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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.

Hi there, New to the forums but been reading through a little bit. I'm not sure if this is the exact right place for me as I'm actually not currently planning any tapers, but I did want to make sense of some symptoms I've been experiencing and get some feedback on whether these could possibly be withdrawal related. More information in my signature (which in itself is just a tiny snippet of all the changing drug combos I've been put on since I first entered the system in 2014), but my primary concern was that this past Oct/Nov 2022, I spent some time on an inpatient psych unit where I was taken off the sertraline (150mg) which I'd been taking at that point for probably around five years, and switched onto citalopram (20mg) with no tapering at all, just a sudden switchover. I've now been on the citalopram for about three months; there were also other meds changes around that time but fortunately quite short lived so I'm not sure my system really got settled with any of them. Starting a few weeks after the switch and continuing over the past few months, I've been experiencing symptoms that feel different from the mental illness that I've struggled with for a long time. Primarily I've been experiencing what feels like depression but without correlating emotions... just a lot of fatigue, sleeping way more than usual, feeling little motivation or energy to do things, but without the intense mental/emotional components that accompany regular depression for me. I know this could be all sorts of things, but after hearing about issues with antidepressant withdrawal I began to wonder if this could be related to being switched so suddenly off something I'd taken for so long, even if it was replaced with another SSRI. Would be curious if anyone here has experienced a similar situation or has any insights based on knowledge of these drugs. I do also know that longer-term I would like to get off any SSRIs, but my life circumstances aren't currently stable enough to mess with more meds changes.

It’s always so hard for me to start and it’s even harder now because of the state I’m in, but I’ll do my best… The good: Around 2014 I’ve been put on Paxil 20mg due to anxiety and my first panic attack. Well, it was a miracle pill for me, can’t deny that. After roughly two years (2016) my doc suggested that it might be a good idea to get off the meds since I was doing so well - sure, let’s do it! - I said. The taper plan she gave me was minus 5mg each week, so from 20mg to 0mg in a month. I did that and as you may suspect, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Took me around three months to get back “from the dead”, but I managed. Didn’t have much obligations at that time, so it wasn’t so stressful since I could just spend my days in zombie mode and not care. The bad: Shortly after my revival something… hit the fan and due to extreme anxiety I had to go back to meds. In my ignorance, stupidity and fear I asked my doctor to reinstate Paxil, because hey, it worked wonders previously and I didn’t feel like experimenting. It worked again, sadly, taking me hostage for the next eight years. Why I say hostage? Because from that time my life changed quite a bit, adulthood hit hard. I couldn’t allow myself to take a few months break just to get off the meds. I tried a few times, but I simply couldn’t handle the reduction, no matter how slow I tapered. I started to wonder if I may need to stay on it for life. It worked, so where’s the harm I asked? But I’ve decided to give it a one last try, especially since I’ve been in a pretty good moment in my life. The final push - and that’s the moment my life falls apart. The ugly: June 2023, I went from 20mg > 17.5 mg. Some heightened anxiety, waking up a bit earlier than usual, no biggie. I’ll give it a month and go down again. July 2023, 17.5mg > 15mg. First two weeks were pretty consistent, a little more of insomnia, anxiety and anhedonia. I noticed that I probably should stay on that dose a bit longer than a month. Fine, I said, but life had a surprise for me and this is where things start to get hectic and blurry… Around week 3 on 15mg I woke up with SEVERE brain fog, anhedonia and fatigue. At first I brushed it off on a bad nights sleep, but next day I slept much worse and my condition did not improve. Okay, this’ll pass soon, a bump on the road I thought. Guess what, it started to get worse. Panic and anxiety started to slowly creep into my life. I’ve lost my edge, become dumb in a very short time - if that’s not a reason to panic then I don’t know what is. So I’ve started searching, could this be withdrawal? Turned out it could, so I went back to 17.5. No improvement, hell, it’s getting worse! Back to 20mg. For a few days I’ve felt a bit more clear headed, but it faded away quickly. At this point I’ve stumbled upon a paper linking Paxil and its anticholinergic effects to dementia. One word. Panic. Consulted this with my dr, she upped me to 30mg because yeah, I’ve been on 20mg for quite some time. This helped for like three weeks and started to dive rapidly. At this point I’ve been through some major diagnostics like brain imaging and extensive bloodwork. All came back without issues, except for the neuropsychological testing that confirmed that I’m indeed lightly cognitively impaired. I wanted out from Paxil immediately, because the thought of each day on it adding a fraction to the chance of dementia literally made me puke, but I knew that cold turkey is not a way to do it. It’d probably kill me and as you may suspect, I was already a mess. Prozac bridge emerged on the horizon, appearing to be the only reasonable way out of this impasse. My doc approved the idea and I started the transition from 30mg Paxil to 30mg Prozac, 5mg each week. That took me about 1.5 months. Rough months during which I’ve experienced a plethora of symptoms that fueled my health anxiety like nothing else could. The main things were paresthesias in my body’s right side, tinnitus, insomnia, fatigue and brain fog. Not to mention the anxiety, mood swings and crying spells. I went to the doc and described how I’ve been feeling. Their response? Let’s up Prozac to 40mg, this should help! Craving any relief I did as instructed and here I am now, second week on 40mg Prozac, one month paroxetine free with brain fog, fatigue, muscle aches in my right side of the body, dry heaving each morning, zero appetite and constant diarrhea paired with anhedonia. Sure, the anxiety has been mostly clubbed by Prozac after upping the dose, but I don’t think I feel alive and I don’t know what to do. I thought about staying on 40mg for some time to stabilize, but there’s this pressure in me saying “drop to 30mg, it’ll make you feel better!”. I don’t know what to do anymore and I’m scared and tired as hell.

Hi everybody, my daughter has been an on SSRI antidepressants for over a year. She was on one and it didn’t really help and so four weeks ago they put her on another one at a half dose for now. But I am finding that the side effects she’s having seem to be worse than taking the antidepressants. She has a ringing in her ears she cannot sleep and she has cramping. I have a very good relationship with my daughter therefore I would like to help her get off of the medication and see if we can find a more natural solution. She is also going to therapy. Any advice for me?

Hello Everyone I am new here. This is my first ever post to a form of any kind. I am currently tapering off Pristiq 10 percent per month under the care of my specialist. I was prescribed Pristiq in July/August of 2010 by my GP. Over the years, I have made several failed attempts at stopping the Pristiq as I found the process just too difficult while trying to balance the responsibilities of my career. I resigned from my position in 2016 and have been tapering since November 2016. So far so good, but it has been a long, emotional and isolating process. I still have some struggle every time I reduce my dosage, and it would be great to have the support of others who understand what I am going through. I also hope my journey can be of help to someone else.

Hi everyone! Well, here is my story ... I am a 21 year old female, and I have been on Paxil since I was 6 years old, and have maintained on about 40-60mg ever since. I was put on Paxil due to my anxiety disorder and OCD, as I refused to eat in a school cafeteria and would be in a sheer panic everyday about going to school. Apparently they tried to put me on Zoloft at some point early on, but it gave me headaches and nausea, so that is why Paxil was chosen. The Paxil worked wonders for me, and I was able to go to school and live a very normal and happy childhood. In 2010, I was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme disease that was making me feel pretty ill. I saw a Lyme specialist in 2011, and he suggested that I stop taking Paxil. It was attempted to switch my medication to another SSRI (I do not remember what it was), and I ended up with Serotonin Syndrome and had to go to the hospital. While following one Lyme doctor's protocol, I was taking over 25 pills and supplements a day, and I accidentally forgot to take my Paxil for a few days in a row. As you all probably know, I began experiencing severe withdrawl from stopping my medication cold-turkey. I could barely stand up unsupported, I had severe dizziness and nausea, I was light-headed and weepy, and I didn't eat for about three days, I just layed in my bed in the dark and slept and cried. My mom thought that I may have been experiencing what is called a "Herxheimer Reaction," which is a periodic exacerbation of symptoms in response to treatment. We later realized that I had been off of my medication for about 3-5 days, and I immediately started taking my Paxil again and was feeling back to my old self within a day. I experienced some depression and anxiety when my Lyme was diagnosed, and my Paxil dosage was raised to about 80mg for a time. I also experienced some patterns of disordered eating while on some strict diets to help my Lyme's, but for the past 3 or 4 years, I have basically been anxiety and depression free. Anyways! I was talking to my Psychiatrist this week, and I mentioned how I have been trying to lose some weight, as I have become quite unhappy with my body. She mentioned that Paxil may very well be causing my metabolism to be slow, and suggested I switch to Lexapro. Thinking ahead about 6-8 years, I asked her if Lexapro would be something I would be able to take during pregnancy one day, as I already knew Paxil would not be safe for having children one day. She said that when I want to have children, I would probably be switched to Zoloft, so I suggested that we just start there, instead of making me change medication again, to which she agreed. I am a bit scared of switching from Paxil to Zoloft, due to the bad experience I had when forgetting to take my medication before, as well as the experience with Serotonin Syndrome. I am afraid of experiencing withdrawl, and all of the horror stories I have heard about. I am also scared that if the Zoloft doesn't work from me or I am having a hard time, that I will try to go back on Paxil and it will not work anymore. So I joined this site to hopfully learn about anyone else's experience with changing from Paxil to another medication, specifically Zoloft. So far, here is the plan.... Week 1: Drop 10mg of Paxil (watch for withdrawl) 30mg Paxil morning, 10mg Paxil night Week 2: Add Zoloft (watch for reaction to Zoloft) 30mg Paxil morning, 10mg Paxil and 25mg Zoloft night Week 3: 20mg Paxil morning, 10mg Paxil and 50mg Zoloft night Week 4: 20mg Paxil morning, 75mg Paxil night Week 5: 10mg Paxil and 50mg Zoloft morning, 50mg Zoloft night