Hey Friends,
Once again I'm trying to leave Prozac behind. I posted here back in January, when I was having "brain zaps" two weeks after discontinuing Prozac. Everyone who responded was so helpful! I stayed off of the drug for a couple of months, but ultimately went back on it in March. I was on it through the summer, and about two months ago I started thinking about going off of it again. I don't like the side effects, and most of all I don't like how it makes me feel as though I'm cut off from my feelings...I can't cry when I'm on it. I don't feel things fully.
Anyway, now I'm off of it. I've only been AF since 9/7/09. I took my last Prozac on the 13th. Crazy timing, I guess. I know it would have been more sensible to get a long stretch of AF time under my belt, before giving up Prozac again. But I hadn't been drinking heavily, for a few years. I'd been moderating, but finding it difficult. I finally realized it's not worth the effort for me. So now I'm AF and Prozac Free, too. But two weeks have gone by since I took my last (by then very small dose) of Prozac. I'd tapered over about 2 weeks. Today they're back...the brain zaps. Weird little dizzy spells that feel like a little shock in my brain. But they're not too bad. I've been taking St. John's Wort, which I hoped would lessen the withdrawal symptoms. The worst thing is, my mood has been horrible for the last couple of days. I feel incredibly irritable, and I want a drink. I'm not going to have one. But the craving to change my mood feels awful.
I recognize now that I've lived through this pattern before. I go off of an anti-depressant, experience this irritability, and then I drink. I drink and then I get depressed and anxious from drinking. Then I decide I have to go back on antidepressants. I want so much to find another way. I want to get through this without drinking, and without going back to taking an antidepressant.
Has anyone else experienced any of this? Please help. :upset:
Sara
Once again I'm trying to leave Prozac behind. I posted here back in January, when I was having "brain zaps" two weeks after discontinuing Prozac. Everyone who responded was so helpful! I stayed off of the drug for a couple of months, but ultimately went back on it in March. I was on it through the summer, and about two months ago I started thinking about going off of it again. I don't like the side effects, and most of all I don't like how it makes me feel as though I'm cut off from my feelings...I can't cry when I'm on it. I don't feel things fully.
Anyway, now I'm off of it. I've only been AF since 9/7/09. I took my last Prozac on the 13th. Crazy timing, I guess. I know it would have been more sensible to get a long stretch of AF time under my belt, before giving up Prozac again. But I hadn't been drinking heavily, for a few years. I'd been moderating, but finding it difficult. I finally realized it's not worth the effort for me. So now I'm AF and Prozac Free, too. But two weeks have gone by since I took my last (by then very small dose) of Prozac. I'd tapered over about 2 weeks. Today they're back...the brain zaps. Weird little dizzy spells that feel like a little shock in my brain. But they're not too bad. I've been taking St. John's Wort, which I hoped would lessen the withdrawal symptoms. The worst thing is, my mood has been horrible for the last couple of days. I feel incredibly irritable, and I want a drink. I'm not going to have one. But the craving to change my mood feels awful.
I recognize now that I've lived through this pattern before. I go off of an anti-depressant, experience this irritability, and then I drink. I drink and then I get depressed and anxious from drinking. Then I decide I have to go back on antidepressants. I want so much to find another way. I want to get through this without drinking, and without going back to taking an antidepressant.
Has anyone else experienced any of this? Please help. :upset:
Sara
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