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So I have started taking fluoxetine very recently and so far it's fine, no noticeable side effects. 

I know it's different for everyone and I am not expecting miracles but I wondered, anyone who has tried it, how long did it take for you to notice a difference? I'm aware it can take several weeks. 

Thanks 

GBG

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Hi GBG,

I took around 2 weeks to notice a difference, I did suffer with side effects but these subsided roughly After this time frame.

I did find I felt a bit more balanced as if they had taken the 'edge' off my worries. My wife also noticed me seem slightly more light and engaged. I had my dosage increased around 9 months into the course from 20mg per day to 40mg per day.

Hope this helps. :)

Avo

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I was on these many years ago gbg  before I had a system breakdown. I didn't suffer with any side effects and it only took a few weeks before they slowly began to work. With what I remember they helped ease the anxiety thus helped lift my mood. 

Hope this helps you :)

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Fluoxetine was the med of choice for OCD of my wonderful psychiatrist. 

She said it had worked well amongst her patients and thought it would help me. 

Unfortunately a side effect of ongoing diarrhoea was too much for me and I had to switch meds (though strangely my biological sister with OCD had no such problem!), but I thought it helpful to pass on what she said. 

Re my sister, she says it bolstered her up and helped her cope, and engage with CBT. 

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I hope it helps Gingerbreadgirl!

I tried a small dose a few years ago but felt very buzzy, had high blood pressure (usually it's lower than average) and lots of dreams about suicide so ended up stopping shortly after starting. However I did feel a bit happier during the day on it so I'm wondering about trying again and hoping the initial side effects wear off. 

Avo, are you still on Fluoxetine and finding it helpful? 

Hi Lost, what kind of system breakdown did you have? Did you move to another SSRI after that?

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1 hour ago, BelAnna said:

Avo, are you still on Fluoxetine and finding it helpful? 

Hi Belanna,

I am still on fluoxetine, I have been for 3 years now, I started in July 2016. I think I do find it helpful, I had a review at the end of march and we agreed to keep me on it for another 12 months and review then, there are a number of life stressors at the moment so we decided not to 'rock the boat' by coming off them

I don't know how I would react without them, I am open to the idea of trying to reduce them but now doesn't seem quite right. 

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1 hour ago, BelAnna said:

Hi Lost, what kind of system breakdown did you have? Did you move to another SSRI after that?

Morning all and what a glorious day it is too:) been painting my garden all morning and now getting ready for hospital.

Hi BelAnna,

I was on fluoxetine for quite a few years with no issues, I only had to wean myself off them because I was pregnant. It was some time later when I had the system breakdown and totally unrelated to SSRI, it was caused by a bad reaction to other medication I was taking at the time and my organs started to shut down, so sadly I have to be careful regarding medication and only taking it if it's a must hence why I don't take any SSRIs just in case it causes an adverse affect.

Lost 

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50 minutes ago, lostinme said:

Morning all and what a glorious day it is too:) been painting my garden all morning and now getting ready for hospital.

Hi BelAnna,

I was on fluoxetine for quite a few years with no issues, I only had to wean myself off them because I was pregnant. It was some time later when I had the system breakdown and totally unrelated to SSRI, it was caused by a bad reaction to other medication I was taking at the time and my organs started to shut down, so sadly I have to be careful regarding medication and only taking it if it's a must hence why I don't take any SSRIs just in case it causes an adverse affect.

Lost 

Oh wow, you poor thing! I hope the hospital appointment goes well later. 

It is a lovely sunny day! Hope the gardening went well!:smileys-gardening-291500:

I am considering SSRIs; I would love to find one that works and then be on it long term but I'm a bit concerned because if I have a chance to meet Mr You'll-do and have kids (possibly wishful thinking as OCD means I'm long-term single), it will in the next 5-10 years and I would rather not have to ween myself off SSRIs for pregnancy/feeding etc! 

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One of the nice things about fluoxetine is its extremely long half life relative to other SSRIs (4~6 days vs 1~1.5 days for the others).  This means missing a dose is likely to cause less issues (though you should still take your medication regularly) and coming off should be easier since it is slower to get out of your system.  I used it with good results for about 10 years.

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18 hours ago, BelAnna said:

Oh wow, you poor thing! I hope the hospital appointment goes well later. 

It is a lovely sunny day! Hope the gardening went well!:smileys-gardening-291500:

I am considering SSRIs; I would love to find one that works and then be on it long term but I'm a bit concerned because if I have a chance to meet Mr You'll-do and have kids (possibly wishful thinking as OCD means I'm long-term single), it will in the next 5-10 years and I would rather not have to ween myself off SSRIs for pregnancy/feeding etc! 

Bless you thankyou, I just have to be careful of what medication I take but I'm ok now:yes: I was visiting my dad in hospital but things are good with him  now, so all is good. Garden going slow in-between fitting it in, but hopefully it will look good when it's finished :)

I wouldn't rule out SSRIs because as you say it could be 5/10 years time before considering pregnancy, so don't worry about it until then, if it helps the weaning off process was pretty straight forward with no adverse effects but that can vary from person to person. Talk to your therapist about it and hopefully they will be able to advise the best route for you :)

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I have had very good results with fluoxetine, I used it 8 years ago during a very bad flare up of ocd which is when I realised I had ocd. I was in such a bad way that I was having constant suicidal thoughts for the first time in my life, and the thoughts were both comforting and at the same time freaked me the hell out. I couldn’t function, my world stopped turning, so I bit the bullet and decided to take fluoxetine 20mg. They made me worse for the first 2 weeks but I pushed though and with the help of the 4 steps model and self directed therapy by week 6 I was feeling more myself, week 8 kind of back to normal. I stayed on it for 4years and only weaned off due to get to getting pregnant, although my doctor and midwife were happy for me to stay on it i decided not to. Anyway I came off it with no problems whatsoever and haven’t had any flare up of ocd until now and my daughter has just turned 4, so that’s pretty good going. I’ve read the longer you stay on it the longer you have relapse free after you come off, but I’m not just how true or evidence-based that is. 

Anyway, I had a really bad stress induced ocd flare up 6 weeks ago and decided to go back on fluoxetine, again 20mg. Again worse for first 2 weeks, weeks 2-4 some small improvement but still had many bad days each week. Then weeks 4-5 even more improvement and now at week six I’m having mostly good days. Maybe one semi bad day a week. I have also been doing self directed therapy and my ocd thoughts are mostly a very faint background noise which I notice far less. I believe the effects of fluoxetine can continue to increase for up to 12 weeks so I’m guess I’m saying I really rate this drug, but give it at least 6 weeks so see if it’s working for you. All drugs work differently for different people, this one just seems to be the right one for me, so hope it doesn’t poop out eventually as I know it can. 

Even though I’m feeling better I have decided to take the plunge and see a private ocd specialist for the first time ever to discuss all of this ocd stuff as I’m not diagnosed but would like to know if I’m on the right lines with how I’m treating it and also whether they can help me further I manage it moving forward.

Good luck on your journey and hope the meds work for you.

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Thank you very much for all this very helpful advice - it is reassuring to know that most have had a positive experience! 

So far i have not experienced any effects whatsoever, good or bad, it's almost like I'm not taking anything...  I am seeing this as a good sign though, as I know the benefits can take a while to manifest and I'm fortunately not experiencing any side effects (as yet). 

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2 hours ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

So far i have not experienced any effects whatsoever, good or bad, it's almost like I'm not taking anything...  I am seeing this as a good sign though, as I know the benefits can take a while to manifest and I'm fortunately not experiencing any side effects (as yet). 

Thats great! I did forget to mention one thing though, the full moon.  I mean it affects some people more than others, like I only get a bit more hairy, but some people get the whole impact, you know, sharp teeth, wagging tail, lots of slobbering.  You've got a week until you need to worry about it, but might want to stock up on some Milk-Bones, just in case.

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17 minutes ago, dksea said:

Thats great! I did forget to mention one thing though, the full moon.  I mean it affects some people more than others, like I only get a bit more hairy, but some people get the whole impact, you know, sharp teeth, wagging tail, lots of slobbering.  You've got a week until you need to worry about it, but might want to stock up on some Milk-Bones, just in case.

:haha:

I have a little weather forecaster which also shows me the phases of the moon.

I will watch for the full moon and keep clear of anyone displaying such symptoms :D

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I have a question about drinking on fluoxetine. It says on the label not to drink. But my understanding is this is not a hard and fast thing. I don't drink very much anyway but I am going to an event tomorrow where it would be nice to have a glass of something. 

Is this OK? Or should I avoid completely? 

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11 minutes ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

I have a question about drinking on fluoxetine. It says on the label not to drink. But my understanding is this is not a hard and fast thing. I don't drink very much anyway but I am going to an event tomorrow where it would be nice to have a glass of something. 

 Is this OK? Or should I avoid completely? 


I'm probably the worst person to advise you on this since I don't drink (never liked the taste/experience) but I found this on the NHS site and it fits with what I generally understand to be true:

 

Quote

SSRIs generally do not cause problems when taken with alcohol, and it may be safe to drink alcohol while taking them.

But the manufacturers advise avoiding alcohol during treatment because it might make you feel drowsy.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicines/can-i-drink-alcohol-if-i-am-taking-antidepressants/

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On 08/07/2019 at 09:15, lostinme said:

Bless you thankyou, I just have to be careful of what medication I take but I'm ok now:yes: I was visiting my dad in hospital but things are good with him  now, so all is good. Garden going slow in-between fitting it in, but hopefully it will look good when it's finished :)

I wouldn't rule out SSRIs because as you say it could be 5/10 years time before considering pregnancy, so don't worry about it until then, if it helps the weaning off process was pretty straight forward with no adverse effects but that can vary from person to person. Talk to your therapist about it and hopefully they will be able to advise the best route for you :)

Aw that's good. :) 

Thank you, that's helpful to know that withdrawing from Fluoxetine wasn't too bad because that was another reason why I had been avoiding SSRIs! 

I hope your Dad is recovering well too x

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9 hours ago, dksea said:


I'm probably the worst person to advise you on this since I don't drink (never liked the taste/experience) but I found this on the NHS site and it fits with what I generally understand to be true:

 

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicines/can-i-drink-alcohol-if-i-am-taking-antidepressants/

 

9 hours ago, dksea said:


I'm probably the worst person to advise you on this since I don't drink (never liked the taste/experience) but I found this on the NHS site and it fits with what I generally understand to be true:

 

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicines/can-i-drink-alcohol-if-i-am-taking-antidepressants/

Nice info as I have been on and off fluoxetine for quite a long time and do partake of an occasional alcoholic drink. Never noticed any side effects and never had problems coming off them even at the high dose recommended for OCD. 

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