[AZDesert]

Good morning,

I apologize if this is in the wrong section as I am new here.

A little backstory- I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder, major depression, and panic disorder roughly 8-9 years ago while in the military. I was hospitalized briefly during that time and that's when I started medication. For the year I had left in the military, I was put on various ADs, so much so, I can't remember all of them. In 2013, I was put on sertraline by the VA, and I was up to 200mg. That seemed to have the best results. I wasnt 100%, but I felt the edge was gone. In 2016, i got lazy with taking my medication and only noticed i didnt take it when i started getting effects from it not being in my system. I would take 50mg and the effects would go away. I eventually stopped taking them all together. (Without speaking with my doctor). Fast forward about 5-8 months to 2018. Out if nowhere, I began feeling disassociated. I mean, it was constant, but my GP told me I was having Hay Fever. Never had it like this, but after 6 months of not feeling better, I decided maybe I was having symptoms from stopping my Sertraline. I went to the VA and was prescribed Fluoxitine. Started at 10mg daily and experienced incredible anxiety. The symptoms were too much to bare. Reluctantly, I increased to 20mg. Same effects, just worse. I may of had a day or two here and there where I felt it was working, but for the most part, no luck. My doctor wanted me to go to 40mg. I decided I would start with 30mg and work my way up. The next day, i took 30mg and it was bad. My body was shacking, i felt lightheaded, faint, my thighs, stomach and arms were burning. I went back down to 20mg the next day and told my doctor. Since i had success on sertraline before, we decided to try that again. I started at 25mg, but was having the same feelings I had with fluoxitine. I cut it in half and did 12mg, then 12mg morning and night, then full 25mg, then 25mg plus 12.5mg daily, then 37.5mg and 12.5 a few hours later to equal 50mg. Three days ago, I attempted to do 50mg at once a long with hydroxizine. Between 15-20 minutes after taking it, I felt insane pressure around my eyes and a long my forehead. (Like they were being squeezed. I felt faint, dizzy, and my heart started racing. Of course throughout the workday, my anxiety and thoughts were all over the place. When I got home that night, my face and ears were burning. I had to sit in front of a fan for a good 20 minutes to cool it down. I woke up the next day and felt spaced out and dizzy when I closed my eyes and anxiety was still pretty high throughout the day. Yesterday, I only took 37.5mg and felt a little better. Today, I took 37.5mg again. The only thing I feel now is a bit more anxiety, overthinking, racing thoughts.

This all seems strange to me because I did not have these side effects when I was on sertraline before. I'm worried that I am somehow allergic or even worse, giving myself seratonin syndrome (even though it's a small dose and I have been on 200mg before)

I guess I'm just looking for input about what I am feeling. Is it normal to have these side affects even though I didnt have them before on it? My anxiety is by far worse than my depression. The only reason i went back on medicine was because of the spaced out, not connected feeling i was having for mo TBS. For what it's worth, that feeling has become less extreme, and to an extent, i feel better. Albeit, 10-15%, but i do.

Any suggestions or input?

Thanks so much

[Skeezyks]

Hello AZDesert: I noticed this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral.

I'm sorry your concerns are not something I can comment on. Perhaps other members will have some insights they can share. However another forum, here on PC, where questions related to psych med's are typically posted is the psychiatric medications forum. Here's a link:

https://forums.psychcentral.com/psyc...c-medications/

Should you not receive the replies you were hoping for here in the anxiety forum, you might consider reposting this there. I hope you find PC to be of benefit.