Elijah: Introduction

[Elijah]

Hi all,

I'm about 3 weeks into withdrawals from fluoxetine, my history is as follows:

- 2022 began sertraline, peak dose: unknown

- 2023 december began fluoxetine, peak dose: 40mg

- 2024 september I decided that my depression and overall mood was worsened by my medication and had plans to switch to another medication. My doctors advised me to taper from my 40mg to 20mg and stay on that for 5 days, and then switch to no medication for 5 days, before beginning my new medication, however once I reached 0mg I felt so much clearer emotionally that I decided to remain off medication. As I am a minor I am not well versed in medication and the like and I was unaware of the symptoms I would be facing. For the next week I felt low-grade withdrawal symptoms, until they began to worsen to an at times unbearable level, which is when I saw a nurse practitioner who informed me that I was experiencing withdrawals. I feel constant vertigo and nausea, my muscles and joints are stiff, I wake up with cold sweats every night, as well as numerous other flu-like symptoms like constant shivering and I feel incredibly weak, which is challenging as before the onset of my symptoms I was incredibly active in sport and felt strong, whereas now I have trouble doing simple yoga. I want to work towards regaining my strength but its difficult when the adults in my life believe withdrawals to be a brief and relaxed affair. Generally I'm here for validation of my symptoms and to learn more about the process and what I can do to look after myself. 

 

I'm incredibly grateful that my research led me to this site and I hope anyone reading this is doing well.

[FireflyFyte]

Hi Elijah,

 

Welcome to SA. Please summarize your drug history in your signature by following the instructions at How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature.

 

12 hours ago, Elijah said:

I feel constant vertigo and nausea, my muscles and joints are stiff, I wake up with cold sweats every night, as well as numerous other flu-like symptoms like constant shivering and I feel incredibly weak, which is challenging as before the onset of my symptoms I was incredibly active in sport and felt strong, whereas now I have trouble doing simple yoga.

 

Are you currently experiencing these symptoms?

 

12 hours ago, Elijah said:

Generally I'm here for validation of my symptoms

 

You can read about common withdrawal symptoms at Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms

 

12 hours ago, Elijah said:

what I can do to look after myself

 

You could consider reinstatement to help lower withdrawal symptoms. We have a resource on it at Reinstatement: About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

Additionally, we advise avoiding alcohol, marijuana, and strenuous exercise during withdrawals. 

 

You can also try adding the following supplements, one at a time, to see if they help -

• Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker
• King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[Elijah]

Thanks so much for your reply!! Update on my current situation:

After making my post I managed to secure a doctors appointment to speak about my symptoms, and while at first I was met with what seems to be a standard reply others in this forum have recieved when bringing up withdrawals to their doctors (ie. telling me that my symptoms were a resurgence of my "root issue" aka mental health problems, to which I replied "I do not see how shivering, vertigo, and muscle and joint aches could be a result of depression") I persevered and was eventually prescribed 20mg of fluoxetine, which I began today, and the schedule I was given to wean off it is as follows:

- Take 20mg for two weeks  

- lower my dose to 10mg for a further two weeks

- lower again to 5 mg for a further two weeks

- completely come off medication.

 

My new query pertains to whether this schedule is advisable as I'm not terribly inclined to trust this doctor and would love to hear second opinions from those who have experienced tapering

 

To answer your question:

- Yes I am still currently experiencing these symptoms, although with the reinstatement of my medication they were manageable today, and I hope to see them gone tomorrow. 

 

Thank you so much for your advice Firefly, this was exactly what I needed to hear  and I will most certainly be reading those resources you provided me with. 

 

hope everyone is well

 

[FireflyFyte]

10 hours ago, Elijah said:

My new query pertains to whether this schedule is advisable as I'm not terribly inclined to trust this doctor and would love to hear second opinions from those who have experienced tapering

 

This is a much faster taper than we recommend. Our advice is to drop no more than 10% of your previous dose per month. You can read more on why at Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

10 hours ago, Elijah said:

Yes I am still currently experiencing these symptoms, although with the reinstatement of my medication they were manageable today, and I hope to see them gone tomorrow. 

 

If you are feeling some relief, I would hold at your current dosage for at least 6-8 weeks to stabilize before trying to taper again.

[Elijah]

As for staying on my current dosage I will most certainly follow your advice  I'm unsure how to proceed in tapering at 10% increments though as my fluoxetine is a tablet and its hard to break it into quarters (which is only 5 mg, not 2 mg as 10% suggests). 

 

[FireflyFyte]

We have a thread on tapering Fluoxetine at Tips for tapering off Prozac (fluoxetine) which includes guidance on creating a liquid solution for tapering.

[Elijah]

Day four of reinstatement!!

Feeling so much stronger, my constant vertigo is all gone and I've never been more glad to feel nothing out of the ordinary. I was able to go on a very long walk today and I think its about time I begin to slowly reintroduce my yoga back into my life so I can regain my full strength. What's interesting to me is that I didn't even notice how ill I looked while in withdrawal until I started gaining the color back in my cheeks, so needless to say I'm super pleased about that, and glad my eating has returned to a healthy schedule, and that I'm able to eat full meals without feeling like I'm going to pass out or throw up. Very very grateful !! Still figuring out how I'm going to proceed in tapering my fluoxetine in 10% increments as I have the tablet form, while I have been reading the information supplied by the forum on fluoxetine tapering, it all seems pretty complicated and I'm not sure about the whole dissolving the tablet to make homemade liquid fluoxetine, but at the same time I'm unsure on whether my doctor would provide me with liquid as it was already so hard to get reinstated on my meds. I'm also going to run out of my fluoxetine before I reach 6-8 weeks back on my medication (which I was advised to do here in order to stabilize) but that's a far easier fix I feel. 

 

On another note, I'm returning to volleyball twice a week (we just had a two week holiday) and I'm curious to see if I'll be able to approach my sessions with the same energy and stamina that I did prior to this whole ordeal, as at the beginning of my withdrawals I was still playing and I noticed a hit to my stamina for sure. Will update on Tuesday, keeping my fingers crossed for the best luck.