Posted by jd on March 3, 2000, at 17:09:19
In reply to Reducing Prozac dosage, posted by Dan on March 3, 2000, at 12:06:29
Dan,
I'm not sure if dosage reduction is a good idea for everyone (nor whether Burns explanation is entirely valid), but it's definitely true that some people simply don't need 20mg of Prozac a day over the long term--a minority of people even do well on doses as low as 1 or 2 mg/day, even from the getgo. If you've been on 20mg for more than a few weeks, your blood levels WILL go down after a reduction, even despite Prozac's long half-life. One could theoretically experiment by first going down to 10mg/day or to 20mg every other day, but it would be a good idea to discuss this with your doctor first. While weekly dosing may not be often enough for many people, alternate day dosing might be a workable compromise. But everyone responds differently so it's hard to predict these things in advance.
best,
jd> In the new edition of David Burns' "Feeling Good," he states that after several weeks of regular doses of Prozac (at which time it has reached a "steady state" blood level), it is possible to reduce the dosage dramatically--to 5 mg or less per day--without losing the antidepressive effect. Because of Prozac's long half-life, it only takes a little to replace the amount being lost. The advantage of reducing the dosage, he says, is that you can reduce or eliminate the side effects.
>
> This is a very attractive idea for me, because after 7 weeks at 20 mg, I continue to have a whole range of fairly unpleasant side effects, although my mood has improved. I haven't seen any other sources making this claim, even though Burns says that it's "well known among the psychiatric profession." I saw some references to weekly dosing (20+ mg) in the Psychopharmacology Tips, but it seems to me that that might produce side effects for at least a short time after taking the Prozac.
>
> Does anyone have any personal experience or other info about this kind of reduction? If so, how quickly could it be done, and how low could an efficacious dose be?
>
> Thanks -
> Dan
poster:jd
thread:25790
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000302/msgs/25856.html