Started Prozac and feeling fried...anyone with any experience?

Triathlon Forum
1

So I started taking Prozac for anxiety/mood a little over 4 weeks ago. Doc put me on a low dose, 10 mg. Minus the first 4-5 days, which felt normal, I have been having a substantial amount of fatigue, especially muscular. I’m able to work through it (construction) and even, at times on the job, feel pretty close to normal. My workouts have really suffered, however. I have no ability to go hard and really push myself and feel totally spent after only an hour of riding at a zone 2 HR pace…this is not normal.

Anyone else have experience with major fatigue on this med? I know its supposed to take 4-8 weeks for full effect of the medication. Is this a side effect that will wear off after a while? If anyody is willing to share their experience with this I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m signed up for IMWI this year and if this level of fatigue continues I fear that I may be SOL. On the bright side, I’m getting more sleep than I have in years.

2

I was on it about 10 years ago, not anymore. I do remember the first week or so I was flat out exhausted. I think it got better once the Dr got my dosage right. I think what worked for me was 20-30mg/day (so long ago I could very well be wrong). That was at 110lbs. I’m no Dr, but Im guessing you need a higher dose.

3

I don’t have experience taking it, but I have plenty of experiencing prescribing it. Often the fatigue does wear off after a couple of weeks, but there are some people who do experience fatigue that does not go away, and if that is the case, then it may not be the right med for you. I don’t know your specific situation – you would want to rule out other causes of fatigue like a thyroid problem, or the depression itself – but if it were felt that the fatigue were related to the medication, my usual approach would be to wait a couple of weeks and see. If it makes you drowsy right after you take it, sometimes taking it closer to bedtime rather than in the morning could help. It is true that 10 mg is a sub therapeutic dose, and most people need at least 20 mg daily to treat their depression/anxiety, but I would not increase the dose until this side effect has worn off. If and when you do increase the dose the side effect may return, and then once again you may need to wait a couple of weeks for it to wear off. Again, I don’t know you or your situation, so I’m not giving you medical advice, I’m just saying that is generally the approach. If the fatigue doesn’t go away, then you should talk to your doctor about switching to another antidepressant.

4

Treating depression is not an exact science in terms of medication and dosage. It can take months or years to find what works best. Good luck to you and be patient

5

I have been on an SSRI for about 10 years now. Sertaline - 50mg daily. When I started I was using the Concept 2 a lot and I had to give that up basically because the minute it got hard I gave up. The first drug I tried made me feel very drowsy and I feel tired all the time. I couldn’t train. Cannot recall the brand. After about 3 weeks I went back and switched to sertaline and have had no side issues at all.Yes on the rower in particular I still find it mentally quite hard. If you are trying to hold 2:00 and the timer flicks over to 2:03 I am sometimes tempted to handle down, which is ridiculous really but I know it is the drug talking.

The benefits far outweigh any minor issues I have seen. Try talking to your doctor and maybe try a different medication.

Best of luck.

6

What they said - I have been on such meds for a number of years, and some work, some don’t. Originl prescribing doctor told me that “Prozac doesn’t work for men” - not sure what that was based on.

But yes, it takes time to get the meds and dosage right for you, so take it easy on yourself. Do what you can, when you can I would suggest. And I hope you get sorted.

Oh, and one side effect I’ve found with all of them is that I sweat a whole heap more…

7

So I started taking Prozac for anxiety/mood a little over 4 weeks ago. Doc put me on a low dose, 10 mg. Minus the first 4-5 days, which felt normal, I have been having a substantial amount of fatigue, especially muscular. I’m able to work through it (construction) and even, at times on the job, feel pretty close to normal. My workouts have really suffered, however. I have no ability to go hard and really push myself and feel totally spent after only an hour of riding at a zone 2 HR pace…this is not normal.

Anyone else have experience with major fatigue on this med? I know its supposed to take 4-8 weeks for full effect of the medication. Is this a side effect that will wear off after a while? If anyody is willing to share their experience with this I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m signed up for IMWI this year and if this level of fatigue continues I fear that I may be SOL. On the bright side, I’m getting more sleep than I have in years.

Try natural ways to fight depression, f@#$ pills. Get good shrink and work on it. Moods etc could be also caused by over training and hormonal imbalance, it could be even caused by deficiency of certain minerals. Prozac will just mask your problem it will not fix it.

https://www.brainmdhealth.com/blog/4-ways-to-boost-your-serotonin/

Many supplements can cause mood swings, too much of alpha lipoic acid can make you feel really strange.

Try to analyze since when you started to feel different, and try discover what could cause it. I don’t want to be against big pharma, but would use prozac only as a last resort.

8

So I started taking Prozac for anxiety/mood a little over 4 weeks ago. Doc put me on a low dose, 10 mg. Minus the first 4-5 days, which felt normal, I have been having a substantial amount of fatigue, especially muscular. I’m able to work through it (construction) and even, at times on the job, feel pretty close to normal. My workouts have really suffered, however. I have no ability to go hard and really push myself and feel totally spent after only an hour of riding at a zone 2 HR pace…this is not normal.

Anyone else have experience with major fatigue on this med? I know its supposed to take 4-8 weeks for full effect of the medication. Is this a side effect that will wear off after a while? If anyody is willing to share their experience with this I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m signed up for IMWI this year and if this level of fatigue continues I fear that I may be SOL. On the bright side, I’m getting more sleep than I have in years.

Try natural ways to fight depression, f@#$ pills. Get good shrink and work on it. Moods etc could be also caused by over training and hormonal imbalance, it could be even caused by deficiency of certain minerals. Prozac will just mask your problem it will not fix it.

https://www.brainmdhealth.com/blog/4-ways-to-boost-your-serotonin/

Many supplements can cause mood swings, too much of alpha lipoic acid can make you feel really strange.

Try to analyze since when you started to feel different, and try discover what could cause it. I don’t want to be against big pharma, but would use prozac only as a last resort.

This is a totally irresponsible response. You have no idea what the OP has tried or what he is going through. Its hard enough o get people to take them that need them exactly because of this stigma. For some it is needed and should be left for his Dr to decide not the ST forum

9

So I started taking Prozac for anxiety/mood a little over 4 weeks ago. Doc put me on a low dose, 10 mg. Minus the first 4-5 days, which felt normal, I have been having a substantial amount of fatigue, especially muscular. I’m able to work through it (construction) and even, at times on the job, feel pretty close to normal. My workouts have really suffered, however. I have no ability to go hard and really push myself and feel totally spent after only an hour of riding at a zone 2 HR pace…this is not normal.

Anyone else have experience with major fatigue on this med? I know its supposed to take 4-8 weeks for full effect of the medication. Is this a side effect that will wear off after a while? If anyody is willing to share their experience with this I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m signed up for IMWI this year and if this level of fatigue continues I fear that I may be SOL. On the bright side, I’m getting more sleep than I have in years.

Try natural ways to fight depression, f@#$ pills. Get good shrink and work on it. Moods etc could be also caused by over training and hormonal imbalance, it could be even caused by deficiency of certain minerals. Prozac will just mask your problem it will not fix it.

https://www.brainmdhealth.com/blog/4-ways-to-boost-your-serotonin/

Many supplements can cause mood swings, too much of alpha lipoic acid can make you feel really strange.

Try to analyze since when you started to feel different, and try discover what could cause it. I don’t want to be against big pharma, but would use prozac only as a last resort.

This is a totally irresponsible response. You have no idea what the OP has tried or what he is going through. Its hard enough o get people to take them that need them exactly because of this stigma. For some it is needed and should be left for his Dr to decide not the ST forum

+1. Not to mention the OP had the confidence to bring it to a message board and ask a relevant question.

To the OP, I’ve got what would be termed “minor” anxiety that I can deal with through meditation and other things and have had it for as long as I can remember, unfortunately. Around 4 years ago due to a string of events my wife and I had to deal with back to back to back, I hit a point where I needed medicine and ran across the same issue as you. I even bought my first set of golf clubs because I couldn’t get myself motivated to do any more than a 30 minute jog while on medicine - it was awful. As others have said, talk with your Dr to adjust dosage. I’d also consider rethinking actual “training” for an event until you can get it all sorted, and instead just getting out and exercising as you capable/comfortable until then. For me, knowing I was falling behind on a training plan made things even worse - hence, the golf clubs.

10

So I started taking Prozac for anxiety/mood a little over 4 weeks ago. Doc put me on a low dose, 10 mg. Minus the first 4-5 days, which felt normal, I have been having a substantial amount of fatigue, especially muscular. I’m able to work through it (construction) and even, at times on the job, feel pretty close to normal. My workouts have really suffered, however. I have no ability to go hard and really push myself and feel totally spent after only an hour of riding at a zone 2 HR pace…this is not normal.

Anyone else have experience with major fatigue on this med? I know its supposed to take 4-8 weeks for full effect of the medication. Is this a side effect that will wear off after a while? If anyody is willing to share their experience with this I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m signed up for IMWI this year and if this level of fatigue continues I fear that I may be SOL. On the bright side, I’m getting more sleep than I have in years.

Try natural ways to fight depression, f@#$ pills. Get good shrink and work on it. Moods etc could be also caused by over training and hormonal imbalance, it could be even caused by deficiency of certain minerals. Prozac will just mask your problem it will not fix it.

https://www.brainmdhealth.com/blog/4-ways-to-boost-your-serotonin/

Many supplements can cause mood swings, too much of alpha lipoic acid can make you feel really strange.

Try to analyze since when you started to feel different, and try discover what could cause it. I don’t want to be against big pharma, but would use prozac only as a last resort.

This is a totally irresponsible response. You have no idea what the OP has tried or what he is going through. Its hard enough o get people to take them that need them exactly because of this stigma. For some it is needed and should be left for his Dr to decide not the ST forum

+1. Not to mention the OP had the confidence to bring it to a message board and ask a relevant question.

To the OP, I’ve got what would be termed “minor” anxiety that I can deal with through meditation and other things and have had it for as long as I can remember, unfortunately. Around 4 years ago due to a string of events my wife and I had to deal with back to back to back, I hit a point where I needed medicine and ran across the same issue as you. I even bought my first set of golf clubs because I couldn’t get myself motivated to do any more than a 30 minute jog while on medicine - it was awful. As others have said, talk with your Dr to adjust dosage. I’d also consider rethinking actual “training” for an event until you can get it all sorted, and instead just getting out and exercising as you capable/comfortable until then. For me, knowing I was falling behind on a training plan made things even worse - hence, the golf clubs.

I appreciate all the feedback on this. Some really helpful stuff. I have a follow-up in a couple of weeks so I figure I will stay the course, see if anything changes before that and discuss with the doc what to do next.

For what its worth, I could have gone down this road 25 years ago already. I’ve always bought into the mindset of “you just have to toughen up a little.” After 25+ years I don’t think its that easy. I need a little help, at least. I’m also seeking out a therapist so that I’m not just relying on a med to mask my issues.

11

I like to go for a walk with my wife.

12

was on 10mg for a year, noticeable sluggishness the first few weeks and some minor weight gain. The sluggishness did get better after a couple months. I took it at night since it made me sleepy.

Salazar won the Comrades Marathon (55 miles) on Prozac, and he believed the meds are what let him train effectively for Comrades… so effects are somewhat individual.

Freud said that the aim of psychoanalysis was to transform hysterical misery into common unhappiness. That’s about what Prozac did for me… best of luck…

13

Psychiatrist here
Prozac is more typically activating than it is sedating but some people can and do get sedated.
Appears that you did not feel fatigued/tired before taking it and now you do- so very likely caused by the Prozac- even at relatively low dose of 10mg.
Unless your fatigue was a clear symptom of the depression itself, it is very unlikely that going up on the dose or waiting more is going to help. Increasing dose is likely to exacerbate sedation not improve it.
Question-is your mood improved? If you were extremely depressed and Prozac has helped that, I would consider staying on it, but if not dramatic improvement,
would taper it and try another antidepressant.
Wellbutrin is an antidepressant that rarely causes sedation and does not have sexual side effects like SRIs, SNRIs.
Obviously your doc should also rule out other potential medical causes of sedation/fatigue, and/or if other meds you are on could play a role.
This advice is just that of another ST poster and not a medical opinion without seeing you. Good luck. You’ll be ok.

14

Thanks a bunch for your response, jla…really helpful. I actually feel like the Prozac has minimally helped, mood-wise, but I’m hoping we can find something that allows me to have my cake and eat it too.