Mrcumbia: Prozac 25 years

[ChessieCat]

28 minutes ago, Mrcumbia said:

it seems isn't aware about slowly tapering

 

It is because not many medical professionals are aware of psychiatric withdrawal symptoms and adverse reactions that this site exists.

 

28 minutes ago, Mrcumbia said:

he led me to believe that I needed the drug because I had a chemical imbalance

 

Yes, same here.  After cold turkeying citalopram (I decided this myself) because it didn't seem to be working (it was probably due to poop out because I had been on it a long time) my counsellor did not recognise withdrawal and I was told that I needed to take the a psychiatric drug for life like a diabetic needs insulin.  It wasn't until I found SA that I learned that the chemical imbalance myth had be disproven about 20 or 30 years ago.

 

28 minutes ago, Mrcumbia said:

I would say I started noticing it maybe about 2 to 3 weeks ago where it started to seriously interfere with my ability to function at work.

 

I will ask the other mods for their assistance.

 

It may be helpful for you to provide 3 consecutive days of daily symptom notes.  This way your symptom pattern can be assessed.  Please include all other things you take.  It might be caused by something else you take/eat.  Here are the instructions: 

Keep Notes on Paper

 

Is there anything different you have been eating or drinking in the last few weeks? 

Did you stop taking a supplement just before this started?

 

Where exactly are you getting the weakness?

Is it worse at any particular time of the day?  (I'm wondering if it might be related to how you are sleeping)

Is there any activity you did just before this started? 

Have you previously had any back issues which might have been set off and causing the weakness? 

 

The reason I ask is that I'm currently recovering from a bulging disc.  It started as a bit of discomfort but then I did something to make it a bit worse, it was them improving and then as I got up from the toilet I pushed off with my left leg and that was the last straw.  Because the nerves have been touched by the bulging disc I have experienced various feelings in my left leg.

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by ChessieCat

[Altostrata]

20 hours ago, Mrcumbia said:

I would say I started noticing it maybe about 2 to 3 weeks ago where it started to seriously interfere with my ability to function at work.

 

What occurred 2-3 weeks ago?

 

On 7/9/2020 at 5:38 PM, Altostrata said:

My guess is 20mg is too much for you, and you might feel better if you reduced it. You might try 19mg and see how it goes. Let us know how you"re doing.

 

On 7/13/2020 at 10:44 AM, Mrcumbia said:

Gotcha. It makes sense what you are saying, to take the extra time to wait just to make sure I don't confuse any symptoms. I will definitely be

going that route when I am ready to begin tapering. I started getting headaches and mild to moderate dizziness every now and then again after they had calmed down when I updosed back to 20mg from 15mg. Plus some new symptoms like fatigue, weakness.

....

 

How much Prozac are you taking now, at what time of day? Is this fatigue worse at any times of day?

[Mrcumbia]

2 hours ago, Altostrata said:

 

What occurred 2-3 weeks ago?

 

Basically the overall feeling of weakness and fatigue to where I feel really tired to the point where I even have difficulty walking. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Altostrata said:

How much Prozac are you taking now, at what time of day? Is this fatigue worse at any times of day?

 

Currently taking a 20mg tablet of prozac a day.  I have not yet started trying to taper off from 20mg. I used to take it in the mornings for pretty much all of my life , but recently switched to taking it till after lunch I would say about a month or so ago because of the morning anxiety. I usually take it about 1 P.M. Fatigue is definitely worse in the mornings. After lunch I seem to get a bit more energy.

 

One thing I switched recently was from taking Geritol multivitamins to mens Centrum multivitamins maybe about a month ago. I just switched back to Geritol about 3 days ago to see if maybe that might help a bit but I don't know if it will. Also been trying to make green smoothies daily to see if that might help also but so far I don't really feel a difference.

[ChessieCat]

SA recommends only making one change at a time.  If you make more than one change and things worse/improve you won't know what caused it:

 

the-rule-of-3kis-keep-it-simple-keep-it-slow-keep-it-stable

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by ChessieCat

[Altostrata]

3 hours ago, Altostrata said:

What occurred 2-3 weeks ago?

 

This means "what drug event or other event occurred 2-3 weeks ago?"

 

On 7/13, you said the updose to 20mg was making you dizzy and fatigued. You may recall I suggested 20mg was too much for you.

 

1 hour ago, Mrcumbia said:

I used to take it in the mornings for pretty much all of my life , but recently switched to taking it till after lunch I would say about a month or so ago because of the morning anxiety. I usually take it about 1 P.M. Fatigue is definitely worse in the mornings. After lunch I seem to get a bit more energy.

 

When did you make this schedule change? When you took 20mg Prozac in the morning, did you feel an increase in anxiety after you took it?

[Mrcumbia]

I sincerely apologize for any confusion I might of have caused. I really appreciate all of you guys for all of your help. I know you guys do it for free and could be doing something else with your time. 

 

I see where what I said might of been misinterpreted. I didn’t word it the right way. What I meant to say was that at 15mg the dizziness never went away so when I went back to 20mg the dizziness did get much better. But then after about 4 months it started to come back but more mild along with the new symptom of weakness. 

 

I read from The antidepressant  solution book that dizziness is by far the most common symptom of SSRI withdrawal. So it’s for that reason that I was thinking I might still be going through it. 

 

Yes when I would take Prozac in the morning I would say I would feel more anxiety so that’s why I thought of switching to taking it after lunch. I’d say this was about a month ago when I made the switch. Maybe I should go back to taking it in the mornings since that’s what I’ve been used to doing all of my life.

 

I think I’m going to buy a planner so that I can keep track of my symptoms daily.

 

Once again I thank everyone who has chimmed in to offer suggestions. I wish everyone a complete recovery.

[ChessieCat]

7 hours ago, Mrcumbia said:

I think I’m going to buy a planner so that I can keep track of my symptoms daily.

 

Rate Symptoms Daily to Check Patterns and Progress

 

There are printable and computer versions available here:  Dr Joseph Glenmullen's Withdrawal Symptoms

 

Keep Notes on Paper

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by ChessieCat

[Mrcumbia]

Should I switch back to taking the Prozac in the mornings? What do you guys think? Thanks chessiecat and Altostrata for responding to my questions and for posting the links to more information. Should I be scared to try reducing the dose to see if it helps with the leg weakness while I’m still having ocasional dizziness? Mostly at night time?

[Mrcumbia]

As I’m sure all of you all know, this journey hasn’t been easy. Most days I wonder if what I’m feeling has to do with my PA tapering me off too quickly from 60mg to 20mg of Prozac within 6 months time. Or from my failed attempt at 15mg for 43days which caused me severe withdrawal.  I sometimes wonder if increasing the dosage back up to 40mg would help but I don’t know. So much uncertainty. I’ve been on 20mg for about 9 months now. I guess all I can do is cling to the hope that there will be better days ahead. 
 

Sometimes I wonder if it’s even feasible to even consider me ever being able to successfully quit this drug that I’ve been taking for so long. 25 years. 

[Mrcumbia]

Hi guys so it's me again. These are my symptoms I've been having lately. Body aches, chills, fatigue, feeling like if I'm getting the flu, dry mouth, eye pain, internal vibration 24/7, both hands fall asleep when sleeping at night sometimes and the dizziness. Strange thing is I will have like groups of symptoms for about 2 to 3 days and then I have like 1 or 2  days where I start feeling better and then I start to feel worse again. And it seems to keep repeating itself over and over.

 

The constant fatigue unfortunately cost me my job because I'm too weak to last a full shift at work which requires me to be on my feet all day and be constantly walking. October 19, 2020 will be 1 year since Ive been holding on 20 mg. Except for the month and a half that I tried going down from 20mg to 15mg on Jan 20 which was a very bad idea and ended up having to go back up to 20mg again.

 

I'm actually not sure what I should do. Part of me thinks that maybe I'm ready to start tapering again, but then part of me thinks I'm not because I still get the dizziness every now and then that usually lasts for about 2 days or so. I guess it's the uncertainty and fear that is getting the best of me. What if I do start feeling better by lowering the dose, but then again what If I start feeling worse.

 

Just needed to vent guys, sorry if I come across as annoying sometimes.

 

Hope everyone is on the path to feeling better.

 

 

 

[ChessieCat]

It could be that you are taking too high a dose of Prozac.  Your system may have become sensitised (which means that larger doses that were okay before might cause issues) with the large reductions that you made going from 40 to 20 to 15 and then when you increased you increased too much.  SA suggests starting with a small updose and increase by small amounts if needed.

 

Something to consider.  You don't have to make a full 10% reduction.  You might try a test reduction of small amount, no more than 2.5%, and see how that affects you.  Because Prozac has a long half life it might take a few weeks to see the full effect of the reduction.  If after making a reduction you feel the same or some improvement then after at least 3 weeks you could make another larger reduction.  If things worsen you could stay at the lower dose or make a tiny updose (but not back to the previous dose unless it was only a few days later).

 

Please read Post #1 of this topic, much of which is also applicable to updosing:

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms