Posted by SLS on August 8, 2005, at 7:06:56
In reply to Re: Prozac withdrawal symptoms » SLS, posted by Josh Sanders on August 7, 2005, at 9:57:35
Hi Josh.
> I am currently taking 40 mg per day, and have been for at least ten years. I plan to see my doctor about getting off of Prozac next week, but in the meantime, what type of withdrawal time can I expect, and what symptoms? I am quite certain that I am no longer depressed, and that if anything, Prozac is causing any feeliings of depression I still experience.
Reducing the dosage and discontinuing an antidepressant after successful treatment is best done gradually. This will, of course, help prevent your having to experience a withdrawal syndrome. More importantly, however, it helps to prevent a true relapse.
I have no recent personal experience with discontinuing Prozac. I was on it so long ago at 20mg, that I don't remember if I suffered any withdrawal symptoms. Discuss with your doctor his recommendations for tapering the Prozac. If he has none, you might try reducing the dosage by 10mg every two weeks and down to 5mg for the last week. With Prozac, you actually can skip days between doses, so if you don't seem to be able to work with 5mg doses, you can take 10mg every other day and every third day for the last two weeks. Ask your doctor to prescribe for you the 10mg pills to work with.
Please post your experiences as you progress through your discontinuation phase. I'm sure people will be able to help you through it. Generally speaking, Prozac is about the easiest of the SRI antidepressants to discontinue.
Good luck.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:530900
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050712/msgs/539057.html