saramen: fluoxetine and prothaiden antidepressant taper vision problems

[saramen]

Hi I am from India. Since 2001 I have been taking Fluoxetine and prothiaden( Dosulepin). First of all i want to share my story. I got panic attacks in the winters of 2000 during my schooling days and said to my parents that I will not appear in exams and not study further. My parents convinced me to complete my studies. But when I opposed they took me to a  psychiatrist who initially gave me .5mg alprazolam and some other medicine which i now dont remember. I took them on and off till 2001 when again I had a panic attack. After that on advice of my father friend my parents took me to another psychiatrist and he prescribed me initially 20 mg fluoxetine and 50 mg prothaiden( dosulepin) per day. Things were good for few years and I completed my studies and started a job. In the year 2009 again due to some problems i again got panic attact and my dosage was increased to 40 mg fluoxetine and prothaiden. I kept taking that till 2016 when i had recurring thought to get out of antidepressants and went to doctor to taper me of medicine but he said you have to take these medicine rest of your life as you are already on it for 15-16 years. I panicked on the thought that i can never stop these medicines and myself started to taper after seeing articles on internet. I was able to completey stop prothaiden and reduce fluoxetine to 10mg per day. When on april 2019 i woke up panickly from sleep and thought i was getting some heart attack. I was gasping for breath and my head and full body  was shaking. After few days my vision problems started first few floaters developed in both my eyes. Then after few days whenever i latterally moved my eyes sideways whatever i was seeing also moved to that direction. If i saw a light it and moved my eyes sideways it also trailed sideways . I took many test from eye specialist and they told everything is right. Panickly i reinstated all my previous medicine since march 2020. In late 2020, i started to feel some black dot when blinking. After doctor test was confirmed a small lesion on right eye retina. In early 2021, eye doctor told i have eye pressure in both eyes. Now since few days, I see eye flashes like lightening in my peripheral vision of both eyes . I searched for websites online who could  help and came to know about this website. Can anyone help what is going on with my vision and why is it deteriorating after some time. I am very much in fear about my vision and feel i might go blind. I have a family to support and my parents are very old now. They keep telling me to continue the antidepressants till rest of my life but I dont want to.

Thanks for reading my lengthy story.

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by Gridley

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, saramen.

 

Thank you for completing your drug signature.  

 

7 hours ago, saramen said:

Panickly i reinstated all my previous medicine since march 2020. 

 

According to your drug signature, the only psychiatric drug you're now taking is 40mg Prozac.  Is that correct?  If not, please change your signature to include any other psychiatric drugs you're now taking.  Here's the link to do that:

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

Vision problems are common during withdrawal.

Vision symptoms: floaters, snow, blurred/dimmed vision ...

We are a site for going off psychiatric drugs, and medically diagnosed physical problems, including eye issues, are beyond our scope.

You would need medical care to deal with those issues.

 

We can, however, help you if you want to taper off the 40mg Prozac.  A personal experience: my psychiatrist told me I'd be on Lexapro for the rest of my life.  As of 7 months ago, I finished tapering to zero off a large dose (20mg) and am doing fine.  Here are the basics for your tapering off Prozac:

 

First, you need to be aware that the vast majority of doctors, including psychiatrists, know nothing about tapering and don 't believe in the existence of antidepressant withdrawal.  They invariably advise tapering too fast, resulting in withdrawal.  If a doctor advises you to taper by skipping doses, that is a terrible way to taper.  It causes the amount of the drug in your blood stream to go up and down, battering the nervous system and making withdrawal worse.  This is true in the case of antidepressants with long half-lives such as Prozac.  Never taper by skipping doses.

 

We recommend tapering no more than 10% of your current dose every four weeks.  This link explains why:

 

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 10% taper.  If prescription liquid Prozac is available in Ecuador, that would be an excellent way to taper this drug.  If you taper using a prescription liquid, you will need to gradually switch from the tablet to the liquid, and we can advise you regarding this.  Other methods, including making your own liquid and using a digital scale to measure powder from tablets, are also described in the link.

 

Tips for tapering off fluoxetine (Prozac)

 

 

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 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. Get supplements that are single ingredient (not mixed with other types of supplements).

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

[saramen]

Thanks Gridley for the reply. I have changed my signature. I am currently on 40mg prozac in the morning and 25mg prothaiden at night (also known as Dosulepin, also known as dothiepin a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA). Though I suffer from numerous other problems besides vision, which all started when I began to taper from antidepressants in 2016 but the vision issues scares the most. Besides vision problem I suffer from below other symptoms which were not there before I began to taper and which all have gotten worse as the time has passed even though I have reinstated my pre taper dosage still I suffer with these problems and they are deteriorating day by day. My other symptoms besides vision problems are:

1. High blood sugar.( gotten worse from first i started to taper)

2.Numbness in hand and fingers as soon as I wake up. One day when i woke from sleep i was not able to move my left hand shoulder downwards for around a minute and then gradually sensation came. Now in day also sometimes feeling numbness in hands and legs.

3. Burning like feeling in legs and pins and needle type feeling. Feeling very sensitive to cold air on body.

4. Electric shock like sensation when i try to fall sleep. Waking up in a jolt sometimes in night and feeling of breathlessness and impending doom.

5. Always dry mouth all day and dry eyes. Always feeling to drink water.

6. Frequent urination all day long and at night sometimes I go 5-6 times. Unable to sleep at strech more than 2 hours.

7. Always feeling restless and restless leg always shaking my leg when i sit . Unable to sit in chair for more than few hours and always trying to wander around the room.