Stopping meds

How do you know when you are ready to face life on your own and wean yourself off your meds?

I currently take 20mg of Proxac in the morning and all is well. I recently overcame a huge hurtle (I went to my 1st dentist appt in 25 years) and I feel ready to cope on my own.

Is my success in life's little trials due to the effects of the Prozac or am I getting stronger?

How do you know when its time? My doctor wrote me a script for 10mg for when I was ready, but I dont want to go backwards trying to get off it. She assures me 20mg is a low dose and is easy to wean off from, but I want to be 100% sure I'm ready for the big bad world.

Thanks all

elmosmom

I weaned off after 27 years of being on an antidepressant and I was on the Cymbalta..............I am doing fine with the help of my pdoc and my CBT.  I also wanted to try it and I am keeping an open mind in case I need to go back on but for now life is good. 

I am handling the bad and the good but mostly looking for the good things in life.

My best advice is to go very slowly.....................and yes I had about 3 weeks where I was all over the place with my feelings but it has settled down.

Take care and you have my support.

Gentle Hugs to you,

Kitt

stkitt - i am currently trying to get off an SSRI after over 10 years (actually stopped 5 days ago - not quite cold turkey but close - no real issues yet except some dizziness and occasional anxiety or depression). i am currently a bit scared of being off because i was on for so long. i feel like it was a crutch for many years and the idea of not having that crutch makes me terrified i'll fall, metaphorically-speaking. just wondering if you had the worry. also, did you happen to gain any weight after all those years on your meds? i am trying to get off largely because of 50+ lbs. i put on.

thanks. don't mean to steal the thread from the original poster. regarding her concerns, i really am not sure when it's time because clearly i probably should have tried to get off earlier but stayed on because i was too afraid of not being able to go it alone. also, i had a primary care physician that basically said if i was feeling fine i should just stay on - probably for life. i initially started taking zoloft for OCD/anxiety. these days, though i still have some OCD and anxiety, i feel a bit more depressed than anything else. that's another reason i am getting off the SSRI (on lexapro at the moment actually). i worry that over so many years it's actually started to make things worse. i was never a depressed person when i was younger. i also feel like i'm too emotionless and yet short-tempered at the same time now. anywho, it's very hard to tell since these meds are so subtly effective. that's why a great doctor is invaluable.

thanks jamiee! glad to hear you're doing better these days. best of luck to you as well.

it has a strange origin. i was with some friends at one of those bulk shopping places (Price Club at the time) and my friend saw a small container of BBQ with a picture of a pig on the side. under the picture of the pig was the name 'Smitty.' So I guess this food brand had a pig for a mascot and his name was Smitty. I thought at the time that was a really funny name and laughed about it. so my friend decided to call me Smitty after that and it caught on with other friends and I was Smitty the Pig for a long time. seemed like a unique username and i've been using it on the 'net for ages.

Thank you everyone for the advice and kind words.

As to nicknames, my mom's nickname for me is Beast and for my brother, it is  Moose. Dont have any idea where they came from, but we have had them since we were 10 and we are both 40+ now.