Sweating prozac

I would love feedback to those that have had success with HRT or other ideas for those who aren’t using it.
I am 53 and have not had a period for almost 3 years.
In November 2023 I went to my GP and complained about vaginal dryness, low libido and night sweats. She recommended HRT and gave me .0375 estradiol patch and 100 mg Progesterone. Three weeks into using this my anxiety went through the roof and I stopped sleeping. I took the patch off and stopped the progesterone. I still wasn’t sleeping well, my anxiety was terrible and was feeling some depression. She gave me trazadone which I didn’t like because it made me feel horrible the next day.
January rolls around and I’m still feeling bad and my sleep is rough. I decided to try the patch and progesterone again thinking maybe the hormones will help. Same thing, I feel ok for the first 2 weeks but 3-4 weeks in I am so anxious and my insomnia is terrible. I stop it all.
I decide that maybe I need to see a Gynecologist who can help me get the hormones right so in early March I go see someone and she gives me the .050 estrogen and 100 progesterone. I try it again with the same result (anxiety and insomnia). I take it all off 3-4 weeks in.
I’m now 7 weeks off the estrogen and progesterone. My sleep is still off and on pretty bad. I am feeling pretty anxious and depressed (I never had any of these issues before I started with the hormones). My doctor suggested Lexapro or Prozac but I’m not sure I want to go down this avenue.
I really wanted HRT to work and wondered if anyone has had a similar experience or suggestions. Is it possible I just need more time to pass to get my hormones back to baseline of where they were back in November when I started this whole journey. Honestly, at this point that would be amazing.

Medical history:
Hello I’m 19 F AFAB I’m 5’2 and 210 pounds. I am diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, Hirsutism, Depression, anxiety, and adhd. I really struggle to take my meds but I am prescribed, Prozac (80mg), seroquel (50mg), lamotrigine (50 mg), levothyroxine (maybe 5 or 0.5 mcg), spironolactone (100 mg), nexplanon implant, and tretanoin 5% gel. But to be honest I only take the seroquel regularly for sleep and the tretanoin. Last checked months ago in range vitals, and I have cbc, differential, and cmp results linked.
https://ibb.co/pPXBxNy https://ibb.co/hWZpKtq https://ibb.co/7tktRyY
My fraternal twin is a type 1 diabetic, my father is a type 2 diabetic (as well as maternal and paternal grandfather), and my mother has Hashimoto’s disease
Background:
Over the past year I’ve struggled with fatigue and a lot of infections: bronchitis (for 2 months), Covid, several viral infections, sinus and ear infection, swimmers ear, pink eye, athletes foot/ringworm, and other body rashes and infections. I lived in a dorm this year and spent a lot of time around people so I mostly assumed it was that, but I was sick much more often than my friends. About a month ago I’ve been getting increasingly nauseous, lightheaded, and headaches. I chalked it out to finals stress but now that I’m back home I’m not so sure. My hirsutism is also getting worse. The nausea spells are more common in the morning (no possibility of pregnancy and I also will get sweating shivering and shakes. When I was getting another nausea spell tonight I drank around 4-5 oz of orange waited 15 and felt a lot better. I’m worried because other than extreme weight loss I have a lot of similar symptoms to my twin pre-diagnosis. Since I am overweight if it were diabetes would type 2 be more likely? I just want opinions if these issues might be diabetes thank you!
(P.S. I will be trying to see a doctor but I don’t want to ruin Mother’s Day plans so on Monday maybe)

Hi,
I’m currently on Wellbutrin (450mg), and Lexapro (20 mg).
I want to switch from Lexapro to either Zoloft or Prozac. I’m still miserable on Lexapro, so I wan’t to try something else. The side effects I have with Lexapro that I really want to avoid are the extreme fatigue and excessive sweating. I also have severe ADHD and I take Adderall for that. Would Zoloft or Prozac make more sense for me?

I’d been trying duloxetine for ~4 months at my psych nurse practitioner’s suggestion and decided it wasn’t doing much for my mood and wasn’t worth the side effects (fatigue and sweating) (although it was genuinely helpful for some chronic pain ). Asked if I could switch to Prozac and she says sure, easy peasy. Go from 60 to 40 for three days and then switch to the Prozac on day 4. Might have some headaches, a little g.I. upset, whatever. Alright, cool, I’ll take your word for it.
If I had only KNOWN 💀
Good god, it felt like i was having an awake lobotomy for about a week. And then I enjoyed sitting at work just actively trying not to throw up for a few days. The Prozac seems to have finally started doing some work and my mood is noticeably improved, but the headaches and nausea haven’t quite dissipated. All-over body aches started today, mostly in my elbows, knees and neck. Now I’m about 10 days out from the start of the “taper” and wondering why the hell I wasn’t weaned off that shit more slowly.
Also, not sure if this is a lack of cymbalta or introduction of Prozac thing, but my dreams have been so crazy vivid and intense to the point that sleeping isn’t really restful. So that’s fun 🎉 curious if anyones experienced the same (both the symptoms and the practically cold turkey switch) and if so how long it took to feel better? 😅

I have posted a few times in comments on here in regards to my journey of quitting Effexor. However I wanted to write my own post to offer insight to others on how it affected, but also helped me. \ \ LEADING UP TO STARTING EFFEXOR\ \ I have suffered from severe social anxiety, panic attacks, and mild depression since my early 20’s. I couldn’t leave my house for years. I struggled in public. I lost my job that I held dearly. I faulted in my first long term relationship and burdened those involved. I couldn’t go into a public setting or store without knowing where the exit was, how far it would be from me at all times, and have the car key in my hand at all times in the event I had to book-it to the car in the midst of panic.\ I wasn’t living. That isn’t life. That’s not at all how life is supposed to be.\ I toyed around with a lot of the homeopathic remedies and over the counter medications. Nothing seemed to help me get a grip on the hold that anxiety had on my life. I finally chalked up the courage to seek professional help in my late 20’s. I started on Lexapro, which worked wonders, for about a month. I was then switched to Zoloft, which did absolutely nothing. Then, I discovered Effexor. At the time, all I knew was that it is an SNRI. Having high hopes, I expected greatness that an SNRI would work better for me, as it works different in the brain compared to an SSRI. \ \ WHILE ON EFFEXOR\ \ Effexor did in fact help. It took some time, but I felt like I finally had my life back. I started getting out. I could go in places again. I regained confidence. I felt like I could flourish and finally be myself again.\ I am forever thankful that Effexor helped me achieve the feeling of being whole again. I’m thankful it helped me cope with the things I once struggled with for so long. I felt…like me.\ \ ~3 YEARS IN (2021-2024)\ \ I began to start noticing changes in me and my body after being on Effexor for 3 years. Things like always overheating, night sweats, high blood pressure (extreme at times), dull and numbness to emotions, libido issues, and dependency like an addict on drugs (if I missed my dose by 30 minutes). My dose was increased 2 times. 75mg to 150mg, 150mg to 225mg. It wasn’t until the end of 2023 that I had started tossing around the idea of tapering off of Effexor, and I started doing research. That’s when I found this subreddit; and that’s when I found the horrendous truths about Effexor with those who are trying to quit, and the effects it has on the body. I began researching options of other antidepressants, as I was sick and tired of feeling the way I did on Effexor. I found other options, such as Prozac (Fluoxetine), to be effective in helping the bridging process while tapering, so I kept that in the back of my mind. I continued taking Effexor up until I finally decided to throw in the towel…\ \ QUITTING/TAPERING BEGAN\ \ March 1st, 2024: I dropped from 225mg to 150mg.\ March 21st, 2024: I dropped from 150mg to 75mg.\ Mid April, 2024: I dropped from 75mg to 37.5mg.\ Late April, 2024: I started removing ~10% beads from the capsules each day.\ April 26th, 2024: I quit Effexor.\ \ WITHDRAWLS\ \ Withdrawals dropping to 150 and 75mg were minimal. It consisted of mainly brain jolt/zaps, balance issues, and disorientation in thoughts. Withdrawals dropping to 37.5mg were the worst for me. These consisted of moments of psychosis, nausea, extreme paranoia (especially at night), and jarring hallucinations. After quitting entirely, I had two night episodes of paranoia. Since then, I have developed a very aggravating, pulling, but yet dull pain in my lower right abdomen that sometimes radiates to my back and right hip. Physical exams didn’t suggest appendicitis, or any other life threatening issues when seen by urgent care. The only thought left was it was potentially a bad symptom of withdrawals that is affecting the GI tract. It only occurs at night, after eating, and randomly at times, which feels like the inside of my right abdomen is being squeezed. It’s not immobilizing, or hurt when walking, but merely an annoyance and a concern, as abdominal pain can be a sign of many things (hooray for being a hypochondriac). This, and brain jolt, are among the only few remaining withdrawals I’m experiencing. Heightened anxiety and panic are setting back in during times of being in public or outside doing yard work.\ \ PSYCH APPOINTMENT\ \ I had an appointment with my psychiatrist today regarding the abdominal pain, since urgent care recommended to do so in suspicion that it’s linked to withdrawals. My psychiatrist said GI issues are known during Effexor but she has not received many patients state that it occurred after tapering off of Effexor. This has me concerned that something else is wrong with me, but hoping it’s just a small withdrawal issue. She has prescribed me 20mg of Prozac, which I will start at 12pm today (May 10th). I’m a little nervous switching back onto an antidepressant, as my pride is getting in the way of wanting to be on any antidepressant after successfully tapering off of Effexor. However, I have heard good things about Prozac, and hopefully it can help alleviate some of the issues reappearing and also help with the withdrawals.\ \ TL;DR\ Quitting is possible. However, please do so with caution and not without supervision or medical advice like I did. Withdrawals will affect everyone differently, some severe, some not severe. Be mindful of your body and mind, study your body’s response during tapering so you can gauge when YOU feel comfortable to taper down another level. Know the associated risks and side effects to come, and be kind to your body during the process. Effexor did many great things for me; I just chose to remove it from my life for obligatory reasons and side effects. I wish you all the best of health and happiness, and here’s to hoping my new journey on Prozac is one of progress and growth.

I'm 45/F with GAD, depression, C-PTSD and hx of dysthymia and panic attacks. I've been on several antidepressants in my lifetime (Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac) but was on Effexor-XR for the longest time with the most success for my symptoms. However, Effexor was causing me to feel hot and sweaty quite often, and I'm at the age where I'm starting to go through hormonal changes, and feeling extra hot and sweaty was ruining my sleep. I was recommended Viibryd (and also Lunesta for sleep). It was quite the long process of tapering off Effexor and starting the new med. I thought I was doing okay on Viibryd, but have noticed that I'm increasingly irritable. I feel extremely annoyed by little things my kids or partner do, and they've noticed. I feel like I'm always on edge and can't relax. I have a prescription for lorazepam (as needed) but I always feel as if the doctor and nurse practitioner don't want me to actually use it except if I'm having panic attacks. I rarely take one, but lately I've been feeling like I would be a lot more pleasant and relaxed if I would take one, because I know how they make me feel.
Has anyone else had experience with Viibryd and feeling extra irritable? Is there an antidepressant you've found that helps with feeling stressed and irritable all the time but also doesn't make you sweat profusely? Do some people take benzodiazepines (or anything else) daily to feel okay? I feel like because I'm a mom and am caring for kids all day, that they don't want me to be groggy or have my senses dulled. BUT, I feel like I'd be a much better, active, supportive parent if I could stop all the quiet (and not so quiet) rage and grouchiness and enjoy time with my family again. Anxiety has robbed me of so many experiences and moments in life, and I'm just feeling defeated by it again.

I’ve been taken Prozac 20mg for about a month and the but I decided with my psychiatrist to go up to 30mg. I have high hopes that the Prozac is better than the Zoloft but the side effects have been hell. I can handle the sweat and weird dreams but my stomach seriously hates these meds and most days the pain feels debilitating. I’ve tired Tums, Gas-X, drinking hella water, taking it with food, avoiding laying down and nothing feels like it’s works and it sucks. I really want to give these meds a try. What helps the stomach pain? Please anything?

I (30M) have been on Zoloft 25mg for 19 days now. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I felt like myself for the first time in years. I went outside, ran, my stress was low, etc. That all came to a halt on Friday. I have been experiencing extreme fatigue, hot flashes without sweat, high(for me) blood pressure, headaches, and a bit of rocking Vertigo.
Is this the typical experience with Zoloft? I had similar issues with Prozac last year. Should I stick it out and see if it goes away.

Last year I tried getting back on Prozac, which I had been prescribed numerous times in the past… but this time 5mg made me manic. It caused severe insomnia.. didn’t sleep for 4 days. When I finally was able to sleep, I’d sleep in 1hour increments and would wake up in a panic attack. I had heart palpitations… it got to the point where I was terrified of my heart rate. I had tremors, the sweats, the shits.. all the bad side effects I experienced. I was only take it for 2.5 weeks, and then I still experienced the sides effects 2.5 weeks later.. until I took an old prescription of klonopin, and that finally let me sleep.. so I took that here and there in hope that I could just get over the trauma I experienced from the Prozac. I literally feel as if I got ptsd from the Prozac experience.. I found a doctor who prescribed me klonopin again, but the goal is to get me off of that.
But I’m soooo scared the Zoloft will cause the same side effects I experienced with Prozac.. plus I’m worried about weight gain bc I’m getting married in September.. and I don’t want to gain weight, and not fit into my dress..
Please help..

Hello! Started lexapro on April 3. Took 5-7.5mg for the first three weeks and am at almost 2 weeks on 10mg. Prior to lexapro I tried Prozac and had a horrible experience, I ended up on a FMLA leave from work and was able to stay home for the first few weeks on lexapro as well. I just went back to work last Wednesday. Side effects have included insomnia (dr prescribed mirtazipine to help with this and I’ve weaned from 7.5 to a quarter of a pill since falling asleep has gotten easier, I only take the mirtazapine on nights when I work the next day now), dry mouth, some spaceyness, mild nausea, and increased sweating. I felt like my anxiety was pretty well managed last week when I went back to work. I was at a constant 3-4/10 anxiety instead of having spikes up to like 7/10 like I was before starting the meds. Yesterday at work I noticed the anxiety was a little worse again, but still manageable without any meltdowns. Today I had an appointment to get my hair done and nearly had a panic attack in the chair. Full blown dizziness, impending doom feeling, nausea, just wanted to cry or leave. I made it through the appointment and feel a little better now that I’m home but am still dizzy and feeling a little discouraged about feeling so bad on week 5. I did only take a bite of granola bar with my pill this morning and have been eating a fill meal with it on other days, not sure if this is a coincidence. I know I’ve only been on 10mg for about 12 days but was hoping the progress would stick. Has anyone else had a set back this far into the onboarding process and still ended up with really positive results after a little more time?

Demographic information: I'm 19, AFAB, and on testosterone. I'm 5'0" and 105-110lbs. I'm white and an Ashkenazi Jew.
Existing medical issues: GAD, ADHD, chronic migraines; Current medications: Prozac, Concerta, vitamin D supplement, sumatriptan as needed (not taken on day).
Last night's symptoms: Last night I was doing some work while sitting on the floor, and then I got really hungry all of a sudden. Maybe a minute later, I got a hot flash, started sweating, got really shaky, and kind of felt like I was going to faint. I've gotten that faint-shaky-vertigo feeling before, so I knew I wasn't actually going to faint, but I really didn't enjoy it. Assuming it was low blood sugar, I scarfed down a bag of Skittles and some leftover matzah, and I did almost immediately feel better, but I don't have diabetes or anything and I've never gotten a hot flash simultaneously with the faint-shaky-vertigo feeling.
Faint-shaky-vertigo feeling: I've been getting this feeling on occasion for the past year or two. I'll be doing something and suddenly feel like it's a terrible idea for me to be standing or moving. The room doesn't spin, but I feel unsteady on my feet, and like if I move at all I'll fall over. This isn't true; I've never fainted or fallen over, but it still feels like I will every time. Last time this happened, I ate a salt packet, drank a bottle of Gatorade, and ate a bag of pretzels and a bag of potato chips. The feeling went away maybe 15 minutes after finishing the chips.
How do I stop this from happening again? Should I call my PCP?

Ok so, I was on Prozac for about two years. I really liked it, (40 mg) but I was always feeling hot and sweaty, I didn’t know why , so my doctor suggested that I try Effexor - I started Effexor Feb 2024, and ended with a decently high dose but I just wasn’t feeling anything at all, not even side effects, ive only been on it for roughly 2 1/2 months. I could feel myself getting depressed again, so I went back to Fluxotene. Currently, it’s been about 1 week since I’ve been back on Fluxotene. My main concern is I don’t know if my awful side effects are from quitting Effexor or from starting Fluxotene. OK, bear with me because this is where it just gets obnoxious

• When I originally started Prozac a few years ago I started with the 20 mg pill and a year after began the 40 mg pill. It was all seamless and side effects were minimal

-This time around starting Prozac, I went right to 40 mg to start , because that’s all I had on me from my prior script. ( my doctor prescribed me the 20 mg pills and told me that I could start on 20 or 40 depending on how I feel, but I did not have time to go to the pharmacy so I just took the 40s that I had on hand)

• I assumed that since I’ve only been off prozac for 2 months I shouldn’t have terrible side effects starting it again at 40 mg right ?? Should I have started at 20?
  
  • BUT i was only on effexor for like 2 1/2 months, so I can’t imagine the withdrawal from that could be terrible right????
  • i bring this up because many people who have been on effexor say the withdrawals were awful

Right now a week into fluoxetine I just feel shitty. I’m depressed , moody, tired and the nights sweats are insane. I don’t have night sweats usually and never have on either one of the medication’s, which is why I assume it’s the transition itself that’s messing me
I’m not even sure what my question is here but curious about people’s experiences from one med to the other and/or if anybody has experience with any of this.
Sorry for the long post 😫😬

I’ve always been a sweaty person but I’m literally dripping on Abilify, especially from my scalp. I’m otherwise feeling pretty good on it (plus Prozac), so I don’t want to switch again. Anyone on Abilify also try a sweat blocking medication and did it help?

Hi! I’ve been on birth control since I was 15 and would really love some help and advice on side effects from those who had similar experiences to me. I’m 21 and recently removed my kyleena IUD because it caused me PMDD (as diagnosed by my doctor) I am already taking Prozac to treat depression/anxiety and also occasionally take Ritalin for ADHD but don’t love the way it makes me feel (I prefer cannabis as a focusing tool tbh). Anyways, after having the IUD for about a year I removed it and was put on a high estrogen pill (immediately made me have so much gas and bloating and canker sores) then was switched to tri lo. I’m now feeling like my body looks and feels different (I haven’t weighed myself but my body fat distribution feels different but also cld be dysmorphia), I’m exhausted often, and I’m EXCESSIVELY sweating all the time. Has this happened to anyone else? Any recommendations of what to do? I’m so tired.
More info: -I was put on spironolactone for acne caused by my IUD and recently also stopped taking it -While I had the kyleena I had constant UTIs and yeast infections and was put on tons of antibiotics before I saw a urologist and he gave me wipes?? And they worked!??? -I’m generally a healthy individual but have found that birth control really wrecks my life

I started Cymbalta while 6 months postpartum, so already having irregular periods and PMDD. I’ve had PMDD and understood it for years and years. Anyways, horrible things happen and my depression is awful, but I’m getting more and more weird symptoms: excessive sweating (from the cymbalta for sure); no pmdd and sudden period, then period stops for 3-4 days in which I have severe PMDD symptoms, then period again. I gained 20lbs in 6 months, when I was on the grief diet- so should have been losing weight; and super randomly PMDD sadness hits and then goes away with in like 24 hours, along with migraines. Anyways, doc’s suspecting peri menopause. I’m 34. I started cryselle birth control to see if I am peri menopausal since apparently all my symptoms will go away if I am on this birth control and perimenapausal.
Then I saw that Cymbalta increases estrogen. I have (with doctors advice) come off of cymbalta and started Prozac which previously hasn’t effected my period in anyways.
I am sweating less and I am skipping my period pills for the Cryselle. Im planning on keeping the cryselle for the next full month and then coming off and seeing if all this peri menopausal stuff is actually just my PMDD body being sensitive to an increase in estrogen from Cymbalta.
Has anyone experienced similar? I am hoping to not be perimenapausal as I want to have another baby. But I can’t do all this insomnia and restless legs and weight gain along with my depression and anxiety and PMDD making everything worse.

Hey everybody. Going through a really difficult season of life currently and looking for some insight, encouragement, or advice even - really any feedback is welcome.
Background: M/37. No discernable problems with physical health/medical - labs always consistently good. HX of substance use disorder in recovery for 10 years. About 2 years into this sobriety journey (7-8 years ago give or take) I was diagnosed with primarily obsessional OCD triggered by the birth of my first child. The symptoms were hellish - intense intrusive thoughts that caused me a tremendous amount of distress. After suffering through this for about a year, at the behest of my friends and family I saw a psychiatrist and and psychologist. Started doing Exposure and Response prevention and was cycled through Prozac, Lexapro, finally landing on 50MG zoloft over about a 3-4 month time span ( they kept moving me due to side effect profile etc.)
The combination of therapy and zoloft brought me tremendous relief. I felt like I could breathe/live again. I was like a poster child for SSRI's as well: I had little to no side effects whatsoever from the low dose zoloft. The only thing I really noticed was some very mild delayed sexual function but it was completely workable and not debilitating.
My OCD symptoms completely resolved. Dissapated entirely. My psychiatrist encouraged me to keep taking the zoloft so I did. This went unchecked for 7-8 years. I took Zoloft diligently with no breaks at all during these years. I eventually discontinued therapy and basically dove in completely to family life and work - really only doing excercise as a form of self care plus some hobbies.
About 6 months ago I woke up wondering why I was still taking the zoloft since things had been so good for so long. I felt like the medication had begun to reduce my range of emotion slightly - like I wasn't full experiencing the breadth of human existence being on them. I don't know if this was a misguided thought or bullshit or what but as a result I consulted my psych NP and they hesitantly began tapering me off the medication. One month at half the dose. Another half month at half a dose and I felt so good that I just ditched the med completely and went med free despite the Psych NP not directing this. I understand now that this was probably not the best idea.
The first month went well. I felt pretty clear - and even like I had a more full range of emotion to access. This could be in my head but I felt like I was more loving and close with my family and friends. Unfortunately this was short lived: onto the bad shit.
After about a month completely med free I began to experience what I can only describe as fairly significant cognitive symptoms: short term memory problems, long term memory problems, forgetfulness, general disorganization of my thought process and reduced capacity to maintain my workload (I'm typically really solid with work) I became avoidant and lazy and just didn't feel like I had the same pep in my step that I'd had previously. Energy levels were lower and I started waking up in the morning with a feeling of existential type dread - concerned with mortalitiy, very negative self talk, speaking to and treating myself poorly. MY appetite decreased dramatically. My desire to excercise and get out and about reduced. My social anxiety went through the roof and I started feeling like I had trouble getting my thoughts out to people and speaking clearly and concisely. My hands would sweat when I had work meetings. I started to just tank basically.The only positives at this point that I can identify are that my sexual function was better than it had ever been in my life and my sleep quality felt like it improved drastically as well.
Anyway - I panicked and reacted. I tried to self re-instate my previous dose of zoloft - 50MG a day thinking that I'd just go right back to where I was before for all those years. I'm not sure if anyones had a similiar experience here but for whatever godforsaken damn reason IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL. Within a week I was experiecing every single SSRI side effect you could imagine: insomina, severely reduced sexual function and libido, fatigue, disinterested in life, flatness, emotional blunting, and most troublesome of all a pretty dramatic reduction in my visual acuity: severe dry eyes and blurry vision. Over the course of 9 weeks with a new provider I was placed down to 25 MG with no resolution of symptoms - flew back up to 50 shortly - and then to 75MG. During this time I was also put on Xanax .5MG Q6HR and Lunesta 1-2MG QHS for sleep. All I can say is that the the zoloft possibly mildly helped my anxiety symptoms but none of the above side effects resolved at all or got better.
The psychiatrist dumped the Zoloft and cross tapered me to Prozac. It has been about 9 weeks on prozac 10 to 20 to 30. The psychiatrist wants to keep increasing despite my protestation that the side effects are fucking me up. My vision is still shit - it drives me crazy (sidenote - I had a full medical exam from an opthamologist and other than having some mildy dry eyes he stated there is nothing medically acute happening with my eyes.) My sexual function is still reduced. I feel a bit calmer but still just sort of listless, going through the motions, disinterested, and sad. I have two beautiful young children, an outstanding job that pays well, and a loving wife. My presence has been so shitty through this whole entire thing that I'm just continuously beating myself up for putting my family through such a rough season of life and not having my full attention and love be with them if that makes sense - despite my wife being fairly understanding and patient with me through the entire thing so far.
I saw a new provider last week after my last suggested upping the dose again and adding adderall of all things to the mix. I don't want to go down that road being an addict in recovery and am already dissapointed that I've had to take xanax and lunesta. The new provider I saw was a specialist with over 30 years of exp and did a comprehensive eval with me. I advocated for myself, expressed my interest in being on the least amount of drugs possible and trying to treat this as holistically and naturally as I can. I also tried to ask questions about the symptoms I was having reference my vision and reference what my discontinution looked like initially after the DC of zoloft and she basically......pooh poohed me, said I need to be on medication for life, that I need to max out the doses of the drugs I take and that she had never heard of people having vision issues from SSRI's before. She then wrote me a script for Vilazodone and instructed me to do a rapid cross taper off the prozac onto the Vilazodone.
So here I am fellow redditors. I have the vilazodone but I have not taken it. I reduced the prozac from 30 to 20 about 5 days ago and feel a little foggy but still minimal improvement in side effect profile. I have become so remarkably averse to these drugs and modern psychiatry and am finding the prospect of tapering onto yet another drug terrifying. I am currently in CBT therapy weekly, am doing daily intense breakthwork/meditation, trying my best to journal, and getting some mild excercise.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to sacrifice my love life and vision for mild benefits to my anxiety and cognitive struggles. I don't want to max out doses and have the side effects increase. I desparately want to be free of this bullshit and move forward with my life but I have no idea what that looks like. Basically a dilemma if you will. I'm just looking for encouragement, advice, positive reinforcement, or even success stories of anyone who has been through something similiar and come off these damn drugs. As I mentioned before my faith in psychiatry has effectively been reduced so much through this. I just wanna be free, love my family, excel in my career, and get back to enjoying all the things I used to enjoy. Right now I'm just going through the motions.
My heart is with anyone struggling with mental illness or situations similiar to this. I hope so much today you feel loved, take the time to love yourself, and practice loving kindness in all you do. I fucking get how hard this stuff is and how hard it can be on the people around you: the guilt, the shame, the negative self talk, the feeling of defeat, and everything that comes along with it. I love ya'll have a blessed day today and thank you so much in advance for any feedback/encouragement/advice you may have for me today I really need and appreciate it! Sorry for the epic length of this post.

Hey everybody. Going through a really difficult season of life currently and looking for some insight, encouragement, or advice even - really any feedback is welcome.
Background: M/37. No discernable problems with physical health/medical - labs always consistently good. HX of substance use disorder in recovery for 10 years. About 2 years into this sobriety journey (7-8 years ago give or take) I was diagnosed with primarily obsessional OCD triggered by the birth of my first child. The symptoms were hellish - intense intrusive thoughts that caused me a tremendous amount of distress. After suffering through this for about a year, at the behest of my friends and family I saw a psychiatrist and and psychologist. Started doing Exposure and Response prevention and was cycled through Prozac, Lexapro, finally landing on 50MG zoloft over about a 3-4 month time span ( they kept moving me due to side effect profile etc.)
The combination of therapy and zoloft brought me tremendous relief. I felt like I could breathe/live again. I was like a poster child for SSRI's as well: I had little to no side effects whatsoever from the low dose zoloft. The only thing I really noticed was some very mild delayed sexual function but it was completely workable and not debilitating.
My OCD symptoms completely resolved. Dissapated entirely. My psychiatrist encouraged me to keep taking the zoloft so I did. This went unchecked for 7-8 years. I took Zoloft diligently with no breaks at all during these years. I eventually discontinued therapy and basically dove in completely to family life and work - really only doing excercise as a form of self care plus some hobbies.
About 6 months ago I woke up wondering why I was still taking the zoloft since things had been so good for so long. I felt like the medication had begun to reduce my range of emotion slightly - like I wasn't full experiencing the breadth of human existence being on them. I don't know if this was a misguided thought or bullshit or what but as a result I consulted my psych NP and they hesitantly began tapering me off the medication. One month at half the dose. Another half month at half a dose and I felt so good that I just ditched the med completely and went med free despite the Psych NP not directing this. I understand now that this was probably not the best idea.
The first month went well. I felt pretty clear - and even like I had a more full range of emotion to access. This could be in my head but I felt like I was more loving and close with my family and friends. Unfortunately this was short lived: onto the bad shit.
After about a month completely med free I began to experience what I can only describe as fairly significant cognitive symptoms: short term memory problems, long term memory problems, forgetfulness, general disorganization of my thought process and reduced capacity to maintain my workload (I'm typically really solid with work) I became avoidant and lazy and just didn't feel like I had the same pep in my step that I'd had previously. Energy levels were lower and I started waking up in the morning with a feeling of existential type dread - concerned with mortalitiy, very negative self talk, speaking to and treating myself poorly. MY appetite decreased dramatically. My desire to excercise and get out and about reduced. My social anxiety went through the roof and I started feeling like I had trouble getting my thoughts out to people and speaking clearly and concisely. My hands would sweat when I had work meetings. I started to just tank basically.The only positives at this point that I can identify are that my sexual function was better than it had ever been in my life and my sleep quality felt like it improved drastically as well.
Anyway - I panicked and reacted. I tried to self re-instate my previous dose of zoloft - 50MG a day thinking that I'd just go right back to where I was before for all those years. I'm not sure if anyones had a similiar experience here but for whatever godforsaken damn reason IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL. Within a week I was experiecing every single SSRI side effect you could imagine: insomina, severely reduced sexual function and libido, fatigue, disinterested in life, flatness, emotional blunting, and most troublesome of all a pretty dramatic reduction in my visual acuity: severe dry eyes and blurry vision. Over the course of 9 weeks with a new provider I was placed down to 25 MG with no resolution of symptoms - flew back up to 50 shortly - and then to 75MG. During this time I was also put on Xanax .5MG Q6HR and Lunesta 1-2MG QHS for sleep. All I can say is that the the zoloft possibly mildly helped my anxiety symptoms but none of the above side effects resolved at all or got better.
The psychiatrist dumped the Zoloft and cross tapered me to Prozac. It has been about 9 weeks on prozac 10 to 20 to 30. The psychiatrist wants to keep increasing despite my protestation that the side effects are fucking me up. My vision is still shit - it drives me crazy (sidenote - I had a full medical exam from an opthamologist and other than having some mildy dry eyes he stated there is nothing medically acute happening with my eyes.) My sexual function is still reduced. I feel a bit calmer but still just sort of listless, going through the motions, disinterested, and sad. I have two beautiful young children, an outstanding job that pays well, and a loving wife. My presence has been so shitty through this whole entire thing that I'm just continuously beating myself up for putting my family through such a rough season of life and not having my full attention and love be with them if that makes sense - despite my wife being fairly understanding and patient with me through the entire thing so far.
I saw a new provider last week after my last suggested upping the dose again and adding adderall of all things to the mix. I don't want to go down that road being an addict in recovery and am already dissapointed that I've had to take xanax and lunesta. The new provider I saw was a specialist with over 30 years of exp and did a comprehensive eval with me. I advocated for myself, expressed my interest in being on the least amount of drugs possible and trying to treat this as holistically and naturally as I can. I also tried to ask questions about the symptoms I was having reference my vision and reference what my discontinution looked like initially after the DC of zoloft and she basically......pooh poohed me, said I need to be on medication for life, that I need to max out the doses of the drugs I take and that she had never heard of people having vision issues from SSRI's before. She then wrote me a script for Vilazodone and instructed me to do a rapid cross taper off the prozac onto the Vilazodone.
So here I am fellow redditors. I have the vilazodone but I have not taken it. I reduced the prozac from 30 to 20 about 5 days ago and feel a little foggy but still minimal improvement in side effect profile. I have become so remarkably averse to these drugs and modern psychiatry and am finding the prospect of tapering onto yet another drug terrifying. I am currently in CBT therapy weekly, am doing daily intense breakthwork/meditation, trying my best to journal, and getting some mild excercise.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to sacrifice my love life and vision for mild benefits to my anxiety and cognitive struggles. I don't want to max out doses and have the side effects increase. I desparately want to be free of this bullshit and move forward with my life but I have no idea what that looks like. Basically a dilemma if you will. I'm just looking for encouragement, advice, positive reinforcement, or even success stories of anyone who has been through something similiar and come off these damn drugs. As I mentioned before my faith in psychiatry has effectively been reduced so much through this. I just wanna be free, love my family, excel in my career, and get back to enjoying all the things I used to enjoy. Right now I'm just going through the motions.
My heart is with anyone struggling with mental illness or situations similiar to this. I hope so much today you feel loved, take the time to love yourself, and practice loving kindness in all you do. I fucking get how hard this stuff is and how hard it can be on the people around you: the guilt, the shame, the negative self talk, the feeling of defeat, and everything that comes along with it. I love ya'll have a blessed day today and thank you so much in advance for any feedback/encouragement/advice you may have for me today I really need and appreciate it! Sorry for the epic length of this post.

Hey everybody. Going through a really difficult season of life currently and looking for some insight, encouragement, or advice even - really any feedback is welcome.
Background: M/37. No discernable problems with physical health/medical - labs always consistently good. HX of substance use disorder in recovery for 10 years. About 2 years into this sobriety journey (7-8 years ago give or take) I was diagnosed with primarily obsessional OCD triggered by the birth of my first child. The symptoms were hellish - intense intrusive thoughts that caused me a tremendous amount of distress. After suffering through this for about a year, at the behest of my friends and family I saw a psychiatrist and and psychologist. Started doing Exposure and Response prevention and was cycled through Prozac, Lexapro, finally landing on 50MG zoloft over about a 3-4 month time span ( they kept moving me due to side effect profile etc.)
The combination of therapy and zoloft brought me tremendous relief. I felt like I could breathe/live again. I was like a poster child for SSRI's as well: I had little to no side effects whatsoever from the low dose zoloft. The only thing I really noticed was some very mild delayed sexual function but it was completely workable and not debilitating.
My OCD symptoms completely resolved. Dissapated entirely. My psychiatrist encouraged me to keep taking the zoloft so I did. This went unchecked for 7-8 years. I took Zoloft diligently with no breaks at all during these years. I eventually discontinued therapy and basically dove in completely to family life and work - really only doing excercise as a form of self care plus some hobbies.
About 6 months ago I woke up wondering why I was still taking the zoloft since things had been so good for so long. I felt like the medication had begun to reduce my range of emotion slightly - like I wasn't full experiencing the breadth of human existence being on them. I don't know if this was a misguided thought or bullshit or what but as a result I consulted my psych NP and they hesitantly began tapering me off the medication. One month at half the dose. Another half month at half a dose and I felt so good that I just ditched the med completely and went med free despite the Psych NP not directing this. I understand now that this was probably not the best idea.
The first month went well. I felt pretty clear - and even like I had a more full range of emotion to access. This could be in my head but I felt like I was more loving and close with my family and friends. Unfortunately this was short lived: onto the bad shit.
After about a month completely med free I began to experience what I can only describe as fairly significant cognitive symptoms: short term memory problems, long term memory problems, forgetfulness, general disorganization of my thought process and reduced capacity to maintain my workload (I'm typically really solid with work) I became avoidant and lazy and just didn't feel like I had the same pep in my step that I'd had previously. Energy levels were lower and I started waking up in the morning with a feeling of existential type dread - concerned with mortalitiy, very negative self talk, speaking to and treating myself poorly. MY appetite decreased dramatically. My desire to excercise and get out and about reduced. My social anxiety went through the roof and I started feeling like I had trouble getting my thoughts out to people and speaking clearly and concisely. My hands would sweat when I had work meetings. I started to just tank basically.The only positives at this point that I can identify are that my sexual function was better than it had ever been in my life and my sleep quality felt like it improved drastically as well.
Anyway - I panicked and reacted. I tried to self re-instate my previous dose of zoloft - 50MG a day thinking that I'd just go right back to where I was before for all those years. I'm not sure if anyones had a similiar experience here but for whatever godforsaken damn reason IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL. Within a week I was experiecing every single SSRI side effect you could imagine: insomina, severely reduced sexual function and libido, fatigue, disinterested in life, flatness, emotional blunting, and most troublesome of all a pretty dramatic reduction in my visual acuity: severe dry eyes and blurry vision. Over the course of 9 weeks with a new provider I was placed down to 25 MG with no resolution of symptoms - flew back up to 50 shortly - and then to 75MG. During this time I was also put on Xanax .5MG Q6HR and Lunesta 1-2MG QHS for sleep. All I can say is that the the zoloft possibly mildly helped my anxiety symptoms but none of the above side effects resolved at all or got better.
The psychiatrist dumped the Zoloft and cross tapered me to Prozac. It has been about 9 weeks on prozac 10 to 20 to 30. The psychiatrist wants to keep increasing despite my protestation that the side effects are fucking me up. My vision is still shit - it drives me crazy (sidenote - I had a full medical exam from an opthamologist and other than having some mildy dry eyes he stated there is nothing medically acute happening with my eyes.) My sexual function is still reduced. I feel a bit calmer but still just sort of listless, going through the motions, disinterested, and sad. I have two beautiful young children, an outstanding job that pays well, and a loving wife. My presence has been so shitty through this whole entire thing that I'm just continuously beating myself up for putting my family through such a rough season of life and not having my full attention and love be with them if that makes sense - despite my wife being fairly understanding and patient with me through the entire thing so far.
I saw a new provider last week after my last suggested upping the dose again and adding adderall of all things to the mix. I don't want to go down that road being an addict in recovery and am already dissapointed that I've had to take xanax and lunesta. The new provider I saw was a specialist with over 30 years of exp and did a comprehensive eval with me. I advocated for myself, expressed my interest in being on the least amount of drugs possible and trying to treat this as holistically and naturally as I can. I also tried to ask questions about the symptoms I was having reference my vision and reference what my discontinution looked like initially after the DC of zoloft and she basically......pooh poohed me, said I need to be on medication for life, that I need to max out the doses of the drugs I take and that she had never heard of people having vision issues from SSRI's before. She then wrote me a script for Vilazodone and instructed me to do a rapid cross taper off the prozac onto the Vilazodone.
So here I am fellow redditors. I have the vilazodone but I have not taken it. I reduced the prozac from 30 to 20 about 5 days ago and feel a little foggy but still minimal improvement in side effect profile. I have become so remarkably averse to these drugs and modern psychiatry and am finding the prospect of tapering onto yet another drug terrifying. I am currently in CBT therapy weekly, am doing daily intense breakthwork/meditation, trying my best to journal, and getting some mild excercise.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to sacrifice my love life and vision for mild benefits to my anxiety and cognitive struggles. I don't want to max out doses and have the side effects increase. I desparately want to be free of this bullshit and move forward with my life but I have no idea what that looks like. Basically a dilemma if you will. I'm just looking for encouragement, advice, positive reinforcement, or even success stories of anyone who has been through something similiar and come off these damn drugs. As I mentioned before my faith in psychiatry has effectively been reduced so much through this. I just wanna be free, love my family, excel in my career, and get back to enjoying all the things I used to enjoy. Right now I'm just going through the motions.
My heart is with anyone struggling with mental illness or situations similiar to this. I hope so much today you feel loved, take the time to love yourself, and practice loving kindness in all you do. I fucking get how hard this stuff is and how hard it can be on the people around you: the guilt, the shame, the negative self talk, the feeling of defeat, and everything that comes along with it. I love ya'll have a blessed day today and thank you so much in advance for any feedback/encouragement/advice you may have for me today I really need and appreciate it! Sorry for the epic length of this post.

Hey everybody. Going through a really difficult season of life currently and looking for some insight, encouragement, or advice even - really any feedback is welcome.
Background: M/37. No discernable problems with physical health/medical - labs always consistently good. HX of substance use disorder in recovery for 10 years. About 2 years into this sobriety journey (7-8 years ago give or take) I was diagnosed with primarily obsessional OCD triggered by the birth of my first child. The symptoms were hellish - intense intrusive thoughts that caused me a tremendous amount of distress. After suffering through this for about a year, at the behest of my friends and family I saw a psychiatrist and and psychologist. Started doing Exposure and Response prevention and was cycled through Prozac, Lexapro, finally landing on 50MG zoloft over about a 3-4 month time span ( they kept moving me due to side effect profile etc.)
The combination of therapy and zoloft brought me tremendous relief. I felt like I could breathe/live again. I was like a poster child for SSRI's as well: I had little to no side effects whatsoever from the low dose zoloft. The only thing I really noticed was some very mild delayed sexual function but it was completely workable and not debilitating.
My OCD symptoms completely resolved. Dissapated entirely. My psychiatrist encouraged me to keep taking the zoloft so I did. This went unchecked for 7-8 years. I took Zoloft diligently with no breaks at all during these years. I eventually discontinued therapy and basically dove in completely to family life and work - really only doing excercise as a form of self care plus some hobbies.
About 6 months ago I woke up wondering why I was still taking the zoloft since things had been so good for so long. I felt like the medication had begun to reduce my range of emotion slightly - like I wasn't full experiencing the breadth of human existence being on them. I don't know if this was a misguided thought or bullshit or what but as a result I consulted my psych NP and they hesitantly began tapering me off the medication. One month at half the dose. Another half month at half a dose and I felt so good that I just ditched the med completely and went med free despite the Psych NP not directing this. I understand now that this was probably not the best idea.
The first month went well. I felt pretty clear - and even like I had a more full range of emotion to access. This could be in my head but I felt like I was more loving and close with my family and friends. Unfortunately this was short lived: onto the bad shit.
After about a month completely med free I began to experience what I can only describe as fairly significant cognitive symptoms: short term memory problems, long term memory problems, forgetfulness, general disorganization of my thought process and reduced capacity to maintain my workload (I'm typically really solid with work) I became avoidant and lazy and just didn't feel like I had the same pep in my step that I'd had previously. Energy levels were lower and I started waking up in the morning with a feeling of existential type dread - concerned with mortalitiy, very negative self talk, speaking to and treating myself poorly. MY appetite decreased dramatically. My desire to excercise and get out and about reduced. My social anxiety went through the roof and I started feeling like I had trouble getting my thoughts out to people and speaking clearly and concisely. My hands would sweat when I had work meetings. I started to just tank basically.The only positives at this point that I can identify are that my sexual function was better than it had ever been in my life and my sleep quality felt like it improved drastically as well.
Anyway - I panicked and reacted. I tried to self re-instate my previous dose of zoloft - 50MG a day thinking that I'd just go right back to where I was before for all those years. I'm not sure if anyones had a similiar experience here but for whatever godforsaken damn reason IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL. Within a week I was experiecing every single SSRI side effect you could imagine: insomina, severely reduced sexual function and libido, fatigue, disinterested in life, flatness, emotional blunting, and most troublesome of all a pretty dramatic reduction in my visual acuity: severe dry eyes and blurry vision. Over the course of 9 weeks with a new provider I was placed down to 25 MG with no resolution of symptoms - flew back up to 50 shortly - and then to 75MG. During this time I was also put on Xanax .5MG Q6HR and Lunesta 1-2MG QHS for sleep. All I can say is that the the zoloft possibly mildly helped my anxiety symptoms but none of the above side effects resolved at all or got better.
The psychiatrist dumped the Zoloft and cross tapered me to Prozac. It has been about 9 weeks on prozac 10 to 20 to 30. The psychiatrist wants to keep increasing despite my protestation that the side effects are fucking me up. My vision is still shit - it drives me crazy (sidenote - I had a full medical exam from an opthamologist and other than having some mildy dry eyes he stated there is nothing medically acute happening with my eyes.) My sexual function is still reduced. I feel a bit calmer but still just sort of listless, going through the motions, disinterested, and sad. I have two beautiful young children, an outstanding job that pays well, and a loving wife. My presence has been so shitty through this whole entire thing that I'm just continuously beating myself up for putting my family through such a rough season of life and not having my full attention and love be with them if that makes sense - despite my wife being fairly understanding and patient with me through the entire thing so far.
I saw a new provider last week after my last suggested upping the dose again and adding adderall of all things to the mix. I don't want to go down that road being an addict in recovery and am already dissapointed that I've had to take xanax and lunesta. The new provider I saw was a specialist with over 30 years of exp and did a comprehensive eval with me. I advocated for myself, expressed my interest in being on the least amount of drugs possible and trying to treat this as holistically and naturally as I can. I also tried to ask questions about the symptoms I was having reference my vision and reference what my discontinution looked like initially after the DC of zoloft and she basically......pooh poohed me, said I need to be on medication for life, that I need to max out the doses of the drugs I take and that she had never heard of people having vision issues from SSRI's before. She then wrote me a script for Vilazodone and instructed me to do a rapid cross taper off the prozac onto the Vilazodone.
So here I am fellow redditors. I have the vilazodone but I have not taken it. I reduced the prozac from 30 to 20 about 5 days ago and feel a little foggy but still minimal improvement in side effect profile. I have become so remarkably averse to these drugs and modern psychiatry and am finding the prospect of tapering onto yet another drug terrifying. I am currently in CBT therapy weekly, am doing daily intense breakthwork/meditation, trying my best to journal, and getting some mild excercise.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to sacrifice my love life and vision for mild benefits to my anxiety and cognitive struggles. I don't want to max out doses and have the side effects increase. I desparately want to be free of this bullshit and move forward with my life but I have no idea what that looks like. Basically a dilemma if you will. I'm just looking for encouragement, advice, positive reinforcement, or even success stories of anyone who has been through something similiar and come off these damn drugs. As I mentioned before my faith in psychiatry has effectively been reduced so much through this. I just wanna be free, love my family, excel in my career, and get back to enjoying all the things I used to enjoy. Right now I'm just going through the motions.
My heart is with anyone struggling with mental illness or situations similiar to this. I hope so much today you feel loved, take the time to love yourself, and practice loving kindness in all you do. I fucking get how hard this stuff is and how hard it can be on the people around you: the guilt, the shame, the negative self talk, the feeling of defeat, and everything that comes along with it. I love ya'll have a blessed day today and thank you so much in advance for any feedback/encouragement/advice you may have for me today I really need and appreciate it! Sorry for the epic length of this post.

I’ve been on Lexapro 10 mg for 2 years now. I wanna make it very clear it was great for me when I first started on it. That first year, it truly helped me get through some of the lowest points in my life. A horrible breakup, moving back home after graduating, and my dad’s health problems… I genuinely believe without it, I would’ve done something really stupid, I’ve never been so low.
But since September 2023, I’ve found an incredible therapist, and finally can identify the shit that’s been holding me back. I don’t feel like lexapro has been helping me now at all. The last 2 or so months, I’ve experienced awful night sweats… I’ve still struggled with social anxiety, and it just doesn’t feel like the right fit.
So I went to my doctors appointment and long story short, I have been tapering down from 10 mg to 5 mg. It’s been a little over a week now. My head is definitely hurting but not awful. But holy shit y’all, for the first time in months, I’ve actually been able to cry. I’ve cried when everyday, for 4 days now.
I didn’t even realize how long it’s been since I’ve been able to let myself cry. Like, truly bawl my eyes out and let it all fall out. I didn’t even realize how numb I’ve become to everything. It’s insane. Idk, it’s been really fucking cathartic and I’m just taking it one step at a time as I get off this.
I was recommended Zoloft by the clinic I go to for my ADHD, but I was also recommended by my new primary doctor to try Prozac….. I am more inclined to try Zoloft because Prozac seems more aimed at depression rather than anxiety, so if anyone has any advice or experiences with those let me know. I’m not jumping into either of them yet.
I just wanted to post this to hopefully help some people that are scared to taper off, scared of having crazy anxiety or depression hit… I hope this can be reassuring in some way. This is just my own experience though so please don’t let it freak you out either if you’re happy with Lexapro too!

Hey everybody. Going through a really difficult season of life currently and looking for some insight, encouragement, or advice even - really any feedback is welcome.
Background: M/37. No discernable problems with physical health/medical - labs always consistently good. HX of substance use disorder in recovery for 10 years. About 2 years into this sobriety journey (7-8 years ago give or take) I was diagnosed with primarily obsessional OCD triggered by the birth of my first child. The symptoms were hellish - intense intrusive thoughts that caused me a tremendous amount of distress. After suffering through this for about a year, at the behest of my friends and family I saw a psychiatrist and and psychologist. Started doing Exposure and Response prevention and was cycled through Prozac, Lexapro, finally landing on 50MG zoloft over about a 3-4 month time span ( they kept moving me due to side effect profile etc.)
The combination of therapy and zoloft brought me tremendous relief. I felt like I could breathe/live again. I was like a poster child for SSRI's as well: I had little to no side effects whatsoever from the low dose zoloft. The only thing I really noticed was some very mild delayed sexual function but it was completely workable and not debilitating.
My OCD symptoms completely resolved. Dissapated entirely. My psychiatrist encouraged me to keep taking the zoloft so I did. This went unchecked for 7-8 years. I took Zoloft diligently with no breaks at all during these years. I eventually discontinued therapy and basically dove in completely to family life and work - really only doing excercise as a form of self care plus some hobbies.
About 6 months ago I woke up wondering why I was still taking the zoloft since things had been so good for so long. I felt like the medication had begun to reduce my range of emotion slightly - like I wasn't full experiencing the breadth of human existence being on them. I don't know if this was a misguided thought or bullshit or what but as a result I consulted my psych NP and they hesitantly began tapering me off the medication. One month at half the dose. Another half month at half a dose and I felt so good that I just ditched the med completely and went med free despite the Psych NP not directing this. I understand now that this was probably not the best idea.
The first month went well. I felt pretty clear - and even like I had a more full range of emotion to access. This could be in my head but I felt like I was more loving and close with my family and friends. Unfortunately this was short lived: onto the bad shit.
After about a month completely med free I began to experience what I can only describe as fairly significant cognitive symptoms: short term memory problems, long term memory problems, forgetfulness, general disorganization of my thought process and reduced capacity to maintain my workload (I'm typically really solid with work) I became avoidant and lazy and just didn't feel like I had the same pep in my step that I'd had previously. Energy levels were lower and I started waking up in the morning with a feeling of existential type dread - concerned with mortalitiy, very negative self talk, speaking to and treating myself poorly. MY appetite decreased dramatically. My desire to excercise and get out and about reduced. My social anxiety went through the roof and I started feeling like I had trouble getting my thoughts out to people and speaking clearly and concisely. My hands would sweat when I had work meetings. I started to just tank basically.The only positives at this point that I can identify are that my sexual function was better than it had ever been in my life and my sleep quality felt like it improved drastically as well.
Anyway - I panicked and reacted. I tried to self re-instate my previous dose of zoloft - 50MG a day thinking that I'd just go right back to where I was before for all those years. I'm not sure if anyones had a similiar experience here but for whatever godforsaken damn reason IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL. Within a week I was experiecing every single SSRI side effect you could imagine: insomina, severely reduced sexual function and libido, fatigue, disinterested in life, flatness, emotional blunting, and most troublesome of all a pretty dramatic reduction in my visual acuity: severe dry eyes and blurry vision. Over the course of 9 weeks with a new provider I was placed down to 25 MG with no resolution of symptoms - flew back up to 50 shortly - and then to 75MG. During this time I was also put on Xanax .5MG Q6HR and Lunesta 1-2MG QHS for sleep. All I can say is that the the zoloft possibly mildly helped my anxiety symptoms but none of the above side effects resolved at all or got better.
The psychiatrist dumped the Zoloft and cross tapered me to Prozac. It has been about 9 weeks on prozac 10 to 20 to 30. The psychiatrist wants to keep increasing despite my protestation that the side effects are fucking me up. My vision is still shit - it drives me crazy (sidenote - I had a full medical exam from an opthamologist and other than having some mildy dry eyes he stated there is nothing medically acute happening with my eyes.) My sexual function is still reduced. I feel a bit calmer but still just sort of listless, going through the motions, disinterested, and sad. I have two beautiful young children, an outstanding job that pays well, and a loving wife. My presence has been so shitty through this whole entire thing that I'm just continuously beating myself up for putting my family through such a rough season of life and not having my full attention and love be with them if that makes sense - despite my wife being fairly understanding and patient with me through the entire thing so far.
I saw a new provider last week after my last suggested upping the dose again and adding adderall of all things to the mix. I don't want to go down that road being an addict in recovery and am already dissapointed that I've had to take xanax and lunesta. The new provider I saw was a specialist with over 30 years of exp and did a comprehensive eval with me. I advocated for myself, expressed my interest in being on the least amount of drugs possible and trying to treat this as holistically and naturally as I can. I also tried to ask questions about the symptoms I was having reference my vision and reference what my discontinution looked like initially after the DC of zoloft and she basically......pooh poohed me, said I need to be on medication for life, that I need to max out the doses of the drugs I take and that she had never heard of people having vision issues from SSRI's before. She then wrote me a script for Vilazodone and instructed me to do a rapid cross taper off the prozac onto the Vilazodone.
So here I am fellow redditors. I have the vilazodone but I have not taken it. I reduced the prozac from 30 to 20 about 5 days ago and feel a little foggy but still minimal improvement in side effect profile. I have become so remarkably averse to these drugs and modern psychiatry and am finding the prospect of tapering onto yet another drug terrifying. I am currently in CBT therapy weekly, am doing daily intense breakthwork/meditation, trying my best to journal, and getting some mild excercise.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to sacrifice my love life and vision for mild benefits to my anxiety and cognitive struggles. I don't want to max out doses and have the side effects increase. I desparately want to be free of this bullshit and move forward with my life but I have no idea what that looks like. Basically a dilemma if you will. I'm just looking for encouragement, advice, positive reinforcement, or even success stories of anyone who has been through something similiar and come off these damn drugs. As I mentioned before my faith in psychiatry has effectively been reduced so much through this. I just wanna be free, love my family, excel in my career, and get back to enjoying all the things I used to enjoy. Right now I'm just going through the motions.
My heart is with anyone struggling with mental illness or situations similiar to this. I hope so much today you feel loved, take the time to love yourself, and practice loving kindness in all you do. I fucking get how hard this stuff is and how hard it can be on the people around you: the guilt, the shame, the negative self talk, the feeling of defeat, and everything that comes along with it. I love ya'll have a blessed day today and thank you so much in advance for any feedback/encouragement/advice you may have for me today I really need and appreciate it! Sorry for the epic length of this post.

i started taking 10 mg about 5 days ago. this is my second time taking prozac, but i’ve noticed this time around my pulse always seems to be pounding. last night i woke up out of a dead sleep to my pulse feeling very fast, and drenched in sweat. i’ll be laying on the couch and my pulse feels like it’s going to jump out of me. has anyone else experienced this?
edit to add: i take the dosage at night. also, not sure if my heart rate is actually higher than normal since i don’t have a measurement, but i’m just more aware of it if that makes sense? like my pulse feels stronger.