It would seem logical to me that the longer someone has been taking meds the more prone they would be to suffer the withdrawal symptoms once they attempted to come off them. Am I right in believing this? I plan to come off Prozac in the next few weeks but by that time a year would have elapsed since my course began. I am a little worried that the duration that I have been on them will have an effect on how my gradual reduction of dosage progresses.

It's best to come off any med with your pdoc's guidance. Some people can come off meds cold turkey with no effect and others must be slowly weaned off of them. I would suggest, if you haven't already, talk to your pdoc about coming off Prozac and the possible withdrawals.
Good luck.
Sheepwoman

I think that you'll be fine with the normal taper that is recommended. NEVER go off cold turkey though. I've done both, and highly recommend the slow taper

Prozac has such a long half life (45 days) that I have heard that you can quit this med cold turkey.However I would personally taper off, b/c why take the chance of withdrawl effects?

I came off cold turkey and was getting shakes, panic attacks, and other unpleasant side effeects so have gone back on and am reducing slowly.

does anyone else think that prozac causes irrational behaviours as my partner read some info about this on internet and thinks this might be the cause of some of my behaviours. This is making me question decisions that I am trying to make at the moment.

When coming off a med such as Prozac, is it at least somewhat effective to take it every other day before stopping completely, or does taking it less frequently not make a difference? My Prozac are capsules so I cannot split them to start with a lower dosage, although they are 40mg so not that high to begin with.

boo,
In tapering down, you should have 20 or 10mg capsules and have the program monitored by your pdoc. Cutting back to everyother day with the 40mg is not actually tapering off as smooth since you will suddenly be off and have withdrawal effects anyway. Consult with your pdoc before stopping this or any other medication.
Sheepwoman

Slightly not helpful to the topic, but I just want to add a mental wince at my therapist telling me that there would be 0 withdrawl to coming off Prozac when she wanted to start me on it. I was really worried about becoming dependant after watching my mother become addicted to Zanax. Granted thats probably far more addictive, but I am a heavy worrier. I suppose I should trust more in the people here then my own therapist. ;)

Hi Scattershot,

I guess it is the same as with the start up side effects, some people do experience them, others don't. I have come of Prozac once and had no withdrawal symptoms.
Try not to worry about it too much, enjoy the positive effect it has on you now and try not to worry too much about what could happen when you quit taking them.

Hope that helps,
SN

I have been advised to take 20mg on alternate days and then once every 3 days until i run out of them. I have been taking them on alternate days and have noticed I am very grumpy and easily irritated. Is this normal? I was told by my GP to expect a rebound depression but this feels like really bad PMT.
I suppose I should be thankful, when coming off effexor I was knocked sideways for weeks at a time.

Hi Nelsonsmum,

Welcome here,

I guess everybody reacts differently to medication. I had no trouble coming off prozac last year. I went from 60 mgr/ day, to 40-20-0 without any symptoms.
Prozac has a long halftime which, as doctors say, will make it easier to come off these meds.
I hope you will start to feel better soon.
How long did you take Prozac?

SN

im only on 20mg and its been of no help,if anything im a bit worse so im going to stop,so guess that means i may be grumpy withdrawing but it aint that great being on them,i plan to do it drinking loads of water and eating fresh foods,maybe go for a sauna,have a week opf feel good things like that,WHICH might actaully make me start to appreciate life and my ME ness which would be better than waiting for drugs to wave wands

for gods sake,this is a negative response to prozac so,dont rely on it as the way everyone feels on the drug,it does help some peopl,i just dont think it the one for me.

before i was on a drug ,i think it was effexor,i responded well to it,it was several years ago,all i remember was the packet has suns and moons on,was this Effexor?

I am curious.... how does the withdrawal symptom feels? Is it easy to come off it? I will start the medicine maybe tomorrow after I feel ready.

I had no problems coming off Prozac after being on it for 14 years. But we're all different and can have various responses as far as withdrawals. For me, the Prozac was not replaced with another AD, which is unusual as that appears to be part of the coming off and going straight on to another one.

w tanoto, Prozac can take up to 8 weeks before the full benefits are received. It might be a shorter wait since you're changing from one med to another right away. If you are on Prozac for a short period of time, withdrawals should be negligible or none.
Sheepwoman

14 years? that's a long time. I had this depression since 12 years ago, but started anti-depressant 4 months ago. I stopped citalopram as it caused itch. So I was without medication for 2 months. This is my first day with prozac/ fluocetine (20mg per day)

according to my parents (who always tried to scare me off from antidepressant), it took 4 weeks. This forum's survey, most of people feel the effect less than a week. guess each individual has different effects.

I felt body temperature rise and itch today

This post has been edited by w_tanoto: Oct 20 2007, 09:39 PM

IVE JUST COME OFF COLD TURKEY!!!right-im a racing cyclist and raced the first day,this gave me an almighty headahe and i do not reccommend,i felt dizzy and unsafe and oddly even worse whenever i drank water,all this subsided within 24 hrs and then the next week i felt on high alert(slept fine) twas just during the day,im on day 12 and i think im ME again...........and the alert/stress levels are prob down to my ill ness rather than withdrawing from meds

Thanks guys for replying to this, it helps me too. I'd heard about the long halflife and assumed I wouldn't get withdrawal symptoms...but due to money issues I've had to take my Flux every other night until I can get in to the doc for another prescription. And I notice when I do these every other day thingies my emotions get a bit out of whack, and I get chest pains and back pains, as weird as that sounds. (I assume it's the Prozac, cause coming off Paxil I got the back pains...killer ones...don't remember if I had chest pains...)

Anyways, point being it helps to have a confirmation that yes, withdrawal can happen even on Prozac.

I've recently just stopped cold turkey, I usually take 60mg prozac a day, but due to lack of money I decided to stop paying for them. I haven't had any since thursday, so that is 4 days ago. I haven't felt any withdrawal effects as of yet, but then again I'm not too sure what I am expecting.

What withdrawal symptoms should I be expecting??

QUOTE (bettyboo @ May 28 2008, 01:51 AM)

I've recently just stopped cold turkey, I usually take 60mg prozac a day, but due to lack of money I decided to stop paying for them. I haven't had any since thursday, so that is 4 days ago. I haven't felt any withdrawal effects as of yet, but then again I'm not too sure what I am expecting.

What withdrawal symptoms should I be expecting??

Hey Bettyboo,

You probably shouldnt of stopped taking your medication all of a sudden.

But I looked up a website and found out some of the symptoms to be aware of if you go cold turkey on Prozac

Irritability
Agitation
Dizziness
Burning or tingling sensation
Anxiety
Confusion
Headache
Insomnia
Tiredness.

I hope that this has helped you and if anything gets really bad or feels strange contact your doctor straight away,
Keep posting and let us know how your doing
HUGS
Isabeau

Just chiming in, but I've been on 60 mgs of Prozac three times in my life - three years, one year, and now at almost two months. The first two times I quit cold turkey and never had any withdrawal. Then again, I don't have any side effects to any drug others have had. I know it's bad to stop taking it suddenly - my therapist told me I could go into convulsions - but I've never had any problems with suddenly stopping medication.

I'm taking 150 (soon to go up to 200) mgs of Lamictal as well as 60 mgs of Prozac and I'm hoping within six months to stop taking one of them. They might both be working, or it might be one or the other. I'm scared to go off either of them in case it's the wrong one.

I was on 40 mg of Prozac for about 6 months. The drug turned my depression into something very frightening, but the details are not important. I went off them "cold turkey" the day after I overdosed on another antidepressant. I had no adverse reactions to quitting Prozac, but maybe the overdose had an effect or the dose I was on or my mental state. I was so messed up I wouldn't have noticed any additional mental issues. Prozac has a really long half life though and has the least amount of issues with withdrawl though, so I think it depends on how badly you need to be off of them. If you're on Prozac and doing well, taper just to be safe. If you're in an emergency situation, it's best to see your doctor, but if you're convinced your doctor is after you, like I was, just plain old quitting might not be as bad.

This post has been edited by peanutbutter: Apr 11 2009, 07:05 PM

I was on 20mg of fluoxetine for 7 months for mild depression which was definitely due to external stress, got rid of the cause, came to terms with it and tapered my dose about three months ago until I was on one a week.
Since then I have been a lot happier and definitely not as sad. I have terrible mood swings, but I have no idea whether that is down to natural pmt or not as I had to come off the BCP when I started taking fluoxetine.

The past week or two I have been feeling a bit low and haven't been able to either get out of bed or go to it in the first place. It's not anxiety as much as it was when I was on the drug but I am still able to see the light side of things and I write a fair bit of comedic material about my dark days with no regrets. I am worried that my mother might see my introspectiveness as a sign that I may not be as well as I perceive to be, but I do believe I am.

Is it normal after a while to be a bit slow getting back to the norm with moods or should I bring this up elsewhere?

Well I amabout to taper off...I take 20 mg aday...capsule
so I am cutting it down to one every other day...I just need to see if my jaw will feel better..and the tension gone..once off the prozac...
or maybe i need a higher dose..I dont know what to do
all I do know is that since being on the prozac...my tmj and fibro is worse...and anxieties are far worse..than ever...dont know if due to the prozac or the tmj flare up...
only been on prozac for 7 weeks...so I hope withdrawls are just about nil....
I see my doc next week..as he has been on holidays..so i could not ask him...decided to try this on my own...
wish me luck...

I have periods of use and non use, so alot of times I really get bad reacions