r/prozac

... hey, i’m (F19) panicking a little and need some reassurance ...

i’ve been taking prozac (fluoxetine) 20 mg for 11 days now, and tonight i had like 2 sips of neocitran. i took my prozac this morning around 9 am and drank the neocitran around 10:30 pm.

now i’m paranoid asf that something bad is going to happen. i have really bad health anxiety, and once i start worrying about something like this, i can’t stop overthinking it.

has anyone else taken fluoxetine and accidentally had neocitran? should i be concerned about the interaction, or am i freaking myself out over nothing? ...

i’d really appreciate some advice because i’m genuinely panicking rn.

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I'm interested in hearing from people who initially responded really well to fluoxetine, perhaps for OCD anxiety or rumination like me, but then found the benefits faded or seemed to disappear quite abruptly.

If you stopped taking it and restarted it months or years later, did it work as well the second time around? Did it take effect again, work less well, or not work at all? It was the best ssri ive been on (currently on sertraline for years but the blunting amongst other things aren't good for me) but it stopped working pretty much overnight many years ago so I haven't gone back since, but the sertraline is doing my head in.

I'm also curious whether anyone has ever found out why it stopped working in the first place. Did your doctor suggest tolerance, changes in your symptoms, life stressors, or something else?

I'd particularly appreciate experiences from people who had a clear, sustained initial response before losing it, rather than people who never found it helpful in the first place.

Thanks- interested in both positive and negative experiences.

Hello all! I am starting Prozac soon because I have very bad binge eating and ocd. I wanted to hear stories and experiences. I think I’m most hesitant to start because of gaining weight. I’ve already gained 20lbs this past year from binging (I am shorter so it seems like a lot more weight on my actual frame) so you gain weight? And do u stope binging? What mg are you all on to see it get better?

Hello! I’m on day 14 of 10mg. Last few days anxiety has been through the roof, having trouble sleeping and staying asleep, sweating and also really jittery. Has anyone else had these symptoms? Frustrated and hoping these pass. 😞

Ive been taking Prozac since August 24th and I FEEL GREAT!!! I have a history of MDD so I dont really know what it feels like to feel "good". I just am laughing all the time and smiling and have all this energy. Truthfully it feels like the dose might be high even though its 20mg (am sensitive to meds) but maybe this is how normal people feel on a regular day? Just curious if other people with major depressive disorder notice this change. Thanks!

Hypothetical of course since I'm really bored

So curious has anyone experienced moods kind of being up and down and a lot down. I am on 80mg for almost 3 months now and it seems to be worse than when I was on 60 or even 40. 80mg when in my first week I thought I found the right dose. About two weeks into it and my mood went way down and hasn’t really leveled off. I sometimes feel insane constantly having mood changes. From irritability, depressed, no motivation to do shit! Sometimes I feel good. It’s like this weird rollercoaster of emotions. Starting to really think Prozac just isn’t for me! But terrified to switch to something else.

I've been taking prozac for about a year now, and it has really changed my life. I have OCD that often left me in overthinking rumination, and the Prozac has significantly quieted my thoughts.

It is my first SSRI, so I started at 10 mg and slowly worked my way up. I'm currently on 40 mg which is a pretty low dose for OCD. I think because I have OCD (and not MDD), I don't necessarily feel emotionally blunted when on Prozac. But I do feel fatigued, and a severe lack of motivation.

Part of this is that, before Prozac, I had a hard time with staying asleep and would often wake up after only a few hours and ruminate until morning. I can now sleep through the night, and then end up taking naps. I also have a hard time waking up if I'm up late and need to get less than 8-9 hours. I've tried to switch to taking it at night, and that just gives me insomnia lol.

Also motivation-wise, before Prozac, I ran my life on a lot of adrenaline/panic/nervous energy, and I'm wondering if the "lack of motivation" I feel is more about not even knowing what my natural motivation/ambition feels like. Like, it's good that I'm not panicked all the time, but I also have some very real material issues, and those feel a little "whatever" to me at this point, and like ... I need to pay rent lol.

What I'm asking is: does anyone have experience with fatigue on Prozac? I am having a hard time communicating this to my prescriber because she insists that it's an activating drug and I shouldn't feel like this. But I do! In general, I don't have a strong response to stimulants (medically or recreationally), and I know most other SSRIs cause even more fatigue. Any thoughts or insights are very appreciated!

I’ve been taking 20MG of fluoxetine and for a while (since April) it made my anxiety better. Not perfect, but better. I could go out in public without randomly freaking out, until one day I had a horrific panic attack in Home Depot that felt endless. A few days later I went to a restaurant and completely freaked out as well… threw ice cold water all over myself and wouldn’t stop shaking. My anxiety got much worse after the incidents but I was still able to walk out in public. I decided to up my dose to 30MG and 2 weeks later I’m doing the worst I’ve been in years. I have several panic attacks a day which is highly unusual for me and I can’t take it anymore. Will it get better or should I quit this dose? Please help guide me. I’m desperate for the torment to stop.

I’m on 20mg of fluoxetine and asked a pharmacist this afternoon if I was safe to take DayQuil. He said yes, but now im freaking out. I took DayQuil like 8.5 hours ago and NyQuil like 30 minutes ago. Is this it for me folks?

Been on it 1 1/2 years now and it first it helped but now i have really dark thoughts that i didnt used to have. anyone had any luck switching? or maybe i have to up my dose ? im on 50mg currently. mental health is just so annoying because now i feel hopeless like nothings gonna work ever and im going to die feeling like this (sorry for being a downer :(

I'm hoping to get advice before I can meet with my doctor. I've been taking 20mg for over a week now (plus a week on 10mg) and am so tired every day that I have to take a nap. I was taking it in the morning and tried switching to night but then I couldn't fall asleep! That gave me anxiety so I switched back to morning. I'm not sure what to do! Is prozac not for me? Is it too soon to tell and this will pass? Any insights appreciated. Thanks.

TLDR at the end

Intro/context: I (22M) started Prozac a week ago. I am already on ADHD meds and beta blockers, but I've never been on an SSRI before. My mental anxiety (the beta blockers are for physical anxiety symptoms) was getting much worse lately and I was experiencing panic attacks, but I didn't want to get on certain other types of medications for anxiety/panic, so my therapist suggested that I get on an antidepressant instead. We thought it would also help with mild-moderate depression symptoms that I experience too, although those symptoms were never unmanageable enough to warrant an antidepressant prescription. I say all this to my psychiatrist, and he prescribed me Prozac, 10mg. I started taking it September 26th, a bit over a week ago, in the morning with my other meds.

I know it takes weeks to feel the full effects, but my god the depression is so, SO much worse. I felt it almost immediately after starting. I didn't even start this medication for depression, it was more for mental anxiety. I think the anxiety slightly improved just because I Don't Care about things enough to be as anxious about them as before.

I was already debating whether or not I was going to continue with my undergrad degree before, but after starting Prozac, I've almost made up my mind that I'm dropping tf out. I'd like to do it right this second, but I know I should trudge through the rest of the semester and get my money's worth of tuition, tie up loose ends etc., and because I might change my mind when/if this medication starts to work.

My psych told me it was an "activating" medication at first, which I guess is true, but I've mostly just experienced more irritability and more impulsivity. My energy and drive is generally low, even while on ADHD medication. My sleep has been mostly unaffected.

Everything is just a massive fckn chore. Eating, showering, shaving, cleaning, homework, practicing my instrument (music major), going to work/class, reading and sending emails, getting out of bed, every single thing feels like an unbearable burden that I don't want to do. I already MASSIVELY struggle with executive dysfunction, so you can only imagine how bad it is now. I don't care about anything anymore. I struggle to get anything done. I've had depressive episodes before and have had a "baseline" of manageable depression symptoms for a long time, but this? This is different. I just don't give a fuck. About anything.

There's been a noticeable increase in negative/self-destructive behaviors and coping mechanisms since starting this medication too, but I'd rather not go into detail abt that here. Rest assured, I do Not have any plans or any desire to hurt myself or others.

Did anyone else have this experience in their first few weeks and saw improvement? Is anyone here on a similar medication combo that I'm on and willing to share their experience? I want to think that after a few more weeks I'll change my mind about dropping out and I'll start to feel better, but I really don't know if I can get to that point at this rate.

TLDR; Prozac is making me feel like absolute dogshit and I don't care about anything in life, but it's only been a week. Did anyone else feel this way too? What was your experience like? Did it improve enough to make the first few weeks worth it in the end? Anything helps.

So about 13, going on 14 days ago.. I stopped taking Prozac. I was taking 40 mg for about 3 months and it was giving me really messed up symptoms while I was on it. Now.. I'm starting to have those symptoms x20 and it's unbearable. I'm extremely irritable, I have severe restlessness and anxiety. I'm having these weird body sensations that are scaring the crap out of me, I'm having brain zaps (especially when I lay down at night to sleep) I feel like I'm stuck in this dream-like state all the time, and on top of all that I'm having vertigo and dizziness. I'm extremely sensitive to sound/light and my head is killing me.

What can I do to get through this? I can't handle this anymore, I'm losing my mind. Has anybody else gone through something like this? I read online about the withdrawals of Prozac and it sounds a lot like what I'm dealing with. My psychiatrist also told me that he thought the brain zaps and dizziness was caused by the prozac which is what led to me stopping for 4 days, I ended up taking 40 mg and it made me feel worse, so that's when I stopped officially 14 days ago.

Hi all,

I’ve never posted here before, but I’ve been on Prozac since 2017 for MDD/GAD. I was young when I started (19), and I was on Citalopram for a few years before that. So I have been on antidepressants my entire adolescence and adult life. When I was 19, I also was late diagnosed with ADHD, and started treatment for that. Over the past decade or so, I’ve done lots of therapy and although I had hard times, I worked hard and built the life I wanted.

Earlier this year, after a few years of no depressive episodes, I decided it was time to see what life was like without an SSRI. I started tapering my dosage (under supervision). I took my last pill near the end of March.

The withdrawal wasn’t fun, but I made it through. And I felt pretty decent after and was doing regular therapy during the process. I was even training for a marathon which was helping my mental health a lot. My psychologist told me I am still showing depressive symptoms, but I didn’t feel like they were impacting me severely so I continued forward.

Around July/August I had a lot of life changes. I also took on more responsibility at work at this time. This is when things started to go downhill for me, but I figured I just needed time to adjust.

However, I don’t think that’s the case. I have developed OCD-like symptoms. I am having intrusive thoughts about accidentally harming others (I work in healthcare- so this is really distressing). It’s consuming hours of my day (constantly checking things and rechecking) and really impacting me. I’ve lost weight, stopped exercising, sleep is impacted, and I basically feel like I’m on the verge of a mental break.

I am really upset, because I have put in so much work to my mental health. The doctors told me to take time off work and go back on my Prozac. I started taking it again today.

Have any of you experienced something like this? I am wondering if the Prozac was masking OCD or if this is just part of the withdrawal process.

Has anyone found prozac and partaking in a particular type of gardening to be very beneficial? therapeutic? helpful?

I was prescribed prozac to treat both my MDD and anxiety.

I find the days where I do smoke to be very happy, peaceful days. I can be very quiet minded, often times stimulated. Increased sociability, my anxiety is not as “triggered”, things seem more bright and shiny. This effect extends long past when I smoke, it can last all day at times (only on weekends, when i don’t work) and not necessarily the “high”. Just these positive notes on my personality/mood.

Just curious if anyone has had similar, I feel like I only hear negatives which makes me worried that my time hasn’t come yet.

I started on 20mg of Prozac/fluoxetine a little over a week ago, two weeks next Monday. I was started on this after Lexapro stopped working for me. I’ve been struggling insanely bad with the gastrointestinal side effects, particularly the nausea and appetite issues. Eating is very hard to do, and sometimes when I eat I find myself not feeling good after. And I’m constantly nauseous for no reason which is worsened by not eating, and it also makes my car sickness way worse which is a huge problem because I have places to go and things to do. I’m at a loss and at this point I’m just over it. Someone please tell me it gets better because it’s starting to not feel worth it.