80 mg Prozac?

I've been on 60 mg prozac for the past six weeks with no significant improvement, still many low periods and a lot of anxiety as well as days where I am able to "crash" completely, and go back down to a mood point of 1 or 2 (where 0 is the worst and 10 is the best).

My psychiatrist wants me to go up to 80 mg prozac, but I've rarely heard of anyone being on this... does that make me extremely crazy? Or "broken"? Has anyone ever been on 80, and if so, what was your experience like?

I'm just afraid because I think its the ceiling dose and if that doesn't work, there's no where else to go...

There are many more medications, beside prozac. There are also different combinations the pdoc can do to help the medication.

I have seen a lot of people use abilify with prozac and it seems to work. Abilify is prescribed off label, though.

Are you seeing a therapist? I would think that working through talk therapy/cbt/dbt/whatever would also help.

Im on 80 mg prozac. I dont think it's that unusual

I would try a different medication.

80mg is above the recommended dose in the UK (20-60mg), but can be prescribed off label. If you've had some benefit from the prozac/fluoxetine then I'd consider trying 80mg. If you've had no improvement at all then I wouldn't bother and would ask for something else. As confused says, they're plenty more meds out there! And getting a T is a must, if you're able.

All the best,

*Willow*

The recommended dose in the U.S. is 20-80 mg. If 80 does not help enough, your pdoc might add a second AD from a different class, such as wellbutrin, or stop the prozac altogether and try a different SSRI. Good luck.

I recently had the same problem. I started on a low dose (20mg) of Prozac about 2 years ago, and every 5-6 months I've had to up the dose to get the same effect. I increased to 80mg and noticed no improvement from 60mg. We decided that a different med is the way to go, so I've just started Cymbalta. The SSRI's tend to not do the job for me. Good Luck!

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Hi Maliya. I have heard of people being on 80mg. Also, if the higher dose doesnt work, that doesn't mean you're crazy at all, It just means you need to try different meds until u find the one that fits u. Everyone is different when it comes to meds. I have been on so many I cant even count them. I'm taking a combo of 5 currently. Hang in there, you are not broken u just need help.

Hi everybody. I've suffered from depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember. However, I don't want to regurgitate all that "stuff" now. I'd just like to add a few points of interest that may also become questions. Firstly, it took many ads before pdoc tried me on Prozac, which worked wonders. Over the years I've sometimes changed to Zoloft (for fear of developing a Prozac tolerance) but have usually ended up back on Prozac. Earlier this year my pdoc changed me to Cymbalta and I must say I have never felt better in my entire life! Imagine my despair when after a few months it suddenly stopped working. During my time of success on Cymbalta I can honestly say that I finally knew how being alive and undepressed actually felt. I was happy to wake up, happy to go to sleep, happy to BE. Acknowledging cymbalta's failure, my pdoc then tried myriad other drug and drug combos, to no avail. Six weeks ago it was decided to get me back on Prozac at 40 mg. Here I must note that during my Great Depression of 1999/2010 I was on 80 mgs. I'm rambling because I'm so confused. This time Prozac is not helping at all. My question is has Prozac simply become another Cymbalta for me or should I up the dosage. I realise my pdoc is the one to be answering this question but am wondering if anyone here has experienced similar success then failure on Cymbalta in general and Prozac in particular? I have tremendous responsibilities and so much that needs to be done, but I can't get out of bed for days on end. The only peace I find is in sleep. Please, any insights and feedback will be most welcome.

I know people who have been on 80mg. Odds are if your on that high of a dose your on the wrong medicine to begin with.

80mgs is the maximum U.S. maintenance dose but if you need that high a dose perhaps your doctor could lower your dosage with an add-on...I did well on 40mg with Abilify 20mg.
Also, different people respond to every medication differently and maybe this just isn't the right one for you. There are many options to choose from...a different SSRI, an SNRI, an atypical like Wellbutrin...?

I have tried 80 mg Prozac. I did not find it any better than 60 mg that I now take. Everyone is different, you might benifit. If not you can always take less, discuss with your doctor. I hate medication, never convinced they really work but in reality they do modify you. Ultimately it is up to you. Medications alone don't work for me. I need a support network of family also. You are not broken.

Have you tried an add-on like Abilify or Rexulti?

hi. 80mgs is on the high end of the usual dosage range. what are you remaining problems? any adverse effects from the prozac?

adding a drug sometimes helps. abilify, rexulti, seroquel, even low dose risperidone. lithium, buspar, wellbutrin, stimulants, gabapentin, lamictal, trileptal, depakote...on and on it goes. it depends on your problems, your response to drugs, your history, and your doctor's preferences, too.

i guess maxing out the prozac might make sense. at least that way you can know for sure it isn't the drug for you (?). prozac has a long half life, so even if/when you drop it, i think it hangs out in your system for about 5 weeks, kinda self-tapers.

if prozac doesn't "cut it" at 80mgs, I'd kind of think/assume your next drug selection should --not-- be an ssri. ssri drugs work differently, have different effects, etc., but if you do not get the results needed out of the max dose...id see about talking to the prescriber about moving on to another class of psych drugs.

hope this helps. good luck.

How about upping your Abilify? 10-15mgs is the usual target dose...

80 mg is the max recommended dose. That doesn't mean that there is something wrong you may just need that much. However if it doesn't help, there are many options to try. Additional meds, a different med altogether. It's a pain in the a@@ to find the right "cocktail" as we call it. Everyone's body responds differently to different meds.

I took 80 Mgs for a while. It didn't help so my doc switched me to a couple other things that didn't work and ended up back on Zoloft (with lamictal of course). So far it's working.
I do also take Latuda which is supposed to help with depression.