jg31: Prozac withdrawal

[jg31]

Hello I am new to this site and want to share my experience and hear others. I started Prozac per my signature, tapered 10mg every other day, then tapered ever two or so days. I stopped fully sometime in February this year. A week or so after cessation, withdrawal symptoms kicked in heavily, although there is some uncertainty as to what symptoms were due to the SSRI discontinuation. I had severe brain zaps occurring a few times per minute and severe dry eye, among other less-prominent symptoms. The symptoms retriggered insomnia, which in turn made the symptoms worse. After a month or so of that the symptoms started to get better. My dry eyes have gotten better and the brain zaps are much less frequent/noticeable. I can still induce the zaps by darting my eyes side-to-side. Mood-wise I still feel kind of numb, apathetic, and have a low sex drive. These feelings were prominent during my use of Prozac as well. As noted in my sig I briefly took Lexapro a while ago and had about 2 weeks of withdrawal following cessation. 

 

I am a 24-yr old male. Health habits are mediocre, eat home cooked meals mostly but occasionally binge on junk food. I take a multivitamin and fish oil supplements. I exercised regularly up until a few months ago but am trying to get back into it. During the most severe parts of my withdrawal I spent most of my day indoors on the computer or doing some menial task to pass the time. 

 

Most days I feel like I get a little better. I am trying to get more active and healthy, which I feel improve my mood and maybe the symptoms. I will post an update in a month or so but I am curious about others' experience with Prozac withdrawal.

[Jemima]

Welcome to the forum, jg31.

 

What you've been going through is typical of a too fast discontinuation of an antidepressant, and going off by dosing every other day is one of the worst ways to do it. It's like playing ping-pong with your brain. You might want to read this article: What Is Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome?

 

There's usually a window of about 30 days when it's possible to reinstate a small amount of the drug to alleviate withdrawal symptoms.  If you have some Prozac left, you might want to try taking 5 mg. daily and see how you feel after at least four full days.  If that helps, just stay on that dose for a month or so and let us know how you're doing.  There's no guarantee this will work, but it might and it beats going through withdrawal hell for months or even years.  You might also want to read Why Taper By 10% of My Dosage? and About Reinstating .

 

I'm glad you found us, but I wish it had been sooner!

[Altostrata]

Welcome, jg.

 

Alternating doses to taper often leads to problems. It's good that your withdrawal symptoms have gotten a bit better, but it sounds like they were severe, and now you're in post-acute withdrawal syndrome.

 

I agree with Jemima. While reinstatement is best done immediately, there's a possibility it would work for you.

 

If you'd care to start with a smaller amount, 2mg for example, here's information about titrating Prozac http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/759-tips-for-tapering-off-prozac-fluoxetine/