Venting I always seem to self-sabotage (Prozac withdrawal symptoms are getting to me)

[nir]

I felt like I was doing well for a little while. I was taking Prozac every day and feeling...ok-ish.

But then I forgot to take my meds because, well, I'm forgetful. I probably stopped Prozac cold turkey for like a week without noticing. Idk the exact amount of days, I was distracted by how ok I felt.

Then the anxiety hit. I've been having weird tics, strained vision, just feeling weird in general.

I feel so gross and anxious, especially looking at a computer screen. Part of my brain has decided that this can't be related to being off Prozac accidentally, and that I must have a brain tumour or I'm developing psychosis or some other bad thing is happening. I've been having vivid and strange dreams and I feel like shit. I feel like my vision "zooms out" randomly, especially looking at screens.

Googling "prozac withdrawal" is getting a lot of results of "substance issues? get help!" which is so funny because it's not a recreational drug and I'm just a fucking idiot.

I've been taking my Prozac normally for several days now and I think the anxiety is decreasing now, but I still feel like shit. Which is making me worry that it wasn't the Prozac and I actually am going insane. Or have a tumour. Or something else.

Fuck. I'm so good at messing my life up in such boring ways. I don't want to tell my doctor, because they'll chastise me for missing my doses. Anyone here have any experience with missing Prozac doses and then paying for it? I've missed a dose here or there in the past and had no issues, but I guess it's because I was so consistent for such a long period of time and then bam...stopped taking it. Or I have a tumour. Lol. Fuck guys, I am so bad at being an adult.

 

[maniac116]

Prozac takes a week or 2 to kick in but since you just went off of it for a little while it may not take long to feel OK again. Good luck

 

[ForestGhost]

Dang, that's awful. I had a sorta similar experience when I weaned off of Effexor, some vertigo and weird emotional outbursts for an annoyingly long time, even after tapering gradually and then starting up another SNRI. I'm no doctor but maybe it can start to improve in a bit once your body, err, recalibrates back to the regular dose (idk, that's how things work, right?). Hopefully no tumors! :c

 

[SVEN]

I was on Prozac (Fluoxetine) followed by Citalopram for some years. My own experience is that sudden withdrawal from any SSRI med will tend to lead to what you are experiencing.
When I finally came off Citalopram it took some 7-8 months of tapering down the dosage month by month.
Whilst having no medical qualifications myself, if you are reluctant to approach your health professional, in your place I would reintroduce the meds at the same initial administration and rebuild back up to your maintenance daily dose.
Best wishes.

 

[nir]

Prozac takes a week or 2 to kick in but since you just went off of it for a little while it may not take long to feel OK again. Good luck

I'm just hoping I eventually go back to feeling somewhat normal again. I have health anxiety and always convince myself that I'm developing psychosis for the randomest things, but the anxiety I'm feeling right now feels very similar to the time I tapered off of an anti-depressant in the past, so I'm trying to tell myself that there are far too many coincidences that point to this being from my stopping Prozac than it being a brand new mental illness showing up. It's hard to reason with an unwell mind, though.

I was on Prozac (Fluoxetine) followed by Citalopram for some years. My own experience is that sudden withdrawal from any SSRI med will tend to lead to what you are experiencing.
When I finally came off Citalopram it took some 7-8 months of tapering down the dosage month by month.
Whilst having no medical qualifications myself, if you are reluctant to approach your health professional, in your place I would reintroduce the meds at the same initial administration and rebuild back up to your maintenance daily dose.
Best wishes.

I'm telling myself that it is likely the SSRI withdrawal, but in the back of my head I'm thinking that only being off of it for a week or so is really not that long of a time and I should be feeling better now...

My health anxiety probably has taken years off my life. Given the website we're on, I guess that's a good thing, ha ha.

Anxiety is really the worst feeling ever. I think I'd even rather extreme apathy and emptiness over it. It's so incapacitating and inevitably my brain always goes to "if there's no fix to this, I'm CTBing."

Hopefully I learn my lesson and never miss a prozac dose again, lmao. Or maybe I do have a tumour. In which case, again, given the website we're on... maybe not so bad? (kidding, a brain tumour sounds like a horrible way to go)

 

[Trav1989]

It's in our nature to self-sabotage and that is one of the most difficult habits to break.

 

[binkie]

I've been on SSRIs for a long time, and for about a year and a half I took Prozac. Most of my missed doses feel like this, right down to wondering if I have a brain tumor haha. The brain wigglies do tend to go away pretty quick after you start your regimen again. Most SSRIs have a few days half-life so feeling okay for a bit and then feeling bad is pretty normal. 'SSRI withdrawal symptoms' should give you better search results. Google has also been pretty bad since Gemini came out so don't let it make you feel bad :(

 

[-Link-]

SSRI withdrawals can do a lot of weird things, and I'd give it some more time to let your body adjust again.

About the prospect of a tumour: Seems like it would be an extraordinary coincidence that you'd have rapid-onset symptoms of a brain tumour at the same time you just happened to drop an SSRI cold-turkey for a week.

I know all-too-well what it is to be consumed worrying about catastrophic illness scenarios and how impactful this can be. The stress of this, alone, will be contributing to some of the symptoms here, I guarantee it.

I don't want to tell my doctor, because they'll chastise me for missing my doses.

If you have to tell a doctor about a mistake like this, you could add something about how you're proactively trying to ensure it doesn't happen again. So, like, maybe you've started using a pill box, or you've set a daily reminder, or you keep the pill bottle next to your coffee maker, etc.

A doctor should be less inclined to lecture you if you're being forthcoming about it and they hear you're regretful and already taking corrective steps.

 

[nir]

Update: I still don't feel 100%, but I feel like... 95%.

Definitely was related to missing my meds so much. I am so irresponsible and bad at taking care of myself, it's shocking I'm in my late 20's and acting like this.

Your comments all really helped, even though at the time I was way too anxious to reply. You guys are the best <3 <3 Thank you for not judging me.