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Question:
I am temporarily (I hope) depressed due to a divorce situation. I was given Prozac and am taking 20mg a day. After about a month I decided to stop taking it and after 3 days I was feeling very low. I would like to know how to know when to get off Prozac, what types of feelings I will have when stopping it, and the best way to stop it (cold turkey or gradualy).
Answer:
I tried to stop to see if the drug was helping or if I was just getting better. After 3 days, I was depressed again, so that convinced me to trust the drug. I wish that I didn't need any medication and wonder where I would be psychologically right now, had I never started on Prozac. Haven't people fought through the depression connected with a divorce for ages, and made it out without taking these medications? I worry now about how long I will have to be on this stuff, and how can I possibly know when I will be able to phase out its usage. Oh god...the -worst- thing you can do is to stop taking any kind of prescribed medication cold turkey, unless your doctor is supervising it closely and has said it probably won't hurt. Prozac takes awhile to build up to peak effectiveness, as well. One month isn't going to do the job it was intended to do. I would strongly recommend that you start back on it immediately and go see your doctor. My advice: stop worrying about the Prozac. Divorce in itself is plenty. It sounds like you now feel clear that the Prozac helps you feel better. Just say "thank you" and move onto the very hard work of recovering from the divorce. It usually takes about a year to come back to your "normal" self. More time for messy divorces and sometimes less time is needed for less traumatic ones. When you start having more regular ups and downs, that would be the time to TAPER off the meds. Having fought through a divorce, cancer, multiple foot surgeries and a few other traumas without the aid of an anti-depressant, I can tell you that you're lucky to have the opportunity to recover with the assistance of Prozac.
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