Postnatal anxiety / fluoxetine - positive recovery stories

[RJH83]

Hi, I'm new to Mumsnet & am looking for a bit of support / reassurance.

I recently had my second baby boy & am struggling with PNA. I also experienced the same after my first DS was born almost 5 years ago & it's hit me hard again. I took fluoxetine & had counselling last time & I did recover. I'm now back on the fluoxetine (20mg) & am re-starting counselling. I've been on fluoxetine for just over 3 weeks now & although I was starting to see some improvement, the last couple of days have been awful. I'm not sleeping at all & my anxiety is through the roof. I know the tablets can be a bit up & down at first but not sure if they should've settled down by now?

Any advice on how long fluoxetine will take to properly work & reassurance that I will get through this again would be massively appreciated x

It took about to six weeks for mine to settle. Have you asked for a thyroid blood test? Your thyroid can go a bit haywire after birth and if it’s overactive, can cause anxiety. If it doesn’t work it may be worth asking to try a different drug-I take duloxetine for anxiety which works brilliantly.

And you will get past it, I promise.

Thanks so much for your reply @Haggisfish x

I think maybe I need to give them a bit longer? Just so strange that the anxiety has really flared back up the last couple of days. Thanks for the tip re: checking my thyroid - I'll call the doctors today to ask for a test x

@Haggisfish sorry - me again.

I had a much better week last week but the last couple of days the anxiety has flared again. I checked my thyroid & bloods came back ok. The doctor said I still need to give the tablets time (6-8 weeks at least). I'm part way through week 5. Did you find it quite up and down on them at first? x

Yes I did. If they haven’t made a noticeable difference after six weeks I would ask to try a different one.

I personally found fluoxetine great for my depression but not anxiety. Duloxetine has fixed my anxiety amazingly.

I’ve been on them for 6 weeks, and I’ve found them very fast acting. I felt better within about 10 days and I was suffering with horrendous PND, on the day I contacted the perinatal team I couldn’t stop shaking and was talking about walking out into traffic :-(
In the past anti depressants have taken a lot longer to take effect though.
I did have awful night sweats with them which lasted about 4 weeks.
Fingers crossed they kick in for you soon

Thanks for the replies ladies x

I'm worried if I switch it's going to be a few weeks of struggling until they kick in again. Last time I was on them they only took a couple of weeks to take effect, but I was on 40mg then & currently only on 20mg. Might be that I need the increase. The doctor won't increase until after 6 - 8weeks though. I know I'm being really impatient but I just want to feel like me again x

Hi ladies,

So it's been a rollercoaster few weeks. To cut a long story short, I'm now under the perinatal team & am seeing a really helpful doctor. I wasn't sleeping at all so she prescribed mirtazapine to take alongside the fluoxetine. It's really helped with my sleep but I'm still feeling a bit anxious on and off throughout the day. Last week we said that we would change to Effexor (Venlafaxine) to see if that would work better at tackling my anxiety. I reduced my dose of fluoxetine back to 20mg & I now need to do a week with no fluoxetine, but can continue to take the mirtazapine.

Today will be the first day of not taking the fluoxetine & I'm quite nervous about it. The last week I've been feeling better than I was (but still not 100%). There's been more of the old me there but still battling the waves of anxiety. Yesterday I'd talked myself into staying on the 20mg of fluoxetine & seeing how it goes, but this morning I'm not feeling great & now thinking I should change.

It looks as though Effexor is in the same class as Duloxetine which I know you mentioned in a previous post. Did you find it a nightmare switching or was it not too bad? I just don't want to stay where I am if I have the potential to feel even better x

@Haggisfish @YorkshireGirl35 Sorry - forgot to tag you both x