Hi,, i took fluoxetine for 6 years.i also stop it cold turkey several time.after i stop it i feel horrible and depressed.so i finally thought not to cut off again.so i took 20mg countinously for 1 and half year. the problem is anxiety has gone but i have terrible upset in my stomach.i need to stop fluoxetine so badly.. i know i need to see my doctor and i will .. but your adviceses may really helpful.. Thank you. Have peace in mind.
Hi!
If you want to taper off of it, it is best to slowly decrease the amount you take. So 15mg for a few days, then 10, then 5, and then you can eventually stop! It has to be a gradual process or else you'll feel the side effects
Good to do your studies. I have read alot, GOOGLE search, best I've heard, no more than 4-10%, 10-14 days. Withdrawals can be brutal. Also from what I hear, the lessor the better. It's a take the time or suffer more thing. Prayers for your success.
I agree with OreElect, that since you've been on it so long, the best approach is very slow. Even better is no more than 10% in a month, to see if you experience any withdrawal and to pay attention to how long after the cut the symptoms come up, and how long they last. NEVER do a cut when you are experiencing symptoms; you would be adding more instability on top of instability!
I believe you can get a liquid version of fluox that will make doing such small cuts much easier, dosed with a syringe.
Your system has built the drug into its operation, so dropping too quickly is like yanking a cog out of a machine and expecting to work just fine! Slow and steady wins the race!
Hey :-)
I went to the doctor and asked to be given the liquid form, which is much easier to taper off with.
I then reduced the amount I was taking little by little over about 4-6 weeks until I was down to 1mg and then I stopped.
My mood was a bit unstable throughout the process, but nothing like it was when I first started fluox. I had the odd bit of anxiety and a trouble sleeping (I suffer with insomnia anyway so the doctor gave me sleeping tablets to combat that) but other than that I was fine.
That was in October and i'm perfectly fine now. I would say I felt back to normal after about a fortnight of having none at all.
Hope this helps xx
KatyLost, how long were you on fluox? I'm glad you had a relatively easy withdrawal process. Wish we were all so lucky :-)