prozac questions please, need answers

Hi Beckysmom, Sorry to hear about your daughters increase in Anxiety. Her side effects are most likely being caused from adding the prozac, and should go away in a couple of weeks. If they get worse or don't go away and are bothersome, she should call her doctor and tell them what is going on, they can adjust the dose or try something different altogether.

Also don't worry about the doctor thinking she needs to be on 80 mg of prozac, how much a person weighs really doesn't have anything to do with how high a dosage a person will need for the desired benefits. The doctor will probably have her increase gradually, probably 10 or 20 mg every couple of weeks or so. If she feels the doctor is upping her dose too fast by all means tell her to tell the doctor she doesn't want to increase it that fast and wants more time to see how she feels on her current dose. It should take about 6 to 8 weeks for her to see the full benefits of the prozac, maybe a little less since was already taking lexapro.

I wish her the best on her changing meds and her withdrawl of lexapro and adding the prozac, good thing is she shouldn't have too many bad side effects.

Hi BM

I have the same diagnosis as your daughter and recently switched to Prozac but from Cymbalta.

I have found Prozac to be a great medication and it's the first one that has really helped me with my OCD. I take 60mg along with 30mg of Mirtazapine (Remeron). 60mg is the recommended dose of Prozac for treating OCD and it is unusual to need to goto 80mg so I feel she will stick at 60mg but may find that 40mg in enough.

Medication is good at helping treat symptoms but they are not a cure all so I always recommend combining them with talking therapy such as CBT which gets the best results especially with OCD.

I hope the Prozac works well for you daughter keep us posted.

With regards to the weaning off the Lexapro it sounds like your doctor has given a good discontinuation plan and she should not have to many problems. Unfortunately it is the norm for things to get worse before they get better when changing medication but this should last just a couple of weeks but if things don't start improving she needs to go and speak with her doctor.

Hibee

Thank you Hibee. She has a new therapist she has seen a few times, and likes. The past therapist, that she was with for a year,recommended a dbt program and then after she started going to the group she then told her she wasn't going to see her anymore. So she has had a lot to deal with.

Thank you deborahscinder.

Thank you all for your support!

Her dbt is an intensive program, 3 times a week and along with the skills she does practice mindfulness and sees a new therapist for individual therapy. She just started with a new psychiatrist, that is into yoga and she is the one switching her to prozac. She said she may recommend acupuncture to her in the future, my daughter has had it before for her chronic illness.

It's a shame that these people at the woman's car dropped her after she started attending the program they suggested. The therapist and psych both had told her she would continue to see them along with the program. She was very upset that she had no one, even the psych there said go to the local hospital and find a new psychiatrist. Poor care. I think it will eventually be for the best since they are not reliable.

The new psychiatrist, she only saw once, for a long evaluation, she called her about how she is feeling. One week into 20 Lexapro and 20 prozac, and she said she thinks the prozac may be working already and she should cut the Lexapro by 10mg starting tonight and stick with the 20 of prozac and 10 of Lexapro. Hope that works well for her. She wants to make sure before she gives her a diagnosis, since the other dr s have said it's generalized anxiety disorder.

My daughter has been to biofeedback and mindfulness therapy in the past year and practices that also.


Thank you for listening, and for the great advice and support!