Christeenie: Tapered 10% of 20 mg prozac...HORRIBLE WITHDRAWAL .HELP

[Christeenie]

Hello there I am new to this site and came across some really HELPFUL things and hopefully you guys can help me out with some things.

My wife has bipolar II and has been on her cocktail of medicine for about 16 years now.

She decided she wants to taper off her medicine and we started with the anti-depressant first which is is her Prozac. She was taking 20 mg of Prozac so we reduced her to 10 mg of Prozac.....HORRIBLE IDEA.. after 5 days of dosing her down to the 10 mg of Prozac she became so irritable, and angry .. like I've never seen before. It is now day 3 of her feeling this way and I'm at a loss... Not sure if i should throw her back on the 20 mg or see if she can ride this out??? I read on here to micro taper off medicine if she cant handle the 10% rule..

 

Any suggestions? Any help? Any words of wisdom here? She's feeling pretty hopeless but I keep cheering her on since I know this process is going to take a long time and I know she is capable of doing it.

[bubble]

Hello Christeenie an dwelcome to SA,

 

I have moved your post to Introductions. As you have probably seen, we recommend 10 % decrease on the current dose. Thsi is especialyl important for people with long history on medications, discontinuing them, changing doses, etc.

 

Changing from 20 to 10 mg is 50 % reduction (not 10 %) so it's not surprising that your wife was hit by rather severe withdrawal symptoms. Since the reduction happened only 5 days ago, if I were in her situation, I would go back to the full dose, wait to get stable again (at least a month) and then start a much slower taper. 

 

When you have time it would be good to put her drug history in the signature as described here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

It would also be good if she herself could join the forum and benefit from sharing and exchanging experience once she feels better. 

 

You may want to get more information on tapering on this thread: 

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/300-important-topics-in-the-tapering-forum-and-faq/

 

Best,

Bubble

[Rhiannon]

As Bubble said, 20 mg to 10 mg is a 50% reduction, not 10%. 

 

A 10% cut would have been from 20 mg to 18 mg.

 

And after 18 mg the next 10% cut would be from 18 mg to 16.5 mg.  

 

I agree with Bubble's advice. Go back to 20 mg and give it at least a few weeks to stabilize. During that time you can get some support with the math and get the liquid formulation so you can cut to 18 mg next time.