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How Do I Do The Prozac Method?


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#1 hannah233

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Posted 06 May 2015 - 07:52 PM

I recently had to quit cold turkey because my mothers insurance got messed up and I cannot get a refill unless I pay out of pocket. I am now on day 6 or 7 I believe. A little backround: I am a 17 year old female, 107lbs. and went on cymbalta 3 months ago for depression and anxiety. I started off with 30mg and after 2 weeks my Dr. said to take 60mg, so that is what I have been doing. My withdrawal symptoms are pretty intense even though I was only on it for 3 months. I feel extremely nauseous 24/7 to the point that I can hardly eat anything, cannot fall asleep, and if I stand for more than a couple minutes the nausea increases tenfold. It's even difficult to shower because the warm water upsets my stomach even more for some reason, and I have to sit in the shower or I get dizzy and sick. I get minor brain zaps, my brain feels very foggy most of the time, I am having pretty extreme panic attacks and sad/depressed bouts, very fatigued but cannot sleep at night due to nightmares and terrible paranoia, and I get migraines periodically. 

In all honesty I could handle everything if I didn't have the constant nausea. That is the absolute worst of my symptoms and makes functioning like a normal human being next to impossible. I don't throw up so I never get relief, unless I go and actually force myself to throw up. The relief from that only lasts 15-20 minutes at best though. I also have a script for adderall, and I noticed when I take that I feel fantastic and almost normal again, but when it starts to wear off I basically turn into a zombie and my head feels extreeeeemely fuzzy and blurry.

 

I heard that people are using Prozac (fluoxetine) to ease cymbalta withdrawal. Does anyone have any experience with this? How well does it work? How many mgs should I take and for how long? And what about withdrawal then from the prozac when I stop taking it? I tried prozac a couple years ago for a few months but it never really did anything for me besides make me very unmotivated so I quit taking it cold turkey and I don't remember having any withdrawals.

 

Also can someone please recommend an anti-nausea medicine that I can buy from Walgreens or a similar store so I don't need it prescribed? I've been taking tums but they don't seem to work very well, if at all. I just want some relief from this nausea, it feels like I'm going to go insane if I have to deal with it 24/7 until the withdrawal stops. Which brings up yet another question, does anyone have an idea of how long this should last for me?

 

Please help, I am absolutely miserable :(


#2 TryinginFL

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Posted 06 May 2015 - 08:15 PM

Welcome Hannah!

 

So happy that you have found us!  I have no experience with Prozac but can give you a suggestion for the nausea.  Dramamine has been used by many and they have found it helpful.

 

You are fortunate that you are young and only been on this poison drug for 3 months.  Your withdrawal should not be terribly long as it seems to depend on the length of time on it and one's age.  Both of these things are in your favor.  What takes older folks months will hopefully only take you weeks.

 

Hang in there and try the Dramamine!  Please feel free to come back with any questions you may have and please keep us posted as to how you are doing!

 

I'm sure someone with knowledge of Prozac will hop on here soon!

 

Liz


#3 lady2882Nancy

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Posted 07 May 2015 - 02:42 PM

Hi hannah

 

I did go on a low dose of Zoloft after I had been off Cymbalta for a number of weeks and it did help with the side effects of discontinuing.

 

Since you have been off Cymbalta for a week already I would think that you could start on Prozac to see if it would help with your side effects of discontinuing Cymbalta, just watch out that the depression that can occur from discontinuing Cymbalta isn't made worse by the depression you experienced previously by the Prozac.

 

If the nausea is the worst side effect you are dealing with then I would talk to a pharmacist and find out what the best anti nausea med you can get without an prescription and see if that would help. Many of us had to resort to anti nausea meds taken on a regular basis for the first 2 to 4 weeks. I also drank a lot of ginger tea to keep my nausea down.

 

Through all this you need to make sure you stay as hydrated as possible by drinking a lot of water to flush out the toxins. As hard as it is to think of doing this it does help.

 

I do hope you have someone there to keep an eye on you as it really isn't something you should be going through on your own. You could go through a period of irritability as well as serious periods of depression and now may be the time to warn your mother (if she is looking after you) and have her read some of the posts so she knows what to expect. 

 

If either of you have any questions be sure to ask and we will be happy to answer as best as we can.

 

Take care of you and be well





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