Fluoxetine withdrawals my experience
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi all I'm giving you my experience as I have been self diagnosing myself with brain tumours and all kinds.
I have been to my own doctors 3 times in 6 weeks and I have been to the walk in with no answers to my symptoms except for this forum which has helped me to realise I'm not going to die it's just withdrawals. Thank you all for sharing your experiences!
I have been on 40mg fluoxetine for about 2 years and I slowly weaned myself off them. I reduced from 40 to 20mg by doing 40 one day and 20 another day for a while.
Then I settled on 20mg, nothing too serious to report. After another two months on this does I reduced to 20mg every other day (started getting brain zaps and low moods - doc said this was expected) and then after a while 20mg then miss two days for a while and then I stopped completely. I had my last tablet 17th march and I think I have been doing well to be honest.
I took ill on the 19th march with what I thought was labyrinthitus and a virus but after all these weeks of It not improving I have been the docs etc as I first said above but not I realise these symptoms are withdrawals.
Dizziness, off balance, fuzzy head, achy ears, nausea, pins and needles in left arm, irritated, weepies etc my main problem right now is the dizziness and the ear/head blocked up feeling. I feel so crap with it that I'm getting weepy cos I feel sorry for myself.
I also feel weepy that I started these tablets in the first place because it's ruined my relationship in many ways, I had totally shut down from my partner and I'm trying now to reconnect with him as I have just not been on this planet for quite some time. This medication has turned off my emotions (that was needed) but my partner and family have suffered the consequences.
I hope
Can anybody tell me how long the dizziness and sore head and ears will last for please as I can't take much more, I can't keep taking to my bed???
Thanks in advance x
1 like, 8 replies
Bonnietu lisaoffthemeds
Posted
Dear Lisaofftgemeds OMG! I can totally relate to all you wrote there. The weaning off , same style - ish as me. Honestly these Doctors have so much to answer for, I hate the way it's to be expected all these truely AWFUL debilitating withdrawal effects without giving ANY counselling, advice or serious practical help . I'm aghast @ how little they know of these anti depressants short of scribbling on a piece of paper something illiterate and sending you on your way! I know only to well. Doctors depress me n make me feel worse!! Hence I'm stuck cos I refuse to see them - much to my families annoyance. Since Ive been weaning myself off prozac (20mg etc for 20 years!) and going into to the natural derivative 5HTP 500mg ( once or twice a day, can't decide
) I too have been getting Head Zaps 30-60 a day😱 Dizzy spells tinnitus, thick fuzzy head feeling, 2 numb big toes ...WHAT!! Left eye twitching headaches, depressed crying Heart palpitations / racing in the mornings ... jeeese it goes on... and no one around me can understand any of it! So I've been keeping it to myself miserably. I have read that the longer you've been on Prozac the longer it'll take to wean off it successfully. I'm not certain if my head Zaps 💥will ever stop or if I must go bk on Prozac 20mg? for life! Thing is, now, if I take any 5HTP I get head zaps n if I don't take any I still get the head zaps 💥so I'm stimed! But I'm persevering & now going to try a high dosage of Omega3 & Vitamin E400iu ( to help absorb the Omega). Our brains have to be re trained to make its own serotonin again.. something like that! I am convinced help can be found by going down the nutritional route... as I learnt by going to an Austrian Clinic 2 yes ago. They helped me to lose weight. 5 stone & taught me what I'm allergic/ intolerant too, which vitamins I was need & that I had a thyroid issue wheat n gluten intolerance! To what end is this? How does this help you? I'm not sure but it's helped me to hear of others stories n been a Gr8 comfort to know I'm not alone. It's vital you come off these pills slowly over a year? not months that's too quick. We're all different thou aren't we. I'd try going bk on one or two again to see if it stops your dizziness etc! I know we don't want to... other wise try taking high dosage of Omega 3 & Vit E 40Oiu. to help build up the nurons in your head, some where I've read that that's what it needs to function properly again. 
Maybe go onto 5 HTP like me? Bought from health shops not prescription. They can help a lot in these health shops with supplement advice & nutrition. Hell I don't know... we're both learning. Keep me posted n really hope you feel bk to normal again very soon.
lisaoffthemeds Bonnietu
Posted
Hi Bonnietu thanks for the response. You should keep working with the docs Hun and try and get yourself off them as it's a different world off them. I see things more clearly now good and bad I feel like I have been asleep your two years and now I am awake.
I will defo try some herbal remedies and vitamins to get myself feeling better. I have put 6 stone on so it's time to start eating healthy again. I'm excercise to keep my mind healthy and that really does help.
Hope your felling better soon Hun as it sounds like your stuck in the mist of it x
Bonnietu lisaoffthemeds
Posted
For dizziness & labrynitius try THE EPLEYS MANOUVRE. I had labyrinthitis for 2 weeks, couldn't get dressed nothing but lying down , grey I was. Isn't it HELL. I didnt know about the Epleys manoeuvre then. it's to do with the neck & realigning your spine or something ! you'll have to read up abt it!! Good luck really hope it helps.
lisaoffthemeds Bonnietu
Posted
Thanks Bonnietu I will look into this and see if it helps. It is hell indeed, I'm feeling more hopeful now though that I just need to go with it as it won't last forever.
Thanks for your response x
lookingonwards lisaoffthemeds
Posted
lisaoffthemeds lookingonwards
Posted
Probably too quick to be honest but defo not turning back now.
lisaoffthemeds
Posted
Hi guys just a quick update, I appear to be over the worst of the withdrawal symptoms now and I'm just over 8 weeks totally off the meds. I still have dizziness but that could be my ears (awaiting ent appt)
I feel alive again, more aware of what's going on around me and I'm feeling well again. Anyone else struggling at the moment, hang on in there it does get better x x
pamela16260 lisaoffthemeds
Posted
Lisa, I understand exactly how you feel. When I walked into my doctor's office on March 30th this year with a two page list of my symptoms and told her I knew it was because I had been going through. Long term side effects of a combination of Gabapentin and Prozac she told me to go inpatient to the psychiatric hospital. I was distraught and overcome with what I was feeling. I WANTED TO DIE! 7 weeks later I finally had an emergency room doctor who gave it to me straight. He was very compassionate, but told me the tructh! He said that my brain is trying to reset and there is no normal because I was on those drugs so long that some permanent damage may have occurred. It was not what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear. THE TRUTH FINALLY! And, out of the mouth of a physician. I feel hopeless all day as I sit here so sick and so many emotions. Suicide is at the top of my list now