Stopped Prozac today

I've been tapering off of prozac now for several months. I stopped today after being on the lowest dose a month. I know some people wanted to follow my progress. Since I'm so early still in benzo w/d its hard to say how bad I would be if I didn't stop Prozac but things def. got harder especially this last month I had a lot of anger and irritability which has calmed down now but I still fell like I'm hanging on by a thread. I literally feel like a zombie of my former self going through life. My anxiety at night and sweating is so bad its hard to stand up and walk across the room. I saw my doctor today and she seemed to think my problem is I'm just overthinking coming off the meds which is giving me symptoms. I cracked up laughing. If only that was the case. I think overall the worst is I have not felt a second of normal joy and attachment to life since coming off the benzos still. It's been at least 6 months of this. My doctor said thats not that long. Maybe not but to me it's getting very tiring. I'm still glad to be off the prozac because it needed to happen but the struggle is real. It's been very hard. I will keep updating here.

Hi Prozac is soluble in water.

What dose did you stop at?

I think it would be a very good idea to reinstate and microtaper using a syring, taking out a tiny amount each day, that way the taper would be a lot more smooth.

I tapered pregabalin that way, a bad drug to get off, with no problems at all.

I've been tapering off of prozac now for several months. I stopped today after being on the lowest dose a month. I know some people wanted to follow my progress. Since I'm so early still in benzo w/d its hard to say how bad I would be if I didn't stop Prozac but things def. got harder especially this last month I had a lot of anger and irritability which has calmed down now but I still fell like I'm hanging on by a thread. I literally feel like a zombie of my former self going through life. My anxiety at night and sweating is so bad its hard to stand up and walk across the room. I saw my doctor today and she seemed to think my problem is I'm just overthinking coming off the meds which is giving me symptoms. I cracked up laughing. If only that was the case. I think overall the worst is I have not felt a second of normal joy and attachment to life since coming off the benzos still. It's been at least 6 months of this. My doctor said thats not that long. Maybe not but to me it's getting very tiring. I'm still glad to be off the prozac because it needed to happen but the struggle is real. It's been very hard. I will keep updating here.

 

I guess I will need to stay on fluoxetine till the end of my life. But we are all different. Wishing you luck. Will be following your progress.

journey Thanks I'm not sure if its soluble in water.

At this point going back on may mess me up just as much. When I was put on Prozac I was feeling episodes of mania so I could never tolerate more than 10mg. In this sense I was lucky I was already on the lowest dose. I think at this point I'm off now and just have to tough this out.

 

Estee Thanks. You may be fine coming off. I'm attempting this very early in benzo w/d so I think its making it worse. I guess I was just being stubborn to get my body and mind back since Prozac put 40 pounds on me. At the moment I'm a total zombie but I just have to keep reminding myself I'm in the thick of it and to just keep going.

 

 

journey Thanks I'm not sure if its soluble in water.

At this point going back on may mess me up just as much. When I was put on Prozac I was feeling episodes of mania so I could never tolerate more than 10mg. In this sense I was lucky I was already on the lowest dose. I think at this point I'm off now and just have to tough this out.

 

Estee Thanks. You may be fine coming off. I'm attempting this very early in benzo w/d so I think its making it worse. I guess I was just being stubborn to get my body and mind back since Prozac put 40 pounds on me. At the moment I'm a total zombie but I just have to keep reminding myself I'm in the thick of it and to just keep going.

 

People react differently. Some gain weight, some lose. I think I rather lost than gained. I tried coming off fluoxetine in 2014 and it ended up in a very bad way. But some folks manage to stop it for good.

Just stopping that small dose I think today has effected me. I've been very suicidal. I feel like my life is over. I don't know how to come back from this. Anger. I seriously hate my life. All of these feelings all day then I look at this post and realize I only stopped taking the small dose of Prozac yesterday. I guess with benzo w/d already still going on its effecting me worse. I'm so run down. I wish I had one friend in the world I could talk to who wouldn't judge.

sunlit, you deserve a big pat on the back for getting off Prozac. Garbage drug, IMO. Only meant to make someone a lot of money.

Your getting off benzos is even MORE important.

What you describe is classic benzo wd. The zombie stuff and night sweats are classic benzo wd symptoms. I know you feel really awful and probably scared almost to death. That was how it was for me back when I was forced to go cold turkey off benzos and ADs.

BB can do many wonderful things, but preventing suicides are not ne of them. If you are seriously considering harming yourself, you have to get IN PERSON help.

Many people, me included, have suicidal ideations during a bad withdrawal. I know I did. There were 2 reasons I did not hurt myself: my cats, and my deep paranoia of doctors back then.

But if those thoughts had been way too strong I would have had to seek in person help. The internet is NOT the way to deal with that sort of thing.

Please keep me informed because I am concerned about you, and feel free to drop by my new Success Story. "Eastcoasts Trip Two" is its name and I write in it every day.

Please do NOT give up.

east (Annie)

eastcoast62 Thanks for your response. I read your story a bit ago and was amazed with what you lived through and made it back from. I will check it out again for encouragement.

Thanks for your concern. I don't think I will act on these thoughts but its impossible to escape them. Never mind I'm in a total mind fog /zombie state all day. On top of that I'm getting angry and suicidal. Every day right now is a struggle.

I do see a therapist. While talking to her I have uncovered a lot of how trauma from childhood effected my life. This has been even harder to deal with while coming off all these drugs. It makes me ruminate on all the bad stuff that happened to me and how I ended up here in life.

I asked her to try to focus on the positive for a bit but even that is challenging as its hard to see anything good about myself in this state. While maybe she is what I needed to figure my life out its hard because she makes me analyze my past but offers very little feedback.

I know the internet is not the answer but I have little to no support in my life and most of what I'm feeling I keep trying to chalk up to w/d because I know my thoughts and decisions are not rational in this state so I find this site helpful to get through this time.

I have had suicidal ideation on and off throughout w/d even before I came off the Prozac. It got better but I guess now it got worse again but in a different way. All of my symptoms in w/d seem to morph from one messed up state to another. I think the fact suicidal ideation is so common during w/d is one thing that keeps me going because I tell myself its w/d and not my true thoughts.

Just stopping that small dose I think today has effected me. I've been very suicidal. I feel like my life is over. I don't know how to come back from this. Anger. I seriously hate my life. All of these feelings all day then I look at this post and realize I only stopped taking the small dose of Prozac yesterday. I guess with benzo w/d already still going on its effecting me worse. I'm so run down. I wish I had one friend in the world I could talk to who wouldn't judge.

 

Maybe it was too soon to come off the Prozac. Gaining weight is no fun, but neither is feeling suicidal. I was on Cymbalta for close to 4 yrs after my detox.

Keagan.  Did you get off your AD? How was your experience?

keagan Yeah it might have been but the low doses I think were giving me a weird high and I was manic going on it so I'm scared to dose back up.

 

Man today though I almost felt normal. I mean I still had bad brain fog , sweats and sluggish energy compared to my old self but besides that normal. Now as always in the evening some anxiety is creeping in but yeah we'll see. W/d is so weird.

Keagan.  Did you get off your AD? How was your experience?

 

Yes. I ct'ed 30 mgs Remeron with little trouble other than a few days of insomnia. I lowered my massive dose of Cymbalta 120 mgs in stages over 2 years. Tapered the last 20 pulling out beads. That was a bit harder. Off AD's for over a year, but had anxiety and insomnia this spring so I went back on 20 mgs of Cymbalta and that cured it.

Well its been almost a week. Its a blur but the last two days and today have been bad. Super weird sleep. I woke up at 4 am today and was wide awake. I feel like I was hit by a truck. ruminating thoughts. Suicidal. Sweating.

Well its been almost a week. Its a blur but the last two days and today have been bad. Super weird sleep. I woke up at 4 am today and was wide awake. I feel like I was hit by a truck. ruminating thoughts. Suicidal. Sweating.

 

Fluoxetine's half-life is 4-6 days after long-term use. I gradually tapered down fluoxetine from 10 mg to 0 mg in 2013/14 over several months. After which I had a complete mental breakdown and my life fell apart. In May 2014 I started diazepam cause I had unbearable anxiety.

 

Maybe it would make sense to reinstate a small dose of fluoxetine before it's too late. I have 10 mg pills which can be cut in four quarts. I even found 2.5 mg effective when I went back on fluoxetine in 2016. The longer you wait, the more difficult it may be to reinstate an SSRI. It is your life and your decision.

 

 

Estee Thanks! Sorry that happened to you. I had a breakdown years ago which is how I ended up on benzos. It kind of a longer story than that but yeah 2 years ago I got put on prozac too which just made me gain weight. Oh well. Here I am.

I'm monitoring myself. It was a rough couple days but I'm doing better. I think whats hard for me is benzos kinda hazed over everything for years and now that I'm coming off all of these meds and my memory is back I'm having to process in this messed up state of mind everything which made me end up here in life. It's lots of trauma and lots to deal with all at once.

I updating for anyone following but also for myself. I can't believe its been 7 months of being in this state. Coming off Prozac has def. made things harder. I'm so desperate to get my life back.  Coming off has been making me eat so much more. I've been impulsive with serious brain fog. I've also had more bursts of anger and feeling suicidal. I feel like my life is a mess yet I'm in such a state there is no hope of fixing it. I'm having anxiety of once I'm healed what life will I even have left to go back to. I keep waiting to feel good enough to exercise at least. I'm 3 weeks since my last dose of prozac and at an all time low. I can barely drive or read like I can do normally during the day usually. All I can do is sweat and sit on the sofa watching tv. I'm miserable doing this but I literally can't do anything else. I can't stop focusing how much benzos took away my life and are still taking it. I didn't realize for 7 years I was just coasting thru life doing nothing for myself on those drugs now I'm stuck in w/d from them for who knows how long. I really don't see reasons to live at this point or anything that used to make me happy making me happy ever again but I'm still going. I'm not going to act on these thoughts and I know the last of the Prozac leaving my system has to be making things worse but there is literally nothing left of me. My body works and I'm breathing but that feels like all at the moment. Ugh. I'm really hoping this is the worst it and a few weeks from now I might feel better.

Well I just read it takes Prozac 25 days to leave your body 99%. Today is day 25 exactly so weird. I've been saying all day this has been the worst day of w/d. I know it's the prozac too because I keep getting the chills. I guess I have to hope it all evens out a bit in the coming days and weeks.

I updating for anyone following but also for myself. I can't believe its been 7 months of being in this state. Coming off Prozac has def. made things harder. I'm so desperate to get my life back.  Coming off has been making me eat so much more. I've been impulsive with serious brain fog. I've also had more bursts of anger and feeling suicidal. I feel like my life is a mess yet I'm in such a state there is no hope of fixing it. I'm having anxiety of once I'm healed what life will I even have left to go back to. I keep waiting to feel good enough to exercise at least. I'm 3 weeks since my last dose of prozac and at an all time low. I can barely drive or read like I can do normally during the day usually. All I can do is sweat and sit on the sofa watching tv. I'm miserable doing this but I literally can't do anything else. I can't stop focusing how much benzos took away my life and are still taking it. I didn't realize for 7 years I was just coasting thru life doing nothing for myself on those drugs now I'm stuck in w/d from them for who knows how long. I really don't see reasons to live at this point or anything that used to make me happy making me happy ever again but I'm still going. I'm not going to act on these thoughts and I know the last of the Prozac leaving my system has to be making things worse but there is literally nothing left of me. My body works and I'm breathing but that feels like all at the moment. Ugh. I'm really hoping this is the worst it and a few weeks from now I might feel better.

 

I'm sorry you're suffering so much. I also had brain fog and other symptoms you mention. But then came the anxiety and insomnia. So after various failed tricyclic AD trials, I went back on the BZD. Then tried escitalopram, but it didn't help. Then back on fluoxetine. I guess it's the only AD that

I tolerate. Some folks manage to quit it, though. The active metabolite of fluoxetine has a half-life of 16 days. The norfluoxetine. If you have SI, you need support IRL first of all.

Thanks Estee for your support as always. Things lifted a bunch today. Some of the brain fog even lifted a bit. I almost feel like my old self a bit just really depressed. The weather cooled off today so maybe thats helping my mood too. I always function better when its cool out.

I can't help the SI  stuff its almost like intrusive thoughts but I won't act on it. I do see a therapist and doctor regularly.

Its kinda hard coming back to life alone after seven years of benzos glossing everything over without everything else. Oh well. Hopefully things will improve.