Fluoxetine reduction

[halfgirlhalfturnip]

I was prescribed 20mg daily fluoxetine after youngest DD had RSV at 4 weeks and was apparently an hour from not making it.

I could not move past rage at lack of medical reaction (GP, pharmacy, ooh GP - problem was my lack of sleep and subsequent overreaction apparently....), and terror and guilt at nearly losing her (3rd child so I felt I should have known better).
I have weaned myself off fairly regularly over the last 12!!!!!! years but always end up reverting to at least 20mg every 2 days.

I would like to break the habit finally - though GP happy to keep prescribing.

My middle DD explained to my youngest the other day that I had been really active and physically involved when she and oldest DD were small - this rang alarm bells and I fear I have been in a slump ALL of youngest DD's life.

Can I do this, and what should I know of the process?

I was diagnosed reactive or PND at the time and expected a 6 month course but GP later said some people need to stabilise on them for life
If relevant, no prior episodes and previously very much a pull your socks up kind of person (useless info I suspect....)

Sorry to hear about your experience with DD.

I came off Fluoxetine very slowly after taking it for years and being fine on it. Then I started shaking. I was on a number of meds and Drs didn't know which one could be causing it. So I tapered off another med, that wasn't it.

So then I tried tapering the Fluoxetine. I went really slowly, much more slowly than the Drs said - I didn't want to take any chances. It took about 4 months. I dropped to 15 then 10 then 5, spending 3-4 weeks at each dosage. Then I moved onto liquid and dropped by 2mg every 10 days. The tapering off period was fine apart from some brain zaps when I was on 10mg.

Unfortunately I didn't do well off ADs but it sounds like you could be in a place where you could be OK. I did feel like it was a huge achievement to get of the ADs, and I tried quite hard to stay off them but I had a lot of crap going on at the time and really needed some kind of medication.

I would discuss the tapering with your Dr, but be prepared for it to take longer than originally planned. Sometimes it's suggested you take a tablet every other day, which I'm sure works with Fluoxetine as it has a long half life and stays in the system a long time. I just felt more comfortable reducing the daily dose. I'm pretty sure that once I was down to 5mg I wasn't on a therapeutic dose any more, and you could probably just stop after taking 5mg for a couple of weeks. I was just extra cautious; some people are more sensitive to the drug than others.
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Thanks mountaindweller
What do you mean brain zaps? My memory feels shot and my focus questionable - could be peri related but really want to feel again instead of this insulated slightly disjointed existence.

I think brain zaps are different things to different people - for me I guess it was more of a head zap, sort of like a shock going through my head for a moment. Was quite strange but thankfully momentary.