Starting prozac

Hi: I am starting 10 mg of Prozac and am petrified. I have severe anxiety, depression and ocd. Anyone take Prozac for these conditions. Please give me some hope. I am 61 and was normal until I experienced a trauma.

[JAYnLA]

I'm switching from Zoloft to Prozac and started with 10mg last Monday. Other than some mild to medium stomach pain, so far so good.

[1uglychild]

Hi, like you I have mild depression, OCD, and anxiety (health, social, etc). I’ve been on and off Prozac several times for over 20 years and it works really well for me. They say OCD needs higher doses but mine has always responded quickly and at lower doses (about 40mg is my usual therapeutic dose). So basically it makes my life as normal as possible ( to the point where I forget how bad life can be without it, and stop taking it, then maybe 6 months later I need to start up again). For me it’s been a great drug and I think is especially very effective for depression, I always feel very motivated and energetic once the depression clears.

But here is the thing to remember, well actually 2 things ... first everyone’s body is different and everyone reacts differently to the various SSRIs , but most importantly.. prozac (and other SSRIs ) can cause an uptick in anxiety maybe 1 week in, this will last for 1-2 weeks. I get this almost every time I restart the drug. It’s a pain to work through because you just want to feel better, not worse. Not everyone gets this (my son never did), but many people do. It goes away, and it can be manageable. I worked through it the last time I restarted with deep breathing and meditation (my poor attempts at meditation anyhow). And just saying to myself every time it happened “this is just anxiety, it’s a side effect from the drug”. But after 2 weeks max it’s gone and after maybe a month or two the other almost always minor side effects go away. I’ve never had any of the weird side effects, nothing scary, no brain zaps, mania, etc. And no weight gain!

So please don’t worry and if you start to feel more anxiety in a weeks time, stick with it, I promise you you'll feel better soon enough.

Feel free to ask me any questions, after 20 years I feel like a prozac veteran! Talking to other people here about what your going through can be very helpful!

Good luck!

[Hidden in reply to 1uglychild]

Thank you so much! Actually my greatest fear is the uptake in anxiety. I had that an insomnia when I tried lexapro and sertraline. I never needed any SSRI until I experienced a trauma 2 years ago. This has all been very new territory for me. Thank you again for your help!

[1uglychild in reply to Hidden]

See and that’s proof how differently we each react different drugs. I tried Lexapro and it was like being sedated all the time, the opposite of your experience. And I hear a lot of negative stuff with Sertraline, it seems a hard one to take. It’s totally possible you might not get the anxiety at all, so don't sit in anticipation, but like I said if you do, try to be patient and work through because for me the drug is a game changer. I know some docs will prescribe anti anxiety pills to battle the increase in anxiety so perhaps your doc could give you a weeks worth if it gets bad.

If you have a Fitbit try the deep breathing feature, it was a big help my last start up.

[Hidden in reply to 1uglychild]

Hi...started the Prozac. As expected, I am more anxious. Dr. Gave me klonopin for 2 weeks. How long before you felt better on this drug?

[1uglychild in reply to Hidden]

Hi, for me I had the uptick in anxiety initially for about 2 weeks on 10 mg, then about 1 week of starting to feel good, then another week where I could see 10 mg wasn’t cutting it anymore, so at about 4.5 weeks started the normal low starting dose of 20mg. About two days of 20mg I noticed a very low amount of anxiety in the morning. That lasted only maybe 3 days. Now I’m 6 weeks in on my Prozac restart and starting to feel much more normal, minimal anxiety and sleeping better.

So I would say 2 weeks total of initial start up anxiety is normal for me and most people (some only 1 week). And really noticing it working at 6 weeks seems to be standard too.

Try to get through the tough period by focusing on breathing techniques. Those really worked for me this time around. Find a free meditation app and use it when you get the chance. I also found in the rough anxiety period that I had a lot of adrenaline built up that I needed to burn off, so exercise really helps if you can.

Luckily for you, you’ve got the 2 weeks of Klonopin, which should help with that period the most!

It’s rough but you’ll be feeling better soon! Just keep remembering it’s short term and only a rotten side effect.

[Hidden in reply to 1uglychild]

Thanks...I have severe Ocd so I am hoping it helps...at the end of my rope living my life like this.

[1uglychild in reply to Hidden]

Hi, I didn’t realize you have OCD too. I have it as well and I feel like a rarity on this page, most people seem to be more solidly in the anxiety camp here. Lucky us, we get anxiety AND OCD.

They say we need higher doses of Prozac for the OCD to respond, but mine has always responded well in the average range. My son (and a number if people in my family) has OCD and also responded well at about 30-40mg. So don’t be terrified that you need to be at a massive dose, that may not be the case. I think Prozac is a doctors go to for OCD so I’d feel confident it should work past the rough point for you. If for some reason it doesn’t, Lexapro also worked for my OCD.

[Hidden in reply to 1uglychild]

Hi...please tell me that I will get through this and that Prozac will help with the ruminations and anxiety. I only slept 4 hours last night. Tell me that my brain will shut off at some point, thx

[1uglychild in reply to Hidden]

When I restarted Prozac my ruminations weren’t even an issue as I was mainly feeling depressed and sort of anxious. But I knew what was coming so I decided to restart before I got worse. Well my ocd came back in that rush of anxiety, and it had been dormant for a long time. I started to obsess on every mole (3) on my face, ones I’ve had for 15 years, no changes to them. If I wasn’t looking at myself in the mirror, then I would be refusing to look at all...all from the anxiety side effect.. that lasted about two weeks, and now two weeks later, I’ve almost forgotten I felt that way. Yesterday I trimmed my bangs without even thinking of anything else on my face, was able to stare in the mirror without a worry of what I’d see...

my point is that in two weeks a major change in thought occurred.

What time are you taking the meds? I take mine first thing in the morning and most of the rush I felt was gone by early afternoon. Try to gage when you feel the most anxiety after taking the pill and adjust when you take it. If you take in the morning and it’s keeping you up, try taking before bed and see if you sleep better. It’s really trial and error for most people based on how you metabolize things.

I can’t stress enough again how breathing can help you. A when I was feeling like you are I helped myself fall asleep by doing deep breathing and repeating a mantra to myself that fell in line with my breath. So say something to yourself like “tomorrow will be a better day” and try to align it with how your breath moves through your chest and stomach. Trying to keep your mind on this will be hard but it will keep your mind from wandering. The slow deep breathing will put your body in a sleep ready mode, and the boring mantra will make you fall asleep. Also visualize something that would make the the next day great, like a sunny sky, or the beach.

I know how bad this feels and you think it’s never going to end but it does. Just know while it’s bad and it’s miserable but it won’t get worse. It like a root canal, it’s miserable and feels like it’s never going to end, but when it’s done, it’s done.

Please keep me posted and know I’m always here for you!

[foxglove_pnw]

I have heard really good thing about Prozac! Good luck !

[Hidden]

Prozac better work for me or I am done.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Try not to think that way as there are so many different things to try aside from just medications if this one doesn't pan out. Trust me, I absolutely understand your frustration. I've been up and down the SSRI/SNRI list....but I keep chugging along. Acupuncture, mindfulness, CBT, aromatherapy, meditation, exercise, anxiety "devices", and many other things. A small percentage (I believe someone said around 25%) are actually treatment resistant (meaning this class of meds may or just doesn't work for us). Also, there's a lot of different meds within the classes and the only methods to knowing is trial and error or having your genetics tested for metabolizing the med to see if you are a good or poor metabolizer (unsure insurance covers and it is expensive to find out). So....while Prozac may work for some, Paxil is better for others, or Zoloft...or whatever. I've been in some shoes similar to yours, so try to maintain hope and any coping practices that you can. Best wishes and thoughts; I know it's not an easy road to trot.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. Doesn’t help that I hear such awful things about these drugs, how they are poison, tough to get off of, etc...

[Kris09]

Interested in hearing how you are doing. I also was prescribed Prozac for trauma. I have tried to white knuckle it for so long and I can’t seem to get back to ‘normal’. Scared to start taking the pill.

[Hidden in reply to Kris09]

Hi there: have you started the Prozac? I am white knuckling it now and can’t take much more. I started the drug and am so anxious that I can’t take it. Now taking a klonopin to try to get by. This is no way to live,

[1uglychild in reply to Hidden]

Hi, I swear I felt just like you are right now only 3 weeks ago, and I’ve almost forgotten about it! I swear it gets better. I’ve probably gone through 6 prozac start ups in my life and it’s always been worth it for me once the worst is over. Two weeks at most and in 6 months time you won’t even remember this. The last time I stopped prozac was because I felt so good and forgot how awful depression and anxiety is. Just take time for yourself right now, like you would if you had the flu. Try to focus on the world around you and not your internal feelings as much as possible. Spend some time reading about mindfulness as that really helped me through this last time. Once it’s over, it’s done and you’ll see an improvement in your overall general mood with a few more weeks.

[rannochuk in reply to Hidden]

It will help.

[rannochuk]

I’m on 40mg a day and it’s changed my life. I was on 20mg to start with and I decided to move up to 40mg.