Date: Tue Aug 15, 2000 6:26pm

Hello, can anyone tell me if what I am experiencing is normal ?

I came off prozac last week. I was on it for a year for depression 
and decided to cut it out gradually. I was on one tablet a day so i 
cut it back to one every 2 days, for a couple of months, then I 
stopped.

Since I stopped last week I have been constantly NAUSEOUS... actually 
sick a couple of times. I have SHOOTING PAINS up my legs which are 
better for being active and worse when I lie down, PERIOD TYPE PAINS 
though my period was last week. Also DIZZINESS, BLURRY VISION. 

My doc says to start taking it again but i don't want to.

Any advice would be helpful as it is scary when you don't know what 
is happening to your body.

Thanks,

Lynn in Scotland 

Date: Sun Aug 20, 2000 6:16pm

Response:
Dear Lynn in Scotland: I hope you see a different Doctor. My husband's 
doctor took him off Prozac and substituted Effexor (and Remeron) after a 
consultation over the phone. My husband was up to 40 milligrams a day of 
Prozac. His doctor said it would take the effexor "a week to kick in." One 
week later my husband killed himself. He was not suicidal- when he started 
the drug (eighteen months earlier) he had been mildly anxious - he was 
started at 10 milligrams- and for six months he enjoyed a real drug "high." 
But as the months went on he got more and more depressed- I'm convinced now 
that his deepening depression was directly connected to the medication. But 
instead of taking him off the prozac his doctor increased the dosage- 10, 20, 
30, 40. 
There is something really rotten about these anti-depressant drugs. I hope 
get second, third, fourth opinions before you go back to taking Prozac. My 
prayers are with you. 

Jean