mellifluous Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 so...prozac...tell me about your experience with it. i've never been on it before but got switched from 50mg zoloft to 80 mg prozac in my latest hospital stay. people keep asking if i'm having side effects and i don't know what's what. i definitely have a bigger dry mouth problem, but is that the zyprexa or could it be prozac, too? i'm taking two 40 mg capsules at night, along with 15 mg zyprexa, 250 clozaril, some amount of metformin...and i think that's it. today the psychiatrist suggested she might further increase it to 100 mg. have others taken this for OCD? did it work for you? what side effects did you have? how much did you take? cheers in advance for any help on this. xx PS: i should mention that i'm somewhat nervous about taking any sort of antidepressant and having it throw me into full-on psychosis. so anyone who could share an experience of having schizophrenia or similar and NOT being made psychotic by prozac would be awesome, too. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceberg Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I would say that zyprexa+clozaril would not be suprised about the dry mouth so probably could be all of them. I'm not super OCD knowledge but isn't 100mg pretty high? Are u feeling any effect at 80? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 23 minutes ago, Iceberg said: I would say that zyprexa+clozaril would not be suprised about the dry mouth so probably could be all of them. I'm not super OCD knowledge but isn't 100mg pretty high? Are u feeling any effect at 80? clozaril makes my mouth water, so i don't think it's that... i have no idea what dose is high or not... i just know i'm currently taking two 40 mg capsules and the psychiatrist (she's new to me...i'm currently in a step down program this week) mentioned she might increase it to 100 mg total but we'd see how it works. as for whether i'm feeling any effect...i really don't know. the intrusive thoughts of suicide and violence toward others are largely gone, but i don't know that prozac is responsible. i mean, i guess it is. i've never been on antidepressants because they're largely contraindicated for schizophrenia and i haven't had depression. but i do have a case of OCD that will ... i don't know how to put it, but there's a shift that happens where the intrusive thoughts become inserted and i go from being obsessive and acting out compulsions and doing mental gymnastics to making very detailed plans with dates and so forth. the only times i've been on antidepressants are: 1. zoloft...started during pregnancy 2. wellbutrin...for ADHD long ago...it didn't agree with me 3. imipramine for ADHD long ago...it sparked a psychotic break so in general...i'm not knowledgeable about them at all. hoping others are more so. cheers for your reply. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juniper29 Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I think 80 is usually considered the max but my pdoc said she would be willing to go as high as 100. I don't really have any side effects from it that I'm aware of. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HydroCat Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) Used to take Prozac shortly after being diagnosed with OCD. Worked well at 80 (with Risperidone). Zero side effects. I think that the recommended max is 60 mg, but with OCD these are just, well, a recommendation. Edited June 20, 2018 by HydroCat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 i spoke with my IOP psychiatrist yesterday and she said she was going to keep me at 80 and once discharged from IOP, my outpatient psychiatrist may increase it, or may not...hopefully sticking with 80 will work for me. so, this is a question within the main question... is it the case that those of us with OCD require higher dosages of antidepressants than would normally be taken for depression? i've poked around and read some signatures and it seems that those taking prozac for depression are not taking 80 mg. if that IS the case...that OCD requires higher dosages of ADs, anyone know why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Yes, OCD needs higher doses of AD's. It has been said here many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 14 minutes ago, notloki said: Yes, OCD needs higher doses of AD's. It has been said here many times. well, i don't peruse the AD board much... my question is WHY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 I may be wrong and I stand to be corrected, but I don't think anyone really knows why. We don't even know for sure why antidepressants relieve depression. All we know is that OCD is correlated with serotonin and it's an empirical fact that higher doses of SSRIs are more effective at relieving OCD. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juniper29 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Mine just got upped to 80 mg ... for depression, but I have some OCDish symptoms so it will be interesting to see if it has any effect there at the higher dose. I'm also curious to know the reason OCD needs higher doses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 You would not use 2 mg Abilify for a floridly psychotic person, would you ? A perfect example of where a lower dose is used for one thing (depression) while higher doses, above 15 mg are used for other things like psychosis. I don't see what the big deal is, varying doses are used all over medicine depending on the severity or kind of illness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 (edited) 15 minutes ago, jt07 said: I may be wrong and I stand to be corrected, but I don't think anyone really knows why. We don't even know for sure why antidepressants relieve depression. All we know is that OCD is correlated with serotonin and it's an empirical fact that higher doses of SSRIs are more effective at relieving OCD. that makes sense. have you taken prozac for OCD before, jt? 14 minutes ago, notloki said: You would not use 2 mg Abilify for a floridly psychotic person, would you ? A perfect example of where a lower dose is used for one thing (depression) while higher doses, above 15 mg are used for other things like psychosis. I don't see what the big deal is, varying doses are used all over medicine depending on the severity or kind of illness. never said it was a "big deal" just confirming that's the case and wondering if anyone knows why. i feel like whenever you've replied to a post of mine you are purposefully hostile. there's no need for that. Edited June 23, 2018 by mellifluous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 I have not taken Prozac for my OCD. As a teenager, I took Prozac for depression and it made me very ragey so it basically is off limits for me. Citalopram works wonders though. At one time, before the FDA warning about citalopram, I took 80 mg of it and it eliminated my OCD completely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 1 minute ago, jt07 said: I have not taken Prozac for my OCD. As a teenager, I took Prozac for depression and it made me very ragey so it basically is off limits for me. Citalopram works wonders though. At one time, before the FDA warning about citalopram, I took 80 mg of it and it eliminated my OCD completely. ah, i see. i also see your meds listed in your signature...sorry i didn't notice that before. x it makes sense that we simply don't know why and work with it anyway. thank you for your kindness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 wow! i'm sorry to hear that 20 mg has had such a detrimental effect on you! can you talk to a psych nurse today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 goodness, sorry your practitioner endured that and had to cancel. glad to hear you can make it until monday and i hope they find something useful to try. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 Just now, rebird77 said: Thank you, hugs. But yes, my pdoc is excellent. In my mind he is a miracle worker, and he specifically said Prozac is very well regarded for controlling OCD thoughts even at low doses.i just wish I could tolerate antidepressants.if you can, cheers to you! what's wild is that i usually can't (i have schizophrenia), but i think the strength of the zyprexa-clozaril combo is making it possible. my most recent inpatient psychiatrist put me on prozac (switched me off zoloft) only because i'm not a good candidate for chlomipramine. i might be misspelling that...but i've read that it's the best one for OCD, but its side effect profile leaves something to be desired, so it might not be a good choice for you either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 i think that's available but i've not done it. thank you so much for the well wishes! i wish you the best, too! x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceberg Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 Just a thought....have you ever discussed Luvox? It's an SSRI targeted towards OCD....of course if you can't tolerate any ADs then that is ruled out too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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