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The doctor who gave up drugs.


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So I’ve just seen this program and it was talking about fluoxetine and sertraline and it showed that the young girl taking it had then started to have weird dreams, started to have really bad intrusive thoughts etc. Not sure if anyone saw this but it’s got me a little worried now, I’ve jusr moved to 40mg of fluoxetine and now I’m having a panic that the same thing could happen to me and I’m also worried that the thoughts are going to get worse around my baby and will make me do something!

 

How common is that sort of reaction to the drug ? Or is fluoxetine safe to take? 

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8 minutes ago, muddledmother said:

How common is that sort of reaction to the drug ? Or is fluoxetine safe to take? 

Perhaps you're asking the wrong questions, muddledmother. :) 

The question to ask is, why do I react by thinking 'It could happen to me. I might do something to my baby'? 

The answer to that is OCD. 

How common is it to hear about side-effects and fear the worst?  Typical OCD reaction! 

If you've recently changed your dose and you start having new symptoms (like weird dreams) then you need to speak to your doctor. But worrying that you might have such symptoms is your OCD finding things to latch onto. Don't go looking for problems that don't yet exist. 

There's no simple answer to 'Is fluoxetine safe?' :confused1:  It's neither 'safe' nor 'unsafe'.

It's a drug. All drugs need to be used with care. Most drugs when used properly don't cause problems. Your doctor has prescribed 40mg dose and will have taken care to ensure there's nothing in your medical history to suggest this is unsuitable for you. 

Practise approaching these kinds of worries in a different way - asking questions that help you get your worry back into perspective -  instead of rushing to answer the questions OCD demands answers to. :) 

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Guest PaulM

One of my parents spends a lot of time immediately looking up side effects and focuses on the worst case scenario.

The other one is slightly less obsessive but has strong opinions against medicines like fluoxetine. They were going on at me about how terrible it was that some doctor they read about was prescribing it.

I kept my mouth shut and didn't speak up, but I am on fluoxetine (80 mg). It's actually been amazingly helpful for me. Neither of my parents are doctors, but they seem to second guess them. It highlights for me how many opinions there are, but the reality can be very different. I admit I was reluctant to go on it after some ineffective past experiences with other SSRIs. But in spite of my skepticism it really works. The only side effect I had of note was tremors for a little while. They went away. Now taking the medicine is just part of my routine with all of the benefits it has given me and no problems.

Edited by PaulM
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