![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by minimal on April 3, 2006, at 17:17:22
Well, I have been on only 5mg prozac a day (10mg every other day) for the last 2 weeks and I am starting to feel a return of depression, guilt, sensitivity, and minor anxiety.
I was on 15-20 mgs prozac for the past 3 years for MDD and have slowly weaned myself down to 5 mg over the past 2 months due to all of the side effects (I am very sensitive to medication so 20mg felt like too much... 10-15 mgs worked best). I am also currently taking 10mg Adderall XR daily (funny thing here is that I feel like I need slightly more Add XR to work the same as it did while on Prozac, a possible synergistic effect?).
I also have been taking 6000 mgs fish oil, B vitamins, etc.
I wonder how long these feelings will last for? Perhaps I should go back to 7.5 mgs prozac, (10 mgs, 3 days on, 1 day off)?
Any help, suggestions welcome.
Posted by minimal on April 8, 2006, at 16:40:57
In reply to Prozac Withdrawal and returning Depression, etc., posted by minimal on April 3, 2006, at 17:17:22
Some of the past several days were pretty bad. At its worst, near crying spells, etc. Slightly worse than depression before meds. I was not faring well at all... and I was still taking 5 mgs a day.. I hadn't even stopped completely.
I talked to my mom and we compared our depression and our symptoms are almost exactly the same, including the time of day that its worst. My mom has been off Prozac for several years and her immediate withdrawal like condition never improved, suggesting that what I was experiencing was not a withdrawal effect but a long-term condition (of either the depression itself or SSRI use). I must say that while the worst symptoms were worse than depression before meds, for the most part it was like being timewarped back to a premedicated state. I decided to return to 10mgs prozac a day for the time being (4 days ago) and I am faring better already.
Posted by SLS on April 9, 2006, at 7:59:28
In reply to raised dose, posted by minimal on April 8, 2006, at 16:40:57
> Some of the past several days were pretty bad. At its worst, near crying spells, etc. Slightly worse than depression before meds. I was not faring well at all... and I was still taking 5 mgs a day.. I hadn't even stopped completely.
>
> I talked to my mom and we compared our depression and our symptoms are almost exactly the same, including the time of day that its worst. My mom has been off Prozac for several years and her immediate withdrawal like condition never improved, suggesting that what I was experiencing was not a withdrawal effect but a long-term condition (of either the depression itself or SSRI use). I must say that while the worst symptoms were worse than depression before meds, for the most part it was like being timewarped back to a premedicated state. I decided to return to 10mgs prozac a day for the time being (4 days ago) and I am faring better already.I'm glad you are feeling better.
Depression can be a withdrawal phenomenon, and it makes it very difficult to interpret exactly what's going on. It is not surprising that your depression felt worse after the dosage reduction than it was prior to medication. Also, I have found that the depression immediately upon relapse is more severe, although I usually recover a bit shortly thereafter.
It is interesting to note that there is a tendency for close relatives to respond to the same medication.
How long had you been taking Prozac before attempting to discontinue it?
It sounds to me like you made the right decision.
I wish you luck.
- Scott
Posted by minimal on April 10, 2006, at 23:31:03
In reply to Re: raised dose » minimal, posted by SLS on April 9, 2006, at 7:59:28
Thanks for your reply.
> How long had you been taking Prozac before attempting to discontinue it?
I've been on prozac 10-20 mgs for about 3 1/2 years now in all. I am now going to focus on trying to find the dose that most effectively contains the depression while limiting a considerable portion of the (many) side effects. 10 mg is my target for now. I think I may fare better trying to take breaks or augment a 5 mg/day dose of prozac with wellbutrin or something else during less stressful times so that the prozac continues to work effectively in more stressful periods.
> It sounds to me like you made the right decision.I think so too. I am sure there will be another moment when I try again. It has been a learning experience. I understand more about my condition now as I do about how the medicine helps it as well as how the med dosage can be manipulated to help me through certain periods.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Withdrawal | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.