I'm 19 and a sophomore in college. I play college football, and as you'd expect from a jock it's not easy to talk to people about what's going on, we're supposed to be tough, you know. For about a year, I noticed a change in my mood and energy levels. I've played sports my whole life, am in great shape, great diet, no drugs, no steroids, little alcohol, have always been outgoing, never shown signs of depression/anxiety/ADD or any mental disorder, all that, but when i moved out to school i started losing energy, tired more, less interested in things i loved (football). As the year went on my symptoms got worse, but just figured it was stress or just getting used to college, being lazy, etc. My symptoms became unbearable over this past summer it was obvious that something was wrong with me:
I would lay in bed some nights and my mind would race, i would think/worry about EVERYTHING possible and it would take hours to fall asleep somenights (bad insomnia).
Wheter i could fall asleep easy or not, I sleep naturally for 12+ hours a day if i didn't have to wake up for anything, and regardless of how much i slept i would be DEAD the whole day, absolutly no energy, dead on my feet.
I had no motivation to get out of bed everyday and dreaded having to workout/practice (which for years i have loved)
I had absolutely no confidence in myself or anything i did (fear of failing?)
I lost strength
I lost appitite
No focus at all, mind wandering, always thinking/worrying about everything
I didn't like being social at all, i just wanted to be alone, watch TV and sleep all day, and I used to be real outgoing.
I finally admitted this to my doctor. All the physical tests were normal, so he took blood tests, (low Iron? low testosterone? thyroid problem?) nope, all normal. Then he suggested depression or anxiety from my symptoms, "it's not the body, so it must be the brain." I had a hard time saying it could be depression because i'm perfectly happy with how my life is going, nothing trumatic has happend, i shouldn't be depressed, but he's the doctor, right?
He prescribed Fluoxetine (generic Prozac) 20 mg/once a day. I started taking it right when fall camp started, that was real rough. I had to go through all of camp with no signs of improvement (it was 2 weeks, I read it takes 4-6 weeks to see effects from Prozac). I stuck with the medicine, fought through it, and it's been 8 weeks now since I've been on Prozac and I'm sleeping better/more normal and eating better, but there has been little change in my energy levels, confidence (always down on myself), mood, motivation or focus. It's like I'm constantly in a daze, sluggish, hard to get going. I don't know if the Prozac is helping some symptoms so the others are more noticeable, if it's not helping my energy/mood at all, or if it's making it all worse. I looked online and saw that Prozac is one of the more popular anti-depressants, but that some people needed to use Adderall or another medication to overcome the lack of energy/motivation/confidence WITH Prozac. Then i saw that mixing SSRI's (Prozac) and Adderall can cause a fatal Saratonin Syndrome, so some people stop taking any AD's and just use stimulants for depression/anxiety/chronic fatigue.
I just want to get back to normal, how I used to be a year ago, and am wondering if anyone has any advice/experience/HELP AT ALL for me? Could there be a misdiagnosis of depression/anxiety, and with these symptoms is there something else that is wrong with me that a blood test wouldn't find? I am real busy, in college, far from home, and the next availible appointment with my doctor up here is in 3 WEEKS, so i was wondering if anyone has some advice. It's obvious that the prozac alone isn't working fully, but until i can see my doctor does anyone know what else could be wrong with me or have any suggestions?
College football player, need help PLEASE
Linear Mode
