• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

Prozac - when am i gonna know for sure if it disagrees with me?

Status
Not open for further replies.
That being said, whatever you do, I'd encourage you to do it in consultation with your doctor
I emailed her about it yesterday - but no response yet (not that I mind or am worried about that, she has a life lol), she wanted me to update her and even sent a follow up email yesterday morning, since I hadn't responded yet to her response to my first email. Just a really short one asking how I was doing.

I didn't take it yesterday, haven't taken it today (and it's late enough in the day I wouldn't want to)

You're likely to experience that same batch of flu-like symptoms from temporarily discontinuing the drug.

I don't think a single 10mg dose of prozac was a long enough exposure to cause any kind of withdrawal symptoms. No nausea at all today. I feel a lot better today than I did the past two days, though I'm still having a hard time in regards to anxiety. I'm not like, -constantly- sweaty palms level anxious though, and I haven't needed valium at all today so far.

I'm definitely not a fan of SSRIs, generally

I was like, VERY strongly against ever taking them. I still am strongly against taking them, lol. Like, I am upset that they're something I actually could potentially get benefits out of, and that I have to go through the process of going on and then potentially off of an SSRI in order to find out. It will be worth it if it does work for me in the end though.

If my symptoms weren't so severe and present every day, I'd never, ever consider taking them. I was okay with taking bupropion, because it's an NDRI rather than an SSRI - and it did make me less depressed for sure, it helped in some ways, but wasn't good for my anxiety or sleep. But considering how much my symptoms are affecting my life, I decided to do the unthinkable (lol) and try an SSRI. It took a lot of convincing to make me even consider it.

by Friday you'll essentially be starting all over again.
Yeah, I know :/ but ultimately that only means that I'll be repeating "day one" because I only took it once. I don't mind not holding on to any "progress" in regards to adapting to the drug.

The nausea will suck but having to repeat day one is worth having gone to band practice yesterday.
 
that only means that I'll be repeating "day one" because I only took it once.
Thanks for clarifying that - somehow, reading the thread, I thought you had taken it more than just one day. Yes, you'd not have any reverse effects from that.

Sometimes, the accompanying anxiety isn't worth it, with new meds. I do understand that. If you do decide to try it again, just go into it assuming that you're going to feel like you're physically sick for a good solid week. You can also ask your doc if you can titrate up any slower. If it's an extended release pill, don't cut it up without doc's permission - generally, the part that makes it an extended release is in the coating, so cutting those up is not advisable.
 
It really sounds like you started on a dose way, way, too high. I had the same reaction it it was years before I tried again, and I currently take the drug today at 60mg. You shouldn't let this experience completely sour you to the med; it may be wrong; it may be the wrong dose; it's hard to say.

That said, I haven't been able to be on Prozac without another med, Seroquel/Quetiapine. The two together really work well for me, but we're all so different, you really need to work that out with a pdoc.
 
It really sounds like you started on a dose way, way, too high.
The funny thing about that is I was taking the smallest dose that is made as far as I am aware. The pediatric dose. Lol.

10mg of prozac.

But again - if what happened was a "that's too high of a dose" sort of thing, then it really lends credence to my gene test saying I am a poor metabolizer of prozac (and anything else metabolized by the same thing/things)

My pdoc emailed me back and said not to take the prozac and that we'll discuss options when I see her tomorrow.

So I think it's probably going to be a "let's try something else" sort of thing.

I was willing to give it another shot but if she's saying not to, I am happily gonna listen to that advice. Lol.
 
How long should I give it a shot though, before I decide "okay this drug does NOT agree with my body"?

I had to take 3 weeks off of work for Seriquel XR and a lot of coaching from the site to keep going. f*cking glad I did now. It's a god send!

Each ant-depressant I was on I gave it about 2 weeks. The first week I knew were going to be hell. Some made me feel like I had the flu and some just made me mean as f*ck. I don't think I gave any of them a fair shot tossing each after week 2. But, yeah, on any SSRI you'll feel weird for a good solid week. So, whetever your PDoc puts you on next, I'd expect that and would try to give it at least 3 weeks if possible. Also, starting with the lowest possible dose was smart. I'd do that again to titrate up as slowly as possible.
 
A little update:
Not going to be trying prozac or any SSRI any time soon.

Due to the nature of my reaction my pdoc thinks I might possibly have bipolar disorder going on. Not something I would be happy about being diagnosed with though I'd rather find out than not know, if I do have it. Still. I am kinda like, *blehhhh* as f*ck about the whole thing. Still, I am glad she's being cautious and not just labeling me with that without having sufficient evidence.

My (abusive alcoholic) father was bipolar - I don't personally have any bias against people with bipolar disorder. I just have been kind of really really not wanting to have it, like he did.

I don't really want to get into all much it but yeah. We're trying a different route with meds for now.

mirtazapine and lamotrigine. Tonight I'll be trying the mirtazapine and 3 days from now if all is well then I'll begin the slow taper up of lamotrigine.

Of course the mirtazapine also carries the risk of a manic sort of reaction but, we'll see what happens. I need help with sleep badly.
 
Due to the nature of my reaction my pdoc thinks I might possibly have bipolar disorder going on
I had thought about it too. But, its also possible that you don't. My mom doesn't have bipolar and had a similar reaction to an ssri. It passed after two weeks.

I get you not wanting the dx.
With my long experience in changing dxs over the years, my advice is to not jump to conclusions while you're heavily symptomatic from ptsd. Honestly, the two overlap a lot and unless you have a true manic - like, unequivocal - episode, I really wouldn't jump to conclusions.

Its perfectly okay to wait it out a few months or years with no certainties.
 
My good friend is bipolar, but has only seen a shrink when in a depressive phase so takes ADs. It's horrible, honestly. You do not want that.

I don't say much about it but not being on ADs is so much better than being on them for me personally.
 
So I have taken 3 SSRI's in my life.
I took Effexxor (not an SSRI, but does boost serotonin).
I took Zoloft
I took Lexapro.
I took the last two during post partum depression.
All 3 meds caused manic reactions, extreme anxiety, some psychosis like symptoms, extreme intrusive thoughts, weird sleep, feeling flat but revved up, major suicidal thoughts, fast moving thoughts, naussea.
These symptoms increased with dose increase and the longer I was on it.
The Lexapro caused me massive issues for years and years after tapering it only after 5 mos. of taking it.
I am doing a little better now, but dont use psych meds.
Some doctors said I had BPD due to my manic reaction to all 3 serotonin drugs.
This is BS.
I do not have BPD not on drugs, never have.
I can tolerate benzos, but tapering from those is hell.
I don't think these drugs were innocent and I just suddenly had BPD.
I think these drugs were not processed well by my body and they were seen as toxic.
I chose the non drug route because all these drugs made me feel so crazy and ill and I found non drug interventions that work for me but have friends that have found the right drug.
 
he funny thing about that is I was taking the smallest dose that is made as far as I am aware.

Yeah, when I took it the first time, it was a solid year before I loosened my claws on the ceiling and climbed down again.

Keep in mind that sometimes a very strong reaction is an indicator that your on the right path. It's well known that if a patient isn't titrating well unto a med, that a good option is to try on a very low dose. Remember the 1mg I talked about. There were quite a few people that did well on the drug after ramping up appropriately. .

A case and point: I reacted severely to anti seizure medications. The doc gave me a dose of about 600mg even though I pleaded for 10mg. It was hell. Psychosis. In the middle of it, I flushed my meds down the toilet and swore I'd never try that again. (I still remember my ex-wife disgusted with me). But, some.... 15 years later, I'm taking a anti-seizure med on an extremely low dose. The result? My PTSD had evaporated.

I'm not saying that a small dose is correct. I'm just saying that you should keep your options open.
 
@Scarlet13 - I would personally agree that not necessarily anyone going manic on SSRIs is bipolar. I am glad my doc wants some solid evidence of it before labeling me with anything.

That said, looking back over my life, and looking at my psychotic break, as well as the time after, there are some things kinda making me think she might be on to something, as much as I don't want that to be true. It would explain some things I've experienced.

I've had both periods of severe depression and periods of heightened activity, reduced need for sleep, extremely high self esteem (like, seriously confident/overconfident in myself), elevated mood, really high motivaton, unusually grand ideas, poor decision making, risk taking and other stuff... I am hesitant to label that shit "mania", but the stuff I was feeling in the day of and days after taking prozac, and during/after my psychosis... that kinda feeling/mood/state has happened before, just not as strongly or in a way that I personally viewed as bad. It was just nowhere near as severe as during/after the psychosis. I had that stuff going on before my trauma. I think when I was in university is when that sort of stuff began, though I didn't have horrible suicidal depression until I was 24 (before even meeting my abuser).

I need to open up more about the past depression (and severity of it) to my pdoc. Same with the possible periods of mania - maybe she could help me figure out if it was just natural high energy or not or something. Gah. I was hesitant to open up about any of that stuff, too, and kinda hesitated and said no when she asked if I had times like that before, even though those times popped into my head when she asked me if I experienced mania like stuff before. Also it's not like I disliked that high energy or viewed it as a bad thing. I did view it as bad in the psychosis, after it, and after prozac. I'd say today is the first day I don't really feel like that since I tried that one pill of prozac.


Also I think mirtazapine is maybe a no-go but it's not a bad reaction really. I just feel sluggish as all f*ck, which I know wouldn't be an issue forever. However it's also made my tinnitus crank way the f*ck up, which is super, super annoying. Constant high pitched "eeeeeeeeeeeeee" in my ears. I got about 9 hours of sleep and fell asleep within 15 minutes of laying down. So it did help there, I might want to just go with the other shit she was recommending though because of this stuff worsening my tinnitus - which I have seen other people reporting. Funny thing is mirtazapine helps some people with their tinnitus and dulls it. Lol. Mine has been dulled naturally for years, just via getting used to it or maybe it getting less bad with time. But right now it's back pretty strongly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top