I have been on a dosage of prozac for a while now. I just kept forgetting to take it, but now I've come off it cold Turkey. My psychiatrist has no clue, my mum keeps getting angry at me for not taking it so I pretend to. It's just that I don't want to rely on medicine. I want to feel in control. I can't explain it. Is it bad to just... stop? Surely it cant do anything? Jess x

It is really NOT a good idea to stop meds cold turkey, and can actually be quite dangerous. However I can't pretend that I've not done the same thing myself a few times, so I won't beat you up about it

You're lucky in that Prozac (fluoxetine) has quite a long half-life (how fast half of it disappears from your body - can be up to a week!) so, if you've only just stopped but decide you want to restart it, you may avoid any withdrawal effects. Also Prozac is reputed to be easy to withdraw from (though I have heard of a few exceptions, as with everything in life). In terms of withdrawal effects, it will probably just feel like it did when you started taking it (eg nausea, headaches etc), but probably nothing major.

Strategies can easily be put in place to help you remember to take your medication, but I don't think that is the main issue here. The bigger issue here is whether you decided to stop taking it because you don't want it, or you just kept forgetting to take it so decided not to bother? You need to have a serious think about what you want (I myself am currently having the same dilemma about whether to re-start meds). I generally find listing the pros and cons of a decision helps me get my thoughts straight. Personally I don't like the idea of meds and, like you, want to be in control, but I'm not actually in control if I can't stop myself from crying at every tiny thing, am I? So maybe relinquishing a bit of control to meds would then give me greater control over my emotions? I don't know.

All I know is, there was a reason that you started taking prozac in the first place - is that reason still there, and as bad? Is that reason worse than the inconvenience of remembering to take tablets or some perceived loss of control (which, as I wrote above, could also be perceived as a way of gaining control)? You need to decide what it is that you really want. That could be restart prozac, try another med, go to therapy, try meds and therapy, or do none of that. Then you need to explain your decision to your mum and pdoc, or let them help you make a decision if you are unsure.

I wish you luck Jess95

*Willow*

[Trippin2.0]

Nobody can tell you if it's good or bad. Only you know the answer to that. I stopped my psych meds cold turkey in October, prozac being 1 of them. I didn't suffer, hope you don't get any withdrawls, and goodluck with whatever you decide XOXO