Search the Community

Hi, I'm "new" here, but not to psych meds, or even psych med withdrawal. As my signature indicates, I have a substantial psych med history. My mom forced me to take antidepressants starting at age 10 (Anafranil for OCD) and as one can assume, everything just kind of snowballed from there (more meds prescribed over the years for side effects of other meds, new BS diagnoses made = more meds... so on and so forth). I was led to believe I "needed" to be on psych meds for my entire life. I no longer subscribe to that way of thinking. My marriage has been suffering these past few years due to my lack of libido. My poor husband... Prozac completely obliterated it. I told my psychiatrist I wanted off of the medication. I did a fast taper from 30mg down to 5mg (I know, I know, too fast... but I desperately want/need off of this). I was relatively stable at 5mg but then I was stupid and followed my psychiatrist's advice and utilized tabs (not liquid like I had asked for originally- I don't know why the hell he was so adamant about me using 10mg tabs instead). He told me to go from 5mg to nothing. Well, that was obviously a mistake. I've been off of Prozac entirely for 72 hours and I'm in a mental hellscape (sobbing, rage, depression, and mood changes every other minute). Tomorrow, I will be reinstating 5mg and holding there for a while before trying again with the liquid (1mg at a time). Question: How long should I hold after each 1mg drop? I don't mind SOME withdrawal effects (again, the goal is to get off of this crap ASAP), but the mood stuff is killing me. I hope my post made sense. I'm all over the place currently. Supplements I am currently taking: ultra high-dose Omega3 fish oil (AM), 500mg magnesium glycinate (PM)

Hi comunity, thanks to all for let me participate here and administrar. My journey, one panick attack and then insomnia, severe anxiety 14 months ago. so Dr started Zoloft, and a hard time for 3-4 months, literally ALL side effects and level out on month 5-6. I finished my year on Zoloft and Dr tappered off on 3 months. I was very weel but now 8 weeks after of off Zoloft, waves of anxiety, fear, hopeleness, headaches, muscules pain, insomnia, very hard time for me and my Dr Started Prozac 10 mgs this week. I need support , orientation, some experiences??? Is my first time with antideppressents. I Dont know the way

Hello, I am a 50 year old woman with a history of depression. Here is my story and it is a long one, be warned - if you aren't in the mood for a long history, skip this now LOL! I'm one of those people whose family relations have also had histories of depression, and depression became an issue for me from maybe 10 years old and up, though no one really recognized it. I became bulimic at 16 and remained so for much of my adult life until about eight years ago. My adult-hood has been one of perfectionism, low self-esteem and under-performing, with all the self-hatred that that generates. My first experience with medication came after a rough relationship where I ended up feeling suicidal. I was put on Prozac. I think back to that being the beginning of the rest of my adulthood with virtually no libido. A major move after marriage led me to more depression, and at that time Wellbutrin was being marketed heavily, so I asked my GP to put me on it. No tapering of the Prozac, if I recall. Wellbutrin didn't work, but now I realize it was probably in part because I was having withdrawal from the Prozac - not sure and I don't have a lot of memories about that period one way or another. I forget if I continued the Wellbutrin up to the next change, but I had gotten the flu which turned into pneumonia for a month, and when I went to the doctor after that long of not getting better, he said "you are depressed." Well, yes, I said, I am depressed because of being sick this long! And he said, No, you are clearly a generally depressed person and you should see a p-doc. So, I did, and that doc put me on Effexor. This was somewhere back around 11 years ago. I upped the dose as they directed. I never felt like my depression was well-controlled because none of the therapy I had over the years was CBT - talk therapy would make me feel better for the moment but no change took place, so the low self-esteem and negative thinking remained. I guess the Effexor somehow made my life more tolerable, but I never felt happy or satisfied with myself. Somewhere along the line I began to taper down on the Effexor, and I have very few memories of when, how or why, other than that I hated needing ADs, and my libido sucked. A move and the loss of an old dog sent me into another bad depression, but this well could have coincided with stepping down the Effexor. Three years ago, I lost my job, and then my husband lost his, but then he got a new one which required relocating to a very hot climate where we were able to afford a home with acreage, the first time we were ever able to own, but it was very rural and the isolation quickly got to me, with anxiety increasing for various reasons. Again, I don't remember the stepping down process, but two years ago a new GP refilled my Effexor but prescribed the non-extended release version. Since these tablets were able to be broken, I began taking just half (37.5 mg). Last summer I had a bought of shingles and became very depressed and stressed again from the pain. I also was clearly in menopause and having severe hot flashes. My whole adult life had been marred by low libido since going on Prozac way back when, and the shingles were actually on my private parts (tested positive for zoster, not herpes) and I became very concerned that I didn't want the rest of my life to be joyless where sex was concerned, so I decided to go off BCPs and Effexor. In hind sight, that was madness! I stepped down the Effexor, going to every other day with the 37.5 mg. I wasn't aware of any severe symptoms, and this was last summer. Well, meanwhile, I was going through some stresses regarding a health crisis with one of my dogs. I found myself totally scatter-brained, forgetful, unable to concentrate, and also I had trouble articulating myself, unable to complete thoughts when talking with people, words hard to reach. A friend told me he always thought I was ADD, and indeed at this time I was losing things, forgetting what I was doing halfway through doing it, easily distracted, etc. I'm also a total clutter-bug who can't face doing the dishes or cleaning the house, though I've been that way for years. I had started taking Sam-e and tryptophan as a way to up serotonin. I was having a terrible time with insomnia. So, I went to get tested for ADD. I tested negative, but the psychologist doing the testing said I didn't have ADD, but that I did have OCD, depression, and GAD. He said, the good news is that there are medications that can make you "normal!" I bit, and went to a p-doc on a list he gave me. She put me on Viibryd. I stopped the serotonergic supplements. The first week at 10 mg was ok, but when I went up to 20 mg as instructed, all hell broke loose! My insomnia worsened, with the most severe anxiety I think I had ever experienced! All night I was thrashing around with racing, troubling thoughts. During the day, I would have squirts of adrenalin for no reason. I had days where I was so distressed and troubled, I couldn't stand to exist. I had global anxiety about climate change, getting old, my parents getting old losing them some day, the drought and how horrible life was! I have never experienced anxiety like that in my life! I stepped the Viibryd back down to 10 mg for about a week and then stopped it, and went back on the supplements. This time I was trying to follow the supplement plan laid out in the Mood Cure, adding GABA and some other stuff. I'd do ok for awhile, but the insomnia was still bad, and the general feeling of being ill-at-ease was so disturbing, I just couldn't stand it. So, I stopped the supplements and started taking 37.5 mg of Effexor again. After three days, I was in serotonin syndrome almost to the point of having to go to the ER! I stopped the Effexor and got an appointment with another p-doc who is a DO and actually not into psych meds. He said I'd been through about 3 years' worth of med changes in a very short period of time and that my nerves were very sensitive and that I needed consistency. He went through the meds and supplements I had a history with, and told me which supplements were safe to take (non-serotonergic). Since I had not been able to eat and lost weight, and the insomnia was so bad, he put me on Remeron, saying it was a very gentle med that worked on a different part of the serotonin pathway, and that it would help with sleep and appetite. He started me on 7.5 mg and said I could step it up as needed, that it was safe up to 60 mg. Well, I felt much better and it was nice to sleep all through the night without anxiety again. Yeah! But after a week, I was feeling down again so started upping the dose. Two weeks later I was at 37.5 mg, feeling totally apathetic and on the couch, unable to do anything I had previously enjoyed in life. I couldn't understand why the med wasn't working anymore! I was in a desperate way and called this p-doc's assistant, the fastest way to get to him, he said. I left four messages and never heard back! I suffered through to my next scheduled appointment with him two weeks later, and suffering it was! My family members were greatly concerned. The only thing that kept me going through this spell was the fact that a therapist I had recently seen told me about Emotional Brain Training, which I joined. It was developed by Laurel Mellin at UCSF and is based on neuroplasticity and rewiring the brain. It was perfect for me because I lived in the country, was isolated, and the city is 40 minutes away, so I was able to get support from home with weekly phone-in meetings with a coach and group members, daily work online, and daily phone-connections with group members. I am not hawking this, but if you want to learn more about it, go to www.ebt.org. Anyway, EBT kept me from going down the tubes through all of this. When I saw my p-doc, he said "let's add Effexor back to the remeron since you tolerated it well in the past." I started on 37.5 mg. The day I took it, I was having a non-functional couch day, and I would say within an hour of taking it, my mood lifted, like a light switch had been flipped! It was miraculous! Now, everyone knows that ADs are supposed to take weeks to start working. I now realize that the reason it worked so fast was because I was in withdrawal and it was like a junkie getting a hit of the drug they are withdrawing from - instant fix! Ok, I know my story is long but the final chapter is here: I added the Effexor back about 12 days ago. I actually had one day, about a week into it, where I was on the couch again. The next day, I saw a third p-doc my therapist said I should see since I had such a bad experience with the last guy's non-responsiveness when I left those messages. So, I saw this new guy on Wednesday. I didn't yet realize that all of the craziness I had endured since last fall was because of the withdrawal. I was convinced that genetically, I just had to be on ADs, that I had relapsed in a big way. I did think that the Viibryd had damaged me, since I had never experienced anxiety to that degree before, nor had I had depression this debilitating. This new guy said, "let's stick with this for now, since you haven't been on the Effexor long enough to see how it will work for you, but I want to up it to 75 mg (thanks to that couch day). We may end up changing you to other meds, but let's see how this goes for now." So, I began taking 75 mg Effexor ER on Thursday. It just so happens that one of my EBT connection buddies is going through withdrawal from ADs that she was put on for post-partum depression 8 years ago. She told me about this, and referred me to a neat video about neuroplasticity on beyondmeds.com. Her point in doing so was to point out about how EBT is so dead-on about retraining the brain, but in fact I had locked on to concept of withdrawal, and I began to realize that this was so much of what I had and am still going through, and this is why the Effexor worked immediately! So, I am faced with the fact that I am now back on the drug that I was hooked on. For now, I need to be consistent and not change anything, though I am going back to 37.5 mg Effexor since I'd only been on the higher dose for a couple of days. I will ride this out until my next appointment with the p-doc in five weeks. I am worried that he will be one to poo-poo withdrawal. I feel like, for the first time in my life, I am getting the cognitive help I need to eliminate the poor self-esteem and my negative black and white thinking that has ruined my life and got me started on ADs to begin with. I feel this will be critical to getting off these drugs some day. I feel so grateful to the universe for bringing me together with my connection buddy who brought this all to light for me. And beyondmeds.com brought me here.

2008 Lexapro (no idea mg) I was 17 years old 2009 Sertraline (no idea mg) 2011 Pristique (no idea mg) 2011 Viibryd (no idea mg) 2011 – 2021 Fluoxetine (over the years 10mg - 40mg) 12/2/2020 Woke up with tingling and muscle weakness in extremities. (Never went away.) 2/16/2021 Woke up with sharp, traveling pain in my head, dizziness, vertigo, lightheaded, shaking hands and legs/weakness, nausea, muscle spasms, fatigue, sensitivity to light and sound, out of breath doing anything at all, ringing in my ears, obstructions in vision, white and black dots flashing in vision, want to lie down all the time, hot and cold sensations in arms and legs. (Never went away.) (Saw these specialists and had all of these tests within 2 years after symptoms began) Had two MRIs and CT scan – everything was normal Saw Rheumatologist – tested negative for any autoimmune diseases Blood work was normal Saw Ophthamologist about vision issues – everything was normal Met with Nuerologist and had EEG and EMG nerve testing – everything was normal Saw ENT and had VNG exam– everything normal. 6/2021 Saw holistic doctor and was told I may be having an allergic reaction of sorts to the Fluoxetine. I was at 40mg and I began tapering off with help from my GP. 6/26/2021 began 30mg 7/8/2021 began 20mg 7/19/2021 began 10mg 7/26/2021 completely off meds for the first time in 13 years. Within months, anxiety and depression got progressively worse, unbearable empathy, suicidal thoughts, intrusive and bone chilling fear, thinking I was dead, impending doom, hopelessness, while also experiencing the above physical symptoms. I had days where I could get out of bed, drive and even go jogging or to the gym. Other days I could barely dress myself due to the fatigue and weakness. My physical symptoms improved a lot over the first year of symptoms. Looking back, I was living a very normal life, physically speaking, but my emotional symptoms became increasingly unendurable. Thanatophobia and also the above emotional symptoms led me to take Buspirone (Buspar), prescribed by my GP. I began having brain zaps, extreme brain fog, difficulty completing sentences, memory issues, inability to stop crying, panic attacks, etc. I felt like my life was a simulation and that nothing was real. It was a low dosage and I discontinued cold turkey, advised by my GP. Since I was still experiencing a mild form of the physical symptoms, I believed that Fluoxetine wasn't the culprit, and I needed immediate relief from what was happening in my head, so my GP prescribed 20mg again. I can say now that this was the worst decision of my whole life. 3/13/2022 I took Fluoxetine 20mg for 3 days. After the 3rd capsule, I was barely conscious, my vision was black and I couldn't stand up, my legs shook so badly that I could barely walk from the bed to the bathroom. Dizziness and vertigo were unbearable...sometimes objects would move, other times the room moved, other times I was moving when I wasn't. I felt like my head wasn't connected to my body. My coordination was off and fine motor skills were difficult, like holding a fork or texting. My eyes couldn't follow and I felt like they were jerking side to side. Unbearable pressure at base of neck and forehead. Felt like my brain was hot. My boyfriend brought food to my bed for about a month. I believe that if I had continued taking 1 or 2 more capsules, I would be a vegetable. Since then I've seen 3 psychiatrists, asking if they have any experience with this sort of thing. All 3 had no answers and tried to push other medications on me. I took the GeneSight test and both Buspar and Fluoxetine showed as a “good match” for me. I've developed sensitivities to several medications, which exacerbate the symptoms that I feel and put me in bed for days, making me afraid to take anything other than Tylenol. I definitely turned to alcohol on a daily basis because the effects of drinking make me feel like I'm not crazy. When I drink, it's comforting to me to know that I have a reason to feel dizzy and foggy. I learned that tequila gives me enough energy to do basic daily physical things, like clean the house and take my dog to the park. On a good day, if I drink A LOT, I can even go out dancing. This in itself makes me feel like my symptoms are all in my head and make me feel like I've lost my mind. Not drinking every day to give me relief from my symptoms has been difficult. Other than the holistic doctor's suspicions, doctors have left me completely on my own. No one could help me or had any answers. It feels like death will be the only solution. Over the months, I gradually improved enough to drive short distances and take short walks. It has been 1 year since I took the 3 capsules and I have improved physically about 30% and emotionally 10%, on good days When the waves happen, I am in bed all day. The brain fog, dizziness and fatigue are what bother me the most and the brain zaps still wake me up occasionally. Sometimes I jolt awake thinking I am dead. I still feel as though my life is not real. I am seeing a talk therapist, doing intensive Nuerofeedback therapy, eating an anti-inflammatory and high omega 3 diet, cutting back on alcohol and caffeine, taking vitamins, exercising as much as I physically can, and clinging to hope. I owe my life to my boyfriend who has encouraged and cared for me over these 2 horrific years. Finding this forum has encouraged me so much. My story is different because why did these “withdrawal” symptoms begin while I was still on Fluoxetine? And why did taking it again make everything 100 times worse? Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi all, I have been struggling off and on over the last 14 years with what I thought was anxiety the whole time, but am now realizing it was more likely withdrawal from stopping antidepressants too quickly. The first SSRI I was put on was Paxil. I tapered off after 7 months because I never really liked the idea of being on an antidepressant. I started having anxiety a few months later and was switched to 50 mg of Zoloft. I tried multiple times over the next 13 or so years to stop Zoloft, but the anxiety always returned, so back on I would go. In the fall of 2015 I had a return of anxiety after reducing the Zoloft to 25mg and tried to go back to 50, but it wasn't helping, so ended up going to 150mg before I felt relief. I again tried tapering last summer and got down to 25mg and experienced increased anxiety as well as insomnia. My doctor switched me to Lexapro last October, but it only made me more anxious, so after 10 weeks he switched me to Paxil. I got up to 20mg of Paxil for 3 weeks and wasn't feeling any better, so finally decided I had enough and wanted off the antidepressants. I started tapering at the end of January down to 15mg for 2 weeks, then 10 for 2 weeks, then to 7.5, and after about a week and a half at 7.5 started feeling really anxious again. I found this site and decided to go back up to 10mg of Paxil and stabilized for about 2 weeks and then started tapering 10%. Was doing pretty well for a couple of weeks at 9mg and then started feeling a little anxiety creep in. I talked to my doctor about switching to Prozac to make the tapering hopefully easier, so a week ago this Friday I started taking 4.5 mg each of Paxil and Prozac. I have experienced some ups and downs with anxiety since then, and am having a particularly difficult time right now. Feeling quite anxious and can't sleep. I took .5mg lorazepam tablet and am feeling a bit better, but not sure what to do now. I was going to switch to just 9mg of the Prozac and eliminate the Paxil tomorrow, but not sure if I should continue with the half and half mixture I have been doing or maybe even just go back to the Paxil alone? This just sucks so bad. I know I have probably screwed up my system so much with all of these changes and can only pray the damage is reversible. I was feeling pretty good earlier today, but then started feeling terrible as the evening went on. Haven't felt this bad in a while. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

ADMIN NOTE: Read this entire topic before attempting a switch to fluoxetine. Be sure to read details and cautions below . Consult a knowledgeable medical practitioner before changing medications. Also see Tips for tapering off fluoxetine (Prozac) Switching or bridging with another related drug, usually of a longer half-life, is a medically recognized way to get off psychiatric drugs, particularly if you find tapering your original drug to be intolerable. Many people with failed tapers from venlafaxine (Effexor), desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), paroxetine (Paxil), and duloxetine (Cymbalta) find they need to bridge in order to go off the drug. For many doctors, a switch to Prozac to go off a different antidepressant is routine. Because of the risks of switching drugs -- see below -- we recommend attempting a very gradual direct taper from your drug, with bridging with a different drug only a last resort. There are a lot of unknowns in bridging. You will need to consider whether taking the risks of substituting another drug are worth possibly alleviating your current withdrawal syndrome. Fluoxetine (Prozac) has the longest half-life of any of the modern antidepressants. Because it takes more than a week for a dose to be metabolized completely, a careful taper off fluoxetine is easier for many people -- see information about Tapering off Prozac. And, at least fluoxetine comes in a liquid. (Do not assume fluoxetine is "self-tapering"! We have many people here with Prozac withdrawal syndrome. While going off fluoxetine usually has less risk, one might still develop withdrawal symptoms going off fluoxetine. No bridging strategy is risk-free.) Citalopram (Celexa )and its sibling escilatopram (Lexapro) have half-lives of about 35 hours, a relatively long half-life among SSRIs, and are other candidates for a bridging strategy. They also come in a liquid form. Citalopram has a half-life longer than other SSRIs but shorter than fluoxetine, so you may wish to bridge with citalopram instead, since if it causes adverse effects of its own, they will not last as long as they would with fluoxetine. There's very little documentation about the success rate for the Prozac switch. It may be best to reserve it as a last resort, if you cannot taper an antidepressant by any other means. To switch to Prozac for tapering, consult a doctor knowledgeable about this technique. You must find a knowledgeable doctor to help you to with a bridging strategy. The cross-taper method discussed below is probably the safest way to make a change in drugs. You might wish to print this post out to discuss it with your doctor. For most people the switch goes smoothly but for some it doesn't. The drawbacks of switching to another drug to get off the first drug, described below, apply to ALL bridging strategies for ALL drugs, including benzodiazepines (where people often want to bridge with diazepam per the Ashton method). Risks of bridging A bridging strategy has the following drawbacks: Dropping the first antidepressant in the switch may cause withdrawal symptoms even though you're taking a bridge drug. Adverse reaction to the bridge drug, such as Prozac. Serotonin toxicity or adverse effects of a drug combination. If withdrawal symptoms are already underway, switching to a bridge drug may not help. A cross-taper requires a number of careful steps. Difficulty tapering off the bridge drug. All of the bridge drugs can be difficult to taper themselves. So, like anything else, a drug switch is not guaranteed to work. When to switch or bridge "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know". A direct taper from the drug to which your nervous system is accustomed carries less risk than a switch to a new drug. You may have a bad reaction to the substitute drug, or the substitution may not work to forestall withdrawal symptoms. The risk of a switch is justified if you find a taper from the original drug is simply too difficult. Usually people will do a switch when they find reducing the original antidepressant by even a small amount -- 10% or even 5% -- causes intolerable withdrawal symptoms. (I have heard doctors say they don't even try tapering off paroxetine (Paxil) or venlafaxine (Effexor ), they switch to Prozac at the beginning of the tapering process.) If you are having intolerable withdrawal or adverse effects from an antidepressant, it may be worth risking the worst case, which is that a switch to a bridge drug doesn't help and you have withdrawal syndrome anyway. If you're thinking of switching simply as a matter of convenience, you need to weigh the risks against the amount of convenience you would gain. Generally, switching for convenience is a bad idea. CAUTION: A switch to a bridge drug is not guaranteed to work. It's safer to slow down a taper than count on a switch. A switch really should be used only when a taper becomes unbearable or there are other serious adverse effects from the medication. You must work with a doctor who is familiar with bridging, in case you develop severe symptoms. Overview of cross-tapering method For drug switches, many doctors prefer cross-tapering, where a low dose of one drug is added and gradually increased while the first drug is reduced. For a period, both drugs are taken at the same time. Here is a graphic representation of cross-tapering: If you are making a switch to Prozac, the second antidepressant is fluoxetine (Prozac). Given fluoxetine's long half-life, it will take a couple of weeks to reach full effect ("steady-state"). You will not be able to tell if your fluoxetine dose is enough in a day or a few days. The effect of your initial dose of fluoxetine will build throughout the process of cross-tapering. It's best to avoid increasing fluoxetine throughout the cross-taper, you could end up with an adverse reaction or even serotonin toxicity from too much fluoxetine (see below). (Unlike fluoxetine, you will be able to assess the effect of citalopram as a bridge within 5 days. Due to its shorter half-life, it takes a shorter time to reach a steady state level in your bloodstream.) Also see this discussion about cross-tapering with Prozac: Serotonin toxicity and serotonin syndrome You run the risk of serotonin toxicity if you are taking too much serotonergic. Most antidepressants (and some other drugs, such as triptans and MDMA) are serotonergics. Serotonergic effects of antidepressants are added when you take more than one of them, particularly if you add an SSRI (such as Prozac, Celexa, or Lexapro) to an SNRI (such as desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), duloxetine (Cymbalta), venlafaxine (Effexor), venlafaxine XR (Effexor XR), milnacipran (Savella), and levomilnacipran (Fetzima)). (Other types of antidepressants should not be combined with tricyclics or MAOIs.) Symptoms of too much serotonergic can be: Nervousness, anxiety, akathisia, sleeplessness, fast heartbeat. Symptoms of serotonin toxicity can be these plus disorientation, sweating, and others. Serotonin syndrome is even more serious. See Serotonin Syndrome or Serotonin Toxicity Reduction of the drug dose should resolve serotonin toxicity. Note that if you cross-taper, you will be taking 2 drugs at once for part of the time. Because of the potential of serotonin toxicity by overdosing SSRIs as well as in combination with SNRIs, it's safest to err on the lower side of a Prozac dose "equivalent" -- such as 5mg -- to your original drug. This is why doctors familiar with the Prozac switch will cross-taper by adding an initial LOW DOSE of Prozac to another antidepressant. Start low, the effect of fluoxetine will increase over at least a couple of weeks. Another concern: Escilatopram (Lexapro) is several times stronger, milligram for milligram, than the other SSRIs. If you add 10mg escilatopram to the high dose of 60mg duloxetine (Cymbalta), for example, you run the risk of serotonergic toxicity -- 10mg escilatopram is equal to approximately 20mg-30mg duloxetine. How much fluoxetine (Prozac) to substitute for my drug? Since fluoxetine's half-life is so much longer than those of other antdepressants, its effect is a little different. It's not a stronger antidepressant, but the effect of each dose lasts much longer. This may be the reason a lower dose of fluoxetine often seems to adequately substitute for other antidepressants. For an idea of equivalent doses of your medication to fluoxetine (Prozac) read this post (January 7, 2018) in this topic. It compares fluoxetine 40mg/day (a fairly high dose of Prozac) to other antidepressants. Source of that data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25911132 If you have tapered to a lower dose of an antidepressant, an even lower dose of Prozac may be more tolerable. If you have decreased your antidepressant dose by a half or more, you may wish to try 5mg Prozac. If you have substituted fluoxetine for your drug and after two weeks, you feel you have withdrawal symptoms, you may wish to gradually the fluoxetine dosage. After each change in fluoxetine, wait at least 2 weeks to see the effect before deciding on another increase. More is not better for nervous systems sensitized by withdrawal. EXAMPLES OF THE PROZAC SWITCH Below is information I've gathered from doctors about how to do the Prozac switch. You will see there is no standard protocol. Healy 2009 method for the Prozac switch From Healy 2009 Halting SSRIs withdrawal guidelines: Phelps-Kelly 2010 method for Prozac switch From Clinicians share information about slow tapering (2010) Jim Phelps, one of the authors of the above, posted in 2005 in some detail about the so-called "Prozac bridging" strategy. He said it is described in Joseph Glenmullen's book, Prozac Backlash, maybe in the chapter titled of "Held Hostage." The technique Dr. Phelps described in this post skips doses and finishes with alternating dosages, which we do not recommend for people who are sensitive to withdrawal symptoms. Given that fluoxetine liquid is available, this is completely unnecessary. Foster 2012 method for Prozac switch Dr. Mark Foster, a GP whose mission is to get people safely off psychiatric drugs includes this in a presentation he gives to doctors. http://www.gobhi.org/spring_conference_powerpoints/safewithdrawal_of_psychotropics%5Bautosaved%5D.ppt. His method involves overlapping Prozac with the other antidepressant -- cross-tapering. Prey 2012 method for Prozac switch Another knowledgeable doctor (whom I trust) explained his technique to me (this is the technique I personally would prefer if I had to do it, it seems much gentler) For a "normal" dose of Effexor (150mg per day or more) or Paxil (20mg) or Cymbalta (20mg), he would switch to 10mg Prozac with a week of overlap. In other words, take both medications for a week and then drop the Effexor. Lower doses of Effexor or other antidepressant require lower doses of Prozac as a "bridge." The lower dose of Prozac reduces the risk of excessive serotonergic stimulation (serotonin toxicity) from the combination of the two antidepressants during the overlap period. Do not stay on the combination of the first antidepressant and Prozac for more than 2 weeks, or you run the risk of your nervous system accommodating to the combination and having difficulty tapering off both antidepressants. Later, taper off Prozac. He acknowledged Prozac can have its withdrawal problems, but given Prozac's long half-life, gradual tapering should be easier than tapering off Effexor. Smoothing out a transition to fluoxetine Even with a cross-taper, your system might feel a jolt after you finally drop the initial antidepressant, particularly if it is an SNRI, such as Effexor, Pristiq, or Cymbalta, or other drug that is not an SSRI like fluoxetine. (Other SSRIs include Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro). If you go through a rough patch after the transition, patients find they can take a tiny chip of the original drug (or a bead or two, if it's a capsule containing beads) for a week or two to smooth out the transition. Eventually, you'd take a chip as needed only when you feel a wave of withdrawal from the original drug, and then finally leave the original drug entirely behind. (A gelatin capsule might make a tablet fragment easier to get down, but it is not necessary if you can wash it down with a good swallow of water. The gelatin capsule quickly dissolves in your stomach.) Here's an example. There is no shame in doing this. Whatever works, works.

Hello, SA! I have been lurking for a few days and am determined to stop “needing” SSRIs, or at least feeling like I need them. I’ve undergone a few years of CBT for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and OCD. All in all, I’ve made a lifetime of progress in about 10 years due to a great therapist (after a few not so great ones), a great psychiatrist (after a few not so great ones), and a wonderful support network. I am extremely grateful for all these things and it’s part of what makes me feel so ready for taking this last step. I have the tools in my bag; I just need to use them. Long story short, it started with Lexapro + Ativan as needed around 2014, but Lexapro didn’t work well, so I switched to Zoloft for a few years. That helped, and eventually I stopped taking Ativan as well… and then I found a wonderful therapist, who taught me so much about how to react to things with more and more control. I experienced a few rather difficult intimate relationships (gaslighting, narcissism, etc.) which didn’t help but I got through it. In 2018, I found myself in a new city with a new job and eventually a new and supportive partner. At the end of 2018, I switched to 10 mg Prozac. In 2020, I stopped taking Prozac over what I realize now was too fast of a taper, and found the anxiety thereafter very difficult. I was sold on the idea that it’s ok to stick with a low dose but honestly, I’m done with it and ready to let my CNS do its thing. Personally, financially, career-wise, and relationship-wise, my life is stable. I am very active, but not planning anything major, not planning on having children (at all), just focusing on the here and now, so now is as good a time as any. I am worried that perimenopause (will be 34 this year and already experiencing some symptoms) in the coming years will make things difficult, but I’m tired of random dizziness, night sweats, having to take a pill every morning, and anxiety despite having an anti-anxiety medication. My biggest worry is the dosage. I have been reading a ton about safe tapers and I am ready and raring to go… but how do you taper off a 10mg capsule? And what do you do if your psychiatrist won’t prescribe it or your insurance won’t cover it? I can’t say that is happening as I haven’t even started the journey (again) yet, but want to be prepared. My second biggest worry is remembering to ground and use my CBT tools. I often get anxious when I’m in a safe place (or out in public but with trusted people), but that’s a behavioral thing that I believe I can deal with. As of 2021, I take 25 mg Hydroxyzine as needed for sleep (and allergy attacks as I was told it’s basically an antihistamine but if this is untrue or unsafe please let me know), but am comfortable stopping that too. Open to any and all advice and thankful for this page and this community.

i swore i would never take an snri again after what i went through on effexor, but he suggested i try cymbalta for the chronic pain and told me that generally there are less side effects/zaps than with effexor, so i said i would give it a try. my psychologist and his super decided that i have bipolar 2 not mdd, but the pdoc waved this away and didn’t even consider mood stabilizers. when my pdoc raised my dose of cymbalta after i expressed a wish to discontinue, and wrote in my record that i display “abnormal illness behaviors” (which just means i disagree with him?), i have decided to get off the ADs once and for all.

Hi everyone. So grateful to still be here to be here!! Been a long 30 years! Am hoping to titrate down from last 10 mg of Prozac using the liquid form. Does starting with the 1 mg a month make sense? See how it goes? Finish off 1 mg of Valium first? Yes, scared to let go of the last milligram of safety net. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Moments of regret for ever having gone done the med road, but so very ready to "heal" what only covered up....sound too familiar? Best wishes and thank you!! 1992 – 1999 Prozac 80 mg, Klonopin 4 mg, Buspar 1999 – 2000 Stop Prozac cold turkey 1 year. Hell. 4 mg Klonopin. 2000 – 2003 Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft. Cycle through each med. None work. Highest dosages. 2004 – Effexor, Klonopin, Zyprexa, Lamictal, Provigal, Sonata. Always high dosages. Don’t remember mgs…. 2005 – Klonopin, Lamictal, Seroquel, Anafranil, Luvox 2006 – Klonopin 4 - 6 mg, Prozac 120 mg 2009 – 2013 – Prozac 80 mg, Kononpin 1 mg (Titrate from 120 mg to 80, and 4 mg to 2 mg) 2013 – 2019– Prozac 30 mg, Klonopin 1 mg (Titrate from 80 mg to 30 and 2 mg to 1 mg) 2019 – Ashton Protocol. Convert Klonopin to 20 mg Valium 2021 – Valium 1 mg. Titrate Prozac 15 mg to 10 mg in 2 months. HELL. TOO FAST.

My story is fairly long but I will try to keep it to the basics. Approximately 10 or so years ago I was mistakenly prescribed Paxil for nocturnal panic attacks. I say mistakenly because many years later I was able to determine that I was actually experiencing acid reflux when I went to bed. The problem is that Paxil is often treated off label for reflux, and it solved the problem it wasn’t prescribed to solve. Due to this, I was on Paxil for a very long time. When I finally put two and two together I decided to go off Paxil. I wish I had taken longer to go off, but I tapered over 4 months from 20mg in late 2020. Not a great experience you can imagine. When I was done, I as left feeling in a bit of a state of extended withdrawal, and still am today. I have very minor but noticeable brain zaps at times, and I feel generally nervous, especially in my hands and feet and sometimes my groin. A secondary problem was that I did actually start having panic attacks a few years ago, seemingly tied to a bicycle accident I had, and the Paxil may have actually kept those at bay. Without the medication I’ve had anxiety tied mostly to highway driving and medical procedures (dentist, for example) To add to the complications in April 2021 I started experiencing daily fatigue. I had every test under the sun and everything pointed to this being related to depression/anxiety. I had recently taken on a new job and my wife was recovering from very invasive breast cancer surgery. I’ve even done an updated round of tests recently to confirm I have no heart blockages or breathing issues. Over the last year and a half I’ve been working with an NP to find a medication to help me. Going back on Paxil did nothing and I’ve been through a range of SSRIs and SNRIs that did at best very little and at worst made me feel very unwell as the dosage went up. So right now I am on nothing at all while I am finishing up medical tests, other than an occasional half of a clonazepam. If feeling very lost about what to do next. I was wondering if anyone had experienced this kind of long term withdrawal, and especially if anyone has experience with chronic fatigue. Thank you. Here’s a pretty exhaustive list of what I’ve been on 2010?-10/2020 Paroxetine 20mg (taper 15mg-10mg-5 mg from 7-9/2020) Side effects: some sexual desensitization but acceptable. Positive effect on acid reflux frequency. 7/22/2021 Paroxetine (Paxil) 20mg resumed due to extended withdrawal and chronic fatigue but did not have an effect 9/17/2021 Sertraline (Zoloft) 50mg - replaced previous Side effects: not on long enough to know. Provider switched off due to presumed sexual side effects in men. 10/29/2021 Fluoxetine (Prozac) 10mg - replaced previous 11/10/2021 Fluoxetine (Prozac) 20mg Side effects: brain fog, general “unwell” feeling, fatigue 12/03/2021 Mirtazapine 15mg - replaced previous 12/16/2021 Mirtazapine 22.5 mg Side effects: brain fog, general “unwell” feeling, fatigue 1/11/2022 Escitalopram (Lexapro) 5mg (in addition to 15mg Mirtazapine) (Some missing info here - was on Lexapro by itself for a period and may have been up to 10mg) Side effects: some negative sexual effects 7/31/2022 Duloxetine (Cymbalta) 20mg - replaced all previous 8/12/2022 Duloxetine (Cymbalta) 30mg 9/2022 Duloxetine (Cymbalta) 40mg 12/2022 (Duloxetine discontinued, short course of Fluoxetine 10mg to handle withdrawal symptoms) Side effects: at max dose again had fatigue, brain fog, unease. Positive effect on acid reflux frequency.

About 2-3 weeks ago I tried to go from 10mg of fluoxetine to 5mg. I am taking capsules so I went from taking 1 10mg capsule daily to 1 10mg capsule every other day. I also foolishly tried to taper off of caffeine at the same time. About a week ago I started experiencing disturbances to my sleep. It started by waking up in the middle of the night feeling awful and taking too long to get back to sleep. Last night was the worst so far. My brain felt incredibly wired and wouldn't turn off. I wasn't able to get to sleep until about 4 am when usually I get to bed by about 11 pm. Originally I thought it was because I went off caffeine too quickly, but I have reinstated caffeine a few days ago and it didn't help anything. I'm thinking it's probably because I went down too fast on the prozac. Which is frustrating because I went from 20mg to 10mg pretty easily. I understand that I shouldn't have tried to go down on caffeine and prozac at the same time. I have reinstated 10mg daily prozac. I am planning on letting my sleep stabilize and then move on to tapering the caffeine before I tackle the prozac. At this point I am unable to tell a good dose to start with on the caffeine and I probably won't know until the prozac stabilizes again. So I'm going to stay within the 50-100mg range. I think it's also important to say that I became sick a few days ago. Sickness really messes with my head, so it just added to the confusion. My whole goal in the next week or two is to find a baseline again and go from there.

I have been on Prozac for about 25 years. I tried to taper few times in the past, but it didn't work. So what can be different this time? I am hoping this board will make the difference. I know I can't do it alone. I am now taking 10 mg Prozac daily. I was on 40 mg about 2 years ago, and took it down very slowly, cutting 5 mg every few months. One reason that it took so long was because I was also tapering clonazepam. Another reason was the failed attempts in the past. What I learned from tapering clonazepam I hope to put into use while tapering Prozac. One lesson that I learned is that you need to do it slow. There is just no other way. Another lesson is that you need support. I am looking for my next cut in a few months and my goal is to be completely drug free by the end of the year. I have been on disability during the last couple of years while recovering from clonazepam withdrawal. It's been hell and I'm still not completely recovered. I am looking to get back to work as soon as I can but I know it could still take more time. The biggest challenge will be to deal with withdrawal and setbacks without going back on Prozac. My hope is that I will be able to do that with the help of this board.

Hello everyone. I was on prozac for 12 years. I had a very bad miscarriage in 2011. I also had a toddler & a full time job. Stress & the anxiety really made my life horrible. Doctor gave me prozac and I was desperate to feel better. Prozac worked great, but 12 years went by fast and I got worried that I have been on them too long. Starting showing signs of liver issues. I do not smoke, drink, or consume caffeine or sugar drinks. I eat mostly clean foods. Doctor said to not worry about it. Well... I did some reading and it said prozac can cause liver damage. I got scared... and stopped cold turkey. That was 6 months ago. I have never been so sick in my life. I been to ER twice. My stomach/liver have the worst pain!! Did lots of bloodwork & CT scan. Yes liver labs were "elevated" but not enough for the doctors to show concern. I know my anxiety & depression has come back. I feel not like myself at all..... if I ever even felt like myself.... prozac had me feeling nothing. Right now --- feeling nothing sounds amazing. My doctor is aware of what I have done - stopping cold turkey. I would never tell anyone to do that. I feel I have totally messed up my health. I can't eat much. I have lost weight. I am dizzy most days. I have the worst joint pains!! I feel doom is right around the corner. I hate how I feel. Doctor wants me to go back on prozac. Now I am scared it won't work to get me out of this painfully cycle. Can anyone please tell me if what I am feeling are still withdrawals??? Or have I messed up my health that I will feel this way forever?? Thank you for reading.

Effexor x12 years. Added lithium in sept 2015. Added prozac in october to help bridge taper from effexor as i started having symptoms. Started withdrawing effexor in September 2014. Over last 4 months i went From 112.5 to 14mg as of last week.. Last week I seemed to all of a sudden hit a wall. Crying uncontrollably constantly. Shaking, nausea, extreme fear and overwhelming need to cry. Ive read your site. Ive reinstated to 20 mg of effexor for last 3 days but absolutely no improvement. Im so scared. I cant go to work like this. Continuing prozac 20 and lithium 300. Please help.

Hi all, I started prozac 20mg around June last year (2022). By November I decided to come off them as I didn't feel myself, I was getting irritated very often and angry very easily. Over the next month or so I experienced lots of "brain zaps" and aches and pains. The majority of these things have passed but what is really bothering me now...is COLD FEET! I'm getting obsessed over having bad circulation and keep constantly checking my nail bed on my toes with the nail blanch test. Which is OK and within normal ranges as long as the surrounding environment isn't too cold. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and is it a withdrawal symptom? And if so does it have a name? My feet seem to be cold during the day, they can be warmed up through blankets and exercise but it is driving me crazy. I also have very sweaty feet when it gets to night time. I was experiencing night sweats the last week or so but that seems to have calmed down. Now im just left with really cold, icey feet. Is this something anyone else has experienced? I'm really worrying. Thanks Pete.

I have recently reinstated Prozac at 30mg to due to being ripped off of them too fast. I’m on week 9 and still having waves, they aren’t as bad as they have been. I’m hoping that means normalcy and leveling out is just around the corner. My psych provider wants me to up my dose to 40mg, but I feel like 30mg hasn’t been in my system long enough to level out. My plan is to come off of them VERY SLOWLY once I am stabilized for 6 months. My psych provider keeps saying “You can try to come off it again, but some people just need to be on medication for the rest of their life and that’s okay”. BUT my anxiety was manageable and NOTHING compared to how it’s been with withdrawals. I was prescribed Prozac by a primary care doctor and I trusted them, but this has really sucked. Should I give the 30mg more time to build up? I’m only on week 9 Has anyone been successful of coming off Prozac and being able to live their normal life again? I’m so worried this fear and anxiety is never going to end and I’m just going to be stuck on this medication forever.

Hi there. i wanted to introduce myself to the forums. I am a 53 year old divorced (4 years ago) woman with two boys (ages 20 and 17). I have been on various SSRIs since i was about 21. I have been on them constantly, except for 18 months when I was pregnant and nursing my oldest. I tapered late last year but hadn't heard of these forums, so followed info i could glean online and did it over 6 weeks. I was on 40 mg of lexa but had only been on that for 8 weeks, and had switched from 20 mg of Prozac as that had stopped working. The Prozac I had been on consistently for 15 years. I decided to taper because the meds really werent working anymore. Im in the health care field and had done a lot of research on psilocybin, particularly microdosing, and decided I would give that a try but in order to really feel the effects, I knew I needed to taper of the SSRI (which, as I mentioned, was not working well anyway). I have moments, days, of "okay ness"--not happiness, but okayness. But the last 7 days have been pretty bleak for me. This does happen, even when SSRIs were "working"--I slip into a deep, existential despair about the world, my kids, whats the point of it all sort of attitude. I still manage to get to work, barely (I work part-time and set my own hours, thankfully), and I still manage to take showers,and even try and exercise. But the effort it takes is overwhelming me. Even in my darkest moments, when I had PPD after the birth of my son, I cared for him perfectly, and tried my best to hide my depression from those around me. I am one of the "functional depressives"--hardly anyone in my life knows I suffer as I put on a happy face when I am in public. But as I'm sure many of you understand, that is utterly exhausting. My oldest is a junior in college, and my youngest will be leaving in a few months as well. Both will/are attending college in NY, and I am in Florida. I am very unhappy with the politics in Florida, and despite the exhortations of friends to "just ignore the news" (and believe me, I try) as the mother to a queer teen this is not always possible. In addition, I have in the past been very politcally active, heading up local groups, organizing rallies, and speaking up at local government meetings. The helplessness I feel about the world right now is part and parcel with my mood, and it seems, with who I am fundamentally, and it's hard to let that go but I am trying. I am an empath, and feel the pain of suffering around me as acutely as if it were my own--perhaps more.--and i know this does not help my depression but it feels unchangeable. I meditate, journal, eat fairly healthy, exercise 4-5 times a week. I get sunshine by going to the beach a few times a week. My work is boring to me as I have been doing it for 24 years, and do what i may to try and recapture my old enjoyment of it (seminars, learning new things) it's just not happening. The idea of stopping my work has occurred to me, but what would i do for money? The idea of leaving the state of Florida has occured to me (and I still might do it) but in my line of work the only optioon is to start ones own clinic, and the idea of restarting a brand new business in a new state at my age feels ridiculous and stupid. My current work is not lucrative but I can support myself, and it feels foolish to throw that away. EMotionally, I am exhausted. I wake up each day in a haze of sadness and exhaustion, even after sleeping 10 hours. I force myself to go through the rituals of walking my dogs, eating some toast and either exercising or going to work. I read a lot of non-dual philosophy in the hopes of recognizing the beauty of the world and my place in it, but for the moment, it's not helping. I dont know if this is the withdrawal (im sure it's part of it), or just me (as I have felt this way many times, even when on SSRIs). I feel like I'm just wired this way, and nothing will help. And having suffered for 30 years, I've tried EVERYTHING. I have microdosed since December, following the Fadiman Protocol, and up until the last week I felt it was keeping the worst at bay (and was definitely helping with my anxiety). Sadly, I cannot afford regular therapy and tbh, I'm not sure how much it helped (although I loved my therapist). I feel I am just broken, tbh, and not even sure why I am here. It feels quite hopeless.

Hi there! Im here because I am starting my tapering journey from sertraline 100mg to 50mg. Been on 100mg sertraline for about a year combined with 150mg bupropion. Im feeling emotionally stable, by I've got slight sexual dysfunction and problems losing weight. Therefore tapering to 50mg sertraline. If all goes well and Im steady with my new job (which I start januari 2nd) I will start tapering towards zero sertraline. I am using a tapering schedule provided by drugtaper.com using tablets and liquid. My goal is to be at 50 mg at the end of februari 2023. Tapering calculator for antidepressants.pdf

As the title says, I’ve been taking 15mg of Prozac. I am prescribed two 10mg pills per day, and I break one in half. I’ve tried 5mg reduction per month, but I had really bad withdrawal symptoms. I’ve been on Prozac since the middle of 2020, but with fluctuations in how much I take (20-> 15) and when, most recently messing with the time I take with the medicine. Please give me some advice of how to taper this. I do not have access to scales or liquid Prozac, unless you can dissolve it in water.

Hi all! I am here to get help for the withdrawal symptoms I am currently experiencing. My signature explains my prescription information. Currently I am attempting to get off of Luvox and started a tapering schedule with my doctor back in December of 2022. This looks like (2 weeks on 37.5mg 3/4 of table) —> (2 weeks on 25mg 1/2 of tablet) —> (2 weeks on 12.5mg 1/4 of tablet (currently here). With each reduction in mg I have experienced about 3 days of mild depression/mood swing/terrible dreams/night sweat (all of which was to be expected). However about 6-7 days ago when starting the 12.5 mg dose I started having constant and urgent diarrhea. Stool is almost straight liquid, no blood just a light brown. My stomach is constantly tumbling and rolling. I am making sure to drink extra water. This has also came with an increase in acid reflux symptoms. I am really struggling and need help with this persistent diarrhea and stomach upset!

I wasn't sure where to post this question - Moderators, please feel free to move it to the most appropriate forum. I started on a liquid formulation of Escitalopram on 1 Nov 2022. It is a suspension made by a compounding pharmacy since liquid Cipralex/Lexapro is not available in my country. Since starting the suspension, I have noticed that about 2 hours after taking the liquid, I develop akathisia. This lasts for about 4 hours after which I feel okay. Since I take this in the evening, it interferes with my sleep. I wanted to know whether I can move my dosage time to the morning and how best to do this? My initial thought was to do this slowly where I would take the dosage 15 min earlier everytime and then eventually be able to shift the dosage time. Does this sound practical? I think that slow 15-min increments would be best so thought I would shift by 15min, hold that dosage time for 2 days, then shift again, hold 2 days etc. Would this be slow enough to prevent a relative change in dosage-size? Thank you.

I was treated with various anti-depressants for Panic Disorder & Depression as a teenager for about 25 years. Most antidepressants pooped out over time, or had bad side effects so I would be put on a different med, or add another one to try and address the side effects. First withdrawal issues were fairly short lived but I recall getting brain zaps going off Effexor in my 20’s. By my mid 30’s I was sick of not feeling like myself, chasing side effects with more meds, the failed trials & cocktails, & not knowing what was causing what vs where my underlying original issues stood. I was in a stable place in my life & I did a lot of work on therapy, mindfulness, diet, & exercise to prepare with any potential underlying issues. So in 2017 with my Dr I decided to try and see what my baseline was to do a trial off medications & that started my descent. Unfortunately my Dr didn’t know about tapering beyond a few weeks, I was never warned about symptoms after stopping, & she gave me a lot of bad advice along the way like: “Prozac is self tapering,” “Discontinuation symptoms are rare and self-limiting, it will only last about 2 weeks.” Since 2017 this is my 3rd acute withdrawal experience but I’ve basically been in lesser versions that were more tolerable in between holding/ recovering as I reduced various medications the entire last several years with good days/weeks/months, and bad days/weeks/months. I will post a timeline so it’s easier to see any pattern but to have it make sense with my question for what to do with medication here’s a rundown. I apologize for it being long but the timeline alone can’t explain the whole conundrum. I also tried to read all the rules but please let me know if I’m communicating something wrong. In 2020 I tapered Prozac 10mg to 0, from late Feb to Nov and for several of those months (May-Sept) I felt better than I had in years; what I’ve read now can be a “honeymoon period” with Prozac discontinuation/ withdrawal. I had real emotions again, no side effects, and even some motivation so I thought I was on the right track to keep going. In June I noticed some brief thumb pain but I chalked it up to overuse, although I thought it was weird it was the same joint that hurt for a while when I lowered Prozac from 20 to 10mg & one of the exact spots I got itchy burning hives on during my 2017 withdrawal. I started to get some pangs of anxiety & was sleeping less but it wasn’t too bad so I kept tapering. I also started LDN in July and it lifted my brain fog I had for years that started after the first withdrawal but it gave me some insomnia from vivid dreams & some anxiety. I continued it though because it was worth the trade off for being able to think & speak clearly again. Now looking back the increasing insomnia should have been a clue to withdrawal but I attributed it only to LDN. I’m also unsure if LDN could have worsened things in general. I noticed as I tapered, more burning pain in my thumb off and on getting more frequent but I thought it was tendinitis/ overuse again, and then when I tried going down to 0mg in Nov, a week later my big toe got swollen & red for a few days but again, I thought it was unrelated and my Dr said it was probably gout. I tried reinstating a fraction of the dose because my anxiety spiked too and a had some nausea, and it seemed to help for a week or so but then, in mid-Dec I crashed into acute withdrawal, so I reinstated 2mg after lower doses didn’t help. I had a constant feeling of dread, palpitations, panic attacks, anxiety/intrusive thoughts/depression (neuro emotions), palpitations, sweating, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, shaking, fluctuating body temperature, freezing feet/hands, hypnic jerks, full body zaps, both thumbs started to burn then both big toes, then both pinkie fingers, and I got flu-like aches & pains, in my neck and back as well as sciatica. I got sensitive to most supplements, so I stopped many. I’m unsure if the 2mg kindled me or not but by late Feb much of the worst symptoms of horrible depression/anxiety/insomnia/intrusive thoughts were getting slightly better, or only in waves at night and early morning, but on the other hand the physical/allergic side just continued to get worse, and I developed more food sensitivities, low blood pressure with palpitations, rashes, and the burning joint pain only got more intense & spread to more joints in my hands and feet and now most recently in March it’s in my palm joints, foot joints, and my right ankle started to hurt as well. Sometimes I would also wake up with numb fingers or toes, and get little pin-prick sensations on my joints and skin as well. I tried Zyrtec the last few weeks and much of the numbness, food reactions and brain fog have died down but not gone away completely. The joint pain is slightly less intense too after Zyrtec but continues to spread to new joints to the point I’m basically disabled because when I use them (ie move much) it flares them up. I know some of these can be some common symptoms in withdrawal but I haven’t seen anybody that had progressive/additive symmetrical joint pain like this and I’d like to know if anyone else has. It seems like I’m 70% over the horrific acute mental anguish but am now physically really struggling and depressed because of this to the point I’m actually disabled after all these years of fighting to get off meds because I’m stuck in bed, in really bad pain off and on all day. My GP & Rheumatologist did a ton of blood tests to rule out Lyme, viruses, bacteria, etc, which were all normal besides a slightly low C4 complement (but normal C3), which she said could possibly indicate urticarial vasculitis or some other type of allergic syndrome & she has no idea how Prozac could be related or why it would have helped my condition in the past, & is sending me to an Allergist next month. She also mentioned small fiber neuropathy as a differential diagnosis and does not think it’s Lupus, RA or a typical autoimmune arthritis. Either way she doesn’t know an actual diagnosis that would explain things since even if I do have urticarial vasculitis or small fiber neuropathy, those aren’t an illness in an of themselves. A psychiatrist I consulted thinks I should discontinue the Prozac right away and that 3mg couldn’t possibly be helping me, and there’s a small chance it could be causing the joint pain and my allergic symptoms if I developed an allergy to it. I doubt this thought because in the past I used Prozac as a bridge to stop the allergic MCAS-type symptoms (albeit without joint pain) that came with prior withdrawals. She’s never heard of anyone having a hard time with stopping it and thinks my symptoms are unrelated & I have an underlying condition. As an aside, I’m a “intermediate metabolizer” which says I can have much higher blood levels so lower doses may be required, which is why I believe I probably did well only on 10mg but also why the side effects were probably also more prominent. So as of now, I’m unsure if I should hold the dose at 3.2 mg, updose, or try to taper. I also know ultimately this is my decision but I just need some guidance on what the best bet might be and whether or not anything like this has been seen since I've scoured the website and not seen much on what's advised in this situation.

Hi all, I am thrilled I found this site. After two unsuccessful withdrawals in the past, I am hoping this time around I am more successful with a slow and steady taper. I am currently on 20 mg Prozac and have been since 2021. I wanted some advice around creating a liquid solution. My doctor refuses to prescribe the liquid form of Prozac to me (which I realize would make this more convenient) and doesn’t agree with my 10% slow tapering schedule that I discussed with her. She’d like me to drop in 5 mg increments every month which I’ve tried explaining seems too fast for me. It seems that I have to take matters into my own hands and create liquid solutions for my dosages. Per advice from some other forums on here, I purchased syringes and measurement cups. My plan is to dissolve my 20 mg tablets in 20 ml water, shake the solution, and draw out whatever is not needed since it will be a 1 mg : 1 mL solution. I was hoping for some advice/suggestions from you all around this plan. Will this be accurate/ effective? Thank you I am so relieved to have this community for support.

Hi all. I really need some advice about reinstating. I was on Prozac for about 5 years (started at 20mg and was at 60mg for the last 1.5 years) for seasonal affective disorder and anxiety. A couple years ago, I started Adderall for suspected narcolepsy. My narcolepsy got much worse the following year and another stimulant, armodafinil, was added. I finally got approved for a treatment that treats the root problem by normalizing the sleep cycle and started Xywav in September 2021. A few weeks in, I woke up feeling rested for the first time in my life, but with some very unusual symptoms atypical for Xywav. Going down on the Xywav did not get rid of it. I did stop armodafinil which helped a bit. I was referred to a psychiatrist (scheduled 3 months out) and neurologist (scheduled 7 months out). I went 3 months with these symptoms (SEVERE anxiety, dizziness, tremor, muscle twitching and stiffness, feeling agitated by noise and light, and sensory overloads) and was finally diagnosed with serotonin toxicity from the psychiatrist. I did a rapid taper from 60mg to 20mg over 3 months. Each drop I made, I had withdrawal, then stabilized quickly and had the toxicity come back. My psychiatrist and I decided to try holding at 20mg because of a longer withdrawal period, but then I started to feel like the toxicity was coming back. I kept going and taking the pill because I didn't see how it could be toxicity at that point, but I kept getting worse each time I took it. I started having spasms and burning sensations on my skin and was very hyper-reflexive. I was eventually instructed to CT at 20mg. I immediately felt better the next day, pain and spasms were gone within 3 days and I improved dramatically over the next couple months with only mild withdrawal symptoms. I did treat the mild withdrawal by taking 0.25-0.5mg microdoses of Prozac as needed (which I realize now was probably a bad idea, but it worked at the time). At 4 weeks, I started to have mild tingling in my legs but didn't think much of it. At 6-7 weeks out I felt almost completely recovered and back to normal and then week 8 everything started going downhill with the burning and tingling sensations in my legs amping up. I tried my last microdose of 1mg on June 6 and didn't have much change in symptoms. Over the next several weeks, I developed burning and tingling in my arms, back/spine, chest, neck, face, and now stomach. Along with this, I also have had severe muscle spasms in various areas, stiffness/tightness, cramping, and general muscle/joint pain. Posting this, I have now been off for 4 months and am going through wave and window episodes of severe pain and less pain. Each wave I seem to have burning/tingling neuropathic type pain, muscle pain, spasm, or stiffness developing in a new area of my body, so it’s now widespread. The pain is milder during the day, but gets so much worse at night and is causing lots of fear and anxiety. Since starting 5-htp, curcumin, and modified cictrus pectin (recommend by a naturopath) I seem to be having a few more windows through the day of a lot less pain and even 1-2 nights a week where the pain does not become severe at night. My mental symptoms are anxiety/fear, detachment (happens 6-8pm everyday) and some mood swings/low mood. The intense fear caused by the pain is the worst one. Most of my other symptoms are physical (blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite). I know reinstating can be a bit risky this far out, but I am a grad student and the semester will be starting soon. I would like to be more functional than I am... and in less pain. So is it worth trying a reinstatement at this point to see if the pain will go away or should I just try to wait this out? If I do choose to reinstate, my psychiatrist suggested reinstating 5mg, but would it be better to start at 1-2mg and work up? 4 months off at end of July and primary symptoms are pain (burning/tingling neuropathic pain, spasms, stiffness, aches bodywide), blurred vision, dizziness, detachment, nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth and eyes, mood swings, and a lot of anxiety and fear. A couple other things. One thing I have working for me in withdrawal is my Xywav. I always get 8 hours of quality sleep a night with no insomnia, so maybe that will help me to stabilize just a bit faster than normal (or maybe its wistful thinking...). I also don't think I have a chemical sensitivity. I have started supplements, an antiviral (acyclovir), and lowered the adderall without any obvious worsening of symptoms. Also is there anybody here who can relate to this and has developed a lot of pain in withdrawal? I’m 24 and never had pain before. I have had a full autoimmune and blood work up as well as a brain mri. All normal, so hopefully it's just withdrawal. Sorry for the long post, but thank you for reading and any advice you can offer.

Hello. Details below but I think I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms, mainly intense anxiety and insomnia. Both seem to be geting better following the windows and waves pattern, but it's exhausting. Looking to make sense of what I'm going through and support. Brief med and treatment history 2002-2019 Lithium 900-1200 mg (0.6-9.0 mEq/L blood serum levels), 2018-2019 Prozac 20 mg. After trying various mood stabilizers following manic episode precipitated by Zoloft (very high 100mg+ dosage), I was prescribed lithium, which I took most of the period from 2002 until I stopped it in 2019. During that time I tried various other mood stabilizers, including depakote, lamictal, carbemazepine, and abilify in addition or instead of lithium. 2008-2010 became dependent and withdrew from benzodiazipes. Underwent ~20 ECT treatments in 2010 following hospitalization for depression which marked a turning point in course of "illness." Significant improvement in my life from 2010-2020 but some anxiety and depression symptoms remained. Tapering Started Prozac in early 2018 to help with continued chronic anxiety and mild depression. Prozac did help...most notably with the anxiety. I recall it seeming to lift a huge weight off my shoulders, allowing me to let go of the indecision, rumination and general anxiety. While on the prozac, I stopped lithium, tapering fairly rapidly, going from 900 mg/day to 600 mg, to 300 mg, dropping down after a couple months each step. In late 2019, I then went off the prozac, going from 20 mg to 10 mg for about 2 months, then to 0. I was not aware of this website or procedures to taper even more slowly. Current State - Withdrawal? Beginning in 2020 after being off prozac a couple months and lithium over a year, I began experiencing bouts of intense disabling anxiety, insomnia and intense emotions (crying for hours on occasion). All of these seem to be of a different quality than the anxiety symptoms that led me to take the Prozac and very different from anything before then. At the same time, I have also been experiencing periods of clarity and heightened consciousness, which feel like my brain and mind waking up after many many years. Also, have had some periods of calmness. Its hard to make sense of the mix of feelings and sensations, but for the closest experience to the clear periods, I have to go back to my teenage years before the diagnosis and before the pills. After reading the New Yorker profile on Laura Delano, I learned more about antidepressant withdrawal through this website and some of her work. I think it's probably the best explanation of what I am dealing with and am looking for help getting through this. I feel like I am on the precipice of regaining a full mind and life after 20 years in varying degrees of darkness. But this is also scary, hard, and it's difficult to keep things together. I am continuing to juggle a demanding career, parenting a two year old and five year old, and being a good husband....while caring for myself and trying to practice self-compassion as I go through what I view as a major life event. Looking for support and to hear more about others experience, hopefully to give me some confirmation that there's an end to what I'm going through. Up typing this in the middle of a stretch of anxiety and insomnia.