Physical side effects of prozac withdrawal

Treatment and medication
1

I decided after 10 years of being on prozac that I didn't need it anymore.  I survived the death of my son and other rough patches and life is good now.  My mistake I think is that I just went cold turkey about two months ago.  I had bad headaches, irritability, and the usual stuff.  I have dreams every night still, but they are nice, adventure type dreams so I don't mind.  I have had for several weeks now problems with my feet.  At first it was a sorenes on the inside of my right ankle.  All day I had this but in the evening it would burn.  I spent alot of money on new shoe and sneakers.  Now it has progressed to the other ankle.  Could this joint pain and burning be a side effect of withdrawing.  I know it takes a long time to have the effects wear off.  Has anyone had this problem, or should I move on?

 

2

Hi Ali, I'm so sorry about your son, but I'm glad that you came through the grieving alright.  

I am certain that the pain is withdrawal, and I'm sorry to say that it is NEVER recommended to do a cold turkey off of SSRIs.  You are only two months out from your CT so there is still time to reinstate a small dose to a) relieve current withdrawal symptoms and b) hopefully prevent protracted withdrawal from unfurling.  Unfortunately, your withdrawal may have only just begun; SSRI withdrawal notoriously can start off slow and build to a big punch several months out.  Going off fast doesn't mean that getting over it will be fast.  

Symptoms can run the gammut from digestive upsets, nausea, sleep disturbances, brain and body zaps, burning skin sensations, prickling sensations, headaches, pains throughout the body, heart palpitations and arrythmia, increased blood pressure, extreme sweating, flu-like symptoms etc.  There are many and some can be quite bizaar!  

I am on a psych drug withdrawal forum that has been around for many years and has folks moderating that have been in the trenches advising people for all those years.   I would recommend joining that group as they are very knowledgeable, compassionate, and supportive, and someone always responds to questions quickly.  The site is called Surviving Antidepressants.  

I have written up a post about getting off safely which includes a link to that site:  https://patient.info/forums/discuss/withdrawing-from-antidepressants-and-benzos-safely-485891?page=0#1809368

There is no shame in reinstating a very small dose, maybe just a few mgs.  Problem is, they just don't make the pills in sizes that are conducive to tapering off sanely and safely.  You may be able to have your doctor prescribe a liquid version that can be dosed with a syringe so that you can take the equivalent of 2 or 3 mg.  Again, I would advise joining the forum so that those they can guide you, though I know that is what they will say ;-)

It helps to understand that getting off these drugs is not about getting it out of your system and being done.  The action of the drug causes the nervous system to adapt physiologically so that it can regain balance, and when you take the drug away suddenly, it's like ripping out a trellis that a vine had climbed and expecting the vine to be able to stay up!  It takes time for the nervous system to adapt back, and in the meantime there are withdrawal symptoms that can last months and years.  No other drug will be able to mitigate that process.  The longer you were taking the drug, the slower it will be to recover, and the stronger the system will react to cold turkey or fast tapers.  It might help to know what dose you came off of.

I will warn you, too, that severe anxiety, depression and insomnia are withdrawal effects, often described as being at a level unlike anything the patient had ever experienced before or during the drug-taking.  Doctors and patients alke mistaken this as relapse, and meds are prescribed yet again.  There are folks, though, who have taken these drugs for pain only, and end up with depression and anxiety in withdrawal though they never had those symptoms before.

I've "talked" your ear off enough.  

3

Thank you so much for your reply.  So many things have me concerned about my feet.  I am a diabetic also but my A1c is 6.4.  I take oral meds but have never had a problem so I am outruling that.  I did go to an ankle/foot doctor last week who I chalked up to being a quack.  He didn't even xray my right foot, which at the time was the only pain I was having.  He said I had arthritis and I should go to my primary who may put me on some meds.  $40 copay for him to tell me that.  I think arthritis may be part but not all.  I get no relief from OTC meds such as Aleve.  Muscle rub does help a little as long as I don't move.  I am going to see my primary though and see what he says.  It just seems weird to me that this has only happened the past month or two.  I will check into that forum, thank you.  And I will discuss getting a low dose from my doctor for the prozac.  Have a great day.

 

4

What folks don't know is that serotonin has many more functions throughout beyond the brain.  80% of our serotonin is outside the brain!  It affects nerves everywhere and affects the gut as well.  I think scientists haven't even scratched the surface in understanding its many functions.

Updosing just a tiny bit may alleviate those symptoms, validifying your suspicions. 

Hope to see you at SA.  Have a great day!

5

I too have tried a couple of times to come off prozac, but the withdrawal symptoms are horrendous. My dreams aren't pleasant like yours, mine are really morbid and violent and I get terrible head pains and life becomes unbearable. I don't know if these tablets are mainly psychological because we are doing something positive about a medical problem we have but I'm not medical. I'm sure a GP would contradict this and tell us all that there are chemical reasons the tabs

help us. I've been on it about 12 years and I feel I'm on it for life now! I think as regards the problems with your feet, I remember this podiatrist I go to telling me years ago that depression tablets affect the state of your feet, and cause hard skin on the soles and generally more noticeable problems with them. Perhaps the pains are just part of the withdrawal symptoms as you believe. I think you should see your GP to seek reassurance about this. All the best Ali, and I hope you manage to come off them.

6

Hi Yvonne, 

If you wish to come off Prozac, there is no reason that you can't other than your own drive to do so.  Likely you always tapered too quickly, which assures failure.  You are most likely to succeed doing a 10% taper, which means subtracting 10% of your previous dose per month.  This requires being able to dose the med, which is where drive comes in, because it isn't convenient.  You would need to get the liquid version of Prozac, or make your own liquid.  

Proper tapering means only reducing the dose when you feel stable, no withdrawal symptoms.  This requires flexibility, as you might need to hold at a level for a couple of months before moving forward.  As you get to the lowest dose range, you may need to slow the taper down to 5% per month, because the very last part is the hardest and is most likely to cause withdrawal symptoms.

A 10% taper is a harm-reduction approach meant to keep you comfortable and functional as you reduce.  When you compare that to staying on the drug for life, it is not as big a deal as it may seem.  These drugs do have their costs in terms of long-term health consequences.

These pills do not treat a medical problem; there is no disease process that has been found that causes depression and anxiety, despite great effort by the drug companies to find one.  No heritable, genetic cause has been found, either.  But that doesn't seem to stop the profession and the drug companies from carrying on the myth that these conditions are causes by an imbalance in the brain and that the drugs correct that imbalance.  These drugs merely alter our state of consciousness, perhaps making our issues more tolerable.

It is everyone's personal decision whether or not to take or stay on meds, but coming off doesn't mean that your "disease" will come back.  It is merely that you have suffered withdrawal from the meds that makes it seem that way.  Withdrawal lasts much longer than doctors will recognize, and causes anxiety and depression which everyone declares is relapse.  If tapered off properly, those symptoms can be avoided or minimized and aren't permanent.

If you are interested to learn more, see the topic Reducing ADs using a 10% Withdrawal Method in the following thread:

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/depression-resources-298570