Scruffy69 trying to determine good tapering method for Fluoxetine

[Scruffy69]

Trying to decide how to taper off of Fluoxetine.  My doctor is leaving it up to me.  I'm going on my second round of withdrawal symptoms so, obviously, need to go slow.  Any advice based on the information in my signature and assuming the 10 mg will make my symptoms go away?  Will look through other messages for answers on this as well.  

[pokiok]

Good luck Scruffy, wish you all the best. This website is a great resource!

[Broken]

It has long half life which helps. I came off 20mg and had next to no withdrawal, it was tame.

 

I can only speak from my own experience obviously. Worth mentioning I was only on Prozac for 4 weeks.

 

Good luck.

[Rhiannon]

Scruffy, clearly you are not one of those people who can just come off an AD fast, which is not surprising given that you've been taking them for years.

 

Please check out the Tapering section of the forum and read the topics "pinned" at the top. You will see that we recommend a taper of no more than 10% of your current dose at a time.

 

Given what you have just been through with on and off and up and down on doses, I would recommend you stay on a low dose of fluoxetine for a few months now, until your nervous system has had time to stabilize itself and recover from the wringer it's just been through. You may be able to stabilize on less than 10 mg (like maybe 5 mg), but if you're feeling well on the 10 mg and not overstimulated, just stick with that.

 

(If you're feeling overstimulated on the 10 mg, you should be able to get the liquid formulation and try the lower dose.)

 

After two or three months see how you're feeling. If you're feeling pretty stable and consistently well from one day to the next, then you can begin a slow taper starting with a 10% cut. 

 

Meanwhile you will have time to read through our extensive information on tapering.  We have a thread on tapering fluoxetine. You can find that or any other topic you wish to search by just using Google and typing in "surviving antidepressants" followed by "taper fluoxetine" or whatever other thing you wish to search for.

 

Take your time and educate yourself. You're in the very lucky position of being not too ill right now, it sounds like. (Assuming you do well with the 10 mg reinstatement.)

 

People who have already done a too-fast taper or cold turkey often end up suffering for many months or even years; you're in the position where you can do it right, right from the beginning. Don't throw that gift away. Take your time, learn about tapering, learn about your options and the risks, and you'll be able to make educated decisions for yourself.

 

Good luck and welcome to the best source of information on AD tapering that I know of anywhere.

 

Oh, and let me recommend when you get the chance, reading the book Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker. 

[mammaP]

Hi Scruffy, welcome to SA. Thank you for filling out your signature, it is very helpful for us.  

Your doctor hasn't a clue has he? Although he did get it right diagnosing discontinuation syndrome.

How are you feeling now that you have gone back on the 10mg?   If you are improving I would stay 

on that dose for at least a few weeks to allow your nervous system to stabilise, then start a slow taper. 

 

We recommend a reduction of no more than 10% of the current dose. As I'm typing I see Rhi has covered 

it so I will just give you the link for tapering prozac.  Rhi is very knowledgeable, has years of experience and

explains things much better than I can! 

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/759-tips-for-tapering-off-prozac-fluoxetine/

[Scruffy69]

Thanks Rhi. I realize I AM fortunate in that my symptoms are not near as bad as other people. mammaP, my primary Dr appears to know little about this starting with her order to reduce Citalopram from 40mg to 20mg in two weeks and then stop! It was a different doctor that diagnosed it as discontinuation syndrome and prescribed the Fluoxetine. I would be curious to see what he would think about this but feel I am better off getting help through this forum. With advice from Rhi (confirming what I was thinking after all my research), I think I'm ready to tell my doctor what I want to do. 10 mg daily with refills. I can then take for a few months and then cut pill in half and take 5mg for a few months. I will continue to educate myself on the matter as well through this forum. Thanks all!

[Scruffy69]

It has long half life which helps. I came off 20mg and had next to no withdrawal, it was tame.

 

I can only speak from my own experience obviously. Worth mentioning I was only on Prozac for 4 weeks.

 

Good luck.

pokiok - thanks for your input.  I understand the half life of the antidepressants and that prozac is fairly easy to come off of.  I think my issue is from the Citalopram even though the half life is short.  Being on the Prozac is helping my brain "get back to normal" but I still need to wean off that slowly.  I don't quite understand it all; I hope my plan works.    Good luck to you.  Sounds like you are having a MUCH worse time than me.  

 

Scruffy, clearly you are not one of those people who can just come off an AD fast, which is not surprising given that you've been taking them for years.

 

Please check out the Tapering section of the forum and read the topics "pinned" at the top. You will see that we recommend a taper of no more than 10% of your current dose at a time.

 

Given what you have just been through with on and off and up and down on doses, I would recommend you stay on a low dose of fluoxetine for a few months now, until your nervous system has had time to stabilize itself and recover from the wringer it's just been through. You may be able to stabilize on less than 10 mg (like maybe 5 mg), but if you're feeling well on the 10 mg and not overstimulated, just stick with that.

 

(If you're feeling overstimulated on the 10 mg, you should be able to get the liquid formulation and try the lower dose.)

 

After two or three months see how you're feeling. If you're feeling pretty stable and consistently well from one day to the next, then you can begin a slow taper starting with a 10% cut. 

 

Meanwhile you will have time to read through our extensive information on tapering.  We have a thread on tapering fluoxetine. You can find that or any other topic you wish to search by just using Google and typing in "surviving antidepressants" followed by "taper fluoxetine" or whatever other thing you wish to search for.

 

Take your time and educate yourself. You're in the very lucky position of being not too ill right now, it sounds like. (Assuming you do well with the 10 mg reinstatement.)

 

People who have already done a too-fast taper or cold turkey often end up suffering for many months or even years; you're in the position where you can do it right, right from the beginning. Don't throw that gift away. Take your time, learn about tapering, learn about your options and the risks, and you'll be able to make educated decisions for yourself.

 

Good luck and welcome to the best source of information on AD tapering that I know of anywhere.

 

Oh, and let me recommend when you get the chance, reading the book Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker. 

What do you mean when you say "overstimulated"?  

[Fitby50]

Thanks Rhi. I realize I AM fortunate in that my symptoms are not near as bad as other people. mammaP, my primary Dr appears to know little about this starting with her order to reduce Citalopram from 40mg to 20mg in two weeks and then stop! It was a different doctor that diagnosed it as discontinuation syndrome and prescribed the Fluoxetine. I would be curious to see what he would think about this but feel I am better off getting help through this forum. With advice from Rhi (confirming what I was thinking after all my research), I think I'm ready to tell my doctor what I want to do. 10 mg daily with refills. I can then take for a few months and then cut pill in half and take 5mg for a few months. I will continue to educate myself on the matter as well through this forum. Thanks all!

If you are taking 10mg, then a 10% taper would drop you down to 9mg, not a half tablet of 5mg.  If you plan to do the slow taper.  In your signature you said that you "started feeling symptoms again".  What symptoms do you get if I may ask?  Anxiety seems to be the big one for most people.

[Addax]

 

It has long half life which helps. I came off 20mg and had next to no withdrawal, it was tame.

I can only speak from my own experience obviously. Worth mentioning I was only on Prozac for 4 weeks.

Good luck.

 

pokiok - thanks for your input.  I understand the half life of the antidepressants and that prozac is fairly easy to come off of.  I think my issue is from the Citalopram even though the half life is short.  Being on the Prozac is helping my brain "get back to normal" but I still need to wean off that slowly.

Hi scruffy. Saw the above quote and wanted to chime in.

 

First, welcome to SA! I'm glad you found this site and you really will be to. Heeding the advice here will serve you well.

 

I wish it were true that Prozac was easy to come off of. Unfortunately it's not. The longer half-life may provide a buffer of sorts making withdrawal a slightly smoother ride, but it is not self tapering and can have quite a kick when you least expect it. Granted, I was on it a very long time before this tapering ride I'm on now. How long you've been on it may indeed be a factor of course, but everyone can respond differently to the drug and to withdrawal. It sounds like the doc who prescribed you Prozac and diagnosed discontinuation syndrome was using Prozac as a bridge to ease your withdrawal. I was glad to read you're planning to taper the Prozac slowly as well!

 

Good luck with you're taper!

[Scruffy69]

Fitby50 - Ah...you are definitely correct about the 10%.  I guess I was thinking since I went from 20mg to 10mg with no problem that I could go to 5mg with no problem.  I have time to read more about it and decide how I want to proceed because I am going to take 10mg for at least a month.  Thanks for pointing it out.  The symptoms I have had the last few days are dizziness and nausea. No anxiety issues.  Silver Star - thanks for sharing.  Sounds like I need to be more careful than I was planning.  Again, probably because I had no problem with 20 mg to 10 mg.  

[Fitby50]

Good luck Scruffy.  I tired to use Prozac as my taper AD med and because it comes in liquid it was easy to get small dose changes. I think it can work well for a cross over med.  When I started last May, I had just gotten back on an AD after a few months off.  I was at 10mg then 20mg before I found this website and decided to get off all AD's for good and try the very slow taper.  Since I had only been at 20mg for a couple days, I dropped back to 10mg with no problem.  As I continued on the Prozac, I found it to be very over stimulating and added to my already anxiety. It got better after a point and the dose drops went pretty good.  I have been off for 2 months now after a 13 month taper from 10mg.  Unfortunately, as many of us find, I am now being hit with some horrific withdrawl symptoms.  What I thought at the time was a slow taper, either was way too fast for me or it won't matter how slow I go, I will always end up back at this miserable spot.  So if people here tell you to take it very very slow, please take the advice and do not rush it. Best of luck with your taper and be gentle with yourself.

[Petunia]

What do you mean when you say "overstimulated"?  

 

 

Prozac tends to be one of the more stimulating antidepressants for many people, which means it increases anxiety, agitation, irritability, anger, rage and restlessness.

 

Here is some more evidence to support a decision for slow tapering as the dose gets lower.  This article shows why its important to taper slowly at low doses, the charts begin at page 4.

 

http://survivinganti...-concentration/

 

I hope your dizziness and nausea settles down soon, just take things slowly.  A slow taper will not only minimize withdrawal symptoms, it will give you the best chance at getting through the post-withdrawal year or two without having to go back on the drug.