Fluoxetine Suddenly not working

[Jamie123]

Hi Guys, so I have been on fluoxetine for around 26 days now and I have definitely seen improvements in the past 3 weeks however in the last 2 days as well as this morning it feels like it has just stopped working, I feel the same as I was before taking it and am constantly panicking and worrying about rabies as I was pre-medication and am really struggling. I have read the sticky thread and it does say something similar but the usual blips have come in single days for me so far so I am finding it strange that it feels like it has stopped working. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[apm]

Hi Jamie,

Try not to worry. SSRIs can take up to 6 weeks to fully stabilise in your system, and you will have up and down days during that time.

[panic_down_under]

Hi Guys, so I have been on fluoxetine for around 26 days now and I have definitely seen improvements in the past 3 weeks however in the last 2 days as well as this morning it feels like it has just stopped working, I feel the same as I was before taking it

Fluoxetine is unlikely to have stopped working because it probably hasn't even started yet. It typically takes 4-12 weeks for SSRIs to kick-in and because fluoxetine has a very long half-life, about 6 days for the med itself itself and up to 16 days for its active metabolite norfluoxetine which does most of the work, fluoxetine often takes longer to become effective than other ADs.

[Jamie123]

Fluoxetine is unlikely to have stopped working because it probably hasn't even started yet. It typically takes 4-12 weeks for SSRIs to kick-in and because fluoxetine has a very long half-life, about 6 days for the med itself itself and up to 16 days for its active metabolite norfluoxetine which does most of the work, fluoxetine often takes longer to become effective than other ADs.


Sorry that is bad wording on my part, I meant that it's effect felt like it had suddenly paused so I just wanted to check if anyone had had something similar.

[panic_down_under]

It is common to get isolations in mood as ADs begin to kick-in with a good hour, or day followed by one or more bad ones. I regard that as a good sign as a steady linear improvement all too often owes more to the placebo effect than the med. However, I don't think you've been on fluoxetine long enough for kick-in to be a factor and that what you're experiencing is just the normal swings in mood that you likely had before taking fluoxetine so I wouldn't read too much into it.