An update on fluoxetine withdrawal and RLS

[Tesslegs]

Last month I posted a question about SSRIs (specifically fluoxetine) and RLS. I’ve been trying again to withdraw from fluoxetine, this time paying more attention to the half life of the drug and tapering more gradually. I’m encouraged to report that my RLS seems to be reducing. It now starts later in the evening (more like 11pm than 9pm) and the intensity of sensations has reduced by about 50%. Firmly massaging the top of my feet and side of thighs seems to interrupt much of the tingling and twitching - at least enough for me to get to sleep- and I have not had to sit in a cold bath for about 10 days now!! My mood is stable which is no doubt linked to better sleep.

The other change I made since last month is that I now was take ferrous sulphate every other night (rather than nightly) and have slightly reduced my HRT (apart from testosterone, which I’ve kept the same) after I read that another forum user found her symptoms worsened on it.

So obviously there are many things that could be confounding the experiment of withdrawing from fluoxetine BUT I just wanted to share these changes with a community of people who might understand how significant it is when something one does seems to make a difference to the tyranny of RLS! I hope these improvements continue and that others may be encouraged by them

[Elffindoe]

Difficult, because you're doing several things at once, so hard to tell what's working. However they can all potentially work.

As regards iron, I note you're taking ferrous sulphate. I believe the dose of this (if prescribed) is high.

It has been found that as well as taking iron bi-daily, the dose should be no more than 60mg. I suspect sulphate is more than this so switching to a lower dose iron may actually help you absorb more.

I'm glad to hear you're making progress.