coming off antidepressants

[pete24]

Whats the worst that can happen?I have been on various medication for 18 months and have been on prozac for 6 months.Afew weeks ago i just stopped taking them and felt better for 3 days then got scared and started again.....Now i feel as anxiuos as ever if not worse....am waiting to start cbt.....anyone similar

[Jaco45er]

Hi pete

Have you spoke to your GP about coming off them? If you stop suddenly, it can be like a craving as they have a "half-life". Half-life is the term used for the time it takes for the med to be have the dose in the blood, from the original dose.

Prozac's half-life is one of the longest, where some SSRI's have a half-life of 20 hours, Prozac can be up to 5 - 6 weeks, so GP's tend to like a patient to ween off Prozac (under supervision of course).

Side effects can be unpleasant, so cutting back slowly is something i am pretty sure your GP will advise.

GL

Jaco

[Geoff2301]

Think you'll find that the longer the halflife, the easier they are to come off so theoretically, prozac should be comparatively easy. Easiest to taper down slowly on all these sort of meds though.

[Jaco45er]

Oh right Geoff.

A therapist said to me that because there was a smaller dose for longer, it sustained a craving? Although she wasn't a GP to be fair, but an EMDR therapist.

But I could well be wrong, it's not unknown :) But you are right, regardless of the SSRI, tapering off is the best way.

[blueangel]

I agree with this too; if you stop them suddenly, your body won't like it and you'll get all sorts of rebound symptoms which can be very unpleasant.

The last time I came off antidepressants was about 5(?) years ago. I'd been on citalopram, and I know I tapered them off by going down from 20mg to 10 mg for a couple of weeks, then down to 5mg for another couple of weeks, then took 5mg every other day for another couple of weeks. So this took about 8 weeks in total, and I can honestly say I didn't have that much trouble with it.

A few days after I'd come off them finally, I felt a bit "wired" and twitchy, but it made me feel more awake and I decided I liked that, as ultimately I found that antidepressants made me feel out of touch with the world.

[pete24]

thanks for your replies.... also find i have problems with short term memory loss since on pills...which has led me to check when icould not remember things...never had this before

[ladybird64]

Hi Pete

I stopped taking my dose of 20mg Citalopram outright, I made the decision not to taper off it.

I am now on day 9 and have to be honest and say that I am being hit very hard by withdrawal effects, I expected to have few if any and this has come as a bit of a shock especially as I had no side effects when I started them!

I aim to continue as I am because this has to get better sooner or later but would definitely advise you not to attempt it without consultation with your GP.

Good luck :flowers:

[pete24]

At the moment i could live with any side effect rather than trhis torture of constant checking

[debs71]

I agree that tapering off is definitely preferable Pete.

I have not had much input from GP's the times when I have come off meds, the only time I was tapered off was years ago when I felt I was ready to and my doctor weaned my Cipralex down from 20mg to 10mg to 5mg to 5mg every other day. As blueangel said, this took a number of weeks and the side effects were therefore minimal. However, since then I have independently taken myself off meds, purely because a lot of the time when I have looked for GP input they have left it up to me (as they know I am a nurse) which peeves me somewhat because I am still a patient like any other.

I would not recommend cold turkey and just stopping without weaning. I have done this on occasion I am ashamed to say as I should have known better. I stopped my 10mg dose in June this year and had bad effects from that - tearful, spaced out, edgy - and then I restarted the 10mg dose in September again without a gradual start from 5mg. SO STUPID.

I don't know why I did this and I can only put it down to being a little gung ho with meds and an 'oh that'll be ok' attitude but it most definitely isn't!! The effects are felt so much worse than a gradual start or finish.

Now that I am back on meds my attitude is that after feeling HORRENDOUS this past couple of months with panic attacks, anxiety and agorophobia I would rather accept taking medication than feel so awful.

I wish you luck.x:winks:

[Dahlia]

In terms of SSRIs, Prozac has the best withdrawal profile, due to its long half life. (In fact, docs sometimes switch people who are on other SSRIs and who want to stop taking them onto Prozac first and taper down from there, because Prozac withdrawal is much less hard hitting than meds such as sertraline and paroxetine). However, you should still taper down - otherwise you will experience some withdrawal - and that can involve high anxiety and labile mood, so you could well end up thinking you need the meds again and get stuck in a loop.

Dahlia

[pete24]

thanks for all your replies...and reading them keeps me sane at times....but my main point is that i feel much worse than 18 months ago when i first started on meds..maybe coincidence......................