Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Coming off Prozac

We took DS12 off of prozac 2 weeks ago. At 10mg it seemed to have no appreciable effect, and at 20mg it seemed to cause panic attacks and higher levels of stress. His diagnoses for the last three years include anxiety, perfectionism, low self esteem, and highly-functional ASD.

For the last month DS has been complaining that he is bored, and nothing interests him. The only thing he wants to do is play video games by himself. While his grades have been good, getting him to do homework is a struggle. He has had a few outbursts in school, but not every day.

Yesterday and today he has been miserable. Plenty of whining, anger, and oppositional behavior. We've been taking a low key approach, not confronting him and trying to make it clear that we understand that he's feeling bad. We make many suggestions, but he refuses most of them. We're not fighting small battles, like when he takes a shower, and instead focusing on his overall issues and getting him to get at least some homework done.

I've never seen him this sad before. I'm not blaming all of it weaning him off the prozac, but that may have contributed. He wasn't very happy on prozac, but he's worse now. I'm hoping that this is just a phase we need to get through for a few more days...

I'm open for advice. Thanks.

Are you (or will you be) replacing the Prozac with another medication?

We are not sure yet. He is on clonezapam and abilify still.

Did you taper off slowly for several weeks or just stop suddenly? I know as an adult when I switch from one SSRI to another or want to stop all together my doc has had me cut dose in half for a few weeks, then go to every other day for several weeks, then every 2-3 days, until I get down to none at all. Usually takes me a good two months to taper. Then I start a new one about 2 weeks after none at all.
Anxiety, sadness usually comes on within a few days of taper and is very obvious to my family.
I do not take anything else with it, so not sure if the Abilify alone without the SSRI may be part of your childs moodiness. Good luck and hugs.

He was on a very low dose, so the doc said to just stop it and see what happens. I just checked and he's been off for 3 weeks now. These symptoms were occurring while on the prozac but they are worse now.

Obviously, everyone here is smart enough to choose their doctor's advice rather than that of some stranger on the internet. But I will add that when I tried to go off of Effexor (an SNRI), my GP told me to take it every other day, and it was a disaster. Maisey's advice works well (in my experience) with Prozac and other longer-lasting drugs, but for short half-life medicines, it basically puts you on a whipsaw withdraw-and-reintroduce cycle that is flat out dreadful to experience. I ended up taking apart the extended release capsules and dividing them into more capsules in order to taper the dose down below the smallest one available OTC. I have since read that a common strategy for Effexor is to first add Prozac, then stop the Effexor, then taper the Prozac.

You may want to Research it..but I think Prozac takes 25 days for it to be gone from ones system. So stopping it suddenly one would experience SSRI withdrawl symptoms and underlyng
Psych issues could be amplified.

Honestly, I am surprised that a Doc would suggest stopping Prozac without a taper. My SSRI only takes 6 days to be out of my system, but Prozac takes 4 x's longer.

I suspect the doctor has never come of an SSRI. It is not coming off heroin type sick (i assume) but it is unpleasant. I do cut pill in half tben quarters then every other day (by that time the dose isn't theraputic so it isn't noticeable. This doesn't work so well with prozac because of the capsules. I have had no problem with just changing type though and of the 3 i have used i liked prozac the least.

I thought that the long half-life of Prozac made it easier to discontinue it, not harder, because it has sort of a built-in taper over the long time it takes to get totally out of your system. But you can get a lot of information on this by Googling "discontinuation syndrome antidepressant".

I'm not surprised that a GP might suggest withdrawal without tapering, honestly-- but SSRI's really, really, REALLY shouldn't be withdrawn without one. Particularly in adolescent patients.

This is a patient population that hasn't been particularly well-studied with these meds, honestly-- so what works for adults may not be true with adolescents to begin with. Secondly, what IS known about the meds in this age range isn't always positive.

Eliz is right-- extended release meds have a natural "taper" in dosing, but at the same time, for some individuals, it isn't slow enough. Adolescents metabolize meds faster than adults do.

I'd call the doc about his symptoms. They sound concerning. Before you do, ask him about anything "weird" and new that he might be experiencing-- auditory or other sensory hallucinations aren't uncommon in adolescents upon withdrawal of SSRI's, and kids may not understand that those aren't signs that they are "crazy" so much as real withdrawal effects. Some people describe them as "popping" or "crackling" in the brain, etc.


Some tried and true non-drug methods of dealing with low affect this time of year-- I'd add this stuff pronto in your situation, btw:

1. Exercise-- IN NATURAL DAYLIGHT. No matter how overcast, it's still better to get that natural full-spectrum light.

2. MORE light-- full spectrum fluorescent bulbs can be had at any home improvement store-- beware that they can disrupt circadian cycles if you use them late in the day, but having one at your breakfast table or where he gets ready for school in the mornings might help.