How long does it take for prozac to kick in?

Question

I have been really struggling with 24/7 severe anxiety for the past 2 weeks after a huge fight I had with my husband. I am going onto prozac for the second time.

Right now I am having huge difficulty eating, sleeping, and just functioning. I feel like I am having a constant panic attack! Even the lorazepam isn't really working right now.

So, for anyone who has taken prozac (or flouxetine), how long did it take to feel ANY effect? I don't remember.. I took it so long ago.

also, I took it last night for the first time again, is it normal to feel like your throat is tight? I can't remember feeling like this last time and I'm wondering if it is just my anxiety still.

Also, anyone have any side effects from prozac that they didn't have before? like if you've gone on a second time?

Please help me. I have been homebound and unable to function, move, eat, sleep, relax, anything and it is just taking a toll on my body.

Thank you.

Answer 1

I think it takes a couple of weeks, at least thats what my doc told me when she prescribed me non-prozac anti-depressants. I didn't take them though...instead, I focused on myself and how to change my current situation to one that was desirable for me. It took a while, but I did it on my own. Smoking pot is also a temporary way to relieve that anxiety without sacrificing the chemical makeup in your brain. You might live in a state that legalized it for medical use, and doctors really do prescribe it for anxiety. I would check it out if I were you. To me, it is the best and safest solution.

Answer 2

It will take about 2 weeks to start working.

But almost all meds you will not feel an affect, but if you look back on how you were a few months back, or ask those closest to you they will provide you with the best answer on how well your meds are working for you.

Answer 3

Prozac can take 2 to 4 weeks to kick in I believe.   Lorazepam would work right away if its going to be effective for your situation.   What you are describing does sound like anxiety, which Lorazepam would normally be helpful for in the short run at least.

Try to focus on your breathing when you are feeling most anxious.  Just try to think about nothing but your breathing for 10 in and out breaths.  This is a precursor to meditation, and its very calming.

Anxiety often involves some distorted thinking, about the probability of negative things happening, that is often far beyond what is actually likely to occur.  If your anxiety seems to be focused on a fixation with the possibilitiy of calamitous events, try to separate your emotional state with your intellectual mind, and reason out the true probability of such a calamity striking.  An example might be a fight with your husband creates anxiety and you begin to imagine yourself having to move out of your home, and then you feel that in your current state you can't find or hold a job, and you will end up homeless on the street.

The reality is that even if you end up splitting with your husband, you will regain the capacity to work and to sleep and to eat and have fun.  You'll be able to get a place to live and take care of yourself and your kids etc.    Let your intellectual mind reassure your emotional side that even if the worst happens, a messy divorce, you would be among millions of people who have been through the same thing, will offer support, and you will rise to the occasion and make a new life for yourself.   And then let your intellectual mind review the probability that there is even the need or probability for a divorce, and if so, what all the positive aspects of that might be.

You can get help with this cognitive part of the process, either through low or no cost support groups, or with therapy if you have it available to you.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

about a 2 weeks or week and a half to get used to it I'm on it for the 2nd time also for my severe anxiety and depresiion I hope you get better!! take it in the morning because yes prozac will keep you awake and it is known to supress your appitite. If it's not working ask your doctor to up your dosage. I hope you get better sorry about your husband :( don't be so hard on youself. promise? :))

don't smoke pot!! I am a recovering addict at only 16 and I started out with pot it helps for the time being but it actually slows you down and makes you more depressed when you not using it. that's what happened to me and I had to go to rehab :( please don't smoke marijuana. in the end when I didn't have it it made my anxiety worse.

good luck :)

Answer 5

It took me six weeks to start feeling the affects, and i was on a 40 mg, with a slim body and aged 13

so i dont know how long it will take you?

Answer 6

4-6 weeks at the correct dose, although you might feel some improvement after 2 weeks - at the right dose.

If the right dose is 20 mg/day then it's 4-6 weeks after you start taking it.

If it's 40 mg/day, then it will take 4-6 weeks after you got to 40 mg/day. That often means that you will have to take 20 mg/day for 6 weeks, see little to no improvement, and then increase to say 40 mg/day.

Any of the antidepressants require that amount of time. One of the biggest problems people encounter when they say that they "failed" Prozac or any other med is that they did not take it long enough at the correct dose.

Hang in there!