Are 40mg of Prozac a high daily dose of antidepressant for an adult?

Question

I'm normally on 20mg of Prozac a day, and accidentally took twice that amount on a few successive days recently, noticing a sensational lifting of my mood.

Now I want to suggest to my GP increasing my daily dose to 40mg.

Would that be considered very high though? I somehow think my current 20mg are on the low side.

Answer 1

I have seen people on up to 60mg of prozac.  I would talk to your doctor about what you experienced and ask if your dose can be increased.  

Answer 2

Remember that dosage change can cause you to have suicide ideatons ... you should not increase your own dose without your doctors knowledge,  you dont just "accidentally take twice the amount on a few successive days"  did your doctor already say no ?? Just be careful ... these tablets are not sweeties you know !!!

Answer 3

Großer Gott, wer nimmt heutzutage denn noch Prozak? Wenn Deine Frage ernst gemeint ist, laß Dir Serotinwiederaufnahmehemmer verschreiben, also z.B. Citalopram. Neuseeland ist doch wohl hoffentlich nicht der Popo der Welt, oder?

Nachtrag: Ich habe vor Jahren ein Buch gelesen, das eine Prozak-"Konsumentin" geschrieben hat. Die hatte wohl üble Nebenwirkungen, und das nicht nur vorübergehend. Aber bei meiner Recherche im Internet habe ich gerade nichts derartiges gefunden. War wohl ein Ausnahmefall. Bei uns wird meines Wissens häufiger Citalopram verschrieben.

Answer 4

I would talk to your doctor. I wouldn't do this on a daily basis even though it is making you feel better, but explain what happened and what happened to your mood and how your mood is normally on the 20mg.  

Answer 5

First - I understand that taking a drug at a higher dose can happen, especially if you are taking two or more medications. It happens, I've done it.

Next, Prozac has been approved to take up to 80mg per day. 20 is just where a lot of people start. Increasing it is usual. Most of the time this happens several weeks after being on a lower dose. Each time there is an increase, there is a chance of having side-effects even if there were none before. The good thing is that most of the time the side-effects will disappear in a week or so.

Do suggest to your GP that you would like an increase. Because many medications for mental health can not be measured like others, there is not a blood test to see if they are working like there is one to see if an infection is going away when on an antibiotic. You need to be sure that you are communicating with your GP how your feeling and what you think is working and not working.

Answer 6

That's an average dose. No, it wouldn't be considered high, it is usually recommended to increase to 40mg after being on 20mg for a few months.