Posted by Conundrum on September 24, 2010, at 8:02:06
In reply to Re: SSRI withdrawal 1 month later, still zapping » vitalsign0, posted by 49er on September 24, 2010, at 4:26:31
> > Brief history:
> >
> > Been taking Luvox 50mgs and Xanax .5mgs at night for the past 14 years for generalized anxiety and OCD.
> >
> > My doctor switched me to Prozac to make withdrawal easier and it worked. I took Prozac 10mgs for a month and then stopped the SSRI altogether. I still got some brain zaps and headaches, but they were a lot more mild than any other previous attempt. Things got bad two weeks after stopping for a few days, then calmed down a bit.
> >
> > Here it is 4 weeks after stopping Prozac, 2 months after stopping Luvox, and I'm still getting brain zaps, disconnected feeling, and headaches. I can never predict how I'm going to feel day to day.
> >
> > How long should this go on for? My doctor said at this point it may not be the medication withdrawal anymore, but a physical manifestation of baseline anxiety and I might want to restart Luvox or try a different one.
> >
> > Any advice?
>
> Vital Sign,
>
> Unfortunately, you essentially cold turkeyed Prozac at 10mg and that is why you are having the problems you're having. I am not saying that to be critical by the way.
>
> Unfortunately, many psychiatrists (not all) are clueless about withdrawal symptoms. Obviously, I disagree with your doctor.
>
> You might want to consider reinstating the Prozac at 10mg since it sounds like you didn't have problems. Once you are stable and ready to taper, I would get the liquid version and taper 10% of current dose every 3 to 6 weeks.
>
> I hear the groans from everyone on the board that this will take too long. Well, this is not a race and the goal is to be off permanently.
>
> You found that the quick way didn't work so it is time to try another method in my opinion.
>
> Good luck.
>
> 49er
>What he said. Some people are very sensitive to these meds and need to withdrawal very slowly. The nice thing about using prozac is you can do this fairly slowly. The downside is you'll have to wait a couple weeks for the drop in dosage to actually have an effect, due to prozac's long half life.
Complaints: post-SSRI problems: anhedonia, memory and concentration problems, sexual dysfunction. )
Country:USACurrently taking Lamictal, mirtazapine.
Does humor belong in depression?
poster:Conundrum
thread:963367
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100917/msgs/963603.html