Prozac Withdrawal: Symptoms, Timeline, & Treatment

In that case, symptoms of Prozac withdrawal like the ones stated above can appear as the body adjusts to not having the drug present in the system. Should you feel like you need to stop taking Prozac, you should consult your healthcare provider about it and work together on a tapering plan. Update your prescriber on any side effects or worsening of mood/anxiety you may experience.

• Individuals that have been on this medication for a long period of time and/or at a high dosage should still use a tapering method of withdrawal.
• Also, if addiction is already at play, they will need to know how to get appropriate help.
• Always consult your prescribing doctor before making any major changes to your current prescription and dosage.
• The half-life of a drug refers to the time at which half of the medication is eliminated from your body and half remains.
• Extensive studies have been done into quitting Prozac, and it shows that a longer taper, up to a month or more, is the best way to minimize the risk of withdrawal symptoms or side effects.
• But there are ways to safely stop taking these medications while minimizing any potential discontinuation symptoms.

The Role of Prozac in the Body

Prozac withdrawal side effects may occur if the medication is abruptly discontinued. This approach helps ensure a smoother and safer transition off prescribed antidepressants like Prozac. They are the ones at the highest risk for experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms.

Ways to Manage Withdrawal Symptoms (Coping With Prozac Withdrawal)

To prevent more severe Fluoxetine withdrawal, doctors instruct their patients in tapering their dose and prescribe the respective dosage. While some of these symptoms are similar to those experienced in cases of anxiety and depression, they do not necessarily signify a relapse. For individuals coming off Prozac, uncontrolled depression symptoms can develop again and even escalate to suicidal ideation or self harm, seen more often in children and adolescent populations.

Support

As a result, they may start taking the medication again, and thus it becomes a never-ending cycle. To prevent this from happening, people taking Prozac should be aware of the symptoms of relapse and the symptoms of withdrawal. Some people have few or no symptoms when they stop their antidepressant medication, whereas others may find these symptoms extremely uncomfortable. Antidepressants can be notoriously difficult to quit because stopping can produce withdrawal-like symptoms called “discontinuation syndrome.”

Medications

• Some people have few or no symptoms when they stop their antidepressant medication, whereas others may find these symptoms extremely uncomfortable.
• Approximately 280 million people around the world have depression, according to the World Health Organization.
• Tapering off Prozac, with or without the help of a doctor, doesn’t mean that there’s zero chance of withdrawal symptoms.
• Prozac has a boxed warning, the most serious type of warning from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• To be in a position where you feel ready to come off antidepressants is a good thing.

But don’t worry, the doctor can still do so ethically—they provide justification for why the medication can help manage symptoms. In this article, I’ll talk more about Prozac, and what withdrawal from the medication involves—including symptoms, side effects, and ways to cope. For another person experiencing dizziness may bother them, but may coming off of prozac not elicit a panic response.

Unlike other SSRIs, Prozac withdrawal symptoms can last up to two months as opposed to other medications that only cause withdrawal symptoms for a couple of weeks. Because people tend to take Prozac for years, weaning off of it can also be incredibly difficult, and symptoms of withdrawal are not uncommon. To help mitigate uncomfortable symptoms that often stem from withdrawal, it is, therefore, essential that one knows what withdrawal symptoms they may experience when detoxing off this medication. Also, if addiction is already at play, they will need to know how to get appropriate help.

Medicines and psychiatry

Unlike drug withdrawal, symptoms from antidepressant withdrawal aren’t related to addiction but are a result of your body trying to return to a balanced state after you stop taking the medicine. There is no clear-cut answer for how long withdrawal from Prozac is going to last. It may take one person a few weeks to feel nearly 100% recovered from the symptoms, while it may take another person several months before they feel 75% recovered. There is no telling how long you are going to experience withdrawal symptoms. I personally barely experienced any withdrawal from Prozac, but it took me over a year to psychologically recover from Paxil withdrawal.