Tapering from Prozac - A couple of questions

I have been on 20mg Prozac for over 5 years now and it really helped me in the beginning and been a quite a gentle SSRI to get on/forget a dose.

It still works for anxiety (although I had a glitch and the weirdest head, a couple of weeks ago felt like I was going mad and scared of suicidal feelings and part of the reason I am here) compared to how I was before I was taking them.

The issue is the glitch I had scared me and I have developed depressive tendencies, lack of caring, no motivation, low mood. This has been for the last 6 months (maybe longer), I lost my job, I sleep at erratic times.

The doctor and Psychiatrist have agreed to change my meds (though I am a bit nervous as I always have bad side effects with a new SSRI and Prozac is still kind of working for anxiety it's just the depression). The plan in place is to try Venlafaxine and if that isn't for me then try Pregabalin.

I have read so many bad reviews and it has the bad rep of side effects and withdrawal, some people going as far as to say avoid this at all costs.

I have started taking them, just a quarter of a tablet for a couple of days then maybe half a tab for a few more days increasing it thereafter.

TLDR: Been on 20mg of Prozac for 5 years or more (still kind of working for anxiety but now I have depressive tendencies). Now cross-tapering to Venlafaxine 37.5mg and I have a couple of questions.

Here are my questions:

• Is starting with a quarter of a tablet and increasing by a quarter every few days pointless?
• Is it true that it is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor at higher doses such as Paroxetine?
• Does anyone else get a weird head sensation on taking SSRI/SNRI?
• Is it true cross tapering from one SSRI to another (such as Prozac to Venlafaxine) could mean less harsh side effects?
• I have read this drug can increase blood pressure?
• Is there any scientific merit to an article I read that long-term usage of SSRI's/SNRI's such as Prozac and Venflaxine can cause brain damage. Found here?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Nathan

I've been on venalafaxine for 20 years, not one side effect, ever. I do have some tough withdrawl/reduction symptoms though - I came down, in the first few years, from 225 mg daily to 75mg one day and 37.5 mg the next day and repeated. However, I've never managed to get lower in dose as I have odd electric shock sensations that happen when I move my eyes, down the left side of the body. (I also needed to stay on them for mental health reasons.) They are hard to explain, but others have talked of the same withdrawl/late dose symptoms which are quite perculiar. I know if I've missed one as a few hours later these symptoms start and stop within 30 mins of taking the forgotten dose. I have never had head sensations just after taking them. My blood pressure is fine, and was only taken 2 days ago by a GP.



I don't know the answers to lots of your questions, as they are quite medical in origin and would be better directed at your prescriber - but I will say that I've never heard of the brain damage link. Regarding increasing by 1/4 tablets, I wouldn't see a reason why not. It was recommended to me when reducing by a doctor, that providing I was on the hard peach coloured tablet and not the slow release capsule that they could be split into 1/4 doses to make withdrawl easier. Obviously it will take you longer to get to a therapeutic dose, whatever that dose is meant to be for you.

20 years is a long time. Have they worked well for you? Yeah the Withdrawal sounds quite scary, brain zaps being common in most SSRI cold turkey/dose reducing (with Prozac I find after about 5 days I start to feel some zaps) though I guess this one has a bad rep for it as the half life is so short.

I’ve read it’s not uncommon for people to take up to a year to come off even titrating the dose in very small
increments and very gradually.

---------- Post added at 13:26 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Has it effected your cognitive abilities in anyway?

It has worked VERY well for me, I was hospitalised at the time of being put on them....and never been back since or needed mental health input of any sort. This was not my first medication, there were a couple prior and during the hospitalisation a couple were also tried. (some of them are very old meds now like dothiepin)



No, no side effects at all, no tiredness, no fuzzy thinking, no cognitive processing changes...carried on working and living as normal. I am struggling right now, but that is nothing to do with them, its menopausal. Literally my only issues are related to the short half-life.

Day 4: Last night I woke up randomly with a weird head sensation and feeling a bit panicky, managed to settle myself.

I've started to feel a little unusual and anxious. I think I can feel a memorable side effect of the urge to yawn and when the yawn occurred muscles (especially in my forearm and hands) would spasm, I had these Paroxatine.

Little nausea shortly after taking the tablet.