very scared of Flupenthixol

[william12]

Hi everybody

My name is Will and i suffer with severe anxiety and depression for years. i was stable for many years and then i divorced my first wife and things got out of hand. i started feeling extremely bad and low and i jumped head first into a new relationship and re-married an other woman and i have been married now for 5 years and we have a beautiful 3 year old daughter.

last few months i was given fluanxol(flupenthixol or flupentixol in the uk) and i felt better then i started having visual side effects and extreme drowziness when the medication was only increased to 2 mg/day, i was also taking citalopram 40mg . i stopped the flupenthixol after i had a reaction where i became very restless and then stopped the citalopram 4 days later and started taking Clomipramine and zyprexa. then hell broke loose. the worst restlessness a man can imagine and with it burning in neck that goes down my chest and hands and i became seriously suicidal .

nothing worked : tried risperidone and it made no difference and made me even worse because of the drowziness.

the Psychiatrist restarted Fluanxol at only 0.5 mg and the burning subsided a bit then came back couple of weaks later so i was told to take 1 mg and this made a big difference and i had big relief but still anxious and depressed but not horribly so. last week (2 months on)i started having a funny feeling like i am half drunk and i became very uncoordinated and clumsy , it's a bad feeling. i decided to stop the fluanxol but very gradually : every three weeks i go down in dose by 0.25 mg and i started yesterday and the burning came back this morning but not as bad as before.

shall i carry on ? because this fluanxol seems to be the culprit in all this suffering? any advice would be greatly appreciated

ps: i am also taking sertraline now 150 (it was increased yesterday by the GP)

[Siegfried]

William, what a cocktail you've been taking!!!


First I need to ask you whether these drugs were all prescribed by the same doctor, and if the doctor prescribing each one is aware of everything else you have been taking.
Second I need to understand why you are being given antipsychotics. Have you been diagnosed with schizophrenia?
Third it is not a good principle to stop taking a drug whenever one believes that one is having a side effect from the drug. If you think you're having side effects which are disagreeable, you should discuss them with your doctors and take it from there. Discontinuation is not a simple matter, and to be done properly it requires a lot of knowledge that only a trained professional who knows you and works with you can acquire.

Keep us posted.

[william12]

William, what a cocktail you've been taking!!!


First I need to ask you whether these drugs were all prescribed by the same doctor, and if the doctor prescribing each one is aware of everything else you have been taking.
Second I need to understand why you are being given antipsychotics. Have you been diagnosed with schizophrenia?
Third it is not a good principle to stop taking a drug whenever one believes that one is having a side effect from the drug. If you think you're having side effects which are disagreeable, you should discuss them with your doctors and take it from there. Discontinuation is not a simple matter, and to be done properly it requires a lot of knowledge that only a trained professional who knows you and works with you can acquire.

Keep us posted.

i am not psychotic but my anxiety is so severe that the doc wanted me to stay on a small dose antipsychotic.

it's the same doctor

to be honest before these antipsychotics i was a lot better but i am hooked on them now . i took amisulpride which is an antipsychotic not available in the UK for several years (only a small dose ) but it stopped helping or didn't help as much.

my problem and goal in life is to stop this poinson safely which seems like a mammoth task. never experienced this burning in the neck and restlessness before it.

[Siegfried]

Thank you! I think you should stop the discontinuation until you see your doctor again. It's safer, right?


Could you tell me more about your disorder? When it started, what symptoms you have, etc.

[william12]

Thank you! I think you should stop the discontinuation until you see your doctor again. It's safer, right?


Could you tell me more about your disorder? When it started, what symptoms you have, etc.

cheers bro

it's safer and not safer! the problem is that this medication (fluanxol) can have serious side effects long-term and even short term(rarely).

i suffer with Gad and obsessive thoughts and fears , irrational fears : always expecting the worse to happen etc ..

one psychiatrist thinks i have borderline personality but not the impulsive one even though i can be a bit impulsive sometimes.

the symptoms the most scary were since i stopped the fluanxol cold turkey then the citalopram 40 mgs cold turkey too. extreme agitation and restlessness , it's like

i want to come off my skin. extreme anxiety and extreme racing thoughts +tiredness and severe depression because of high frustration. i was everyday thinking about

suicide and ways of doing it painlessly. it never subsided till i used the flupenthixol again and once i increased to 1 mg the burning in the neck went away.

as soon as i diminished the dose yesterday , this morning i had slight burning in neck and heightened anxiety.

i seriously believe this fluanxol is poison

[Siegfried]

I understand your fears. How I remember taking Paxil, and worrying about possible long term negative effects to my body! I could sit for hours reading scholarly journals on the topic... Obsessing...

I find your case odd because what you are describing is quite close to what I myself was going through, and Paxil was all it took for me to get back to normal (eventually). The problem with most of these meds is the time it takes for them to have any effect. And sometimes the fear of side effects makes us feel even worse at first.

I reckon that you have not yet found the right treatment for you. I therefore suggest that you get a second opinion, and try to start afresh. There are tons of possible meds out there with mild to nonexistent side effects. (I hardly had any with Paxil... Some people do, though) I'm sure it is a matter of time until you find your balance. I am also not surprised by what you're feeling right now... Stopping citalopram cold turkey? That's a chequered flag for every possible psychiatric symptom!!!

Keep us posted!

[william12]

I understand your fears. How I remember taking Paxil, and worrying about possible long term negative effects to my body! I could sit for hours reading scholarly journals on the topic... Obsessing...

I find your case odd because what you are describing is quite close to what I myself was going through, and Paxil was all it took for me to get back to normal (eventually). The problem with most of these meds is the time it takes for them to have any effect. And sometimes the fear of side effects makes us feel even worse at first.

I reckon that you have not yet found the right treatment for you. I therefore suggest that you get a second opinion, and try to start afresh. There are tons of possible meds out there with mild to nonexistent side effects. (I hardly had any with Paxil... Some people do, though) I'm sure it is a matter of time until you find your balance. I am also not surprised by what you're feeling right now... Stopping citalopram cold turkey? That's a chequered flag for every possible psychiatric symptom!!!

Keep us posted!

paxil you mean paroxetine! i can't describe how much i love that medication. it was the first ssri i tried and the best by far. it saved my life but i stopped it due to some sexual dysfunction and when i was put on it again few years later it didn't help as it used to but i never used more than 20 mgs . it's a great medication which had bad publicity unfortunately