Positive effects of Prozac but still worried

[niceglasses]

Have been on Prozac now for just over 2 months. Can not believe the difference - really working for me. Much more energy, gone is the despair and awful gloom and just crapness really. Feel so much more like myself almost 6 years ago before kids - when I was a sort of positive person. However, am still worried about what happens when I come off. Will I slump back to that blackness - sorry to sound dramatic, but don't think I could stand it. Anyone any exp? My first time ever on ADs so don't really know what to expect.....thanks in advance.

Hi niceglasses

glad it is working for you...i had similar worries...
was on various ADs for 4 years .....i tried coming off them before i was ready.and always needed to go back on them,
once i was ok...i came of them very slowly, under doctors supervision..took several weeks...
that was 2 1/2 yrs ago.......no probs since!

Don't come off them yet, they are not addictive and strangely the longer you spend on them, the better you feel when you come off!

I was on them for 7 mths after illness and a resulting depression and they did give me plenty of energy, I found that early on if I missed a dose I would get physically shaky but that when I was ready to come off them it was fine and I came off gradually missing one every other day and so on.

I took them a 2nd time for recurring fatigue (they do make me quite hyper!) but without depression and I came off them after 2 mths with no side effects whatsoever.

As the others have said, just keep taking them til your dr is happy for you to start cutting back.

Good luck!

Hi I have been on Prozac on and off for five years. I have never had any problem coming off them and sometimes just stop. The longest I have taken them for is 8 months. I find that they just make me feel normal. Not especially high and not especially low, just OK. You can take feeling ok for granted when you are not suffering from depression, but when you constantly feel low and fragile feeling OK is a real bonus. I find that they surpress my appetite slightly and give me more energy and I can stay awake for longer. I also have none of the symptoms of PMT i.e. chocolate craving, moodiness or menstrual pain.
The only thing I don't like is that I think they take away your ability to feel and react emotionally about things that you can get emotional about like your child's first day at school or a sad movie etc. Also I get to a point where I feel so fine that I don't think I need them anymore.I stop, perhaps sooner than I should cause I am in a false state of feeling fine and when they wear off after a few weeks the cracks in my life appear again bolder than ever.
Despite this I think it is a good temporary fix to start you on the road to getting past the crippling depression that holds back all areas of your life.

Thanks for all this - really helps. I am a bit terrified of going back to how I felt - in fact it is only since taking them that I realise how bad I did feel. I am a bit obsessed about how I will feel once I stop, but maybe that will go with time. For now, it is just good to feel normal. I totally get the PMT thing - it has evened that out so much.

I think what happens is that when you are genuinley ready to come off them you wont be so worried about it iyswim. I bet at the moment you are still very aware of how you feel, and when you take one you are still thinking 'Ooo, heres me taking another pill for my depression'.

Yeah, and if I miss one I'm petrified my mood will slip. Stupid. thanks for the replies

Try not to worry about it all for now and just continue to think of how much better you are feeling.