u/sauvybsloot

You probably have seen this post already because I’m posting everywhere for any sort of relief and reassurance haha sorry to those who keep seeing it but yeah, I’m not well.

Long story short, I was on Prozac for 3 years for anxiety and came off of it January 2026. I was very lucky I had zero side effects coming on or off the medication. Decided to go back on it on May 7th, regretting it ever since, and had the most debilitating experience to the point where I called out of work for an entire week, had to call the suicide hotline & essentially became a shell of who I was. My psychiatrist told me let’s get you off, this isn’t normal or good for you. I was on 20 mg for 7 days, 10 mg for 3 days and now today is my 4th day not taking the medication. I’m beating myself up because I should have never tried to go back on it, I didn’t need to. Now I feel more fucked up than ever. Spoke with a psychiatrist today and she said she’s never seen this before (someone be on a medication for 3 years, go off and then go back on and completely not tolerate it at all) and basically told me she didn’t know what to tell me and that hopefully I feel better soon. I feel defeated. I’m trying to tell myself I can’t possibly expect to feel 100% like myself again only 4 days after being off the medication. I’m trying to remind myself I WILL get back to my baseline, I WILL feel happy again and excited about life and friendships and family and events. But yeah I feel defeated. Could really use some validation and reassurance that I’m only days away from being back to me. And curious, has anyone had my experience before? Has anyone been on and off and back on again but couldn’t tolerate it? Thanks everyone 🤍

Posted this in the r/prozac subreddit too because I’m that desperate for reassurance haha

Long story short, I was on Prozac for 3 years for anxiety and came off of it January 2026. I was very lucky I had zero side effects coming on or off the medication. Decided to go back on it on May 7th, regretting it ever since, and had the most debilitating experience to the point where I called out of work for an entire week, had to call the suicide hotline & essentially became a shell of who I was. My psychiatrist told me let’s get you off, this isn’t normal or good for you. I was on 20 mg for 7 days, 10 mg for 3 days and now today is my 4th day not taking the medication. I’m beating myself up because I should have never tried to go back on it, I didn’t need to. Now I feel more fucked up than ever. Spoke with a psychiatrist today and she said she’s never seen this before (someone be on a medication for 3 years, go off and then go back on and completely not tolerate it at all) and basically told me she didn’t know what to tell me and that hopefully I feel better soon. I feel defeated. I’m trying to tell myself I can’t possibly expect to feel 100% like myself again only 4 days after being off the medication. I’m trying to remind myself I WILL get back to my baseline, I WILL feel happy again and excited about life and friendships and family and events. But yeah I feel defeated. Could really use some validation and reassurance that I’m only days away from being back to me. And curious, has anyone had my experience before? Has anyone been on and off and back on again but couldn’t tolerate it? Thanks everyone 🤍

Long story short, I was on Prozac for 3 years for anxiety and came off of it January 2026. I was very lucky I had zero side effects coming on or off the medication. Decided to go back on it on May 7th, regretting it ever since, and had the most debilitating experience to the point where I called out of work for an entire week, had to call the suicide hotline & essentially became a shell of who I was. My psychiatrist told me let’s get you off, this isn’t normal or good for you. I was on 20 mg for 7 days, 10 mg for 3 days and now today is my 4th day not taking the medication. I’m beating myself up because I should have never tried to go back on it, I didn’t need to. Now I feel more fucked up than ever. Spoke with a psychiatrist today and she said she’s never seen this before (someone be on a medication for 3 years, go off and then go back on and completely not tolerate it at all) and basically told me she didn’t know what to tell me and that hopefully I feel better soon. I feel defeated. I’m trying to tell myself I can’t possibly expect to feel 100% like myself again only 4 days after being off the medication. I’m trying to remind myself I WILL get back to my baseline, I WILL feel happy again and excited about life and friendships and family and events. But yeah I feel defeated. Could really use some validation and reassurance that I’m only days away from being back to me. And curious, has anyone had my experience before? Has anyone been on and off and back on again but couldn’t tolerate it? Thanks everyone 🤍

Ok so here’s my story: sorry it’s a long one lol

I went on Prozac November 2022, gradually increased over a few months to 40 mg and that was a sweet spot for a bit but realized I needed to pair actual therapy if I wanted to see results. Been doing that since November 2025. Come January 2026, I realized I’ve been clenching my jaw more, resulting in cracked teeth (went to the dentist and they said I was clenching so hard my teeth literally were fractured) and I immediately was like okay hell no this has to stop. Got a crown to fix one of the teeth and then a mouth guard to wear while I sleep. I told all of this to my psychiatrist who said Prozac is known to have a side effect of jaw clenching and I thought omg! This is why! So we took myself off of Prozac and started Buspirone in January 2026. I didnt have any withdrawal symptoms coming off of Prozac thank god. Come April 2026, I realized some depression symptoms were coming back and that freaked me out more than anything so I told my psychiatrist and she said let’s get you back on Prozac AND Buspirone. I’m now on day 6 of being back on Prozac, starting at only 20 mg to ease me back into it, and the last two days I’ve been more depressed and anxious than ever 😭 I’m reading more and more that this is normal, that this is my brain readjusting to Prozac but oh my god I’ve had to call out of work because I’m experiencing the most debilitating chest tightness, stomach aches and heart racing. All of this to say I think I should’ve never gone off of Prozac to begin with. I realized I was going through a lot of stressors at the end of 2025 going into 2026 so that was probably the reason behind my jaw clenching, not the Prozac especially since I hadn’t had that symptom for years. Anywho, can someone please tell me there’s a light at the end of this hopefully very short tunnel.. I don’t remember the adjustment period being this bad when first going on Prozac back in 2022. Or maybe I blacked it out lol. Overall, I need reassurance and validation that I’ll be okay. I can’t call out of work a 3rd day in a row. My psychiatrist did also prescribe hydroxyzine (10 mg) to take as needed up to 2 tablets twice daily to ease the transition. Did this work for anyone? Summary of my current meds:

Buspirone: 10 mg twice a day
Prozac: 20 mg once a day
Hydroxyzine: 10 mg x 2 up to 2 times a day as needed

Someone please tell me I’ll be okay and soon 😭

Sincerely,
A very anxious 28 year old gal just trying to live a normal life again