Prozac Experience?

[sweetbrokensoul]

 

Hi-if you want to know my situation go to my previous posts. I am still coping with my break-up. I have been very depressed. There is no contact as he changed his phone number and doesn't call me. I guess it's better that way.

Anyway, I started on prozac 3 days ago. 20 mg a day. My therapist said it would take approx. 72 hours to start feeling better. I have always heard 2-3 weeks.

Anyone else have any experience with it? Yesterday I was a mess. Crying, sleepy but couldn't sleep, skipped classes, no motivation.(my second day on it) Today is a little better but still down and sad. Tired and feeling irritated. I have a camping trip this weekend with my sons boy scouts pack and am nervous about it. I don't feel like being with other people. I want to be comfortable because the way I feel now is horrible.

 

I'm also on Wellbutrin until my prozac has kicked in for awhile. Any advice? I am still hurting so much. And I am not myself. I have been reading alot and trying to take it easy. I keep praying to get better. Thanks

[Mz. Pixie]

I was told Prozac would take two to three weeks to kick in. Personally it didn't do anything for me. Nothing. I didn't feel any different.

 

I much prefer Wellbutrin but you've already taken that... sorry...

[garner]

I took it years ago, and found it very good. When I came off I didn't encounter withdrawal symptoms that I was aware of. During a subsequent bout of depression I was put on Effexor which I really didn't feel worked. I came off it, and had such bad side effects (lasting for a couple of months even though I'd been on the minimum dosage) that for 10 months I resisted being put on any meds.

 

Other than taking meds, I was doing all the things depressed people are meant to do to make themselves feel better. Exercise, healthy diet, consistent routines etc. Nonetheless, I continued to have a great deal of suicidal ideation. It reached the stage where I was trying to explain to people close to me that I really had to do away with myself, and I desperately wanted them to understand that it was the best thing for me - and for everyone else close to me.

 

I was persuaded to go back to my doctor. I told him that I couldn't face going back on Effexor, and he told me that they'd stopped prescribing it as so many patients had bad experiences with on it. I asked to be put back on Prozac as I felt it had worked well before. My Doctor agreed to try it, and after about 2 weeks I noticed that I was feeling an awful lot better than I had done in a long time.

 

That was several months ago, and it still seems to be working well and I'm still on the lowest dosage. Occasionally I'll forget to take a capsule. That was disastrous when I was on Effexor as I'd get really faint and lightheaded, and feel like that all day. On Prozac, if I forget to take it on the odd occasion I don't notice any particular side effects.

 

I can sympathise with the way you're feeling, and I really hope that Prozac works successfully for you.

[brashgal]

Prozac worked for me and it was fairly immediate (within the first week) but EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. Prozac kept me from crying all the time but it took awhile to feel 'happy'.

 

Go slow, it may take quite awhile to feel "like yourself". Big hug

[Maria46]

I lived on prozac for years. It cleared my head so I could focus, sort of comotose though. But I was taking 80 mg per day.

 

I seem to recall it took a couple weeks for me to notice a difference.

 

And since my dosage was so high, I started feeling like a million bucks and thought I didn't need it anymore so I stopped taking them. Severe headaches for a couple days. After a few months off the medication my depression hit me hard. Back to feeling like I was deeper in the bottom of the well again with no way out.

 

Do not get off the medication without consulting your doctor first.

 

Good luck

[laRubiaBonita]

i am the poster child for prozac................. i was very hesitant at first, and had benn on paxil, lovox, and something else...i do not remember....

 

The only initila side effect i had was itching......for the first 2-3 weeks.

 

other than that i was, eventually taking up to 160mg a day..... i took mine at night, and i did have the best, most realistic dreams ever!

 

But Prozac saved my life. literally. i would have tried to OD, if it were not for my wonderful kitty and prozac.

 

definately give it a "good try" a month or 2....and you are at a very low dosage...so give it a good try.

 

also....take a Vitaimin b complex suppliment....B assists your nuerotransmitters in relaying serotonin to your brain.

[sweetbrokensoul]

Thanks for all the great advice-actually it's been almost a week on it and i'm slowly starting to feel better. I really appreciate all of your input and thanks for posting. Have a great day!

[slubberdegullion]

I lived with the black dog of depression for decades, but never sought any treatment because I was brought up to think of it as a weakness.

 

Finally, after I realized that grim contemplations were the norm rather than the exception, I decided to check with my doctor to see if I could get help. After a battery of psychological tests to confirm the diagnosis of depression, he prescribed 20 mg Paxil/day.

 

Alternating insomnia and hypersomnia, a Niagara of dark thoughts, tremors, dry mouth and a handful of other ugly side effects through the first week was nothing short of torture.

 

Then, eight days later, I awoke feeling good. I didn't dread crawling out of bed in the morning.

 

It was as if my black-and-white world had finally turned colourful.

 

I wasn't "high," nor manic, but for the first time in decades, I could think clearly and didn't have intrusive negative thought patterns.

 

Now, as has been said here, people have different body chemistry and will react differently to SSRI medications like Paxil, Prozac and the like. But for me personally, the prescription followed up with cognitive behaviour therapy, made a huge amount of difference.