Best time to take fluoxetine?

[bigfatmeanie]

I’m on day 2 of 20mg fluoxetine and I noticed that it’s wiping me out for about 3 hours after I take it. Just utter exhaustion and a bit of nausea.
Taking at around 7am but wondering if I should try and take it at bedtime or would it affect my sleep?
Also how to make the change? Just wait until tomorrow noght to tale my next dose?

I take mine (same dose as you) at 7pm, it doesn't make me tired though but I've always been advised to take it at night.

Also takes between 4-6 weeks to start working properly.

I used to take mine in the mornings, they didn't make me feel drowsy but antidepressants work differently on many people so just do what works for you.

I have to say Fluoxetine worked wonders for me, really got me back on my feet. I also found coming off them a lot easier than citalopram.

Good luck & hope you feel better soon.

I’ve seen conflicting reports on when best to take SSRIs - some morning, some night. I think I used to take my first lot (this is going back 15 years!) at lunchtime! I now take mine at night. If you wanted to switch timings I’d leave a gap rather than taking two within 24 hours if you see what I mean, but any pharmacist would advise you properly. When I’ve started a new one from cold turkey I’ve felt the first positive effects after just 2 weeks but yes it’s usually 4-6 weeks to feel real benefits and I’m sure my GP once told me even longer to do more. Tip - if ever you get a pack which doesn’t have the days of the week on then write them on, I’ve sometimes gone completely blank about whether I’ve taken it or not otherwise - which doesn’t help the anxiety!!

Hi. I am also the same in that I started back my fluoxetine on Thursday so today will be day 3.

I take it in the morning now. The first time I used it I took it before bed - simply because I'd previously been tried on Citalopram and it made me feel absolutely horrendous. I'd take it then feel horribly sick and completely wiped out all day. I know these side effects are common for many people for the first couple of weeks but for me they just didn't wear off at all after time.

I've never really had any major side effects with the fluoxetine fortunately.

At one point I wondered if taking them before bed was affecting my quality of sleep (as if it wasn't bad enough already).
So the second time I was on a course I changed to taking them in the morning. This was mostly because I was working nights at the time so that was bedtime for me. I then started switching times about depending on whether I was on shift or not.

So basically if I was on a day off or on dayshift I'd take them in the morning and if I was on a nightshift I'd take them before I went out to work.

The half life of fluoxetine is pretty huge, measured in days rather than hours. It can be from 1 to 3 days at first and then up to 6 days after using for a period of time. So in that respect it's not absolutely crucial that you take it at the same time every day if you were to forget for example. To be fair, once you have established yourself on it, it really wouldn't make any difference if you accidentally forgot to take it one day and just took it the next day.

Just don't do what I did and forget or not bother more than you actually take it, then before you know where you are you've taken yourself off it!

Please keep us updated and let us know how things are going with this. I hope the side effects you are feeling wear off and pass soon.

Thanks all, at the moment I’m on day 3.
think probably half the reason I’m wiped is that dc1 was up at 3am going for a wee and then dc3 decided to get into our bed and throw a wobbly at 6am
I’m tending to have anxiety on waking and be absolutely exhausted for 3/4 hours after taking the tablet and general lethargy the rest of the day. Still very early days though so hopefully in a month or two I’ll feel better