thecowisback: wondering why I'm giving up Prozac

[keepinghope]

I found this from someone who was tapering liquid Prozac and then went back on a full dose of sertraline (50mg).

I think a lot of people end up reinstating but maybe are too embarrassed/ashamed that they’ve gone back to the meds, so they don’t post here again. Which reminds me, I need to update my thread to say that I’ve reinstated. At nearly 3 years out, I’m not sure if I’m one of the ‘furthest out’ to have gone back on the ADs? My sister also went back on 20mg Prozac after being off it for I believe about 2 years. She’s still on it now and, same as me, suffers awful withdrawal symptoms when she tries to come off it. Although neither of us have ever tried the very long, slow taper advocated here. I wish I had, and not gone with my GPs crackpot 6 week taper! Might be a different story now. 

Edited to add - I did have Akathisia on withdrawal, pretty severely at around 6 months off, which slowly improved as time went on. 

 

[thecowisback]

wow- that is quite a tale!!! all those years tapering and then she ended up back on meds!!

[powerback]

17 minutes ago, thecowisback said:

wow- that is quite a tale!!! all those years tapering and then she ended up back on meds!!

Hi the TCIB ,this journey we take  isn't simple ,there are many variables to each case ,to find your own solution you need to keep reading as much as you can .I'm years listening to different opinions  on youtube and other places .if meds work for people then that's there business ,no one has the write to judge anyone .the future is informed consent .

you have all the info you need I don't think its as simple as the correct or wrong decision.

Theres one person on youtube that says meds help him be happy ,that's hes choice .my own opinion is that life is more than just been happy .

everyone is different ,ide love a mod to give you advice on upping your dose or not ,you seem desperate .we need to look at everything.im years studying nutrition/health  and phycology and introspection ,this has helped me in the decision to try life without meds or crutch's [I had many crutch's ,mainly alcohol ]   .I have the right to try and if it doesn't work well so be it ,we keep tyring and on to what ever else .

 

I understand your reading this material to give yourself the information but if its highly triggering ide be careful.somewere we need to put space in our mind from this withdrawl demon .

total respect.

Take care.

[thecowisback]

i guess i don't trust my own judgement on what to do so keep looking for other people's experiences. 

 

[powerback]

Just now, thecowisback said:

i guess i don't trust my own judgement on what to do so keep looking for other people's experiences. 

 

ye its hard isn't it ,I feel for you .I myself am still full of symptoms but one day I'm bad and the next I'm not the worst lately

,I cant even put it down to meds or not but that's all we have ,log our symptom's and go up or down

 

.the last 4 months I've rested the most in the last 3 years because im forced to ,there could be a link to over doing it ,my ego was pushing me to do things when I should of rested ,I didn't rest until my body gave up .harsh but cautionary tale .

A mod needs to look at your case because I cant tell you to updose ,but I can see this were your thinking .

 

the last few days a couple of times I was able to knock back the intrusive thoughts and critic a bit better than usual ,witch makes me think going down on dose has worked in MY OWN CASE  ,im a little less irritable also ,all to watch very closely.

 

I hope you find  relief TCIB 

[thecowisback]

thankyou. i'm  really not sure what to do. prozac takes so long to kick in anyway so i've no idea if i need to give the dose i'm on now a bit longer. 

[powerback]

1 minute ago, thecowisback said:

thankyou. i'm  really not sure what to do. prozac takes so long to kick in anyway so i've no idea if i need to give the dose i'm on now a bit longer. 

its time to call out a mod by name to get attention I think .

Take care TCIB ,I'm off to distraction land.

[thecowisback]

thanks powerback. will try now @Altostrata

[Altostrata]

11 hours ago, thecowisback said:

....

i've upped to 2.5 mg today. not sure if i'm doing the right thing upping again. if there are any mods around maybe one can advise. 

i'm feeling very lost right now. yesterday was another day filled with tears and panic and i feel like i'm not living any more, merely existing day to day. 

i've missed out on the past 2 years thanks to withdrawals and i'm sick to death of this whole thing. weekends are always worse for me for some reason and i'm thoroughly despondent this morning at starting yet another saturday terrified of everything, as each week i keep telling myself it will get better, then another saturday comes and reminds me i'm not actually getting better at all - at best i'm just the same as 2 years ago and on bad days i'm actually feeling a lot worse.

....

 

Did you feel any different after taking 2.5mg Prozac? It will take at least a week for you to feel the full effect of the increase. Please keep daily notes about your drugs and symptoms and let us know how you're doing.

 

Every time these thoughts come up, you need to forgive yourself for all your mistakes and regrets. You are making your condition worse by diving into bad thoughts about yourself. Read these topics again:

 

Neuro-emotions

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Deep emotional pain and crying spells, spontaneous weeping

 

Health anxiety, hypochondria, and obsession with symptoms

 

Shame, guilt, regret, and self-criticism

 

Dealing With Emotional Spirals

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

 

Self-care is not easy, it's work, you need to apply yourself to it.

 

Quote

my family are asking why i'm not taking my full dose of prozac. they don't see how such a small dose can help and on days like this i wonder the same thing, but i'm trusting the advice on here as there is nowhere else to turn. 

 

Perhaps it's time to tell your family that while you're feeling poorly, you will make your own decisions. Stop asking them to fix you, taking more Prozac is their best idea.

[thecowisback]

thankyou for the reply  i didn't feel any different after the higher dose today, just the usual mix of anxiety and depression. 

[thecowisback]

16/02  15/02 corrected per this post

7 am had breakfast. took 2mg prozac. couldn't finish breakfast. anxiety high. 

had trouble getting the kids to school which made me more anxious. 

12 pm had lunch. still not very hungry. went to run some errands. very anxious. blurry vision. couldn't wait to get back home. 

3.30 picked up kids. was supposed to pick up something on the way home but forgot completely. very anxious. couldn't face going for my daily walk today despite the weather being good. 

5.00 cooked dinner. undercooked today instead of burnt! 

6.45 got a big headache. drunk lots of water in case i was dehydrated. tried to watch tv with the kids but couldn't concentrate. 

9.00 tried to watch a film but something in it triggered me and couldn't stop crying. 

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by ChessieCat
made correction for member

[Altostrata]

Those notes show 2mg Prozac. How much did you take?

 

It's very important that when you change dosage, you have to be consistent in dosing, and you need to keep daily notes to see what it does. You may not feel any difference from an increase in Prozac for several days to a week.

[thecowisback]

whoops- the date should show 15th- these are the notes for yesterday.

 

[thecowisback]

16/02

got up at 7. took amlodipine 5mg, prozac 2.5 mg had breakfast. 

cleaned the house. feeling very scared and anxious. lots of intrusive thoughts. 

didn't feel like eating lunch. had some soup at 2pm. still very anxious and scared.

3.30 started to feel extremely down. couldn't stop crying for ages. feeling very depressed. 

6pm ordered takeaway. feeling a little better. 

7pm watched films with kids. feeling much calmer. trying to dismiss intrusive thoughts. 

12.30 am took levothyroxine 75mg. went to bed. took ages to get to sleep and kept waking in the night. feeling very overheated. 

 

one thing i noticed today is the skin on my inner thigh has been itching like crazy. it used to do this in the last year or so of me taking prozac but i can't remember when it stopped.  not sure if this is related to upping the dose to 2.5 mg or just a coincidence. 

[JackieDecides]

20 hours ago, Altostrata said:

You may not feel any difference from an increase in Prozac for several days to a week.

 

it's got to be hard to keep this in mind, @thecowisback....that's kind of awkward, can I call you The Cow for short? 😉

 

seriously, I know you are having a hard time and I just want to say I read your posts and feel for you.

 

On 2/16/2019 at 5:36 AM, thecowisback said:

i guess i don't trust my own judgement on what to do so keep looking for other people's experiences. 

 

 

 

I totally understand this. 

[thecowisback]

yep, cow is fine 😁

i'll stick to the 2.5 for a week and see what happens. today has been unrelenting depression and derealisation.

[thecowisback]

i keep telling myself it's impossible to feel any worse than i do, but i feel like i'm sinking lower and lower each day. yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and i couldn't even force myself off the sofa to go for a walk. i spent the whole day lying there, worrying, crying, worrying, crying. i've been reading all the links on here on how to cope but my mind just keeps telling me everything is hopeless, there is nothing left to look forward too, everything is going to go so wrong. i never had depression before all this started. how on earth do people manage to carry on when they're feeling like this????

[thecowisback]

17/02

got up at 7.00 very scared on waking. took amlodipine 5mg and prozac 2.5mg. had breakfast. couldn't finish eating. too worked up. very itchy skin on my left leg. 

argued with my husband over something really trivial. very upset and anxious. 

11.55 am feeling a little 'high' 

forgot to have lunch. didn't feel hungry all day. 

sunny day. supposed to go for a walk but the kids had gone out with friends and i just lay on the sofa all day worrying about what was going to go wrong. 

5 pm cooked dinner. only ate one mouthful. 

5.30 hid in bed. pretended to family that i was reading but was just lying in bed crying endlessly. 

spent the evening helping kids with homework. very difficult to concentrate because of intrusive thoughts. tried to watch tv but nothing was sinking in. 

11.00 Levothyroxine 75 mcg, ,

Magnesium citrate 200mg,Vitamin D3 1000 iu,Evening primrose oil 1000mg ,Sage leaf 50mg

slept until 3 then kept waking up and dozing until 7 am. 

[powerback]

42 minutes ago, thecowisback said:

17/02

got up at 7.00 very scared on waking. took amlodipine 5mg and prozac 2.5mg. had breakfast. couldn't finish eating. too worked up. very itchy skin on my left leg. 

argued with my husband over something really trivial. very upset and anxious. 

11.55 am feeling a little 'high' 

forgot to have lunch. didn't feel hungry all day. 

sunny day. supposed to go for a walk but the kids had gone out with friends and i just lay on the sofa all day worrying about what was going to go wrong. 

5 pm cooked dinner. only ate one mouthful. 

5.30 hid in bed. pretended to family that i was reading but was just lying in bed crying endlessly. 

spent the evening helping kids with homework. very difficult to concentrate because of intrusive thoughts. tried to watch tv but nothing was sinking in. 

11.00 Levothyroxine 75 mcg, ,

Magnesium citrate 200mg,Vitamin D3 1000 iu,Evening primrose oil 1000mg ,Sage leaf 50mg

slept until 3 then kept waking up and dozing until 7 am. 

HI TCIB,a tip for digesting food while our guts  are  being upset and not working correctly is to chew our food loads of times ,it takes the burden off our

Gut while we are so anxious .there digestive enzymes in our saliva.

Take care.

[thecowisback]

thankyou - i'll try that!! 

[Altostrata]

11 hours ago, thecowisback said:

i keep telling myself it's impossible to feel any worse than i do, but i feel like i'm sinking lower and lower each day. yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and i couldn't even force myself off the sofa to go for a walk. i spent the whole day lying there, worrying, crying, worrying, crying. i've been reading all the links on here on how to cope but my mind just keeps telling me everything is hopeless, there is nothing left to look forward too, everything is going to go so wrong. i never had depression before all this started. how on earth do people manage to carry on when they're feeling like this????

 

Perhaps you can deliberately guide your mind to other thoughts? How about puppies and kittens?

 

Is it absolutely true that you never had depression before? Why had you been taking Prozac for 20 years?

 

It seems that you have habits of mind that are determined to examine and enlarge your misery. If you do not change this yourself, they will continue.

 

8 hours ago, thecowisback said:

17/02

got up at 7.00 very scared on waking. took amlodipine 5mg and prozac 2.5mg. had breakfast. couldn't finish eating. too worked up. very itchy skin on my left leg. 

argued with my husband over something really trivial. very upset and anxious. 

11.55 am feeling a little 'high' 

forgot to have lunch. didn't feel hungry all day. 

sunny day. supposed to go for a walk but the kids had gone out with friends and i just lay on the sofa all day worrying about what was going to go wrong. 

5 pm cooked dinner. only ate one mouthful. 

5.30 hid in bed. pretended to family that i was reading but was just lying in bed crying endlessly. 

spent the evening helping kids with homework. very difficult to concentrate because of intrusive thoughts. tried to watch tv but nothing was sinking in. 

11.00 Levothyroxine 75 mcg, ,

Magnesium citrate 200mg,Vitamin D3 1000 iu,Evening primrose oil 1000mg ,Sage leaf 50mg

slept until 3 then kept waking up and dozing until 7 am. 

 

Did you review amlodipine side effects, as we discussed in January? https://www.healthline.com/health/amlodipine/oral-tablet#side-effects READ THEM AGAIN.

 

It affects your appetite.

 

When did you change your amlodipine dosing from evening to morning? Do you think this could have affected your symptom pattern?

 

Did you have high blood pressure before taking amlodipine or has it been prescribed for anxiety?

 

Did you have your thyroid hormone checked, as we discussed in January? Have you asked your doctor whether you might reduce it a bit, because of the anxiety, depression, etc. -- WHICH CAN BE A SIDE EFFECT OF TOO MUCH THYROID HORMONE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thecowisback]

i never had depression before. i was put on prozac for ocd. i looked at the side effects for amlodipine but i started taking this quite a few months after the depression started. i changed the dose to see if that was affecting my sleep. it doesn't seem to make any difference to my sleep pattern but maybe it affects my moods. i had high blood pressure for a few years and used to take ramipril. i stopped taking that before i stopped the prozac.  i had my thryroid checked last autumn. the doctor says i'm on the right dose so won't alter the dosage. the surgery only tests once a year. 

[thecowisback]

my biggest problem is knowing how to change my thinking. i always get a thought pop into my head of something that could possibly go wrong and then it sticks and torments me 24/7. i just don't know how to get a handle on this overthinking.

[thecowisback]

18/02

7 am took 2.5mg prozac, 5mg amlodipine. 

had breakfast. took kids to school. 

1.00 had lunch. feeling a little dizzy. 

very low and tearful all day. 

5 pm cooked dinner. very depressed. crying lots. 

8.00 watched a film. fell asleep before the end. 

11.00 

Levothyroxine 75 mcg, ,

Magnesium citrate 200mg,Vitamin D3 1000 iu,Evening primrose oil 1000mg ,Sage leaf 50mg

 

extremely sad all day, worrying about things that everyone else say aren't important. 

 

[thecowisback]

19/02

7 am lots of waking in the night. got up at 5 and watched trash on tv until time to get up. bad headache.  took 2.5 mg prozac, 5mg amlodipine. 

very scared and anxious. lots of ocd thoughts trying to defuse them but nothing's working.

terrible day. tried hard to engage with reading, doing puzzles. nothing seems to distract me from my thoughts. 

5.00 cooked dinner. cried lots. dinner was burnt again. 

8.00 feeling dizzy. had bad itching on left leg all day. restless legs and arms while i was trying to watch tv. 

11.00 took Levothyroxine 75 mcg, ,

Magnesium citrate 200mg,Vitamin D3 1000 iu,Evening primrose oil 1000mg ,Sage leaf 50mg

couldn't sleep - had a major panic attack in the night. i swear i've never felt this low before in my life. 

[Tattyapple]

Tcib.

have you been offered cbt?

 

iv been on the list 20 months and still no sign. Also if you do get cbt do not make it all about the withdrawal, personally I wouldn’t even mention it as I was dismissed from my cbt 4 years ago for talking about how the drugs had made my depression worse. 

 

Do you have any energy to exercise at all?

 

i have read through your thread and and whilst I have zero doubts you have suffered you have done well to be functional after 20 years on Prozac. I was on Prozac 10 years, came off 5 yrsrs ago and I’m seriously debilitated. 

 

My life was infinitely better on Prozac than before taking it, it had a miraculous effect on my life and health.  Of course I would do anything to go back to being 23 before I ever took it and try other things but I would also be very happy to be back on Prozac and functional Coming off it has destroyed my life and health

 

I have read people often have to go to a higher dose than they were previously on. Do you mind me asking your age? I’m early 40s and I think I’m my hormones are starting to mess up 

 

[thecowisback]

i'm in my early 50's and i'm sure hormones are making things worse. i'm still on the waiting list for cbt. i paid for some counselling last year but it didn't really help. physically i'm doing fine, but mentally i'm a train wreck. 

[thecowisback]

i try to have a 15-30 minute walk each day but i've been letting that slip the last couple of weeks. 

[Altostrata]

Please read this post and answer my questions.

 

Why did you change the time you take amlodipine, when did you change it?

 

Aside from your ruminations, which I agree are a major source of your problems, you do not seem to be in charge of your drugs. You must be an informed patient, understand their side effects, and actively participate with your doctors regarding your care.

[thecowisback]

i switched on feb 11th after poster Aquarius suggested it may have been helping to keep me awake. it hasn't made any difference to my sleep by changing it. 

[thecowisback]

On 2/18/2019 at 9:53 PM, thecowisback said:

i never had depression before. i was put on prozac for ocd. i looked at the side effects for amlodipine but i started taking this quite a few months after the depression started. i changed the dose to see if that was affecting my sleep. it doesn't seem to make any difference to my sleep pattern but maybe it affects my moods. i had high blood pressure for a few years and used to take ramipril. i stopped taking that before i stopped the prozac.  i had my thryroid checked last autumn. the doctor says i'm on the right dose so won't alter the dosage. the surgery only tests once a year. 

 

[Altostrata]

Was the content of your OCD self-blame and fears of disaster?

 

52 minutes ago, thecowisback said:

i switched on feb 11th after poster Aquarius suggested it may have been helping to keep me awake. it hasn't made any difference to my sleep by changing it. 

 

On 2/18/2019 at 3:56 AM, thecowisback said:

17/02

got up at 7.00 very scared on waking. took amlodipine 5mg and prozac 2.5mg. had breakfast. couldn't finish eating. too worked up. very itchy skin on my left leg. 

argued with my husband over something really trivial. very upset and anxious. 

11.55 am feeling a little 'high' 

forgot to have lunch. didn't feel hungry all day. 

sunny day. supposed to go for a walk but the kids had gone out with friends and i just lay on the sofa all day worrying about what was going to go wrong. 

5 pm cooked dinner. only ate one mouthful. 

5.30 hid in bed. pretended to family that i was reading but was just lying in bed crying endlessly. 

spent the evening helping kids with homework. very difficult to concentrate because of intrusive thoughts. tried to watch tv but nothing was sinking in. 

11.00 Levothyroxine 75 mcg, ,

Magnesium citrate 200mg,Vitamin D3 1000 iu,Evening primrose oil 1000mg ,Sage leaf 50mg

slept until 3 then kept waking up and dozing until 7 am. 

 

On 2/18/2019 at 12:13 PM, Altostrata said:

Did you review amlodipine side effects, as we discussed in January? https://www.healthline.com/health/amlodipine/oral-tablet#side-effects READ THEM AGAIN.

 

It affects your appetite.

 

When did you change your amlodipine dosing from evening to morning? Do you think this could have affected your symptom pattern?

 

Did you have high blood pressure before taking amlodipine or has it been prescribed for anxiety?

 

Did you have your thyroid hormone checked, as we discussed in January? Have you asked your doctor whether you might reduce it a bit, because of the anxiety, depression, etc. -- WHICH CAN BE A SIDE EFFECT OF TOO MUCH THYROID HORMONE.

 

As you know, we advocate changing only one drug at a time, so we can track  the effects of the change to that drug. It appears taking amlodipine in the morning affects your appetite, which is a known side effect of amlodipine, plus maybe makes you "high." Amlodipine has a long half-life of several days, your reactions to it occurred right on schedule about a week after you changed your dosing schedule.

 

In addition, taking Prozac and amlodipine at the same time probably increases this drug-drug interaction https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1115-0,172-0,1463-3517&types[]=major&types[]=minor&types[]=moderate&types[]=food&types[]=therapeutic_duplication&professional=1

 

Is this a good change? Does taking amlodipine in the morning make you feel worse or better than when you were taking it in the evening?

 

Did you still have high blood pressure after you stopped Ramipril? When did you start amlodipine?

 

On 2/18/2019 at 1:53 PM, thecowisback said:

i had my thryroid checked last autumn. the doctor says i'm on the right dose so won't alter the dosage. the surgery only tests once a year.  

 

A thyroid check means they look at results of a blood test. The blood tests do not indicate whether the dosage is appropriately treating your symptoms. Did you tell the doctor you had symptoms of possibly too much thyroid hormone?

 

If your symptoms are caused by too much thyroid hormone, no amount of adjustment of Prozac will change them. If I were you, I'd request a reduction in your thyroid hormone and see if that helps. Given thyroid hormone's long half-life, t will take weeks before a dosage reduction takes effect.

 

Likewise if your OCD is designed to make you miserable. Your own tendency to self-harming rumination is stronger than any non-drug therapies we might suggest.

 

Because your symptoms might be from too much thyroid hormone, drug-drug reactions of Prozac and amlodipine, and your OCD, I cannot tell if 2.5mg Prozac has done anything for your withdrawal syndrome, or even if you have withdrawal syndrome.

 

The only thing I can say is that the combination of drugs you're taking has done nothing for your OCD, which you need to get in hand if you want to go off psychiatric drugs.

 

[Altostrata]

About too much thyroid hormone https://www.verywellhealth.com/too-much-thyroid-medication-3233271

 

Quote

• Elevated pulse and blood pressure
• Anxiety, nervous energy, tremors
• Feeling irritable, overemotional, erratic, or depressed
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty sleeping
• Fatigue
• Feeling overheated, even when others are cold
• Diarrhea
• Feeling like your heart is skipping a beat or racing
• Weight loss with no change in your diet/exercise routine
• Increase in food intake with no weight gain

 

Do you have any of these symptoms? Which ones, how often, and how severely?

 

[thecowisback]

i have the anxiety, overemotional, depressed and difficulty sleeping. i have these pretty much all the time.

my thyroid was tested last autumn and my levels were fine then. the doctors here only test once a year so i'm not due now until october time.

 

[thecowisback]

my ocd has changed from the thoughts i had years ago. the ruminations are totally different. i'll try talking to the doctor about the thyroid med but i don't think it will do much good tbh. the only difference i've seen since changing the amlodipine to morning is that my anxiety and depression have worsened. i spoke to the doctor about the interaction between amlodipine and she looked it up and couldn't find anything one her computer or in her medicine bible.

i started amlodipine i think in the autumn of 2017. i had very high blood pressure after coming off ramipril.

[Altostrata]

How has your OCD changed from 20 years ago? Do you think you're being 20 years older might make a difference in the way you think?

 

5 hours ago, thecowisback said:

the only difference i've seen since changing the amlodipine to morning is that my anxiety and depression have worsened

 

Doesn't this seem like a significant change to you?

 

5 hours ago, thecowisback said:

i started amlodipine i think in the autumn of 2017. i had very high blood pressure after coming off ramipril.

 

How did you come off Ramipril? When you're taking a drug to lower blood pressure, you need to taper it or you can get REBOUND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.

 

When was your high blood pressure diagnosed? Is it possible you had high blood pressure as an adverse reaction to the high dose of Prozac you were taking?

 

By the way, your doctor works for you. If you would like to try a lower dose of thyroid drug, she should at least be willing to give it a try.