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Is it too soon to feel better?


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I went from 40 to 60 mg of Prozac just 6 days ago and I am starting to feel human again. I am eating again and I actually took a shower today. Is this placebo effect or the medication already starting to work? The last time I increased, it took a few weeks to take effect. (Whatever it is, I am grateful.)

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In my experience, Prozac took a really long time to start working when I first started taking it. 10mg and 20mg were slow to take effect. 40mg was faster. Never went to 60mg though. Once you get to 40mg but more so at 60mg Prozac isn't very selective to serotonin anymore. It actually would start to hit dopamine at 60mg and 80mg. So seeing a faster effect when increasing to those doses wouldn't be surprising.

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2 hours ago, browri said:

In my experience, Prozac took a really long time to start working when I first started taking it. 10mg and 20mg were slow to take effect. 40mg was faster. Never went to 60mg though. Once you get to 40mg but more so at 60mg Prozac isn't very selective to serotonin anymore. It actually would start to hit dopamine at 60mg and 80mg. So seeing a faster effect when increasing to those doses wouldn't be surprising.

Thank you! I like having an explanation. :)

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14 hours ago, Juniper29 said:

Thank you! I like having an explanation. :)

Especially if a lot of the positive things you are feeling have to do with motivation and energy levels then I would be inclined to say that you are experiencing some of Prozac's effects on dopamine. @mikl_pls can attest to this I believe, having taken 40mg twice a day at one point in time if I recall correctly.

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50 minutes ago, browri said:

Especially if a lot of the positive things you are feeling have to do with motivation and energy levels then I would be inclined to see that you are experiencing some of Prozac's effects on dopamine.

Yes that's definitely where the biggest change has been.

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Juniper - As the official poster boy of miasma and negative energy, I don't expect you to believe me (I sure as hell don't), but there is some scientific basis for thinking that some improvement in your mood can be achieved through positive thinking. This is not - not - to be construed as the ludicrous idea so many people try to to pass off on us that we can just "cheer up" or "snap out of it" or "shrug it off" or "let a smile be our umbrella"  (sod you, Perry Como), but rather that making a personal decision that we are going to get better facilitates improvement. Maybe it's that you've set the stage for your Prozac to work better faster; maybe it's an example of the placebo effect; maybe it's an example of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in action; maybe it's an example of the effect of our influence over the quantum states of matter; who the hell knows? If you feel better, don't examine the gift horse's dental work. Just enjoy the day, take your meds, and carry on.

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5 minutes ago, Cerberus said:

Juniper - As the official poster boy of miasma and negative energy, I don't expect you to believe me (I sure as hell don't), but there is some scientific basis for thinking that some improvement in your mood can be achieved through positive thinking. This is not - not - to be construed as the ludicrous idea so many people try to to pass off on us that we can just "cheer up" or "snap out of it" or "shrug it off" or "let a smile be our umbrella"  (sod you, Perry Como), but rather that making a personal decision that we are going to get better facilitates improvement. Maybe it's that you've set the stage for your Prozac to work better faster; maybe it's an example of the placebo effect; maybe it's an example of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in action; maybe it's an example of the effect of our influence over the quantum states of matter; who the hell knows? If you feel better, don't examine the gift horse's dental work. Just enjoy the day, take your meds, and carry on.

^^^ that. A good combination of placebo and mindfulness can be an INCREDIBLY powerful thing.

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2 hours ago, Cerberus said:

Juniper - As the official poster boy of miasma and negative energy, I don't expect you to believe me (I sure as hell don't), but there is some scientific basis for thinking that some improvement in your mood can be achieved through positive thinking. This is not - not - to be construed as the ludicrous idea so many people try to to pass off on us that we can just "cheer up" or "snap out of it" or "shrug it off" or "let a smile be our umbrella"  (sod you, Perry Como), but rather that making a personal decision that we are going to get better facilitates improvement. Maybe it's that you've set the stage for your Prozac to work better faster; maybe it's an example of the placebo effect; maybe it's an example of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in action; maybe it's an example of the effect of our influence over the quantum states of matter; who the hell knows? If you feel better, don't examine the gift horse's dental work. Just enjoy the day, take your meds, and carry on.

Makes sense. I'd like to think that the meds do something and I'm not screwing around with my brain chemistry for no good reason. I wonder sometimes.

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@Juniper29 I looked at your signature again and forgot that you were taking Abilify. With Prozac at 40mg and up, Abilify should modulate and in some cases amplify that dopamine activity making the combo of Prozac 40mg+/Abilify a synergistic one. Many people find Abilify to be synergistic with Wellbutrin for similar reasons. You could probably also accomplish this with Zoloft because it's probably the MOST dopaminergic SSRI. In fact, Otsuka is currently investigating the specific combination of Abilify/Zoloft in a fixed combination pill of 100mg Zoloft with either 3, 6, 9, or 12mg of Abilify. They submitted it in Japan. They will probably try to market it in the U.S. too in the next year or so. All it really accomplishes is being able to take one pill lol.

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12 hours ago, browri said:

Especially if a lot of the positive things you are feeling have to do with motivation and energy levels then I would be inclined to say that you are experiencing some of Prozac's effects on dopamine. @mikl_pls can attest to this I believe, having taken 40mg twice a day at one point in time if I recall correctly.

ive been on as high as prozac 80mg before

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3 minutes ago, Juniper29 said:

@browri That's interesting. I was on Zoloft for total of 6 years, then it stopped working for me.

@looking for answers how did that work for you? were you taking anything else with it?

Buspar and klonopin. I felt like a zombie, 40 seemed best, 60 was ok too . But 80 I didn’t like at All

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