RollercoasterLife: New, and unsure what to do.

[RollercoasterLife]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm having a lot of issues from the fact my Prozac has quit out on me. I've tried twice in the past month to drop 3.85 mg of my 13.85mg dose and add in another AD(nortriptyline then Celexa) each time going back to my original dose after 3 to 4 days. I know this isn't good for my CNS, and I'm feeling it more so than I was feeling it before doing all that. I was going through withdrawal to begin with anyways but those two attempts to cross over definitely didn't help at all. I know I need to give more information, but atm my brain is frazzled so not sure as to what. I'm also unsure if I will ever stabilize, since I wasn't able to stabilize once Prozac stopped working.

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, Rollercoasterlife.

 

Your Prozac stopping working is a common occurrence with psychiatric drugs.

 

Tachyphylaxis or As It’s Lovingly Known “Poopout”

When a drug poops out, it's time to taper off it.  However, your taper of 3.85mg was three times faster than what we recommend. This added to the withdrawal you were already experiencing due to the poopout.

 

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF) 

 

We are a site for going off drugs, and our approach when a drug poops out is to taper it down to zero.  We don't recommend adding other drugs to replace the original drug.  As you've seen, there's really no way to tell what effect a new drug will have.

Instead of adding new drugs, which is a hit-or-miss affair and puts one on the drug merry-go-round for many, many years, we recommend using non-drug techniques to cope with life.

 

Non-drug techniques to cope

 

When you're ready to taper the Prozac, we recommend tapering no more than 10% of your current dose every four weeks.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

This link is specifically about tapering Prozac, including how to get the non-standard doses you'll need for your 10% taper.

 

Tips for tapering off Prozac (fluoxetine)

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium (glycinate is a good form) and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

This is your Introduction topic, where you can ask questions and connect with other members.  We're glad you found your way here.