antidepressants: Hello Everyone, Just a quick... - My Ovacome

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antidepressants

Sarah23 profile image
12 Replies

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick question has any body taken Prozac while going through Ovarian Cancer? and if so how long did it take to take affect?, my O.C came back only after 3 months and have found it very difficulte too cope, my biggest problem is fear for the future the fear of everything about this terrible cronic condition it keeps racing around my head!! and the fact that I am having more treatment so soon, I feel doomed!!

Sarah23.

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Sarah23
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12 Replies
bosue profile image
bosue

Hi Sarah, I'm the same recurrence after only 3 months, start my next batch of chemo next Wedesday,my GP offered me antidepressants and to be honest I dont want to take them,my chemo nurse is having me referred to our day hospice for a chat and complimentary therapy so I will be giving that a go first. Everyone fears for the future,but we must all make the most of today and while we are feeling well,easier said than done I know just take one day at a time and when you read about some of these ladies who go into remission for years ! onwards and upwards we all here for each other. Love Sue x

Bloomin profile image
Bloomin

Hi Sarah, I am already prescribed prozac but had recently stopped taking it, believing I didn't need it anymore. I am just being referred to gynae for some concerns and having a CA125 blood test in a few days. I am putting myself back on prozac which I haven't taken for a few weeks. I can just feel my low mood and the tearfulness creeping back, and I think I would be best to keep taking it until I at least know what is the cause of my gynae problems. I have an elderly mother unwell and other major concerns going on, and now this. Whilst I think I am ok and managing, the reality is I am dealing with heeeps of stress and stopping the prozac would have been fine but not with my own physical health concern now emerging. I call the prozac my happy pills, and when I was first prescribed them a year ago, within 5 days I felt so much better in my mind. Equally lifestyle changes, and alternative therapies can I am sure be just as beneficial. This forum is also a great morale boost.

wendydee profile image
wendydee

My neighbour had bowel cancer and was very fearful and depressed afterwards. She was put on Prozac and has been on it for about 9 years. She is 87 now and if she is ill and cannot take Prozac (eg. if she has d and v or anything that prevents her from taking it), she begins to feel bad again. She swears by it! Go for it! Whatever it takes, I say.

Love Wendy xx

MargaretJ profile image
MargaretJ

Hi Sarah

I have never taken prozac but I spent most of my marriage on antidepressants. First prothiadine then paroxatine (seroxat) i gave up after I solved the problem with divorce so I tend to feel if I could cope with a seriously adulterous husband I can cope with this! Then again I don't have to be brave for anyone else!

Advice is, if it makes you feel better then take it but not just to make you easier to live with, which was why I took the chemical cosh. I tend to endorse Dylan Thomas' sentiments! "Do not go gentle into that good night but rage rage rage against the dying of the light" and boy can I rage! If really feeling bad I drive up onto the moors, find a deserted layby and SCREAM! Does me the world of good, very cathartic, for me! For you it could be something else, find your outlet and use it! And take whatever makes you feel better, personally a good red wine does it for me except for time on chemo when it tastes foul!

Love Margaret

bosue profile image
bosue in reply toMargaretJ

Margaret, you comment made me smile ! love Sue x

MargaretJ profile image
MargaretJ in reply tobosue

Hi Sue!

Glad to hear it! I aim to please! I am quite serious about the rage though! Like everyone I have my bad days but when I do I just get angry! I've done enough crying and don't want to waste whatever time I have left!

ladygooner-uk profile image
ladygooner-uk

Hi Sarah

there is growing evidence that talking therapies can work for people who have cancer, might be worth while asking your GP/ hospital if they can refer you for CBT.

most antidepressants can take 6/8 weeks to work properly.

good luck, whatever you choose to do

sue

charlie12 profile image
charlie12

Hi Sarah

I have sent you a PM.

Charlie x

Clarissa profile image
Clarissa

Dear Sarah

You don't say of you have actually started taking Prozac yet? Different drugs work differently for different people, and it could take anything from two weeks to two months to feel any different at all.

I would urge you to try the Prozac or give it a chance. I used a tricyclic anti-depressant (docs think they are old-fashioned but I found SSRIs made me feel very woozy) to get me through my breast cancer experience (I'm on this board because my lovely mum has OC) . I wouldn't have coped without the tablets. They just help you to stop thinking about what's bothering you for every second of every day. I know in the place you are now, inside your head, that it;s very difficult to think about anything else, but medication will help and you will find it easier to cope and to sleep.

Best of luck with everything.

Cx

BusyLizzie profile image
BusyLizzie

Hi Sarah,

No view on anti-depressants really - but I know how much you have struggled with the news of the end of your remission. I wondered how your treatment is going? Is your CA125 reducing? If it is, I hope this is very much of comfort to you - as you know provided you respond to drugs - this disease can be controlled for a long time.

Love Lizzie

X

Sarah23 profile image
Sarah23

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for all the blogs, at the moment the anti-depressants are making my anxious and jittery, hopefully this will pass, I am on a trail drug so I will be on Chemo for a long time [sept. 11th] its just what you have to do, my remisson only lasted 2 months, I have done 7 sessions of Chemo my CA125 has come down to 64 [it was 254] but they are more intrested in the trend, and for the numbers to contiune to come down or stay stable, they say the disease can be controlled for a good while what would you class as a good treatment time? can anyone really tell them that? I guess its how well you do with your Chemo each time!! but when I was about to ask my oncologist I stopped because I felt he was going to say something terrible, in my own time, would anyone really want to know? I think I would fall apart and take to my bed!! they are always doom and gloom.

Sarah23

ScardyCat40 profile image
ScardyCat40

I take fluoxetine my dose was upped after I finished chemo because like you I was fearful for the future. It can take about 4-5 weeks for you to feel the full benefit of ADs and they recommend that you keep taking them for 6 months after you start to feel better. I've been on them for just over a year.

I don't have any issues with taking them they work by correcting chemical imbalances in my brain which affect my mood. If you broke your leg you wouldn't refuse to have your leg plastered? They don't necessarily stop you feeling sad but they even out your moods so you don't get those extremes anymore. I've always found taking tablets in conjunction with talking therapies really helps.

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