get a consultation

I wasn't sure I could ask for a phone appt over this but will definitely call up and see if I can get something sorted that way

I phoned the surgery the other day and was told the first appointment was at some point in July. I then told them my mental health was really bad. I was sat in front of a GP about an hour and a half later. Please don't increase your AD dose without speaking to a GP. I asked about increasing mine, but when he explained the potential problems, I decided it wasn't what I wanted.