Thissucksass: Prozac taper and withdrawal

[Thissucksass]

I have been on Effexor and Pristiq in years past for several years at a time. Never remembered having a huge problem getting off of them. Recently I started 20mg of fluoxetine back in May. Quickly realized it was way too strong after just a few days. Went down to 10mg for a few days and even that felt too strong. Started taking about half a capsule by pouring out the powder to 5mg. Started to seemingly work well for about 1.5 months but had side effects.

 

Out of nowhere had the worst panic attack of my life one month ago driving home from work. Went to ER for EKG, bloodwork, IV hydration etc etc and everything came back that I was fine and it was in fact anxiety/panic. I briefly upped my dose back up to 10mg because panic hangover was so debilitating. I realized that the medication adjustment combined with this was too much and decided these meds weren’t worth the reason I initially started which was a brief situational depressive episode involving a girl.

 

I was already starting to feel better when Prozac was thrown at me since it had worked well for another family member. I asked for the lowest dose and my psychiatrist prescribed me 20mg (not the lowest dose) which I don’t find out until later and still pisses me off to this day. I’m now 15 days completely off of Prozac after a 7-day taper. So 22 days since my last 10mg dose. I currently have what I read are waves and windows. I’ve read withdrawal takes a while to fully set in and a month or two to completely leave your system.
 

I’m not sure what to do to feel better but at this time I’m getting tired of not being able to function. I never remembered it being this hard to get off of meds and I’m in way worse shape than when I started them. I have a slight pressure in my head which is not as bad as it was a few weeks ago, tiredness, brain fog, I go from feeling completely fine to scared I might have a wave on a dime, I am very irritable at times and it generally just feels unpleasant and mild dread comes and goes throughout the day. Also some strange sensations in my eyes and chest as well. 
 

I’m also an athlete who usually trains vigorously and has a healthy diet but I only worked out for the first time since all this the last two days for 20 mins which is progress but basically a joke for me. My diet was perfect as well and now I’m too lazy to cook or prepare food so I just order food. My self-esteem and confidence are plummeting and I have moments where I’m confident I’ll be completely fine and moments where I think I’m screwed for the foreseeable future. I’m not even sure if the real withdrawals have started or not or if my dose and time period on the drug were so short that this is as bad as it will get.
 

If anyone has any encouraging words I’m open to them. My anxiety is through the roof about all of this though so if you’re going to tell me some scary story or anything negative I’m not interested in hearing that right now haha.

 

In short, as my name suggests, this sucks!

Edited August 9 by Emonda
Name to title

[Catwoman73]

Hi @Thissucksass, and welcome to SA!  We are a community of volunteers providing peer support in the tapering of psychiatric medications, and their associated withdrawal syndromes.  

 

Yes, this does suck a$$ lol...

 

Thank you for completing your drug signature. 

 

I'm so sorry for what you've been through.  You're in good company here.

 

I'm going to take some time to explain exactly what is happening to you, then provide you with some options on how to proceed.  You state that you have been on and off Effexor and prisiq for years, and have had no difficulties coming off of them.  When someone goes on and off these drugs repeatedly, particularly when not tapered properly (which most doctors have no clue how to properly taper- I'll get to that shortly), it can set us up for a hypersensitivity reaction to this class of drugs in the future.  So when you started prozac, your nervous system was primed for a bad reaction.  The subsequent jumping around with dosages and rapid stop of the drug has destabilized your nervous system further, creating the myriad of symptoms you are now experiencing.  

 

Tapering is best done at a rate of no more than 10% of your current dose, no more frequently than every 4 weeks (so, as an example- 10mg, 9mg, 8.1mg, 7.3mg, and so on).  The is known as hyperbolic tapering, and is designed to release the receptors in the brain from the drug in a very gradual way, to minimize withdrawal symptoms.  I suspect you did not at any time taper in this manner... most of us haven't done this, so you're not alone.  Read more here about how these drugs affect your brain, and why tapering hyperbolically is important:

 

How Psychiatric Drugs Remodel Your Brain

SERT Transporter Occupancy Studies

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

So now that you have a better understanding what is happening to you, the question is, what to do about it?  Well, I know this isn't what you're going to want to hear, but time is the best healer.  It can take quite a long time- I wish it were the case that a month or two is all it takes, but it can take significantly longer than this to fully heal.  There is no way to predict how long healing will take.  People do often have significant waves between the six and nine month mark.  It does seem like you are experiencing some good periods and some bad periods- this is known as the windows and waves pattern of stabilization here (as you have discovered), and is an excellent sign that your brain and body are on the way to healing.  Read more about windows and waves here:

 

Windows and waves pattern of stabilization

 

Your first option is to ride this out.  This is honestly what I would recommend under the circumstances.  Your second option would be to try to reintroduce a very tiny dose of prozac again to try to mitigate some of your withdrawal symptoms.  Reinstatement is not a guarantee, and does carry the risk of making things worse.  But you are in the ideal window to reinstate- it is best done as soon as possible after a rapid taper or cold turkey stop.  It does work miracles for some, but not for others.  You would reinstate a very small dose- between 0.1-0.5mg at first, to see how you react.  This would only be with the goal of becoming more stable, and then proceeding with a hyperbolic taper afterwards.  Read more about reinstatement here:

 

About Reinstating and Stabilizing to Reduce Withdrawal Symptoms

 How long does it take to stabilize after reinstating or updosing?

 

In your case, I'm not sure reinstatement would be a great option.  You reacted pretty badly to Prozac, so reintroducing it might cause some immediate hypersensitivity and make things worse.  From what I have seen, reinstatement works best for those who haven't started to react in a hypersensitive manner to these drugs, and it looks like you're already past that point. 

 

Regardless of what you choose to do, you will need to learn how to cope with these awful symptoms while your nervous system heals.  Unfortunately, there is no magic fix for symptoms.  Taking another pill will not help in most  cases.  We have to learn to manage what we are going through in healthy, non-drug ways.  Mindfulness practices, meditation, calming music, spending time in nature, deep breathing all may sound like small trivial things, but when practiced regularly, they can make a massive difference in maintaining quality of life while waiting for better days.  Read more here:

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 Easing your way into meditation for a stressed-out nervous system

Music for self-care: calms hyperalertness, anxiety, aids relaxation and sleep

Ways to cope with daily anxiety

"Change the channel" - dealing with cognitive symptoms

Dealing With Emotional Spirals

 

You may find some of your own coping mechanisms, too.  Personally, I find the repeating the mantra, 'this isn't you, it's only the drugs,' over and over (and over) to be helpful over the long term.  This retrains your brain to respond differently to anxious thoughts. I also find getting in water to be extremely therapeutic.  Artistic endeavours are wonderful distractions, too.  I am, by no means, a visual artist, but I am working on a paint by numbers.  It takes focus, so it does a great job of getting my mind off of my symptoms.

 

You can help encourage healing by maintaining a healthy, whole foods diet, staying adequately hydrated, getting gentle exercise, and avoiding all neurologically active substances, like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, recreational drugs, and fitness supplements.  I see you are an athlete- that's rough.  I'm a dancer, so I know all too well how hard it is to engage in gentle exercise when you are accustomed to pushing yourself to your limits.  You can trust me when I say that in most cases, it's worthwhile to slow down a bit though.  At the very least, give yourself extra recovery days, and pay VERY close attention to the signals your body is sending you.  Your body is NEVER wrong- if it's telling you to rest, trust me- you NEED to rest. 

 

We only recommend two supplements here at SA- magnesium and omega-3 fatty acids.  Be mindful that while in withdrawal, it is very common to become sensitive to all sorts of things, like medications, supplements, and even foods.  So if you take anything, even our recommended supplements, start with a super low dose, and increase slowly to see how you fare. 

 

I would recommend starting a symptom journal.  This is helpful to see your progress over time.  I know that everything is wonderful when you're feeling good, but when you have a wave, it can feel like you're never going to heal.  A journal can serve as an excellent reminder that waves are just that- WAVES.  All waves recede eventually, even the really bad ones. 

 

I know you want to hear some encouragement, so here it is.  Everyone heals.  I promise!  If you give your nervous system what it needs, you will heal.  Humans are designed this way- we have to work very hard not to heal!  If you want to read or watch success stories, we have a whole forum here with people who have come through to the other side.

 

Success Stories

 

And you could look up Angie Peacock on YouTube.  She is a polydrugging survivor, now a social worker and tapering coach.  She interviews people who have been to the depths of hell and back with drug withdrawal, and survived and thrived.  She ends every interview with a message of hope.  I watch her religiously when I'm struggling.  

 

The key to getting through this is good self care, including all the things I described above to you.  As an athlete, I know you already have experience with how powerful the mind can be.  What you tell yourself throughout this journey does matter.  Remind yourself every day that healing will happen.  Counter your negative/catastrophic thoughts with the question, is this really true?  It's easy to spiral when in withdrawal, but you can learn to interrupt these patterns with practice.  

 

Please keep us updated.  This is your introduction topic, each member gets one intro topic.  Post your updates, questions and concerns here on this thread, but don't hesitate to explore the rest of the forum.  There's lots and lots of good information here.  And don't hesitate to engage with others by reading and commenting on their introduction threads.  This journey is most certainly less unpleasant when you can engage with people who truly understand what you are going through.  

 

Thinking of you, and I look forward to following your journey, and helping out in any way I can! ❤️‍🩹

[Catwoman73]

Hi @Thissucksass- I wanted to reply to your PM here, so that others can benefit from anything I have to say as well!  

 

It's great to hear you are having windows and waves- that is the best sign of healing that we can possibly hope for!  It's pretty common to have a hard time distinguishing whether or not you are improving overall when there are so many ups and downs on the journey.  Keeping a journal, and rating each of your symptoms on a scale of 1-10 each day can be helpful with figuring that out.  I've been keeping mine for months, and can look back and see the ups and downs to get a sense of the overall pattern.  You might consider keeping a journal, if you haven't started one.

 

As for timing of getting better- there are no guarantees, and there is no way to tell how long it will take.  I will say that over many years, and with increased numbers of times going on and off these drugs, recovery does get slower each time.  A rapid taper or cold turkey stop will often have a longer recovery period than a slow, hyperbolic taper.  So you have an advantage in that Prozac is your one and only drug, and you were on it for a relatively short period of time.  But your quick stop could prolong your recovery.  So don't set your sights on a particular time frame- it may or may not be realistic for you.  The best thing to do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other, acknowledge the days when you are feeling good, and get through the days when you aren't with mindfulness, reminding yourself that this is all temporary!

 

it sounds like you're doing quite well overall- keep up the good work!