Medication increase

[Dreamer81]

Hi guys,

new here. I’ve been on anti-depressants for 4 years now. I had a massive anxiety attack on Wednesday which spiraled me back into full blown anxiety and touch of depression. I have been told to increase my medication dosage. I started with a lower dosage and I have had terrible headaches and nausea. I can’t rememver the last time I increased and if this happened before? Any one else get these side effects whilst their body got used to it? X

[geoff]

hi Dreamer, I'm sorry you have to go through all of this, but unfortunately we never know when the depression and/or anxiety will come back to haunt us, that's something we can never predict.
If the medication you've been taking on a low dose has been helping you in some way or another, that's good, then an increase may make you feel a bit out of sorts until it starts to settle into your system.
This may take a couple of weeks to do this because it's already in your system, all it's doing is building up the balance of certain chemicals to try and make you feel better.
The same has happened to me, not so much with my antidepressant (AD) but the anti-epileptic medication, the principle is still the same.
Let us know if it gets better, if it doesn't then you need to go back to your doctor. Geoff.

[Croix]

Dear Dreamer81~

I'd like to join Geoff in welcoming you here. He has given you some pretty spot on advice. Being on the one low dose of AD for 4 years and having your depression under control as a result is pretty good. Unfortunately for various reasons it can become ineffective and need adjusting now and again.

Acclimatizing the body to a drug does most often take time, and can give all sorts of temporary side-effects, nausea and headaches being very common. I've had to adjust dosages and switch meds many times before I was on one that suited, and even now I need to vary the regime from time to time. I understand this is quite normal. If you have a browse around this Forum I'm sure you will find many others in the same boat.

I'd suggest you talk to your doctor - if you have not already - about increasing the dosage and see if there is an estimate of how long the acclimatization period will be in your case (there should be a record of how you reacted before). Then do the increase under supervision.

Hopefully the beneficial effects will come on quickly

Croix

[Dreamer81]

Thank you so much guys. The last depression/anxiety attack happened 9 years ago so I’ve been on medication since then dropped the dosage both time I had children then upped again after my first four years ago. I’m usually really good at noticing my triggers and can pull myself out before I hit the dreaded hole! Wasn’t so lucky this time. I just couldn’t remember if the headaches spacy feeling were part of the anxiety or part of the med increase. I’ll pop back to the drs next week for a mental health plan. I really appreciate your responses. Thanks a bunch.

[geoff]

hello Dreamer, thanks for getting back to us, and can I say that throughout life and the more we get to know the illness we are suffering from, the more trigger points are going to happen, so it's always a case of learning to know what they are.
Last year you may have had only 6 trigger points but next year these may have increased to 10, that's not blaming you at all, all it means is that you are learning to know what they are.
In some way if I can say this the more you have the more you know about, depression/anxiety isn't only caused by one or two issues, because one can lead onto another and then another, something which you might not have been aware of before.
Please let us know how your doctor's appointment went. Geoff.