I couldn't do it

[JadeRaye]

Last week I tried to go off of Prozac because 1) I thought my depression was better and 2) I thought the Prozac was making my anxiety and insomnia worse. But 2-3 days after my last dosage I was an emotional mess. I would cry at the drop of a hat and I was just plain old miserable. I wanted nothing to do with anyone and every little thing agitated me. My poor one year old son doing things a normal toddler would do, take out toys etc and I felt so angry at him. And in turn being angry at him made me feel even more horrible and guility . After a week, I decided I couldn't take it . It wasn't fair to my husband nor my child. It would be one thing if I could go live by myself for a month and get this all out and not take it out on anyone else but I can't. I called my doctor and asked her for either Zoloft or Paxil since I read they weren't as energizing as Prozac. We decided on Zoloft. I feel back to my old happy self and my anxiety is 1000x better. But I feel guilty for giving in.

[fauxartist]

thankfully you resolved this for yourself, many are so lost when it comes to knowing what to do, you did great, glad your feeling so much better.

[jkl5500]

I don't see anything to feel guilty about. You did exactly the right thing, and you should feel proud of it. Many years ago I was on Prozac for about a week, and it was the worst experience of my life. I developed extreme agitation (akathisia), and I got almost no sleep throughout that time. It was like being tortured 24/7 for a week straight.

Congratulations on straightening out your problem.

[b1b1b1 in reply to jkl5500]

I had the exact same problem with prozac. For 36 hours I was unable to stop pacing. I did not know what was wrong. Finally realized it was the prozac. Switched to paxil and it was fine.

[JadeRaye in reply to b1b1b1]

Thank you for the kind words 😊

[JadeRaye in reply to jkl5500]

Thank you so much for the kind words & support 😊

[erin_c]

No guilt for giving in! Medication can be a great tool to help support us in this illness. I also tried quitting a few times and it was always bad for my marriage and family. After 15 years around 40, meds stopped working for me so at the moment I'm off everything except occasional xanax and very light marijuana use to mellow me when agitated and stuck in negativity cycles. I'm glad you found an alternate to Prozac. Zoloft worked wonderfully for me for a long time. I'm not sure what is next for me but just taking it one month at a time. Thankful for a supportive family too. Take care and welcome!

[JadeRaye in reply to erin_c]

Thank you so much for the support & the kind words . 😊

[old-soul]

We don't know what ANY result will be until we actually try the experiment. I do have to take a step back emotionally and look at things from a sort of logistical 3rd person viewpoint as best I can once in a while in order to have some level of objectivity.

Something that helps me a great deal in being mote reasonable with myself when I'm really down on myself is to ask myself, "If my best friend was in my situation instead of me, what would I say to THEM?"

Generally what comes to mind in that moment helps me to not only stop tearing myself down, but to make some choices I may not have thought of any other way. The solutions that come to me when i do this are sometimes SO amazing It's almost eerie.

Hang in there JadeRaye, and thank you for being open enough to talk honestly about you experience and your feelings about it. It is likely more helpful to others than you suspect. Validation that what we experience is often the only thing that helps us keep it on track.