Kristinacc Intro

[kristinacc]

I'll try to keep this short. First I have to say, I'm so happy I found this forum. if it weren't for that, I never would have understood that my past attempted weaning was withdrawal and i was indeed not crazy. It has definitely given me light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

My journey with depression and antidepressants began in 2006. My husband and I moved to a new state when I was nine months pregnant with our first son.  My husband travels very frequently for his work and can be gone for weeks at a time. Needless to say, I was home alone with no friends and family near me for help. Roughly four weeks after I gave birth, I became anxious and sad. I called my ob/gyn told him of my symptoms and after a brief 1 minute conversation, he called me in a prescription for 20mg of Prozac. Boy I wish I knew what I was getting into back then. 

 

Eight years I've been on prozac and I have had two unsuccessful attempts at weaning. The first time was in 2009, I went from 20 to 10mg and was only at 10mg for a few weeks and reinstated. The second time was about 10 months ago. I pushed through the brain zaps, ringing in ears, dizziness, noise and light sensitivities, brain fogs, and irritability and was weaned within a month. It wasn't until about four to six weeks after I quit the medication completely that I hit a brick wall. I would wake up every morning with dread, constant uncontrollable crying, chest pain and terrible anxiety. I was unable to take care of my children and unable to do the everyday things that I had done for years without a thought. These feelings were nothing like what I had before I started prozac. I am a stay at home mom with a traveling husband which makes laying in bed and resting pretty much not an option. I actually had to fly my mom in from California to help me. We were both baffled by my behavior. I thought that was just how I was because of my situation and unfortunately, I had to reinstate at 20mg. I now understand after reading these forums that the doctor's tapering schedule was way too fast for my body to handle. Unfortunately my doctor believes that it was my underlying condition, and there was no way that it was withdrawal because it happened "so long" after discontinuing. He wanted to add ability to the prozac and that is when i realized I was on my own. 

 

I am now preparing myself to once again taper. I purchased and read the Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's book, "The Antidepressant solution." I plan to reduce dosage at a much smaller amount than the recommended 10%. I fully believe in the importance of a good nutrition in healing. I have been eating whole foods diet for the past two years although with the holidays have gotten out of my good habits and am slowly getting back on track. I am taking a multivitamin, fish oil, 300mg of niacinamide, and a b vitamin daily. I have read that probiotics help as well, but have not taken them before. I remember having lots of nausea, severe lack of appetite, (lost seven pounds, was already down to 118) and bowel issues. I'm thinking if I get my diet and supplements in order before I begin the weaning process that will help cut down on any reactions and surprises. I'm a little skeptical on the probiotics still. Anyone have a good probiotic they recommend? I try to eat plain greek yogurt daily and drink kefir occasionally. 

 

I'm a planner and a control freak and am beginning to get nervous thinking about going through this again. But I am determined to get off of this medicine for good. With my mom in California and Dad in Texas I don't have much support. My husbands family is great and try to understand, but they have no clue about what I'm going through. They are from the old school where if you don't see it, it's not real. I look forward to having these forums for support in the future. 

[Petunia]

Hi Kristinacc,

Welcome to our forum and thank you for sharing your story.  I'm so glad you didn't take the abilify your doctor suggested.

 

You will find a lot of help and support here and will be able to come off Prozac.   Here is our thread with tips for tapering off Prozac:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/759-tips-for-tapering-off-prozac-fluoxetine/?hl=prozac

 

It sounds like you have prepared yourself well.

 

Here is a discussion thread with some information about probiotics:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1229-probiotics-and-gut-health/?hl=probiotics

 

Do you have a planned start date for tapering?

 

Petu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rhiannon]

kristenacc, with your history and your attitude I think you have every reason to expect success. 

 

It sounds like the only med you've been on is Prozac, and you've had two unsuccessful attempts to get off it, and you've never taken more than 20 mg, is that correct?

 

Perhaps you can enter your med history into your sig line like this:

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

Are you planning to use liquid? That's usually the easiest way to control a taper rate.

 

I think as long as you're willing to take it slow, especially at first (start slow until you see how your body is going to react, then speed up to tolerance, rather than starting aggressive and hitting the wall and having to hold for a long time before you can taper again)-- As long as you're willing to take it slow I predict you'll do just fine.

 

Welcome, and good luck!

[kristinacc]

Thanks Petu and Rhi!

 

No, I do not have a start date yet. I wanted to get stocked up on vitamins, and research the probiotics some more. I also need to get a bottle and syringe for the solution. I guess you can say I might be stalling a bit. Just want to be absolutely ready this time. 

 

Rhi, yes 20mg was the highest dose on prozac. I also forgot about the nine months I was on wellbutrin back in 2009-2010. (I added my sig line now) It was a switch recommended by my Ob/gyn to take during pregnancy only. Apparently she thought the wellbutrin was safer for pregnancy than the prozac. My memory is terrible and I can't remember the dosage for that. But it was whatever was equivalent to 20mg of prozac. Probably 150 or 200.

 

Thank you both for the encouraging words definitely planning on taking it slow and steady this time. Do you think beginning my initial taper at 2.5% is a good starting point? 

[kristinacc]

Update: 

 

I made my first reduction today. I decided to start slow at 2.5% and see how I do for a few months. I am already getting nervous just looking at my symptom chart. I really don't want them to come back like they did. 

 

Does anyone feel different when they switch to the liquid? Kind of in a fog? Although, I slept longer than usual today and my son's school was cancelled and he didn't have school yesterday. We've been off schedule so that probably doesn't help either. 

[Petunia]

Congratulations on making a start.  I'm sure you will be fine with going as carefully as you are. In the unlikely event that you have symptoms which come back and don't subside, you can hold longer, or even updose slightly.  We are here to support you.

 

Prozac is one of the easier ADs to come off.

 

Keep us updated on how you are doing.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Kristinacc.

 

Sometimes people feel a little different when switching to the liquid. This is because it is absorbed faster. My guess is you'll get used to it.

 

As far as side effects go, sleepiness is better than the opposite!

[Rhiannon]

Kristinacc, you're going to be fine. There may be a period of adjustment to the liquid and you may have some mild withdrawal from the small cut, but it should pass. Keep a journal of your symptoms as they unfold and resolve, especially for the first few months, until you have a sense of how tapering and your body work together.

 

I suspect you'll be able to speed up to tolerance and go a bit faster until you get to the very lowest doses. Experiment conservatively. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much easier this is than before, with a slow taper.

[Nikki]

Kristin.....you are probably the only person ever to come onto a WD support group armed with info and an understanding of what ca happen.  The 2.5% reduction is much better than doing the 10%.  It will help ease you into it with little trouble.

 

Everyone gets nervous over a drop in dose.  You are not alone.  There can be a change in going from pills to liquid, but we adjust.  Not to worry.

 

Years back no one knew what was going on or that there was WD.  We were all labeled depressed and that we were digressing once again. 

 

Nice to meet you

[kristinacc]

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. This liquid tastes awful but I was afraid to mix with juice and wanted to keep it as close to what my body recognizes since I was already switching to the liquid. I think next time I mix the solution, I'm going to have to do it with juice instead of water.

 

I can't tell you how nice it is to talk to people that "get it!" 

[kristinacc]

Just to update: a few days after I made the 2.5% reduction back in January, I decided to up it to 5%. I've been at 19mg for almost four weeks. Things have been going very well, no symptoms whatsoever. I've been thinking about how extremely fast I tapered last year and the symptoms that accompanied (they were tolerable until I was completely off the meds)  I decided to make a 10% reduction today. Hopefully I'm not being too confident and getting ahead of myself. 

[Altostrata]

Please let us know how you do.

[kristinacc]

*post and responses moved from tapering forum

 

I'm down to 1.5ml of Prozac and I accidentally took 2.5 today. Does anyone know if this will have any effect on me? I'm currently in the second week of a cut. I normally have slight withdrawal symptoms around week three and I'm worried this will mess with me even more. I'm not on anything other than prozac.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Petunia
added note

[Altostrata]

You will feel funny for a while.

 

Take your normal dose the next day.

 

We cannot predict how this will affect your taper. It may have no effect.

[areyouthere]

I take two antidepressants & I have accidentally doubled up on both ( not on the same day thank goodness!!) .

 

One of the antidepressants ( lexapro) causes drowsiness... on the day I doubled up on that it wiped me out for that day. Very lethargic..sleepy.

 

The other ( wellbutrin XL) is the opposite.. and the day I accidentally doubled up on it I was wired for that day.

 

The day after for each I was back to normal. 

 

Just an FYI. You may be different obviously but it happens.. I wouldn't worry about it. Just be ready and don't freak out. It will pass.

 

RU

[LexAnger]

Kristine,

 

How did it go after the double dose?

Me too, not even by accident. I am at 3.3mg lexapro and was just feeling stable from the long journey of slow taper, then today I took 1 mg more. It happened as I take my liquid over two hour period to minimize the immediate side effect during dosing. So in the middle of the dosing, I found the syringe was empty on the top for 1 mg. I tested and tried hard to figure out what happened, and found the syringe is loose and can dripping. After lots of debating, I decided to add 1mg more. After 30 mins finishing all at 1pm, I started getting various symptoms, quick heart beat, numbed, full head, dizziness, nausea, anxious, chill, almost feel like a panic attack was coming. I drank tons of water for extreme dry month until around 7pm when my mouth stopped feeling too dry. I started feeling like manic late afternoon then fell into half sleep or something. Now is 8pm I'm still feeling very dizzy and half- dreaming.

 

I got a very severe reaction last year from increasing dose from 2.7 to 4,5 holding for few weeks, I'm crossing my fingers this one day increase won't throw me back to another hell and wipe out my one year taper effort.

 

Can't believe how powerful this poison is, and it is still being given to ppl.