Am on day 3 of 20 mg Prozac after switching from Sertraline last week. Today i am extremely anxious and very very low havent been outside yet and its a lovely day. Lots of negative thoughts too. Is this a usual response and how long before i calm down? Any advice would be a great help. Thanks x
It's normal to feel worse when switching medicines so try not to dwell on it too much. You will start feeling better soon. Try and go outside, even if it's just for a short walk it'll make feel calmer, a little bit of sun's always good. If you're not up to that try and do anything that takes your mind off how you're feeling. It's always worse when you're thinking about the side effects.
hope you're ok x
Thanks for that will try x
Fluoxetine takes nearly a month to reach its full level. 1 - 2 weeks for fluoxetine and then another 2 weeks for its active metabolite. Then another 2 weeks for full effect on you. So 6 in total.
Ok all that said the doc should have cross tapered you. Google it. It means gradually reducing one drug while waiting for the other to build up. Sertraline is out of your system in 3ish days. So what has happened is that you are in withdrawal from sertraline and the fluoxetine has not kicked. You should start to feel an improvement from 2 weeks of starting it but 6 weeks to full effect.