Should i go up on my dosage?
Currently on 40 mg of prozac a day but my anxiety and OCD is so bad i dont know what to do?
Question posted by dawniebabie26 on 17 Aug 2009
Last updated on 5 October 2021 by drkatzjr
The information on this page reflects personal experiences shared by our community members. It is not reviewed for medical accuracy and should not replace professional medical advice.
48 Answers Page 2
drkatzjr
18 Jan 2012
To the person who stated that Benzos are I or Ii... that is not correct; they are Schedule IV
I have found that some of my patients whose chronicity is profound, the drug Baclofen, which is a GABA (b) agonist, not only helps anxiety, but reports are cogently showing that in some patients, Baclofen markedly reduces cravings for Benzos while helping both anxiety and treatment
resistant OCD
pickles503
8 Jan 2012
Sweetheart, you need to tell your Doctor about this. No one can get through what your going through without the correct meds. I would give him a call right away and make the quickest appointment that I could. Your miserable. I'm so sad for you. Please let us know if you need more help. Everyone on this site are wonderful and they aim to please. I'm here witcha. God bless you, dawniebablie26 and may he give you what you need. Anna Amen.
painmeds10
5 Jan 2012
You should most definitely go up on your dosage. I'm not sure your age, however I'm in my mid twenties... depression is known to strike bad at ths time... I would without a doubt get on at least 100 mg of zoloft daily. I was depressed and this helped me immensely. People get so crazy about these types of meds being too strong... you will feel great, long term this will help with your anxiety and just be honest with your doctor. They're human too... tell them its not working and to up your dosage. Anyone who disagrees is confused because these meds aren't as crazy as the stigma they carry around. And, most people just lie about being on them ;) Feel no shame needing more!! Life is hard, and our brains and thoughts can be even harder on us. I'm with you, but you need to increase your dose.
Personally, I did this, and I quit when I felt better... because I was motived to change my life while on zoloft(bc I felt good), and as a result it worked great for me.
I'm sure you're aware of the small percentage of suicidal side effects, but if you're no stranger to these I say up your dose substantially asap. Hope this helps, and good luck, its always shining after the storm.
lorettas
11 Nov 2011
I have a 16 yr old that suffers with OCD and migraines.so i have two different doctors that treat my daughter. i always report to each doctor of any meds that have been change.. my daughter is on 80 mgs of Prozac for her OCD.. during this time she saw her doctor for her migraines. i told him of her changes in medicine for OCD. he meditative told me to stop the meds for her migraines which was Elavil 25 mg. he SAID she DID NOT NEED TO TAKE ELAVIL WHILE SHE IS ON PROZAC.
so i stop her ELAVIL 25 mg.. he put her on Topamax 25mg twice a day..for her migrains..
during this time the Prozac made her acting silly..not able to concentrate in class. she got sleepy a lot during the time she was on Prozac 80 mgs. he had started her on 40mg and move up to 80 mg. she saw the doctor today and said for me to stop the Prozac completely. I'm very worried about stopping it suddenly than not weaning her off. .My husband saids she doesnt need to be all the meds Its making her high is the way he put it.
the doctor that is treating her for her OCD also told me she has Bipolar disorder..im not satisfying with his diagnose..Im not certain on what to do
..My husband said she doesn't need to be taking Prozac Its making her high is the way he put it.
so the doctor wants her to start taking ABILIFY 2 mg..Im still not certain about his diagnose for Bipolar.. what should i do?
primetimegrape
7 Sep 2011
Based on the date of this post I hope your meds are now in order, but I will respond b/c I have experience personally and a psyc. degree, so I know alot about all sorts of meds. Prozac, some call it a "wonder drug", well I would not go that far. I think it is overprescribed 4 sure along with numerous other antidepressants. It can help with OCD and anxiety, but it normally will augment it for awhile as it releases serotonin and can actually make things worse at first, a big reason why people with anxiety issues, like me (I have Panic Disorder) either stop taking the medicine or ride out the side effects. U def. need a benzo. med to take along with the Prozac, I would not up the dose as 40mg is a pretty high dose, 20mg being the standard and I believe 60mg the max. Raising the dose will just release more serotonin and your body will have to adjust to that level and that can take weeks and your OCD and anxiety may get worse.
It is called cycling when your dose is raised, it can mess with u bad, takes the body time to adjust, and this goes for any antidepressant. Anyone with anxiety, OCD or panic disorder def. needs a benzo. in conjuction with an anti-depressant, at least for a little while. How long u stay on the benzo. depends how your body reacts over the long run. Most doctors don't want ppl on benzo. meds like Xanax (I take this as needed) any longer than necessary due to risk of dependency, but this does not mean that if u had to stay on a benzo for an extended period of time u will become dependent and there are long acting benzos and short acting ones. Long acting ones like Valium and Klonopin I think are better, less addicting, but I have never had problems with Xanax myself. It aids my panic attacks when they are bad and I only take one if I have to. Regardless, any sensible doctor will not just hand u an antidepressant, esp. with anxiety symptoms. Most will give u a benzo. to take along with it, at least for a short time until the antidepressant works and any dosage increase might require more benzo. medication so u don't "flip out". Antidepressants can be dangerous for anyone with severe anxiety disorders, so plz be careful, talk to your doctor and I hope your meds are straigtened out at this point. God Bless!
caringsonbj
6 Sep 2011
One thing I have found is that depression (I experienced it earlier in my life and with Chronic pain it seems to flare up) you have to force yourself to keep doing things (maybe thats just me) but I try no matter how many times it rares it's ugly head to read a book, watch a video, listen to various kinds of music, take a long walk, just keep forcing myself to do things that I don't think I can possibly do! one thing about depression it seems easier to just sit, sleep or do very little and you can't give into that or at least thats been my experience, medications do help (some do and some don't) but in the end it takes you doing every thing that you can possibly do in order for things to get better.
But rather than increase the dosage I would have at least a phone conversation with the doctor and see what his thoughts were once you explain what is happening, I wish you the very best! it's a difficult thing but the one thing I do know it helps to have people that you can talk to because if you have been through something like this at least you can listen sometimes its hard to know the right thing to say but to have a friend or even a person who wants to just listen I think that means a lot best wishes,
jessiesgurl
10 Jan 2012
I believe this too. My counselor said you take depression medicine and you are still depressed . You take anxiety medicine and you still have anxiety. What is wrong with this picture! I was doing fairly good and then my mom passed away.Now it takes every fiber of my being to get out of bed. Thank goodness for counsel Mondays!
RESPIGHI
22 July 2011
Prozac was a fantastic drug me it. It gave me 5 years if utter happiness. I had some anxiety at first also but it went away. Did you start of on 20mgs? If so, maybe it was raised to quickly to 40. You might benefit from going back down to 20mg for a while. It is a great drug and I hope you don't completely give up on it.
bigozone
28 Feb 2011
have you had thoural blood work including hormone and adreinal functions tested?? if not i'd start there. adreinal fatuige syndrom masks in so many ways and can bring out some strange pyschological responses.
since starting hormone treatment for AFS eight months ago, i've went off all my prozac, tegartol, and all psycotropic drugs. but i do now take 8 diferent OTC suppliments and minerals as well as DHEA.
but that solved my mental problems unless extreem stress when antianxiety meds are still needed.
neison71
19 Oct 2010
I would think your Doc would also prescribe and anti-anxiety med as well, you have told him about your anxiety right? I know that may sound like a stupid question, but sometimes Drs. don't give you time. It's like you have a 1-3 question limit, and that's it... you know what I mean? Ativan, klonopin, valium, are all good anti-anxiety meds, while patients who take xanax do get relief from anxiety, they also build up a tolerance to it fairly quickly and are more likely to feel the need to have the dose increased fairly quickly... a lot of docs aren't crazy about it for that reason. I hope you can ask him for something though... hope he's a good listener...
good luck,
( :
neison
Inactive
4 July 2010
hi, your dose is kind of high or normal right now. The prozac can actually make things WORSE. I had to go off of mine. ANd you feel yourself getting worse very quickly on the prozac. reduce..wean off of it and stop taking it. Oh ask about Effexer, thats what I'm gonna do. I don't know how long you are taking it. My depression got worse after 2 2 1/2 wks only being on it. Call your doctor too. If they don't want to listen , listen to yourself.
hardfi
11 July 2010
i don't know anything about prozac... i am allergic to it, but I heard thats the only SSRI that seems to work (so of course I am allergic to it) I am allergic to Vicodin and Codeine as well but maybe I am lucky for that one. what makes me mad is that Xanax, which worked better for me than any of this other crud happens to be FDA approved which upsets me that doctors have the power to prescribe it but they love telling you "no"
hardfi
11 July 2010
Oh, one more thing. Don't kill the messenger but I have had 2 doctors tell me that buspar is fake
jessiesgurl
10 Jan 2012
I almost believe that about the buspar being fake. At a financial low I had to do without some of my meds... the celexa, welbutrin, norflex, and the buspar. Did without them about 10 days. I didn't feel anything different..on them..off of them. But it is so hard to get these docs to change meds!
Inactive
4 July 2010
Hi Dawnie,
Don't self medicate, you can cause your self a lot of pain
Good look Hon, from a old guy
Bucky1
hardfi
3 July 2010
I have been on xanax 4mg a day and also clonazepam 4mg a day for the last seven years. Naturally, I am now physically dependent and unwittingly addictive to both. That is not the worst thing as long as you don't pop them like pac-man. I have PTSD, SAD, GAD, and panic and I still have people questioning the Hell out of me about how I was able to find a doctor who prescribed that much of it and for so long. Well, its because there are certain situations in where these are the only medications that make life liveable. The trick is to keep it under control. Take a break for a couple of m months and take an anti-seizure. you will be sick as Hell but you wont die. Also, keep in mind that you will have blackouts as this drug is intented to cause partial amnesia so that PTSD can be more manageable. Other than that and as long as you are not selling it or buying it off the streets or mixing it with alcohol, than it is not as dangerous as doctors like to think it is.
The media is the thing that is ruining it for the people out there who actually need it. I shouldn't be saying this, but mixing it with marijuana can be beneficial since the pills will erase the paranoia from the weed. They also increase the effects of each other. yes, I know that is kinda bad but it will never be as bad as if you were to mix it with any other drug, especially alcohol. Now, that is one mixture in which you WILL wake up in a jail cell, which is scarier than Hell.
marjorie zych
29 April 2010
I unfortunately had some very horrid effects with Prozac. It made me suicidal and homicidal, doesn't mean it does it for everyone but it did me and I was on a low dose, you couldn't deal with me. Never go up or down on these meds or any med really without doctors o.k. you don't know how you will react. I highly recommend Paxil, I know they have said some bad things about that too but it has helped me so much and there has been no side effects so far and I have been on it for a long time. I do agree you should be on something like Ativan too if you have alot of anxiety, Klonopin works great too but Ativan does work faster. I know alot of doctors worry about addiction to benzos but ativan is a little better manageable than alot of the others. The Paxil does help some with anxiety too though, so all depends how bad you are, give it a shot nothing to really lose talk to your doctor and see what he/she says.
Some people do do good on Prozac but I don't know many, but please don't try more without your doctor saying it's o.k. let me know how you do if you wouldn't mind I enjoy trying to support people with problems like mine because I know how rough it can be to do it alone.
Inactive
16 April 2010
Well, yes upping the dose of prozac will probably help, but there are other options. You could also increase you klonopin dose. Or, theres an medication called luvox, in canada and europe it is prescribed for both ocd and depression, but in the US it is only ACTUALLY mandated for OCD. I was on it for a while (i dont actually have OCD, i was put on it because my doctor wanted me to try something newer than paxil) and i can definitely attest for its antidepressant qualties. My psychiatrist (not the doc who wrote the script for the luvox) said its a really great med for someone with ocd coupled with anxiety and depression, so it pretty much sounds exactly like what you need. i personally think you should not only switch you dose, but you should switch your med too. (i realize they arent equal mg to mg, but youre on a low dose of prozac, so you should take a medium or high dose of luvox.)
hope that helped
robert trueman
13 April 2010
Prozac to me is bad drug with bad side effects and withdrawall.I would recommend recommend remrone instead for depresion
Related topics
prozac, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, anxiety and stress
Further information
- Prozac uses and safety info
- Prozac prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Prozac (detailed)
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