Anxious episode months ago has left me jittery and shaky

Post date: 2022-08-13 19:17:06

About two months ago, I had a reasonably severe anxious episode. This has now mostly passed, so why do I still feel shaky and jittery, and find myself with a tremor (unless I work to suppress it)?

I've been medicated with SSRIs for depression for the last ten years or so, mostly quite successfully. Recently I went into a bit of a tailspin, and found myself so anxious I couldn't function. I took a week's sick leave from work, and then the next few weeks were spent gradually (but not straightforwardly) getting better.

At the same time, I increased my dose of fluoxetine from 20mg/day to 60mg/day, the "full dose" according to my GP. Unfortunately I found myself still depressed (though the anxiety lessened a great deal), so we're taking me off that and going to start something else. I'm down to 40mg/day now.

At 60mg/day I had the same jittery, shaky feeling - but it's hard to know if it's from the anxiety or the drugs. I recall having the jitters before upping the dose, but not the tremor (that's new). Symptoms don't seem to have abated much now that I'm on 40mg.

Is it likely this is just residual effects of the anxiety, or of the drugs, or something else? Are there any blood tests or similar I can do to try and rule things out here? My GP seems to think it's likely the fluoxetine, but my symptoms are so common symptom it seems it'll be hard to pin them down to anything in particular.

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