Day 10 on agomelatine and I still feel absolutely no improvement. Is this normal? I really need some hope
Hi everyone. I’m currently on day 10 of agomelatine/Valdoxan 25 mg and I’m starting to feel really hopeless about it.
So far, I honestly don’t feel any antidepressant or anti-anxiety benefit at all. I basically feel like I’m not taking an antidepressant. The only noticeable effect is that it makes me somewhat sleepy after I take it at night.
I have severe anxiety, especially very physical anxiety, as well as depression/anhedonia and emetophobia. I also struggle with functional/anxiety-related swallowing difficulties and dysphagia, which become much worse when I’m anxious. My anxiety can get extremely physical, with things like throat tightness, nausea, pounding heart, etc.
My mood has also been fluctuating a lot. I’ll have several days of horrible physical anxiety, then the anxiety suddenly decreases and I become extremely numb, empty, anhedonic and depressed. That’s when suicidal thoughts sometimes appear. I’ve actually experienced suicidal thoughts when starting previous antidepressants too, and I’ve also experienced depression and suicidal thoughts outside of medication, so I’m not sure how much of this is the agomelatine versus my underlying condition.
My doctor told me that having zero improvement by day 10 is completely normal and that I should give it more time. But it’s really difficult because I feel so bad right now and I can’t see how this is going to change.
For anyone who has taken agomelatine:
• Did you have absolutely no improvement during the first 1–2 weeks?
• When did you first notice that something was changing?
• Did your anxiety improve eventually, especially the physical anxiety?
• Did your anhedonia/depression improve?
• Did you feel worse before you felt better?
• If you had no improvement at day 10, did it still eventually work for you?
I know everyone responds differently, and I’m not asking anyone to guarantee that it’ll work. I just really need some realistic experiences from people who were in a similar position and eventually got better. I could really use some hope right now.