Increased fluoxetine 20mg to 40mg

Posted , 7 users are following.

Hi there,

I've been on Prozac for 2 months (20mg), I was feeling better and it was working well, however my mood dropped and and I began to feel flat/motivationless/tired etc so I have upped my dose to 40 mg (two a day). Today is my first day and I'm feeling awful, I have tight shooting pains in the chest-some for of terrible anxiety, dizzy, blurred vision, dry mouth and feeling unpleasantly strange! It's really getting me down and I just wanted to know how long it would last, I just want to feel better especially befOre Christmas.

Been bartleing with depression for around a year or so now and it's frustrating as I was just starting to feel better and it dropped again. Is it normal to increase the dose as I heard 20mg is quite low in the grand scale of Prozac.

If someone could get back to me with answers and support I'd really appreciate talking to someone who is in the same sort of position as me in prder to completely understand.

Thanks a lot,

Alice x

0 likes, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Alice - I had the same scenario with Zoloft.  When I went up to 100mg, had 4 weeks of feeling better then it sort of droped, we increased to 150mg and nothing.  I have heard that sometimes if you get relief rather quickly, it will not stay.  This was the case with both of us.  I am now back down to 100mg for 6 weeks and no relief just constant flat mood, anxiety, no interests (awful).  Are you under a doctor/psychiatrist's care?  Perhaps Prozac isn't the right antidepressant for me or maybe your dose has to be adjusted?  I have had to add Abilify in conjunction to the Zoloft - no results except for one evening (Wow, eh!)  I may be jumping ship with Zoloft on my next Dr.'s visit!

    Regards,

    Nancy

    • Posted

      Hi Nancy, awful to hear that you're feeling rough. I have a doctor who I do see monthly as I am fairly new to my antidepressants however I am between practitoions at the moment because I travel to and from univeristy to home. Its rather messy so I'm unable to keep consistancy with just one doctor.  

      Sadly I think I am one of the few who get really bad side effects to begin with which is off-putting, I just have to stick with it I suippose. Thanks for your responce. 

      Alice smile

  • Posted

    Hi,

    I was on sertraline for depression, okay for a couple of months but started suffering from anxiety attacks.

    GP stopped sertraline and put me on fluoxetine and I seemed okay.

    Now, when I get depression days they can be bad, and anxiety attacks make me feel very aggressive.

    Don't want to keep changing meds as I have other physical problems to deal with spinal problems and skin cancer etc.

    Mike

    • Posted

      Hi Mike,

      How long have you been on floxetine now and what dose are you on? I'm very sorry to hear about that I hope your mood lifts soon, it's just terrible.

      Best wishes, 

      Alice

  • Posted

    Of course we are all different and respond to drugs differently, but my doc added Welbutrin to my mixture and it helped with what you have described as low motivation, etc.

    I have been trying to reduce the Prozac dose because of some sexual side effects that probably won't affect you, but it helped get me over the hump and now have been happy with the combination I've described.

    • Posted

      Hi ken, 

      thank you for your response. I'm glad you hear prozac helped with your mood, i'm really looking forward to feeling better and I hope this is the answer. 

      On day 2 of 40mg and not having near enough as many side effects as I had when I first started prozac. Still feeling a bit strange but it's early days so fingers crossed.

      Alice smile

    • Posted

      Alice, I have always been told to give medications and changes in meds 2-4 weeks to let your body adjust.  Some have mentioned almost feeling upset stomach when adding or removing a med... it takes time.  Be patient.  Eat well.  Exercise.  You know... all the things we are all told to do but don't!

      -Ken

  • Posted

    Hi,

    Being taking fluoxetine for about 2 years now, I think.

    I have disabilities connected to my cervical spine, which happned after an accident in 2011.

    Lost my business and eventually had a breakdown.

    Have had cbt for my mood swings but ran out of councilling time after 19 sessions so couldn't cover my anxiety, ptsd or depression.

    I get on okay with fluoxetine 2x20 mg per day. But I also take Naproxen, Gabapentin, Amatryptaline and morphine patch for pain so do feel flat most of time.

    Mike.

  • Posted

    Hi so why did you go to twice a day when it wa since a day? That right there might be your problem. Also by chance did you get your period around the time you started to feel down or was there a full moon?im on 5mg doc wants me on 10mg but I'm doing good on 5 except a weekb4 my period. Then once it starts I start to feel better. And a full moon makes me feel crappy. But it's only a short time and it's not even close to what I was a few months ago so I just deal with it for that short time!! Hope this helps

    • Posted

      Hi Becky, I started taking two because I began to feel low again. It began around my period actually so I tried to ride it out and wait because I know I get moody before my period anyways, but it lasted too long and just felt myself slowly decreasing in all the positivity that I had!! This does help though so thank you
    • Posted

      I think U should just do 40mg one time a day that's a huge jump so fast

    • Posted

      I do have 40mg a day it's just in the form of two 20mg a day! ,

    • Posted

      Oh that makes sense I thought it was 20mg once a day to 40 twice a day! Lol
  • Posted

    Hey Alice,

    How did you go with your dose increase in the end? I've been on 20mg for 3 years now and to be honest have probably felt for a year or so that it isn't working. I am hesitant to change though, as I dislike the idea of anything more than a low dose in terms of side effects and I (probably irrationally) fear developing any dependency.

    Hope to hear from you!

    Paige

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