Hi Susan. First of all, a long half life is a double edged sword. Some people say it makes discontinuation easier as the side effects are smoother and occur over a longer period of time. However, it is also commonly known that prozac has more addictive properties than other SSRIs and can take a lot longer to discontinue. Why? Because the longer half life means that it takes so much longer to wean off the drug. Especially if you are sensitive to discontinuation effects. A graduation on an ssri like zoloft or luvox (or celexa) may be able to be done over a couple of weeks, but this could take much longer on prozac. Prozac has half life of around 9 days at a standard therapeudic dose. Generally SSRIs take 5x the half life to completely clear out of your system, therefore prozac can take 45 days to clear out completely. Thats a pretty long time as opposed to something like luvox or paxil, with a 20ish hr half life , or less than 5 days to clear from your system. So with the prozac, yeah discontinuation side effects tend to be much less severe, but stepping down in doses can take a long time, thats all. This however is all based on therapedic or greater doses. You are on such a small amount that it will be different for you. Prozac is commonly used in the way you are being prescribed it, especially in its liquid form. Its meant to be really good taken that way also. Your dr is pretty switched on to be using it. Sounds like celexa pooped out on you - you got some good mileage off it though. With regards to the sleeping, prozac is definitely one of the SSRIs, like zoloft, that is more likely to cause sleeplessness. Luvox and Paxil are more likely to have a mild sedative effect and make sleeping easier. Celexa and lexapro are kind of in the middle. I find luvox mildly buzzy - its great for me, but I sleep like a baby on it also. I dont know how I would go on zoloft or prozac though - i speculate that I would find it very much a "stimulating" type effect. That could be good for me also, but I speculate I would get some sleeplessness too as I am a little prone to insomnia (though moreso when depressed/anxious). The good news is that the prozac should settle down after a w

Hi Chimpmaster Thanks for replying. I feel lots better today....I knew it wasn't an adverse reaction, like I said it just felt like the old withdrawal symptoms. I took Celexa for 5 years following a serious car accident that left me with recurrence of panic attacks. I stopped taking it because I realised that it was beginning to not help atall, even when I increased the dose. So decided to wean off and see what I would be like. Well the withdrawal was horrendous, I took 9 months to taper off and managed 10 weeks without taking anything other than some Buspar. Suddenely got terrible rebound anxiety and horrible nightmares and weird thoughts etc which were all scaring me. Doctor put me on 1ml of Prozac which helped but I became increasingly more depressed. This has gradually been increased to 3ml and I think its beginning to work. The idea originally was obviously to wean me off Prozac but I'm not sure I want to do that. I am noticing the positive side effects of the Prozac ie its really helping with my driving phobia and getting me out of the house more. Its negative effects are that I just don't sleep and I can't seem to work out how thats going to stop. My doctor is not inclined to give me sleeping meds. Have started some Chinese Herbal Medicine treatment and that is helping a bit with the sleep issue. I've been on Prozac for 5 weeks now but only at the increased dose for 5 days. As I said in my previous post, if the depression continued(I had never suffered anything like it) I would have asked the doctor what to do next. I found myself actually talking about being scared of suicide etc. Prozac also seemed to make me have obsessive thoughts at first which are now diminishing as the dose is getting higher ie when I was laying awake at night I would start to obsess and my anxiety levels would go up and up which again I would have stopped taking it for if it hadn't improved. Look forward to your response. By the way I thought Prozac was easier to stop because of its long half life.

Hi Susan, Whilst its hard to say for sure, I suspect that its a bit of both (discontinuation syndrome from the celexa AND jittery syndrome from the prozac). If this is the case the symptoms will pass fairly quickly. Unfortunately every time you change dose or change drug with SSRIs there is a risk you will feel these kinds of symptoms. The good news is they usually pass fairly quickly. This would of course depend on timeframes too. - How long has it been since you stopped taking celexa? - How long have you been on the prozac? You say that you are only taking Prozac to help with the rebound anxiety from going off Celexa. What is the strategy here? Are you/is your dr intending that you discontinue the prozac after a given period of time? Coming off prozac may not be any easier than celexa, it fact it might even be harder. How long were you on Celexa for and why did you stop taking it? If you can fill me on on these questions Ill try and give you some better advice. If you feel seriously ill for more than just a short time, dont be afraid to call your dr about it. You will know the difference between minor sife effects and an adverse reaction - there is a really big difference. There is also a chance that prozac just doesnt agree with you, in which case the best option might be to change to something else (eg zoloft, lexapro, luvox, paxil etc). With SSRIs you normally have to give them a chance to work however. Ill check this thread again later on - maybe 4 hrs time so if you post Ill be able to read it soon enough and reply.

I am taking a low doze of Prozac but have recently increased the dose...still not up to 20mg though. I'm not enjoying the side effects up to now but for the first time today I didn't feel depressed...the Prozac seemed to make me depressed and I was about to talk to my doctor about discontinuing it for that reason....I am only taking it to help with the rebound anxiety I am suffering after withdrawing from Celexa. Anyway I'm on my third day of an increased dose and I feel really off colour today, fluey, tired, achey (definately not anything viral because I recognise these symptoms as ones I had when I was withdrawing from Celexa). Can someone tell me if I am likely to be suffering more side effects from the increased dose of Prozac. Or is it possible that I am still experiencing withdrawal from Celexa? Considering that I'm taking Prozac to stop the withdrawal would I even get withdrawal symptoms. I'm hoping its to do with the increased dose of Prozac because then I know that it will go away eventually, if not tomorrow, once I get a decent night sleep.