Started on ADs 10 days ago. How long, realistically, before the side effects settle down?

[Miaou]

I don't see ADs as a quick fix and was fully expecting some side effects when I started them. I am still suffering with high levels of anxiety though, which is so unlike me (as one of my friends said, I'm so laid back I'm practically horizontal!), and is at a level that is seriously impeding normal life. When I went back after a week my GP was surprised that I wasn't feeling more positive effects, and concerned about my anxiety levels, but said to give it another week just to see if it settles down. I'm still very down though and finding it difficult to leave the house, plus this anxiety. I'm on fluoxetine 20mg - should I be expecting to see positive benefits by now? Or is it likely I will need to try another type?

hi miaou ive been on my ad's for 6 weeks now and my anxiety did get worse for the first 3 weeks of being on them and i went back to the gp ready to give up and try another one but we decided to give them another few weeks and it did slowly settle down,i hope this will be the case for you.
you have to give them at least 4 weeks b4 deciding that they are not going to work for you,if your still worried why not discuss it with your gp ,i always feel reassured after ive been.
hope this helps a little .take care

Thanks for your reply candyfluff. I was a bit surprised at my GP, she was ready to try me on another AD after one week, if I had pushed for it, so I wonder if she might want to change me onto another one. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't feel almost as bad as I did before I started on ADs! But I don't fancy having another two weeks of side effects to deal with from another type, balanced against giving these ones a bit longer.

i know how you feel it was such a hard decision to stay put but im glad ai did though .my anxiety was awful truly awful and people cant see it and so they cant understand how you feel.
i too was so scared to try a new one incase the side affects were even worse at that point i really couldnt of coped with that.
hope you feel better soon keep posting on here it helps to put down in words how your feeling xxxx

Miaou - last year when I took my OD and ended up at seeing the mental health team at the hospital they told me that at the earliest I could expect to start feeling the effects after 4 weeks, more normal 6-8 weeks.

I would say a month before you feel any lasting effect, although there should be some improvement after 2 weeks. Normally Gp's prescribe valium with Srri's as they can cause anxiety as a side effect.

Hve you been prescribed them for anxiety? As a fellow sufferer, anxiety is usually the last symptom to go, and often takes higher doses to shift than depression.

I found 20mg fluoxetine worked against depression, but 40mg worked against anxiety.

My pysch told me 6 weeks for good response, 12 weeks for full effect. I think this is about right.