needhelpguy: poor cognitive/ memory after CT Prozac

[needhelpguy]

Hi everyone. Quick background: 26 male worked as software developer, no drugs/alcohol/smoking/brain injury history with normal weight. I have health anxiety (googling symptoms->got cancer->panic) on and off yearly since 14(2006). Never took antidepressant as eventually the anxiety resolved. I tried to explain my story in chronological order:

 

June 2016

Scared of pancreatic cancer. Went doctor, do blood test+USG+endoscopy all normal.

 

November 2016

The health anxiety was still there and it gave me sexual dysfunction and depersonalization for the first time (feeling unreal, zombie mode, no pleasure/ motivation) It last few hours from 8 PM. I tried to ignore it and sleep it over.

 

December 2016-October 2017

The depersonalisation made me scared so I decided to went to psychiatrist and take my first antidepressant, Dr gave 10 mg Prozac for 1 month then 20 mg Prozac. Since the 20mg, my mood has improved and my health anxiety resolved. But I got frequent sleep paralysis in the morning and afternoon nap. Almost everyday I felt druggy/ fatigued in the afternoon. I also get intense/ vivid dream occasionally. She wanted me to continue 20mg for at least one year but I decided to go cold turkey on 25 October2017 since other than the sleep paralysis, druggy and intense dream, I was feeling great, no sex. dys. and my anxiety has resolved.

 

March 2018

4 months since cold turkey, on 3rd March 3pm I went to gym with my cousin as per normal (a week before I got headache while in the gym and took panadol, I rarely have headache). However the depersonalisation came back. I felt nothing/ empty when doing my excercise. Tried to ignore it and sleep over it. This is where my biggest problem start. In the midnight, I suddenly got awoken from intense dream and I felt I have forgotten about my past 1 year of life. I got panic and tried to sleep this over. The next day I found my vocabulary decreased by a lot. I felt more stupid, verbally and cognitively. My working memory, cognitive ability, train of thought are much slower/ impeded for the first time and I didn't got those problem while taking the AD previously. I also have suddenly forgotten many famous actor name like christian bale despite knowing their movie (batman, american psycho).

-My mind get mixed up when thinking about something (e.g. if I look at the table, my mind will thought of the word chair, green light-> word red, hot water-> word cold water). However, I'm still aware those related things and only related things got switched.

-My functional memory got 'vaporized' easily. Say my train of thought is: today is hot-> good to buy ice cream-> lets go to market A. By the time my though is in "lets go to market A' I forgot why I need to buy ice cream, then immediately I forgot what was I thinking. I have to consciously give effort to have a train of thought but even then it is not as much/ long as I could previously. I can't seemed to retain my train of thought as good as it used to be. Another example, when playing chess thinking 2-3 steps ahead seemed to be very difficult now unlike previously. My short term memory is relatively fine as I can still remember what I need to buy for groceries.

-I occasionally get confused when approaching fridge/ opening cupboard as I instantly forgot what I wanted to do. However I can still recall what I want to do after thinking for few seconds.

-I also started to have a tendency to have lightheaded-ness, just moving my head will give me slight lightheaded (it's much better as of time of this writing).

-At night when I try to sleep, my mind will have many random thoughts as if it just run by itself and I immediately forget about what the thought was, but I'm only closing my eyes and not yet fell asleep but these felt like I was dreaming. I rarely have intense/ vivid dreaming now though. 

-Most of the time, I just can't remembered what I was just thinking deeply/ learning few seconds ago. Throughout my previous episodes of health anxiety, my mind ruminates a lot and easily. Now it felt numbed and dumbed down. When typing, I also get switched up easily, like typing rumin(ates)-> rumnit. I had always been perfect in typing characters in order. 

 

March-April 2018

I went to GP and explained about my symptoms, he just told me to continue taking Prozac 20mg. I then started taking them again for 2 months before CT again. While on them, all my problems felt less obvious.

 

July 2018

I decided to revisit my psychiatrist and explained all of the above problems. She told me I should continue taking the 20mg immediately and warn me that I may need to take this forever else relapse. I told her that I don't want to be dependent on this drug but she reasoned that this drug actually strengthen my brain (lol?). After asking for 10 mg, she relents and let me take 10 mg/ day first before meeting her again in October. I haven't continued taking the Prozac since my last CT on April though.

 

As of this writing, I still have the above problem. I have started taking fish oil since 2 weeks ago as per the forum suggestion. My job requires me to have my old memory/concentration/cognitive ability. Will my problem be reversible? Anyone has experienced a similar problem as mine? Now I started to worry that Prozac has dmg my brain/ I have stroke at that night/ brain cancer because all this troubles seemed to happen overnight  Should i start the 10 mg again? Thank you

 

Edit: I think this guy has similar problem as me https://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/72836-ssri-damage-done/

[Altostrata]

Welcome, needhelpguy.

 

You have extreme health anxiety. I strongly advise you to find someone who can coach you in Cognitive Behavior Therapy so you can manage your obsessive thoughts.

 

You may or may not have Prozac withdrawal syndrome. The symptoms you describe may be withdrawal symptoms or they make be an outcome of worrying about your symptoms. If they are withdrawal symptoms, they will very slowly fade over time, as long as you take good care of your body and nervous system.

 

Many people do better with fish oil and magnesium supplements, see http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/
http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/15483-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

 

A lot of people find them helpful. Try a little bit of one at a time to see how it affects you.

 

Taking 10mg Prozac may or may not relieve your symptoms. If you take it for any length of time, you will need to taper it when you want to go off. Sexual dysfunction is a very common side effect of taking psychiatric drugs.

 

Since you have a history of cold turkey, it's also possible your nervous system has become sensitized to drugs and you will find 10mg Prozac to be excessive. You might find 5mg to be more tolerable.

 

Please let us know when you are getting Cognitive Behavior Therapy or other psychotherapy to learn to manage your habits of thought. Until then, we cannot help you, it's impossible to tell whether your symptoms are from worry or withdrawal.

[needhelpguy]

Thanks for the reply Altostrata. I'm absolutely sure my cognitive problem isn't from me worrying/ anxiety as it happened overnight (3rd March 2018) and my worry/ health anxiety didn't flared up at all since going CT. I had everything going well since going cold turkey from end of October17 till 2nd March18. I will not take the 10mg as you suggested but I don't think there is a 5mg capsule available in my country. Do you know anyone that has the same problem as me after taking SSRI for less than a year? Anyway, since taking the fish oil (or maybe time has pass lol) I have been seeing improvement in my memory and cognitive ability. I hope I can get through this

[Altostrata]

If I were you, I would try perhaps 1mg Prozac to start. This topic explains how to take a small amount Tips for tapering off Prozac (fluoxetine)

 

Let us know how you're doing. You will still need to manage your health anxiety, as you may get odd symptoms as your nervous system settles down.

[ChessieCat]

Hi and welcome to SA from me too,

 

There are many excellent ideas in this topic:  Non-drug techniques to cope

[needhelpguy]

@AltostrataI hv 20 mg leftover. If I mix it with water and put in fridge, will it vapourize be4 it finish?

 

@chessiecat thanks for the link. Also, I forgot to mention I had frequent vivid dream ever since I start taking the drug since last year untill today. Is this normal? And when Im thinking hard, I will get nausea 😔

[manymoretodays]

Hi needhelpguy,

Tips for tapering off Prozac

It should be stable for 14 days in the fridge.  First post in the above.

Do keep it in a covered container and protected from light(amber colored container or the covered container in a a paper bag works too).

On 8/23/2018 at 12:12 PM, Altostrata said:

If I were you, I would try perhaps 1mg Prozac to start. This topic explains how to take a small amount Tips for tapering off Prozac (fluoxetine)

 

 Vivid dreams could be both a side effect of the drug AND withdrawal symptoms.  So yes.......normal. 

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

mmt

 

[ChessieCat]

23 minutes ago, needhelpguy said:

I also get this daily nausea and slight lightheadedness and it trigger my health anxiety again for brain cancer. Anyone have daily nausea and slight dizziness in the afternoon after withdrawing cold turkey after 1 year?

 

There are many existing topics on this site.  I like to use google and add survivingantidepressants.org to my search term.

 

dizziness-vertigo-light-headedness-rocking-or-swaying-sensations

 

digestive-problems-nausea-diarrhoea-bloating-gerd

 

what-to-do-for-dizziness-queasiness-nausea

 

[BigPharmaStinks]

Hi there! Just wanted to see how you've been doing? Hope your cognitive symptoms are resolving