hey guys i just got prescribed prozac, and im very anxious bc ive been researching and all ive been seeing is horrible experiences and one that stuck to me was the person saying they went into a psychosis and my biggest fear right now is going into a psychosis. i’m not really sure how to calm myself down like when i try to reassure myself it’s always a what if thought or an intrusive image
I took prozac for a few years to manage anxiety/depression and it also treated my OCD wonderfully. Prozac is a very common anti depressant and there's a lot of good stories too, such as mine. You will be okay, just see how your body and brain personally react and if you end up not liking it, then ask about a different medication. If a feeling worries you, ask your therapist or psychiatrist if you have one rather than googling it! Avoid researching medication online, it feeds into OCD. If you really want to know about a medication, only look at the official list of side affects and not random forums as everyone will have a different story on it and that can lead to paranoia and anxiety about taking it. Psychosis is a relatively common fear with OCD as well, especially because the disorder can make you feel like you're going crazy sometimes but that's not the case, it's the anxiety and intrusive thoughts making it feel that way. You'll be okay.
It might be helpful to try and take a break from looking into the research for a few days. It could fuel more OCD spirals in the long run.
I also did the same when I started taking fluoxetine. This time around (dose was increased) I avoided googling and just focused on how my body felt. Just took note of anything that stood out for when I spoke to my psychiatrist. Taking fluoxetine (prozac) genuinely changed my life and makes my OCD manageable. It took about a month to really feel a difference which can be discouraging but it's worth it imo.
They will start you off on a very small dose and taper you upwards very slowly. You will have some side effects undoubtedly but they will be very manageable at lower doses. Resist the urge to go on Reddit or read horror stories surrounding the medication. 10mg (what you will start on) is extremely unlikely to cause anything close to psychosis and if your really worried you can always start at 5mg for a week just to see if your body is predisposed to have any reaction to it. Make sure you are getting enough sleep when taking these drugs. I had to take some OTC sleeping aids for the first few weeks personally because the Prozac initially gave me a bit of insomnia. Other than that it was mostly positive changes I felt.
I’m on Prozac and I love it, I’ve been on several ssri’s and it’s been my favorite/made me feel the most like myself. There are good and bad experiences on every ssri, if you try to research you’ll find what your looking for no matter what
People tend to document negative experiences more thoroughly than positive ones, and there’s a huge stigma surrounding SSRI’s. These are serious drugs that affect your brain and that’s why working with your psychiatrist is crucial. Remember that you can always stop taking it (safely, tapering off over time) if you try it for over a month and the side effects aren’t outweighing the benefits. I would also recommend getting a blood panel done and possibly supplementing some vitamins to help boost your mood and sleep cycle. Good magnesium probably helped me more than anything. Tell your psychiatrist that you are extremely nervous about having some sort of SSRI-induced psychosis and allow them to guide you through and ease that fear.
It worked really well for me for over 15 years! It is the best med for me
I am having a really hard time with ocd and anxious thoughts and feeling extremely uneasy. I'm home alone today so it's really easy for me to get stuck in my thoughts. I'm on day 4 of prozac. I felt like yesterday I had a period of time of about 30 minutes where I felt really focused and like the anxiety lifted completely. But then an obsession started and it brought me right back down. Hopefully I feel relief again today. I'm going to go get some house work done to take my mind off of things. Does anyone have any first hand experiences with prozac? How long until you felt any relief? Any really bad side effects? Any unforseen pluses? Much appreciated.
So, I’ve had my OCD mostly “under control” for the past 10 years (I’m 44, battled this all my life). I’ve been on a high dosage of Luvox, but unfortunately it’s lost its effectiveness about 6 months ago. For the past five months I’ve also been doing therapy sessions on this site and have had a fairly good outcome. My main obsessions have mainly regarded around balance and symmetry. Anyhow, I’m in the process of switching to Prozac. It’s only been 6 days, so I obviously feel nothing yet. I made the foolish mistake of googling “What can antidepressants cause?” Unfortunately I found a very recent article of a study showing antidepressant users have a higher chance of getting ALS. There’s also older articles that say the opposite. But this one article FREAKED ME OUT. And I can only focus on the worst outcome. So, now I’m stuck in a repetitive thought pattern of getting ALS from the one medication that is supposed to help me. It’s absolutely terrifying and I haven’t experienced a health anxiety fear like this in years. I want to research more and more online, but I know this won’t help. It will only make things worse. Anyone with health anxiety have any advice on how to conquer this? I’m standing strong and not getting off my medication or doing any research.
I’m a few days in on starting 10 mg of Prozac, my anxiety has definitely been heightened and it’s making it really hard for me to eat :( also sleep has been very hard when the intrusive thoughts fill my head. I want to stick with the medication and give it a good shot as I know it could really help me. Any suggestions or some encouragement to help me get through this time
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