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Celestria: trying to get off Prozac, done with psych meds once and for all (Rx'd various ones since 10 years old, now almost 38)


Celestria

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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)

Edited by Gridley

3/4/23 = Prozac-free

Jan-Feb 2023 = Fast tapering off 30mg Prozac (jumped off from 5mg on 2/28/23)

2017-2018 = Tapered off 300mg Trileptal (easy) and 1mg Klonopin (benzo withdrawal was the worst experience by far)

1994-2017 = Various SSRIs, SNRis, NDRIs, TCAs, AEDs, AAPs, BZDs, you name it

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Welcome to SA, Celestria.

 

Have you already reinstated the 5mg?  If so, how are you feeling?  A 5mg RI is much higher than we would recommend.  Your system is destabilized from the jump to zero from 5mg and also likely from the previous fast taper and a too-high reinstatement can overwhelm your system and make matters worse.  

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms. -- at least the first page of the topic

 

Our recommendation would be to reinstate to more than 1mg Prozac.  Then once you've stabilized from that, which can take several months, you can slowly taper off that 1mg.

 

I know you're in a hurry to be off this drug, the the taper you're suggesting (dropping by 1mg each time) is much faster than we recommend, which is no more than 10% of your current dose every 4 weeks.  Our approach to tapering is a harm reduction approach, which means taking things very slow in a taper to avoid the dangers of crashing, from which it can take a long tine to recover.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

This link is about tapering Prozac, including how to get the nonstandard doses needed for a 10% taper and for a 1mg reinstatement, including using the prescription liquid you wrote about.


Tips for tapering off fluoxetine (Prozac)

 

1mg drops off 5mg are, in our view, way too fast.  A 1mg drop off 5mg would be a 20% drop, off 4mg it would be a 25% drop, off 3mg a 33% drop, off 2mg a 50% drop.  

 

In addition, we recommend tapering by a percentage of your previous done than with a straight linear 1mg taper. With a percentage taper, as you go lower the percentage you drop gets less and less and you get lower and lower. With a linear 1mg taper, the percentage you drop gets higher and higher vis a vis your dose, so there's more stress on your system the lower you go.  

 

The magnesium and omegas you're taking are the only supplements we recommend.  If the ultra-high omega is working for you, great.  

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

 

This is your introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community.  I hope you’ll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation.  I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but I am glad that you found us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Oct 15: 3.2mg

Taper is 96% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotic, zinc, melatonin .3mg, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase, L-Glutamine, milk thistle, choline


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice. It is information based on my own experience as well as that of other members who have survived these drugs.

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  • Gridley changed the title to Celestria: trying to get off Prozac, done with psych meds once and for all (Rx'd various ones since 10 years old, now almost 38)
  • 1 month later...
On 3/5/2023 at 1:57 PM, Gridley said:

Have you already reinstated the 5mg?  If so, how are you feeling?  A 5mg RI is much higher than we would recommend.  Your system is destabilized from the jump to zero from 5mg and also likely from the previous fast taper and a too-high reinstatement can overwhelm your system and make matters worse.  

 

Hi Gridley! Sorry for the very late reply... work and dealing with life w/o any psych meds has been keeping me very busy. Ha ha.

 

So yeah, to answer your question: No, I did not reinstate. Not even at 1mg. I made the conscious decision to try and just duke it out. It hasn't been without its challenges, but it's also not as bad as I thought it would be. I work full-time (from home, thankfully) and I've been able to manage without needing to take so much as a day off, which I'm very excited about.

 

I have, however, been dealing with the following:

  • Periodic rage attacks (I have hit things, thrown things, screamed at my husband, been reduced to tears a few times over the past month)
  • Alternating between sleepy/lethargic and energetic/motivated
  • Very strong flatulence 🤭

I started a probiotic earlier in the week. I'm hoping that helps with the flatulence.


I still take the magnesium glycinate, but discontinued the Omega-3, as I felt it was exacerbating the GI side effects.

 

Holding strong and no turning back now... hoping the worst is over in the next few months! Will report back if/when anything changes.

 

3/4/23 = Prozac-free

Jan-Feb 2023 = Fast tapering off 30mg Prozac (jumped off from 5mg on 2/28/23)

2017-2018 = Tapered off 300mg Trileptal (easy) and 1mg Klonopin (benzo withdrawal was the worst experience by far)

1994-2017 = Various SSRIs, SNRis, NDRIs, TCAs, AEDs, AAPs, BZDs, you name it

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Hi @Celestria,

 

Just wanted to say best of luck to you. I am another person who was put on meds at a very young age (~10 years) and I feel your pain. Just want to say if things do get worse there is no harm in reinstating at a low dose, as others have mentioned. When I was initially going through withdrawal I thought I could tough it out but after a few months of the worst Hell, I reinstated Prozac at 2.5 mg. This ended up being a great decision for me. Keep in mind the half life of prozac is quite long because it has an active metabolite, so the half life is ~12-14 days, which means it may be many weeks before withdrawal symptoms stabilize instead of getting worse. I hope things go well for you and you return to write a success story.

 

- Toast

2005 - Zoloft, 200 mg for childhood anxiety (starting at age 11)

Summer 2015 - Switched to Prozac, 40 mg  

June 2019 - Tapered to 10 mg Prozac, no adverse effects. Held for 1 year. 

June 2020 - Discontinued Prozac. Horrible withdrawal. Did not realize it was withdrawal at first. 

Nov 2020 - Reinstated Prozac 2.5 mg. Still experiencing withdrawal symptoms. 

May 2021 - Prozac 2.0 mg. Still experiencing symptoms - some symptoms have improved, but situational factors have worsened.

August 12 2021 - Prozac 2.25 mg. Partial reinstatement as symptoms had worsened

June 17 2022 - Prozac 2.0 mg; Sept 13 2022 - Prozac 1.75 mg; Nov 1 2022 - Prozac 1.5 mg; Feb 1 2023 - Prozac 1.25 mg; Apr 1 2023 - Prozac 1.0 mg; June 15, 2023 - Prozac 0.75 mg; Aug 15, 2023 - Prozac 0.5 mg

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