Prozac half life
Common Questions and Answers about Prozac half life
prozac
this is what is known as the half-life of a drug. For Prozac, the half life is 4-6 days. (it generally takes 5 half lives for a drug to clear your body); for Cymbalta the half life is 12 hours. So theoretically Cymbalta would be out of your system in about 3 days. I always advocate letting your doctor know about changing, especially since they should have it in your records (or at least let their staff know so the Dr. can talk to you).
Hope this was helpful to you.
As far as I'm aware Prozac is the most stimulating of the SSRIs. It also has the longest half life and is supposed to be the easiest to quit taking. If your problem is just anxiety I would try something else first. I find Zoloft to be a bit stimulating for me. Lexapro was very neutral and Paxil was very sedating. But we are each different so you may like Prozac.
got a new dr in may cause old one retired he had me try to up prozac and trouble with that so his asso. had me totally stop the prozac and go on wellbutrin sr 150am and pm,,,,after a week i was having prozac withdrawals so back on prozac i went and still on wellbutrin to be honest i dont know if my depression is something else cause neither brought me up or were stimulating..my new dt thinks i have slight add..anywayas i have been tapering off the prozac 10 mg a week per dr...
I'm on the same struggle! I got grave disease since 10 month my mood is bad and the most important thing I'm not even more excited in doing the activities i was doing before in my life, 5 month that my anxiety is better but don't really want to get out of the house. I'm afraid of taking prozac again I took it 10 years ago, I'm on rhodiola for 3 month now, no more black or sad ideas all day long, able to do things in my house but not interested in life and anything else.
Hard to say, but in general Prozac is one of the more "easy" anti-depressants to stop taking. It has a much longer half life than others which means it will leave your system slower, theoretically causing less withdrawal symptoms. At such a low dose and only for 30 days you will be okay. Maybe taper slowly anyway--cut in half for week or two. Then take every other day (half), etc. Although, in truth, 30 days on Prozac is not enough to really know if it could help.
This would be unusual for Prozac, since unlike the other ssris and the snris it has a long half life in the body. After only 21/2 weeks it's still pretty active in your body, whereas all the other short half life ones leave in a matter of hours. Yet you are describing the classic withdrawal symptoms those of us on the short half life ssris get. Maybe there's something in the interaction of the two meds -- maybe you should have waited longer for the Prozac to dissipate.
There's no way to know. They're very different. Paxil has a very short half life, Prozac a longer one, so it's an easier drug to take and to quit, but whether it will work as well can only be answered by trying it. But quitting Paxil can be difficult; lowering the dosage has already put you into withdrawal, it sounds like. You must go slowly. Now, personally, I'd try and lose the weight somehow, though I gained 50 pounds on Paxil, too, and couldn't lose it no way no how.
Whereas, with all the other ssris, they have a very short half life, meaning they leave the body very quickly, in a matter of hours. It is believed this is one reason the body has such a hard time adapting to their absence, and withdrawal begins even before you're done tapering off them. Your psychiatrist is the person to discuss this with, but psychiatrists, including, I'm sure, Dr. Gould here, will tell you Prozac doesn't have the same withdrawal problems as other ssris.
Hi There;
You seem super smart. Today is the first day I've been taking Xanax. I had taken it it for stress for three days 7 years ago. My life has been fairly stable the past years. I am currently taking Topamax 100mg for Bi-Polar 2 (Mood) disorder and ADHD and also started back on prozac 20 mg I have been off that fro 7 months. The Prozac I've never had trouble with but I tried to live with the cup half empty feeling all these months and I'm ready to feel better now.
If you do decide to take medication, I'd recommend seeing a psychiatrist for it, not a regular doc. Some regular docs are really good and some psychiatrists are really bad, but this is all psychiatrists do and they do extra study of it, while regular docs do a little bit of everything and don't do extra study. Because these medications are genuinely difficult to take, it's just better odds to see a specialist.
Paxil should be done on at least a six week taper. It's a tough one to withdraw from. The problem with shifting directly from one to another is you can't tell whether what you're suffering is withdrawal from the last drug or side effects from the new one, so it's impossible for your psychiatrist to help you adapt. Now, because Paxil is so hard to withdraw from for some people, what some psychiatrists do is put you on a little liquid prozac to ease the withdrawal.
Naw, Prozac is most commonly used as an antidepressant. Actually, for younger people, it's the most commonly prescribed antidepressant, and it definitely doesn't mean you have serious problems. :) Your doc probably just thought to give it a try because it tends to have fewer side effects than other drugs. It's almost the same as any other SSRI, it just has a longer half life than most so you're eased onto and off of it (which hopefully means less side effects). Good luck!!
s difficulty for some people for the brain to adapt back to functioning naturally. But in this case, the longer half life of Prozac causes far few of the withdrawal effects that the shorter half-lived ones have. Since it generally takes about 5-6 weeks for these drugs to start working, you're probably not "on" Prozac really yet in the sense your body is conditioned to it, but side effects start right away. As to when you'll notice a change, nobody can answer that.
I would recommend that you add to your doctor to prescribe a short course of the anti-anxiety drug, Klonopin. That should help you get back on track if what you are experiencing are side effects or some other anxiety. You have already received some good advice about psychotherapy.
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