I am new here. And im frustrated because i dont no how to use this site which is made worse by my brain fog.

I'm kinda lost. I just want someone to understand. I don't know how you move forward.“I was on paroxetine/Paxil for around 27 years and tapered off relatively quickly. I then started 20 mg fluoxetine/Prozac because withdrawal became overwhelming. I'm now tapering the Prozac and experiencing waves of anxiety, sadness, crying, derealisation, brain zaps and periods where I feel much clearer. I'm trying to understand other people's experiences and, most importantly, find people who eventually recovered.”

The worse thing is the not knowing.

😔

Edited September 15Sep 15 by SarahMc

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawal syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

1 hour ago, Cobbie said:

I am new here. And im frustrated because i dont no how to use this site which is made worse by my brain fog.

You did great! This is the right place to post 😊. If you have any more questions about how to use the site you can ask them here in your thread and we'll do our best to guide you.

1 hour ago, Cobbie said:

I was on paroxetine/Paxil for around 27 years and tapered off relatively quickly.

As you may know already, we recommend tapering these drugs at a maximum rate of 10% of your previous dose per month: Tapering Information

It can be really difficult coming off these drugs, especially after having been on them for so long. What dose of paxil were you on during that time? How quickly did you taper off, and when did you take your final dose?

1 hour ago, Cobbie said:

I then started 20 mg fluoxetine/Prozac because withdrawal became overwhelming.

The better thing to do here would have been to reinstate a low dose of the paxil. When did you start the prozac? And did you find that it helped at all with your withdrawal symptoms?

1 hour ago, Cobbie said:

I'm now tapering the Prozac and experiencing waves of anxiety, sadness, crying, derealisation, brain zaps and periods where I feel much clearer. I'm trying to understand other people's experiences and, most importantly, find people who eventually recovered.”

How long did you stay at 20 mg of the prozac before you started tapering? Did you feel stable at any point? How quickly are you tapering, and what dose are you at now?

This forum is still relatively new, so we don't have many members who have recovered just yet. But we do have a section with some success stories here: https://antidepressantrecovery.org/forum/7-success-stories/

The prognosis for people in protracted withdrawal is almost universally positive. Everyone heals in time, we just can't tell you how much time. Generally you can improve your chances of not ending up with long term withdrawal symptoms after you're off the drugs by tapering very slowly and trying to minimize withdrawal symptoms between cuts. In your case, however, I'd like to know more about how you've reacted to the prozac generally before making any suggestions.

You will heal 💜

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

3 hours ago, Cobbie said:

I'm now tapering the Prozac and experiencing waves of anxiety, sadness, crying, derealisation, brain zaps and periods where I feel much clearer.

I've definitely been THERE and recovered. Those are classic windows and waves symptoms so you may want hold at your current dose for a period and wait for that stuff to go away before tapering again ... In my experience, once you're kinda destabilized like that, and you keep pushing it, you can crash and find yourself in much worse shape and it can take a while for your nervous system to recover and so it ends up taking LONGER to get off the drug rather than going slow and steady with minimal symptoms. Some people are luckier than others in how much they're gonna have to put up with even if they go slow.

One thing to make sure of is that your method of tapering is sound and that you're actually getting the exact doses you think you are - because if you're not getting the same dose everyday, nothing else really matters and you're not going to be stable.

Edited September 15Sep 15 by N2deep

Welcome to the forum @Cobbie glad you found us, good job posting in the right place :)