otisblue: Prozac withdrawals

[otisblue]

Hi. This is my first post so I hope I've got it right. After a too fast taper off prozac I'm having severe insomnia with high cortisol levels. Any suggestions on how to get that under control?

[Petunia]

Welcome otisblue,

Yes, this is the right place to post, I'm glad you found us. I'm sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well since stopping prozac. What you describe sound like withdrawal symptoms, but we need a little more information if we are going to be able to give you some suggestions.

 

How long ago did you stop taking prozac, what dose were you on, how long for and what dose did you stop from? Are you taking any other medications?

 

It would be great if you would put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature. Doing this helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts. Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

 

Reinstatement of a small amount of the drug can often work well to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. According to medical knowledge, reinstatement is the only way to alleviate withdrawal. Reinstatement is best done immediately upon appearance of symptoms. The more time that passes, the less likely it is to work. Once you have stabilized on a low dose of the drug, then a slower, safer taper can be started. Here is some information about reinstatement to help you decide if its something you would like to try:  About reinstating and stabilizing to stop withdrawal symptoms

 

Here are a couple more links with information you may find helpful:

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

 

...and here is our topic with tips specific to tapering Prozac:   Tips for tapering off Prozac (fluoxetine)

 

You can use this thread as your ongoing journal to track progress, write about symptoms, ask questions and communicate with the community, add to it whenever you want. Its a good idea to bookmark it or follow it, so its easy to find again. When we have a few more details, we will be in a better position to offer support and suggestions.

 

Petunia.

[ChessieCat]

Hi otisblue and welcome to SA.

 

Karen has just beaten me to the punch (I was about to hit the post button) so I've condensed my post:

 

The idea of reinstating is to give the brain the drug it is used to getting, to reduce the withdrawal symptoms and then stabilise.  After you are stable you can then do a 10% taper of the previous dose.  That is what is recommended by this site.

 

Here are some links:

 

Brain Remodelling