Sarade: New to this site

[sarade]

I stopped taking Prozac during the day and Trazodone at night after 10 years on the meds on December 4. I have been trying to convince my psychiatrist to help me off the meds for a few years but she always brushed me off by saying that I am doing so well on them...At any rate, I met a retired french psychiatrist and spoke to him about my decision to quit. He was very encouraging. I was taking 40 mg prozac and 50 mg trazodone. I quit prozac first. I had been taking the med every other day for a while and quit for good a month and a half ago. AFter that I started really feeling the effects of the Trazodone.

I am irritable, moody and cannot sleep. I crave sugar and have lost my appetite. I fly off the handle very easily. In order to off set the side effects I have been exercising and doing yoga on a daily basis which seems to help. Any other suggestions?

[Jemima]

Welcome to the forum, Sara.

 

What you're experiencing now probably isn't side effects from Trazadone, it's withdrawal from Prozac. The every-other-day method of withdrawal is the worst possible way to go off an antidepressant even though that's what most doctors will tell you to do. Did you taper down to a lower dose before going off Prozac completely?

 

Your best bet would be to reinstate a lower dose of Prozac, stabilize, and then taper off from there, but I don't know what to suggest as a dose without knowing how low the dose was when you jumped off. And please don't refuse to consider reinstating the drug for a short time. Otherwise your current symptoms could get worse and last a long time. One of our staff people, Strawberry17, has been struggling with Prozac withdrawal for years, and I hope she'll be along soon to offer further advice.

 

Are you still taking the Trazadone? When you have a few minutes, please put your psychiatric drug history in your signature:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

The more we know, the better we can help.

 

Again, welcome. You'll find lots of good information and friendly, gently support here.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Sarade.

 

Jemima has given good advice. If I were you, I'd go back on a low dose of Prozac as soon as possible, perhaps 10mg or, if that doesn't help, more. It comes in a liquid, see http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/759-tips-for-tapering-off-prozac-fluoxetine/