Others may have bothersome symptoms and require that the drug be tapered over a period of months. If your symptoms are severe, it may be recommended that you go back to taking your medication at your original dose temporarily. The next time, the plan may involve tapering off the medication more slowly. Each works differently in the brain, has different side effects, and may create different withdrawal experiences after being discontinued. It’s possible that your symptoms will respond more positively to a different medication from the one you were originally prescribed. If signs persist for months after getting off Prozac or unsure whether they are of withdrawal or relapse, it’s important to ask for professional help.

• Update your prescriber on any side effects or worsening of mood/anxiety you may experience.
• To help promote better sleep, try relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation.
• Withdrawal symptoms usually improve quickly (in days or even hours) if you restart your antidepressant.
• For some, benzos may not be the best option if you have a history of struggling with addiction or substance abuse.
• Consider talking with your doctor about switching antidepressants or trying a newer one.

If you are concerned that you are having a relapse of your depression when discontinuing your antidepressant, talk to your healthcare provider. Our writers and reviewers are experienced professionals in medicine, addiction treatment, and healthcare. AddictionResource fact-checks all the information before publishing and uses only credible and trusted sources when citing any medical data.

General Health

Symptoms may appear within 2 days of stopping antidepressant use and persist for several weeks. It’s generally not a good idea to make a big change like going off your medication when you’re under a lot of stress or you’re already going through a big change. Sign up to receive mental health news and tips delivered right in your inbox every month. A person also needs to seek help if the symptoms of the condition for which they were taking Prozac redevelop or worsen. Additionally, it is important to seek help if individuals experience suicidal thoughts, self-harm, or any other unexpected symptoms. If a person experiences these symptoms and behaviors, they need to speak with a doctor.

Check out our addiction recovery blog to learn more about substance use disorders and how to get effective treatment.

Only occasionally, where an antidepressant causes serious side-effects, should it be stopped suddenly, without tapering. When you agree that it is time to stop, your prescriber can help you put together a tapering plan. This produces tolerance and withdrawal effects because the body ‘misses’ it when it is gone. This resource aims to help you avoid getting any withdrawal symptoms, or get the fewest possible.

Quitting it out of nowhere can mean that the body suddenly won’t have access to the serotonin or the balance, leading to Prozac withdrawal and possibly, the return of depression. Withdrawal symptoms can occur when stopping the use of any coming off prozac antidepressant medication, including Prozac. These symptoms are not a sign of addiction but rather a result of the brain adjusting to the absence of the medicine. It is essential to never abruptly stop taking any medication without consulting with a healthcare provider. It is important to note that not everyone who stops taking Prozac will experience withdrawal symptoms. It is recommended to work closely with a healthcare provider to taper off the medication slowly and to monitor any symptoms that may arise.

Health Conditions

Between a third and half of people who take an antidepressant will experience such symptoms to some extent. At the moment we cannot predict who will get the more serious withdrawal symptoms. Tapering refers to gradually lowering the dosage of the antidepressant that you take until you reach your goal dosage or are able to stop altogether. Tapering allows your body to get used to a new change instead of introducing an abrupt one.

Signs of Antidepressant Withdrawal

Your doctor can help you figure out the best tapering schedule for you. These can include brain zaps, dizziness, mood changes, irritability, anxiety, headaches, confusion, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts. A drug’s half-life is the time it takes for 50% of the drug to be removed from your body.

Appendix 2: Potential types of withdrawal symptoms

Tracking your moods in a journal, calendar, and app can help you identify when your symptoms were worse and when they started to improve. Although you might not feel up to it, working out can also be a good way to relieve some of your symptoms. Even a half-hour a day of working out can reduce stress and irritability. In addition, a daily stroll through your neighborhood or your local park is a good way to get this exercise in regularly.

• Small doses of antidepressants have much larger effects on the brain than we might expect, so tapering needs to be slower at lower doses.
• If you are having severe symptoms, they may need to adjust the schedule and taper your dose more slowly.
• Often this will happen in a couple of minutes, but it can take a bit longer.
• By Nancy SchimelpfeningNancy Schimelpfening, MS is the administrator for the non-profit depression support group Depression Sanctuary.
• A person who feels ready to discontinue the drug needs to discuss this with their doctor, who may recommend gradually lowering the dosage to help avoid severe discontinuation symptoms.
• However, it is generally agreed upon that Prozac’s long half-life makes it easier to withdraw from than other SSRIs.

As mentioned earlier, Prozac differs from other types of SSRIs when it comes to symptoms of withdrawal. Many people don’t see them until a couple weeks after they’ve stopped taking Prozac because Prozac has a longer half-life than other antidepressants. Many people mistake Prozac’s symptoms of withdrawal as signs that they have relapsed.