Hi everyone,
Since getting off of prozac in January i have had a host of transient dizzy symptoms that have fluxated and changed over the months. My head CT was clear and i am seeing neuro in a month.
My symptoms
Derealization
AIWS (streets looking stretched and long. Weird depth perception and the floor looking uphill)
Nose and eye pressure
Room tilting visually
Room jerking (nyastagmus?)
Thinks shaking vertically and horizontally when still
Thinks shaking vertically when walking
Blurred vision
Room spinning if i wake up at night
Floaters
Intense brain fog
I just feel so lost and hopeless. Im 21 years old and feel like my life is over. I can barely manage a walk outside.
My doc tried to put me back on prozac but it just made me too anxious. Im 6 days into lexapro and feel like everything is worse (dizziness, room tilting, seeing spots, things shaking, AIWS). Is it common for these symptoms to get worse before better? Should i wait it out on lexapro?
I have no official diagnosis but VM seems to be a fit. I have a history of migraines in my teen years and motion sickness as a child.
Could use some reassurance I will get through this because I feel so depressed.
Welcome Amar,
We can’t diagnose here, but your symptoms are indeed very similar to MAV, PPPD or VM.
See Symptoms common to MAV & VM
The derealisation and brain fog is indicative of an over-stressed and confused brain whose vestibular system is not stable.
I’m afraid finding the right medication to calm your system down is a bit of a journey in itself, known locally here as the “med crapshoot” (coined originally here but fully phrased here). I would definitely consider one of the vestibular suppressants, e.g. Amitriptyline, an SNRI like Venlafaxine (Effexor), or try Propanolol. You need to give each drug 3 months individually in any case. Your Neuro will advise, but you should probably be considering an oto-neuro. Prozac is a really silly, even dangerous medication to be on imho. Good you are getting away from that one!
I hope you find the resources and community here helpful,
Good luck with your Neuro appointment!
Lastly, you will get through this, but it may take a lot of fight and it’s likely to take some time.
I struggle so much day by day I just feel like i hate life right now so much. Iv read quite a few success stories but still feel so hopeless. Im also in canada and the health care system takes so long to get anything done
this is understandable … it’s awful, especially in the first year of it escalating … but you have to and will get through that bad phase and you will find things to get it under control and you will live your life to the full again.
Can I ask what your knowledge is about prozac and why you are against it in case my doc wants to switch me back from lexapro?
If it turns out you have VM, that is completely the wrong medicine to deal with your condition.
If you get a medicine that brings your symptoms under control you will not need anything to treat your anxiety or depression because soon you won’t have any, at least not at a significantly clinical level.
Use of prozac is in any case very controversial, especially here in the UK.
Good to know good to know. I was on prozac for 2 years because of anxiety and its when i was getting off all of this started. I was on 5mg of prozac (20mg is standard) so like many iv been seeing here, i am hyper sensitive to medication. My gp wants to wait for neuro before putting anything else in me. The AIWS is the one thats rly messing me up.
enough said! Dump the prozac!
(ok, I’m being slightly facetious, follow the advice of your Neuro when you get chance to see them).
Ahhh very lucky to have my doc be so supportive. She just called and said 1/4 of the lexapro (2.5mg) and reassess next week.
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You can plug in all the names of these drugs (and use their scientific names too) into search on this site (magnifying glass top-right) and see what people have reported about them in the past.
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@Kitkat_01 Try not to lose hope… I was just like you back in March but I feel a lot better now. Remember there are a ton of medications out there and you’ll need enough time to figure out what works for you. You have the support of everyone on this forum. Is there anyway for you to expedite to get in to see a neurologist?
Not in canada with everything funded publicly. I got my appoint for end of june a few weeks ago because it was deemed urgent by the ER doctor i went to. Otherwise they said it would have been september
Hope you are doing better now on the reduced dose of Lexapro. The NHS here in the UK moves very slowly as well. I think most doctors don;t seem to get how debilitating vertigo/balance issues are and how it really impacts your life. I hope your neuro can give you a diagnosis and effective treatment plan next week
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