I have been on prozac for two years and I recently was upped to the max 80mg.  How do you wean yourself off of this drug.  It's side effects have done a number on me, no short term memory and tons of weight gain, lethargic and anxiety ridden to boot. I am a 47 yr old female and have been on some anti-depressant the last 11 yrs. Proza starts out working well for me but at max I do strange things.  Kinda have blackouts, not remembering the movies and in conversations.  I participate but then I cannot concentrate. Hell me Dr Phelps. I was diagnosed as clincal depression with general anxiety.  That was 11 yrs ago.


Dear Judy -- 
The kind of re-thinking of your medications that you're describing needs to be done with a professional who will manage the medications appropriately.  If your doc' can't have such a conversation with you, you need to hunt up a new one or find someone in your medical care system who can (then let the doctor or nurse practitioner know -- e.g. start with a nurse if the doc's too busy to be able to listen).  

In the meantime you can teach yourself about Bipolar II to see if that needs to be considered (you're probably thinking something along those lines having written here?).  You could take in a completed version of the mood disorder questionnaire that might suggest you have bipolar disorder, for your doctor to consider.  

The most important thing at this point would be to remain persistent and not give up hope of finding an approach (medications or psychotherapy, at least, should be considered and several tries at the latter may be an important part as well as hunting through new medication approaches) that will work for you better than where you are now.  Good luck with that. 

Dr.Phelps