Massive anxiety and obsessing about death

[Ry3point4]

I am 25 years old, diagnosed with lupus at 18.I have been on blood thinners and 40mg fluoxetine for six years. Stopped taking my prozac about six months ago because i thought i was 'fixed'. A week and a half ago i stopped using tobacco, marijuana, booze and caffene all at once cold turkey on top of being stressed. As of a week ago my thoughts started to worry me. Aside from being emotional, I think every time i go to sleep, i wont wake up. If my heart rate increses, i think i am going into cardiac arrest. I feel like every new pain i have, is something wrong with my body and is going to kill me. I can't enjoy my life at all. I am obsessed with my thoughts. Today is my fifth day back on fluoxetine, hoping things will get better. Are these normal thoughts given the circumstances? Is this what happens when fluoxetine is stopped?

[jessed03]

I was a heavy coffee drinker, and a heavy user of alcohol, and used to consume a truck load of sugar daily. One day I had a bit of a rush of blood to the head, and randomly cut all these things out. I have never felt so depressed, so emotional, so darn suicidal in my whole life. I kept having thoughts about throwing myself under a train. I think it was just the massive change that happened within my body in a short space of time. I don't know what it was, but it sent me totally out of sync. After about 7 weeks, things started to settle down a bit. I was just a complete and utter mess, unable to function. I couldn't figure out what caused it, I was feeling so well, then I realised what I had changed was this.

I think your body is MEGA out of balance right now. It's impossible to say if the thoughts are normal given the circumstance. If they get worse, obviously do the right thing and talk to your doctor, but for now I'd take all this with a pinch of salt. Don't take it so serious. I know you can't ignore them, but try to remind yourself your body is undergoing a really big chemical change right now. Give yourself permission to go through the motion, take it easy for a while. If things don't calm down within a few weeks, look into it further.These things really can happen when you stop drugs, the prescription ones and the others. For now, hold tight, don't make any major decisions or anything ya know, like quitting work or whatever.

[jessed03]

But one other thing i would like to point out is that all the things you stopped as with all addictions release Dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. Makes you happy and feel good.


Kev,

Any idea how long it takes for the Dopamine levels to become more normalized after quitting say, an addiction to caffeine, or sugar or something?

Could be a useful fact to know in my ever indulgent life :)