So I’m half way through week 7 of Prozac and while in some regards my anxiety is doing better, I’m still have a day or two a week with intense anxiety and have recently been waking up after I fall asleep in a panic. My doc said I could try doing 60mg every other day to average 50mg and see if that helps. I see him in two weeks but don’t know if going up will help those stop or if more time is needed. Thoughts?
Hi Jenni is there any more to the story? I started that at 5 mg 10 and then ended up at 20 which was fine for me for general anxiety disorder. I had and I am very sensitive to medication so maybe you are?
Hi I thought Prozac was an antidepressant xx
Hi Jenny,
That’s great that the Prozac is helping, I’m sorry that you are having a few days of anxiety. I would suggest you call and ask your doctor about it if you don’t want to wait the two week.
Were you dealing with anxiety everyday and now it’s a few days a week?
Question for you- I have really bad anxiety, it’s all Health related, meaning I’m always scared that I’m going to die from something. Lately it’s been a brain tumor, it’s horrible. I’ve been thinking about trying medication to see if that helps, but I’m terrified of the side effects that I’ve read about. Have you had any negative side effects?
Hi Rob,
There is. I was on Paxil since 2006 at a low dose but was increased to the highest dose in 2012 when I was pregnant. After delivery I had horrible postpartum anxiety and started seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist. The psychiatrist switched me from Paxil cr to Paxil and added Deplin. It took 2-3 months but it eventually made me feel great. In fact two years later I lost my third daughter during labor and I managed really well with no anxiety just grief. On my daughters 3 year anniversary I was almost off Paxil and ended up with horrible anxiety and panic attacks. Eventually I went back to the 60mg Paxil and Deplin but never felt completely better so my psych switched me to Prozac because it seems the Paxil was not working. I cross tapered Prozac and Paxil and have been completely off Paxil for 6 weeks and I’m prozac 40mg 7weeks but still getting days of acute anxiety.
It is but is also used to treat anxiety
Yes, on Prozac I lost my appetite for several weeks and had trouble sleeping for a couple weeks. I personally have found the trade off worth it because the side effects were minimal and short lived vs. the side effects of living with anxiety day in and day out.
I personally think yes all of these drugs will give us a little bit of anxiety for a little while. I myself am going to start Paxil soon. .5 and work my way up to 10. I’m nervous about that too.
Are you saying your dr wishes you to increase the dose?
Sorry Jenny I was unaware others had replied as there were no replies recorded initially.
He suggested increasing it if I’m still experiencing anxiety after giving it a month. I just am nervous about upping it if it will even out soon.
The problem is that if the increased dose does not work or you have undesirable side effects what do you do then?
It is a difficult one.
I know, that’s my concern. However I just received news today that my aunt had a pulmonary embolism and I’m thinking the increase might not be bad right now.
I just finished 8 weeks of Prozac and felt terrible. Worse anxiety, dizzy, increased blood pressure, difficult to breath, felt like I was comletelty agitated and fidgety. My doc says it sounded like seratonin syndrome as I should feel better after at most 5-6 weeks. Stopped it immediately and started Lexapro 5mg. Already after 24 hrs much better. I wouldn’t go up to 60. Maybe the Prozac isn’t working for you.
Thanks Tanya, I’m wondering about that too.
Sorry to hear about your aunt. The dr or hospital will keep her safe with anti coagulants. Let them do the worrying . She is in safe hands.
Take care