Re: Fluoxetine withdrawal or just anxiety?
Originally Posted by
Arie12
I have used fluoxetine 20mg earlier last year for 4 months but quit.
Why did you stop?
Bad how?
and started 20 mg again. My body reacted completely different with bad anxiety and severe insomnia.
The initial side-effects when taking SSRIs/SNRIs can be both more severe and/or different the second time they are taken. Starting on 20mg would be too much for most with anxiety anyway even the first time. If you ever want to take an AD again I suggest you start on no more than half the usual starting dose for depression and a quarter may be even kinder.
My doc told it could last up to 3 weeks before it goes completely out of my system, but can this be? That would mean it would last longer than I used it! Can fluoxetine take this long to leave the body even after 2.5 weeks of use? I'm desperate for a good sleep
Fluoxetine has by far the longest half-life of all ADs, up to 6 days for fluoxetine itself and up to 16 days for its active metabolite, norfluoxetine, which actually does most of the work. The rule of thumb is that it takes about 5 half-lives for a med to be metabolized and eliminated after cessation, so around 30 days for fluoxetine and up to 80 days for norfluoxetine. However, given the relatively short time you were back on the med it will likely be out of your system earlier as plasma levels likely hadn't stabilized. How soon I can't say.
I'm not convinced your insomnia is all down to the med. I suspect anxiety is also a significant factor.
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The opinions expressed above are based on my observations and, where applicable, interpretation of cited data and are general in nature. Consult your physician before acting on anything stated.