upping 20mg to 40mg of prozac

[amrc]

Hi all..Im new to this form.I am looking for some advice really ..I went to the doctor nearly 3 weeks ago for anxiety/panic attacks and she gave me 20 mg of Prozac and Xanax to be taken when needed once a day.Just back from the doctor there and shes upd the Prozac to 40mg but Im afaird to take the 40mg of it.I felt like the tablets were working for me last week but Im getting the attacks bad enough yesterday and today.Would the side effects be worse on the higher dose or would I be spaced out on them.I have no side effects on the 20mg and was feeling great.Thanks

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your problem.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

[BusyMom12]

Hi amrc,

Sometimes, unfortunately , it appears that the doctors just don't fully understand how the meds work. I can somewhat understand that if they haven't come across a forum like this or taken it themselves. That being said and taking into consideration that everyone is different... I had almost three great years on 20mg of Prozac. I was feeling so good and so much like my good self that I decided I didn't think I needed it anymore. You can read more detail in my previous posts but I will try to be brief now. After 8 weeks off I bottomed out with anxiety again. Went right back on but kept messing with the dose. Once I found this forum and realized how much changing the dose effects you and talked to my pharmacist who assured me that 20mg works for the majority of people, I stuck it out at the 20mg and am doing fine. I've been leveled back out since about February with one blip. Three weeks is a very short time to give the 20mg. It's an up and down process but you should be seeing at least some improvement 6-8 weeks (often sooner for first time users) but will not see the full benefit generally until 10-12 weeks. If you are already seeing improvement, my advice and I think I could say my pharmacist's advice would be to stick at the 20mg a good 12 weeks before making any changes. The side effects come up anytime you change the dose but seem to be worse for most people when going up. I hope this helps and you do well on it.

[amrc]

Thanks for that reply