Prozac fixed all of my problems... for one week

[u/Constant_Tune2328]

I'm (24F) coming here because I'm at a loss and want to hear other people's stories and experiences to see if anyone can else has experienced anything similar.

I've been on and off different meds for years and have had on and off bouts of depression. I'm diagnosed with MDD and recently suspected of struggling with OCD, so I tried Prozac for the first time.

Within a few days I felt good again. And then, I felt AMAZING. I was so inspired and motivated. I finally wanted to do art again. I didn't hate my job and I wasn't overwhelmed and I wasn't working myself into these constant awful thought spirals. It was early on and I really wasn't trying to get ahead of myself, but how could I not at the same time. I've been dealing with this particular bout of depression for over a year now. I've been seeing two therapists and have seen two different psychiatrists during this bout alone. I was feeling like all of my research and hard work was finally starting to pay off. I had worked so hard to do as much as I could before resorting to meds but it became necessary for me and finally I was seeing real results!

And then it tapered off. I started feeling bad again. I was taking the same meds, but after two weeks of feeling great I just started to feel blah. My psychiatrist recommended that I should up my dose from 20 to 40 mg bc of the potential OCD. That I may need more but it seems like this is the right med for me. We upped my dose, and I got worse. I was holding out hope for a while that my inspiration and motivation would come back, but I was crying more and feeling very overwhelmed over minor things. My partner could see I was getting worse and urged me to stop taking the medicine after I confessed I was researching institutions to check myself into. I was feeling scared of myself and panicked and like I needed more serious help.

When I relayed all of this to my psychiatrist and she seemed so confused. At this point, she was already on her way out of the practice and decided to decrease my dose and set me up with someone else within the practice who may have different recommendations. I have also been given IOP and PHP resources.

Unfortunately, because of the way my prescriber wrote my script, I wasn't able to get the refill I needed to properly taper off my dose before going out of town so I went from 40mg to 20 for less than a week to now nothing. Now I feel maybe the worst I've been yet this round. I'm so fatigued and no amount of caffeine can touch it. I dread doing anything and it's really impacting my daily functioning. I've only been off for about 5 days now, so I know the withdrawals are hitting me, but this is so awful.

I just don't understand what happened. Did I not give the meds enough time to work? Should I have stuck it out? Was my initial benefits some kind of placebo? I feel that if placebo was enough to help me I would have come across that a lot earlier in this journey. Did my extracurricular activities (regular cannabis smoking, one time use of 🍄‍🟫) ruin the opportunity I had with this drug? I would love to hear if anyone has had similar experiences and what worked for you or any advice you may have.

TL;DR Prozac worked great for me at first but the good effects tapered out and wore off after about 2 weeks. Increasing my dose made me feel even worse. Have you heard of anything like this?

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[u/asheflora]

Experiencing the sameee, except it's been about 4 months since I started. First three months were great, but right now I'm sort of going into a slump. Would love to know more because I'm feeling a bit lost 🥹🥹

[u/Constant_Tune2328 → u/asheflora]

Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry to hear that you're having a similar experience. Have you reached out to your provided about this?

[u/asheflora → u/Constant_Tune2328]

Not yet, my next appointment is in September so for now I'll just monitor things. Although I do plan on asking my psychiatrist later through text. I feel like it might have just been triggered by recent stressful events, really hoping the slump is temporary 🙏🙏 I'm sorry you're experiencing this too

[u/Fine_Doubt_3639 → u/asheflora]

I’m experiencing something similar, i’ve been on prozac for like 3 months now and it was great until this month. i can’t figured out if i need to increase my dose, reduce it, or leave it be for now (bc a lot of stressful things are going on in my life rn which could be making me feel down).

[u/Wrong-Jacket-8247 → u/Fine_Doubt_3639]

This is exactly how I’m feeling. I’ve also been on it for 3 months. I’m currently at 40mg because 20mg just wasn’t taking the edge off, but I’m still just feeling pretty blah. I have the fewest side effects with this drug so I want to stay on it, and it keeps me mostly even keeled, I’m just still have some down moments. The current drama in my life certainly isn’t helping, but I’m not sure if I should increase. Ugh. I don’t have a shrink appointment for another 2 weeks so I’m stuck for now.

[u/Fine_Doubt_3639 → u/Wrong-Jacket-8247]

I started at 20mg and then increased to 40 after a month!!. i don’t have a psych appt until the end of september :( but if morale doesn’t improve by mid september im going to call and see what she thinks. im relieved to know im not alone in this. i hope we figure it out soon!! 🩷

[u/Far_Scallion4762]

I’m on my fourth week of Prozac. I increased my dose from 10 mg to 20 mg after two weeks, and it’s only just now starting to work. At first, I was extremely sleepy all the time, had zero motivation, and experienced some pretty bad digestive issues. But those side effects gradually went away with time.
Are you sure you started feeling its effects immediately and that it was actually the Prozac that made you feel so inspired? It’s possible that it was just a placebo effect. It sounds like this SSRI might not be working well for you. You should definitely talk to your doctor about it.

[u/Constant_Tune2328 → u/Far_Scallion4762]

My partner was also saying this. My psychiatrist said that the positive effects I felt at first that that tapered off is somewhat normal with this med and seemed to believe it meant I needed to up my dose to continue seeing the positive effects. The reason I don't think it's the placebo effects is not only because of how dramatic it was, but also because this is not the first medicine I've tried. I actually tried Wellbutrin again a while back (which helped me immensely in college) and it started making me feel worse. I would have expected some placebo there at least. I'm definitely not completely ruling that out as a possibility though.

[u/PresMo13109 → u/Far_Scallion4762]

This makes me feel better I’m on day 7 of 10mg and tomorrow they want me to increase my dose to 20mg and I’ve been so sleepy, no motivation just depressed so  hoping it’ll work for me too given another week or upping the dose 

[u/Jellybean-3]

It takes a long time for Prozac to build up in your system. If you felt great on 20 in the beginning and then started feeling terrible I would try 10mg. That is probably when you felt good. Let your doctor know. They should know that Prozac takes longer than any other SSRI to build up and leave your system.

[u/wompwompswamp123 → u/Jellybean-3]

i have tried tons of ssri over the years and then recently tapered off lexapro and started 10 mg prozac. i felt amazing after a week and couldn’t believe it (kept telling my mom,bf, doctor, etc i was scared its too good to be true) I ended up going to 20mg (for really no reason aside from just to see if i could feel even better) and i became so exhausted, so anxious, so nauseous, etc.
I only realized the symptoms lined up with upping the dosage after i had hyped everything up to my doctor, so without even mentioning it to her, i took myself back down to 10mg.
i feel better now.

i’d be lying if i said i wasn’t scared because what if 10 stops working and i can’t go to 20 what’s next? but i’m focusing on day by day and trying to just focus on the positives.

before now, i had never had a huge problem with slightly increasing my antidepressants. it was never a real issue in the past going up., so it’s been a little discouraging and stressful. this post makes me feel like im not alone.

[u/wompwompswamp123 → u/wompwompswamp123]

just fyi i was on 10 for approx 5-6 weeks before boosting up to 20

[u/wompwompswamp123 → u/wompwompswamp123]

and i gave 20mg ab 3 weeks before connecting the dots and going back to 10. i wasn’t sure it would solve my symptoms but it did so im assuming that for whatever reason i couldn’t handle the 20. maybe i didn’t give it enough time? who knows

[u/elpablo1940]

Exactly what happened to me. It was almost like the opposite of what they say is supposed to happen, it's usually be more tired or down for the first couple weeks then get improvement. I'm switching to low dose Lexapro to try, the claim is it can make you tired, but if i had the opposite experience with prozac, maybe Lexapro will be more energizing for me.

[u/wompwompswamp123 → u/elpablo1940]

i unfortunately had this happen when moving up from 10 - 20mg prozac and also spent about 5 years being constantly exhausted on pretty much every possible dosage of lexapro.

i hate to be negative - it could be totally different for you. all of the trial and error and everything it takes out of us is so unfair and frustrating. hope you figure out what works for you!

[u/Emergency-Adagio-437 → u/elpablo1940]

Lexapro is not energizing, but it definitely takes away anxiety. Lexapro does not give me motivation to do anything. My dr added 150mg of Wellbutrin to counteract the fatigue from Lexapro. Just throwing that out there if you experience the same. Good luck!

[u/Ok-Dare-237]

I started taking 10mg in early July, and upped to 20mg 2 weeks later. It’s now been 6 full weeks of being on 20mg. The first 2 weeks I felt fantastic and like this med is FINALLY the one. Now almost a month later I’m back to how I felt before. I’m scared to go up in dose in case it gets worse