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Prozac

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
I am about to try Prozac again. I have the tablets and will take my first dose in a few days time.

I was given 20mg of Prozac in my first severe year of ME fifteen years ago and it was a horrible experience. It felt like I had been given a lead coat to wear. It was physically crushing. It was too high a dose for how very ill I was at the time. I want to try it again but at a very tiny dose for the reason that I want to see if it helps calm down my CNS.

I read somewhere that Prozac has a long half life, what does that mean? Should I not take it everyday incase it causes problems.
 

barbc56

Senior Member
Messages
3,657
I take Zoloft. I think it depends on the severity of depression if you are taking it for that. ADs can also be used to treat pain and other health conditions. Also your physical health and any reactions to past medication.

I can take Zoloft and it helps big time for both. Yet SNRIs made me hypomanic. It's quite individual.

I think it's important to get any script from a psychiatrist or psychopharmacologist.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
I take Zoloft. I think it depends on the severity of depression if you are taking it for that as it can also be used to treat pain. Also your physical health and any reactions to past medication.

I can take Zoloft and it helps big time for both. Yet SNRIs made me hypomanic. It's quite individual.

I think it's important to get any script from a psychiatrist or psychopharmacologist.
It's not for depression. I don't think I have depression. I have mood swings that can take me high and low though (emotional liability, I think).

I have more urgent need for something to dampen my nervous system for the reason that I get a lot of heat, with a burning feel and wondering if this tablet may help stop it or ease it up some.
 

barbc56

Senior Member
Messages
3,657
I think it depends on the AD as some do help with anxiety more than others.There are other medications as well. Clonazapam works well for me. It also helps my RLS as I now can't take Mirapex which is usually the medication of choice.

I have been on it for twenty years. I'm sure if I stopped, I would get withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately, so far, I haven't had to increase my dosage to get the same effect. In fact I take a lower dosage than when I started. But this is my experience.

My way of thinking and I know some are horrified at the suggestion of taking these type of drugs, if I need it, I need it and unless my doctor says otherwise, will probably take it for the rest of my life. If it brings my nervous system closer to normal then the benefits outweigh the risk.

But again, what works for one person may not for another.

Good luck!
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
I've thought about clonazepam a lot. What has put me off is that I've seen horrible withdrawals with a close family member with some of the older type meds that it's made me very careful and distrustful of drugs. But I need something. I was given lorazapam to try but couldn't bring myself to try it. I wish I had now.

I understand what you are saying. Thanks Barb. It may be that I need something like clonazepam. I will be weighing it all up rather nervously though, I might add.
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
I take 10mg of fluoxetine, having worked my way up from 5mg. 10mg is the maximum tolerable dose for me. I would start with a quarter tablet, 5mg.

Fluoxetine has a half life of about one week. This means that when you take the drug daily, the dose will build up in your bloodstream over the first week or so.
 
Last edited:

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
I take 10mg of fluoxetine, having worked my way up from 5mg. 10mg is the maximum tolerable dose for me. I suggest you start with a quarter tablet, 5mg.

Fluoxetine has a half life of about one week. This means that when you take the drug daily, the dose will build up in your bloodstream over the first week or so.
Lovely, thanks. The first time I tried it, it came in a capsule form. So I made sure to ask for the tablet this time so I can cut it. Yes I will try a quarter and hope for the very best. Just hope it doesn't drop my heart rate too much. I'll be drinking lots of water to flush it out as fast as I can if that happens.:D:ill:

That build up over a week sounds a bit scary. Thanks for explaining it.
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
@adreno what time of day have you found that it works best for you?
Well, if you want to follow your natural circadian rhythm, take it in the morning. However, with a half life of one week, it probably doesn't matter much.

SSRI drugs are overdosed in my opinion. For most people, a quarter to half dose will probably work just as well, without many of the intolerable side effects. This happens because the doctors follows the dosing from studies, and high dosages are usually used in studies to guarantee effect.
 

JES

Senior Member
Messages
1,320
Fluoxetine did help my sleep a bit while on it, although to me it was very similar like any other SSRI, nothing special about it. Fluoxetine also has antiviral effects against enteroviruses (source), this got me excited at first, but from what I read you'd need way more than 20 mg for it to have any antiviral effects. The max I could tolerate was 10 mg and I didn't notice any improvements that would have been from the antiviral effect.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
Well, if you want to follow your natural circadian rhythm, take it in the morning. However, with a half life of one week, it probably doesn't matter much.

SSRI drugs are overdosed in my opinion. For most people, a quarter to half dose will probably work just as well, without many of the intolerable side effects. This happens because the doctors follows the dosing from studies, and high dosages are usually used in studies to guarantee effect.
OK, thanks Adreno. I'm planning to start the first dose tomorrow morning.
 

CFS_for_19_years

Hoarder of biscuits
Messages
2,396
Location
USA
Lovely, thanks. The first time I tried it, it came in a capsule form. So I made sure to ask for the tablet this time so I can cut it. Yes I will try a quarter and hope for the very best. Just hope it doesn't drop my heart rate too much. I'll be drinking lots of water to flush it out as fast as I can if that happens.:D:ill:

Ages ago, Prozac was one of the first ADs I took. I mainly took it to help with energy. At the time, I was given 20mg capsules, but that was way too much. My psych doc told me I could empty the contents into juice (it is stable in liquid) and take whatever dose I could tolerate that way. I found I could tolerate about 7mg, and this is how I did it: I emptied one 20mg capsule into 30ml of juice, and took 10ml each morning.

It helps to have a small container that you can keep in your refrigerator, and a dose measuring spoon or dropper like this:
www.amazon.com/Ezy-Dose-Medicine-Dropper-Spoon-Set/dp/B00008LUQ3

I would find it much more difficult to titrate the exact dose using tablets, but you can get it down to the exact mg with a capsule that you can open. I don't know how much things have changed with the manufacturing of Prozac, but I would ask for a Prozac capsule that contains a powder. Pharmacists would know which brands fit the bill.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
Ages ago, Prozac was one of the first ADs I took. I mainly took it to help with energy. At the time, I was given 20mg capsules, but that was way too much. My psych doc told me I could empty the contents into juice (it is stable in liquid) and take whatever dose I could tolerate that way. I found I could tolerate about 7mg, and this is how I did it: I emptied one 20mg capsule into 30ml of juice, and took 10ml each morning.

It helps to have a small container that you can keep in your refrigerator, and a dose measuring spoon or dropper like this:
www.amazon.com/Ezy-Dose-Medicine-Dropper-Spoon-Set/dp/B00008LUQ3

I would find it much more difficult to titrate the exact dose using tablets, but you can get it down to the exact mg with a capsule that you can open. I don't know how much things have changed with the manufacturing of Prozac, but I would ask for a Prozac capsule that contains a powder. Pharmacists would know which brands fit the bill.
That's very handy to know, thanks. I already have tablet form so will have to use it for now but if I go ok with Prozac I will try it the way you have described with the capsule.

How did you feel on 20mg? It was far too much me when I first tried it many years ago. It really crushed the life out of me. I felt like heavy cement in bed and could hardly breathe.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
.
Like I was heavily caffeinated. It literally made me sweat and shake. I had hand tremors. Getting it down to 7mg made it much more tolerable.
Your experience sounds like the opposite effect to what I experienced. It seems from most posters so far that under 10mg suits us better.

I wonder why some have a hyper-active reaction to it and others a heavy and crushing one?
 

Misfit Toy

Senior Member
Messages
4,178
Location
USA
Yes, I took it just like Cfs for 19 years. Back in 1990. It made me so sick to my stomach and exhausted. I slept constantly on it. All SSRI's do that to me. It's so weird.
 

Eeyore

Senior Member
Messages
595
I take prozac. It's very easy to take for me. I experienced some of the heaviness early on but it wasn't bad at all and went away. Also I would grind my teeth - that also faded. (Both faded over a few weeks to a few months.) I can take 60 and it doesn't bother me at all - I have no side effects now: - no grinding, no gastro, no sexual, no heaviness, nothing all. Super easy med for me. I find it to be much weaker than lexapro which acts faster and is stronger, but gives me tinnitus.

The half life on prozac is really long, which is mostly a good thing. It means that the levels ramp up slowly over time causing fewer side effects. It also means that unlike the other ssri's, you can just stop taking it and it will taper itself down over time. Those with a shorter half life get out of your system fast so you get a withdrawal like symptom (AKA antidepressant discontinuation syndrome). Some docs will give a single, large dose of prozac to their patients coming off other SSRI's as it will auto-taper for them and make the withdrawal easier. The long half life means that even though you take it daily, the actual amount in your body is many days worth - and by taking one a day, you are ramping up slowly, which usually gives fewer side effects than sudden changes in dosing.
 

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
Hi Eeyore, :) pleased to hear of your good experience and your mention of the heaviness (which I also had) and that it eventually dissipates. And thanks for explaining the meaning of the 'long half life' of Prozac. I hope to start the tablet soon, just waiting for some flare-up symptoms to ease back down again.