r/prozac

I was on this med a few years ago and it worked great. I'm now starting again and have been on 10mg for 4 weeks. Entering week 5 now and feeling dread every time i wake up, constantly anxious, depressed and irritable, unlike myself etc etc. (i didnt feel that bad when starting this time just some ocd thoughts i wanted to help with) i know the startup effects are terrible but when will this get better? I dont remember from last time. I'm debating if to just stop or keep pushing through. What week did you feel better?

Reading some of the stories here it honestly makes me a little nervous. I’m an anxious guy, 30 years old. Went through another breakup recently, and my car is also not doing well. Looking like I have to move back home for a year to actually regroup and set myself up for success.

So I got prescribed 10 mg Prozac to help with my anxiety, which has been bad for the last four years honestly. I haven’t started it yet because it’s through telehealth, but it should be here next week.

I already don’t sleep the best because of my anxiety. I have a lack of motivation too.

Anybody got some good success stories or some motivation to help me push through some possible initial side effects? Or possibly able to tell me that not everybody experiences those things? Much appreciated.

I sweat so much. I sweat so much for no fucking reason. I went out for about 2 hours earlier today, came back, and changed out of my trousers to find a HUGE wet patch right in the crotch area. I was wearing light coloured ones, too; so, it was so fucking obvious. I was walking around looking like I'd fully pissed myself

I'm preparing to move home soon, and I was rearranging some boxes to make some more space to pack things away. Sweat was dripping from me. Like, dripping down my face, neck, chest - I had droplets of sweat in my hair. All because I moved a few boxes (which weren't super heavy)

I'm sweaty CONSTANTLY. I don't get a break from it. I feel disgusting. It's so fucking embarrassing and pathetic

Hi all,

I tapered off my 20mg fluoxetine at the beginning of the year (7 months or so ago) and have recently decided to go back on it. The first time around I had mild headaches but that was it, I felt much better and slept and felt great.
This time around (Day 20) on 10mg I have no headaches but my depression is so strong and I haven’t been able to leave my bed in 4 days.

Is this normal and will it get better? Struggling with it and have had to take time off work but the first time around was completely different.

I appreciate any help!

I recently started Prozac and I’m wondering if anyone had symptoms similar to mine.

I don’t necessarily feel “sad.” It’s more like extreme fatigue, apathy, and feeling emotionally checked out. Most days I just want to lie down and scroll on my phone. Even things I normally enjoy feel like too much effort, and when I do them, I barely enjoy them. I also feel detached and not fully present when talking to people or doing things I’m supposed to enjoy.

If you had this type of depression rather than feeling traditionally sad, did Prozac help you feel more energetic, interested, and present again?

Would love to hear your experiences!

(P.s. I was on Wellbutrin 300xr for just over a year… but no improvement ☹️)

Today is day 20 of taking 10mg of Prozac and it’s been a wild ride. The first few days I felt amazing, then all of a sudden I got a big wave of all the side effects. Dizziness, sweating, extreme depression and anxiety. I almost quit because of that but thankfully it levelled out now.

However, for the past 4-5 days, I’ve been STARVING. Like it’s not just an appetite for some candy, but actual primal HUNGER. I would eat something and immediately after I’m starving again. My stomach hurts and I even get nauseous because of it.

And I really really don’t want to gain any weight, I’ve actually been on a weight loss journey. So now I don’t know whether I should stick to it and hope it will go away or if I just quit. Because it’s so bad that I can’t focus and live my life normally. This hunger is killing me

I'm (24F) coming here because I'm at a loss and want to hear other people's stories and experiences to see if anyone can else has experienced anything similar.

I've been on and off different meds for years and have had on and off bouts of depression. I'm diagnosed with MDD and recently suspected of struggling with OCD, so I tried Prozac for the first time.

Within a few days I felt good again. And then, I felt AMAZING. I was so inspired and motivated. I finally wanted to do art again. I didn't hate my job and I wasn't overwhelmed and I wasn't working myself into these constant awful thought spirals. It was early on and I really wasn't trying to get ahead of myself, but how could I not at the same time. I've been dealing with this particular bout of depression for over a year now. I've been seeing two therapists and have seen two different psychiatrists during this bout alone. I was feeling like all of my research and hard work was finally starting to pay off. I had worked so hard to do as much as I could before resorting to meds but it became necessary for me and finally I was seeing real results!

And then it tapered off. I started feeling bad again. I was taking the same meds, but after two weeks of feeling great I just started to feel blah. My psychiatrist recommended that I should up my dose from 20 to 40 mg bc of the potential OCD. That I may need more but it seems like this is the right med for me. We upped my dose, and I got worse. I was holding out hope for a while that my inspiration and motivation would come back, but I was crying more and feeling very overwhelmed over minor things. My partner could see I was getting worse and urged me to stop taking the medicine after I confessed I was researching institutions to check myself into. I was feeling scared of myself and panicked and like I needed more serious help.

When I relayed all of this to my psychiatrist and she seemed so confused. At this point, she was already on her way out of the practice and decided to decrease my dose and set me up with someone else within the practice who may have different recommendations. I have also been given IOP and PHP resources.

Unfortunately, because of the way my prescriber wrote my script, I wasn't able to get the refill I needed to properly taper off my dose before going out of town so I went from 40mg to 20 for less than a week to now nothing. Now I feel maybe the worst I've been yet this round. I'm so fatigued and no amount of caffeine can touch it. I dread doing anything and it's really impacting my daily functioning. I've only been off for about 5 days now, so I know the withdrawals are hitting me, but this is so awful.

I just don't understand what happened. Did I not give the meds enough time to work? Should I have stuck it out? Was my initial benefits some kind of placebo? I feel that if placebo was enough to help me I would have come across that a lot earlier in this journey. Did my extracurricular activities (regular cannabis smoking, one time use of 🍄‍🟫) ruin the opportunity I had with this drug? I would love to hear if anyone has had similar experiences and what worked for you or any advice you may have.

TL;DR Prozac worked great for me at first but the good effects tapered out and wore off after about 2 weeks. Increasing my dose made me feel even worse. Have you heard of anything like this?

Dealing with bad brain fog always feeling tired and spaced out when people talk to me sometimes. Tryna figure out how to deal with it because you can’t just come off it due to withdrawals. Been on it for 5 years.

Hi everyone, I love this community and could really use some advice.

I recently increased my Fluoxetine to 40mg after 6 weeks on 30mg where I was having an improvement but not quite to the level I was needing, so me and my GP decided to increase again. It’s been 7 days now on my increase, and I am really, really struggling. I am having extreme anxiety/distress/dizziness/paranoia/shakes and I feel extra emotional, crying daily whereas I never find myself crying.

I just feel in such distress, I had this same thing when I upped from 20mg to 30mg and it settled down. It‘s just this increase feels really hard. I have a benzo I take but it doesn’t seem to help my agitation/anxiety. It’s a double edged sword because I’m definitely better on Fluoxetine than without it, but the initial dose increase is really difficult to deal with. I’m hoping this will ease soon, it’s been 1 week on my increase. I have nausea and emetophobia as well, but I’ve had many tests and my nausea is purely a byproduct of my anxiety.

Fluoxetine has been the most tolerable and effective antidepressant after trialling nearly 10 over the years, so I really don’t want to stop yet and I want to see how a 40mg dose long term will benefit me. Is this to be expected? I’m just so frightened and on edge.

Been on Prozac 40mg for 3 weeks and honestly feeling terrible.

My anxiety has increased a lot, with irrational fear and afternoon panic attacks. I’m constantly overthinking, emotionally numb/blunted, have almost no happiness or motivation, very low energy, and mostly stay in bed.

The biggest change is my libido. I used to have a very high sex drive, but now I have almost zero libido. I barely feel sexual attraction/arousal and getting an erection is difficult.

Has anyone experienced this on Prozac? Do these side effects and emotional numbness improve with time, or did you need a dose/medication change?

hello i am 22 f and i was prescribed 20 mg of prozac and im on the second week. am also on wellbutrin and ive been on that for about a month. Im lowkey like super struggling. i’m terribly anxious and restless jittery and wired and it’s just so uncomfortable and i feel like im going crazy. i know that prozac is activating so this is normal for like 1-3 weeks and then hopefully ? it will subside but i am just like. i’ve been irrritable and super forgetful as well , my brain just feels so fuzzy idk. it’s also unfortunate with timing because i am moving internationally in a few weeks so i’m already just anxious about that. i’ve been reminding myself that like this isn’t forever and that it will go away and even out and everything , i just feel weird and it’s noticeable. it’s gonna go away right.

I recently switched from 25mg Zoloft to 20 mg Prozac about 9 days ago. My period is two days late but I have an iud so it’s not always regular anyways. Google says this is possible but has anyone else had a late period when starting / switching ?

I've been on 20mg Prozac for almost 2 weeks, and while I feel better, there are a few side effects I'm having trouble with: brain fog, fatigue and blurry eyes.

Did anyone else experience these and get past them? I'm considering combining Prozac with another medication, possibly Wellbutrin if my focus doesn't improve in a week or two.

I'm having trouble focusing and struggling with my mental recall, which is affecting my performance at work.

My OBGYN prescribed this for me for generalized depression, PMDD and PTSD that I've really been struggling with postpartum. I have previously been diagnosed with ADD as well.

I recently was diagnosed with depression and my psychiatrist prescribed me prozac. My husband used to be on prozac and he said his medication sorta tasted like a rice cracker or rice paper. If its of any importance, he got his meds filled at walgreens. And his meds were also the stereotypical green and white capsule. Well I got my meds filled at walmart and the capsules are blue and green. But what im getting at is that my meds lowkey taste like a fart. Like I have to swallow it as soon as it touches my mouth or I just have the lingering taste of fart in my mouth which definitely isn’t enjoyable. Has anyone else experienced this 💀😅

Just started week 5 at 20mg. Week 4 was amazing had almost no anxiety at all. Now onto week 5 the anxiety is back along with really strong morning anxiety. I’ve had some bad insomnia too the past couple days which I thought I was over with. Is this normal going into week 5?

I will be going to 40mg and I was curious for the people who have felt the adjustment period from increasing doses is the adjustment period the same or less time? 1 week or more? I have had a huge decrease of anxiety but I do still have consistent dread that shows up. Trying this out to see if it gets less. Any feedback from your personal experiences would be appreciated.

I’m coming up on 6 weeks of taking Prozac (fluoxetine) 20mg and I’m not really sure whether it’s working for me.
I had very few of the initial side effects I was warned about. I was able to sleep normally and didn’t experience much nausea, anxiety, insomnia, etc. The main things I’ve noticed are extreme daytime tiredness and a significant decrease in libido / difficulty reaching orgasm.
I take 20mg around 10am every day, and I often start feeling very sleepy around noon/lunchtime. The tiredness can be pretty intense on some days, even though I’m sleeping normally at night.
What I’m struggling with is knowing what I’m actually supposed to feel like if Prozac is working. I don’t feel ecstatic, suddenly energized, or dramatically different. I do notice I’m experiencing improvements in my original symptoms of anxiety and depression but there still have been days where I feel sad (granted, they last for a much shorter period than it did before)
I’ve read that 6–8 weeks is when you should start seeing the full effect, so I’m wondering:

What did it feel like for you when Prozac started working?
Did you notice a gradual improvement or a sudden change?
Did anyone experience significant tiredness that eventually went away?
Is it normal to still be very tired around week 6?
Did your libido/sexual side effects improve with time?
At what point did you decide Prozac wasn’t working for you or that you needed a dose/medication change?
I’m planning to speak to my doctor rather than changing anything myself, but I’d really appreciate hearing about other people’s experiences around the 6-week mark.

Do you guys actually notice any different? I’m kinda overweight so I sweat really easy but this mf made it even worse.

I have PMDD, OCD, panic, and generally bad anxiety. I was on Zoloft and Lamictal years ago which was fine, but any increase in Zoloft made me feel so internally agitated. I hated it.

I took a very small dose of Zoloft again last year and I felt so uncomfortably “activated.” I didn’t like it and it aggravated an electrical issue with my heart. Does Prozac similarly cause feelings of activation or internal agitation at first? I truly hate that feeling, but trying to find a treatment that is safe for electrical heart issues.

I’ve been on Prozac for about 2 months now. I did 10mg for the first month and then increased to 20mg, which I’ve been on for about a month.

At first I was doing REALLY well. I felt happier, more motivated, less anxious, and overall like it was actually working. But about a week ago it suddenly felt like something completely changed.

I’ve been experiencing:

- Extreme exhaustion and sleeping 11+ hours

- Vivid/intense nightmares

- Very little motivation, especially in the evenings

- Agitation/anxiety

- Lower/depressed mood

- Feeling like I just want to sleep all the time

- Not wanting to talk to friends or family

- Not even wanting to listen to music or do things I normally enjoy

- Periods of extreme hunger

And today I suddenly started experiencing heartburn

The exhaustion is probably the worst part. I feel like a completely different person compared to how good I was feeling a couple weeks ago.

I’m getting on a call with my psychiatrist to talk about all of this, so I’m not looking for medical advice or planning to change my dose based on Reddit. 

I’m mostly curious whether anyone else experienced something similar after initially doing really well on Prozac. If you did, what ended up happening? Did the side effects eventually settle down? Did your doctor increase your dose, decrease it, or switch you to something else? Did you eventually start feeling good again?

Prozac was helping my anxiety/OCD a lot at first, so I’m really disappointed and confused by the sudden change. I’d especially love to hear from anyone who had a similar experience and eventually found something that worked.