Experiences with Prozac (initial increase in anxiety?)

[crmac50]

I was just prescribed Prozac (fluoxetine) by the Nurse Practitioner I see for anxiety. I was curious to see what other peoples' experiences have been. I started at 10mg and I'm supposed to work my way up to 20mg in a week or two. I started taking it yesterday and it wasn't bad at all: just felt a little spacey and drowsy. It was kind of a nice change of pace actually. Tonight though, things kinda went in the opposite direction and I had a panic attack (which I haven't had in awhile). Now I'm sitting here feeling quite a bit worse than I was yesterday.

I've heard that it's pretty common for the first two weeks on this drug to be tumultuous as your body adjusts to the medication, but that things tend to level out afterwards. Has anyone else had this experience with Prozac/and or other anti-depressants? Did your anxiety get WORSE before it got better?

[gypsylee]

Yes :) I've been on and off these drugs for 20 years and they always do. Prozac was the first one I was on and it worked well but took about a month to kick in.

[crmac50]

Yes :) I've been on and off these drugs for 20 years and they always do. Prozac was the first one I was on and it worked well but took about a month to kick in.

Thanks for the reply. I wound up having to pop a xanax just to get my anxiety to a tolerable level. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being Emergency Room trip, I was at about an 8. I try to avoid using the Xanax because I find that I build up tolerance to benzos quickly when I use them consistently, and then have withdrawal issues when I stop taking them. As long as this doesn't last longer than a week or two though, I should be ok. It's just such an uncomfortable feeling...it's like all the nerves in my body are short-circuiting. Such an uncomfortable experience.

[gypsylee]

Yeah I know. I've usually taken benzos to get through that initial stage as well.

SSRIs make anxiety worse at first because they increase serotonin and the brain kind of freaks out and decreases serotonin, so you actually end up with even less than you had. After a while the brain gets used to it and you end up with more serotonin than you started with. That's obviously very simplified but I think it helps to know what the hell is going on because it can be really scary.

[simp]

I have been on Prozac before and am going back to it now from Luvox (start tomorrow). Last time yes things were rough at first but ANY of these meds cause rough times for me. Prozac did even out though and I thought it worked fairly well aside from sexual side effects and I quit. Now I'm going back a year later with Wellbutrin to possibly help that and depression. I also have Xanax now for panic attacks should the switching back to Prozac cause havoc. Oh and a small dose of Klonopin. I feel like my counter is a pharmacy.