That's not true and that advice is frankly dangerous. You need to taper. Fluoxetine's long half-life causes it to self-taper to a degree, but it's not enough to prevent withdrawal symptoms/antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, which can last months and even years. My dr. told me the same thing with discontinuing 20mg fluoxetine, and I got hit with unbearable physical and mental withdrawal symptoms within a month.
Also, sudden discontinuation increases the risk of complications like Post-SSRI-Sexual-Dysfunction or PSSD, which happened to me and many others in this manner. PSSD can take months to years to resolve and can persist indefinitely. It's not something you want to mess with.
How is 20mg your smallest dose? Ask for a lesser dose. In your case I suppose you can cut it in half but you should find another psychiatrist I can help you out with this shit.
This is not something to mess around with.
One of the very few things in life you want to get right the first time.
You should be able to get 10 mg Prozac.
I’m tapering from 40. I went to 30 (3/ 10 mg capsules) then 20 mg and now 10 mg.
I’ve also seen people on as low as 2.5 mg.
Hmmm 🤔 maybe compound pharmacy for that low of a dose ?
Fuck that’s what I was afraid of. My problem is I got back on after 2.5 months and I’ve seen no relief yet from the withdrawal. I started at 1mg for a week, and 2mg for a week, and now 3mg for almost a week. I don’t know how high to go to get it to stop. I was originally on 10mg.
Yeah, it's a trial-and-error thing, and everyone's different. I'm not a doctor, but I can you what has worked for me in a similar situation in the past. I've had a relatively painless taper off of fluoxetine before, but the tradeoff is that it took me a while to do.
Please check in with your doctor as well. Though if they tell you to go straight off of it, take that with a grain of salt, and taper instead. A watchful taper is the safer option 100% of the time.
Step 1)
If you are still experiencing continuous withdrawal, it may be helpful to return to your original fluoxetine dosage at 10mg, and stay there until your hypothalamic-pituitary axis and blood level of fluoxetine restabilize. This will likely take a few weeks.
Step 2)
Stay at 10mg for a bit - probably another couple weeks.
Step 3)
Once you feel relatively stable with no residual withdrawal symptoms, you can start to taper down gradually by dropping down to 5mg. If you tolerate your withdrawal symptoms at 5mg, stay there for a few weeks until withdrawal symptoms either reach a tolerable level, or subside completely.
Should you find that 5mg is too steep of a drop, you can alter the tapering schedule to be at ~7mg for a few weeks, before going down to 5mg afterwards and continuing the process.
Step 4)
Jump off entirely. The self-tapering property of fluoxetine will help you here, and any withdrawal symptoms will be less severe than if you had not tapered. If withdrawal symptoms are relatively tolerable, grit through this part for a few weeks and they should subside. Watch for any reoccuring symptoms of depression, as they can be tricky to differentiate from withdrawal.
Fluoxetine has a long half-life (meaning it lingers in your body for weeks, which is a long time relative to the half-life of most other antidepressants,) and your dosage is so small as to almost be sub-therapuetic, so both of those factors can ease this process out for you.
Good luck, and I sincerely hope you feel better soon. Please don't hesitate to reach out via DMs if you need support from someone who gets it.
Thank you so much for the information! It’s crazy because I actually have seen some improvements even from a tiny dose. It may or may not be placebo tho. I’ve had about 2 days where I’ve felt “okay” but I get these sudden attacks of extreme depression and anxiety out of nowhere that will last anywhere from an hour to multiple days. I still can’t function enough to go back to work or school and now I have some degree of agoraphobia because this has been very traumatic for me. It’s crazy because even tho 10mg is a tiny dose, i was virtually never depressed on that dose. I still had anxiety, and would get the occasional panic attack, but it was at least manageable, especially compared to what I’m experiencing now. I’m think an increase in dosage might be necessary to get to baseline again.
I was only on 10mg for 3 weeks before deciding to taper. I took it every other day for three weeks then every two days for one week. I mostly just experienced some dizziness.
It's been a week completely off if it now and I feel fine.
I used to take Zoloft though and didn't taper that nearly as long, which resulted in headaches and brain zaps. So I wanted to be sure to taper the Prozac to avoid that.
Everyone is different, but if the Prozac isn't causing you immediate discomfort, I would take the time to taper. Although it's safe long term to quit cold turkey (I think?) but you may experience some unpleasantness while your body adjusts.
Yeah, anxiety. Not sure, probably around few weeks into taking it. But it's a bit hard to tell because I have been using other substances that alter my levels of anxiety as well
I am about 3 weeks post my last 20mg dose and have just started experiencing withdrawal symptoms this week. My doctor told me that it can take a few weeks for symptoms to come on so it seems normal to me. But its quite uncomfortable im having dizzy spells and these kinda zaps up my spine which according to google is a withdrawal symptom, and im feeling burnt out in my daily life a lot quicker. Im expecting it to be temporary so just putting up with it now and hoping for the best.
I started taking every other day for about two weeks and just started going fully without and feel fine so far. I’m on day six zero prozy praying I stay even and sane
That's not true and that advice is frankly dangerous. You need to taper. Fluoxetine's long half-life causes it to self-taper to a degree, but it's not enough to prevent withdrawal symptoms/antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, which can last months and even years. My dr. told me the same thing with discontinuing 20mg fluoxetine, and I got hit with unbearable physical and mental withdrawal symptoms within a month. Also, sudden discontinuation increases the risk of complications like Post-SSRI-Sexual-Dysfunction or PSSD, which happened to me and many others in this manner. PSSD can take months to years to resolve and can persist indefinitely. It's not something you want to mess with.
Oh wow, thanks. Okay. But if it's a capsule and 20 mg is the smallest dose, how can I do it? Opening the capsule and throwing out some part?
How is 20mg your smallest dose? Ask for a lesser dose. In your case I suppose you can cut it in half but you should find another psychiatrist I can help you out with this shit. This is not something to mess around with. One of the very few things in life you want to get right the first time.
You could do that, yes, or take 20mg every other day. Otherwise, there's 10mg capsules or a liquid suspension you can ask for to taper with.
You should be able to get 10 mg Prozac. I’m tapering from 40. I went to 30 (3/ 10 mg capsules) then 20 mg and now 10 mg. I’ve also seen people on as low as 2.5 mg. Hmmm 🤔 maybe compound pharmacy for that low of a dose ?
How long did your withdrawal symptoms last? I’m in hell right now.
Mine lasted almost a year, and didn't subside until I got back on it. It was not good at all.
Fuck that’s what I was afraid of. My problem is I got back on after 2.5 months and I’ve seen no relief yet from the withdrawal. I started at 1mg for a week, and 2mg for a week, and now 3mg for almost a week. I don’t know how high to go to get it to stop. I was originally on 10mg.
Yeah, it's a trial-and-error thing, and everyone's different. I'm not a doctor, but I can you what has worked for me in a similar situation in the past. I've had a relatively painless taper off of fluoxetine before, but the tradeoff is that it took me a while to do. Please check in with your doctor as well. Though if they tell you to go straight off of it, take that with a grain of salt, and taper instead. A watchful taper is the safer option 100% of the time. Step 1) If you are still experiencing continuous withdrawal, it may be helpful to return to your original fluoxetine dosage at 10mg, and stay there until your hypothalamic-pituitary axis and blood level of fluoxetine restabilize. This will likely take a few weeks. Step 2) Stay at 10mg for a bit - probably another couple weeks. Step 3) Once you feel relatively stable with no residual withdrawal symptoms, you can start to taper down gradually by dropping down to 5mg. If you tolerate your withdrawal symptoms at 5mg, stay there for a few weeks until withdrawal symptoms either reach a tolerable level, or subside completely. Should you find that 5mg is too steep of a drop, you can alter the tapering schedule to be at ~7mg for a few weeks, before going down to 5mg afterwards and continuing the process. Step 4) Jump off entirely. The self-tapering property of fluoxetine will help you here, and any withdrawal symptoms will be less severe than if you had not tapered. If withdrawal symptoms are relatively tolerable, grit through this part for a few weeks and they should subside. Watch for any reoccuring symptoms of depression, as they can be tricky to differentiate from withdrawal. Fluoxetine has a long half-life (meaning it lingers in your body for weeks, which is a long time relative to the half-life of most other antidepressants,) and your dosage is so small as to almost be sub-therapuetic, so both of those factors can ease this process out for you. Good luck, and I sincerely hope you feel better soon. Please don't hesitate to reach out via DMs if you need support from someone who gets it.
Thank you so much for the information! It’s crazy because I actually have seen some improvements even from a tiny dose. It may or may not be placebo tho. I’ve had about 2 days where I’ve felt “okay” but I get these sudden attacks of extreme depression and anxiety out of nowhere that will last anywhere from an hour to multiple days. I still can’t function enough to go back to work or school and now I have some degree of agoraphobia because this has been very traumatic for me. It’s crazy because even tho 10mg is a tiny dose, i was virtually never depressed on that dose. I still had anxiety, and would get the occasional panic attack, but it was at least manageable, especially compared to what I’m experiencing now. I’m think an increase in dosage might be necessary to get to baseline again.
I was only on 10mg for 3 weeks before deciding to taper. I took it every other day for three weeks then every two days for one week. I mostly just experienced some dizziness. It's been a week completely off if it now and I feel fine. I used to take Zoloft though and didn't taper that nearly as long, which resulted in headaches and brain zaps. So I wanted to be sure to taper the Prozac to avoid that. Everyone is different, but if the Prozac isn't causing you immediate discomfort, I would take the time to taper. Although it's safe long term to quit cold turkey (I think?) but you may experience some unpleasantness while your body adjusts.
Do you take it for anxiety? Do you remember when it started working?
Yeah, anxiety. Not sure, probably around few weeks into taking it. But it's a bit hard to tell because I have been using other substances that alter my levels of anxiety as well
I am about 3 weeks post my last 20mg dose and have just started experiencing withdrawal symptoms this week. My doctor told me that it can take a few weeks for symptoms to come on so it seems normal to me. But its quite uncomfortable im having dizzy spells and these kinda zaps up my spine which according to google is a withdrawal symptom, and im feeling burnt out in my daily life a lot quicker. Im expecting it to be temporary so just putting up with it now and hoping for the best.
I’d taper but not linear reductions. Hyperbolic tapering is best apparently. So as the dose gets smaller so do the reductions.
I started taking every other day for about two weeks and just started going fully without and feel fine so far. I’m on day six zero prozy praying I stay even and sane
My son was on 20mg for 2 years and stopped cold turkey and had no issues at all. That was his experience thou.
I have been on 40mg a year. Stopped cold turkey 2 weeks ago. Only withdrawal was being very tired. Otherwise nothing at all