# Switching from Luvox (fluvoxamine) to Prozac (fluoxetine)



## cwild1 (Oct 8, 2013)

I have been on Luvox (Fluvoxamine) for about 3 or 4 years now for panic attacks/anxiety disorder. Lately, it has seemed like it has stopped working and losing its effect.


The past few weeks, I have been feeling "out of it" all day. I have Googled my symptoms and all point to depersonalization & derealization. 
This feeling is very similar to the "withdrawal" symptoms I get when I miss a dose or 2 of my Luvox.

I also have had trouble focusing/concentrating the past month or two.

Went to psychiatrist; was put on Vyvanse for ADD.

First of all, is it possible for the Luvox to "lose its effect" after this long? And could it be causing these feelings?

I went to the psychiatrist today. He gave me a prescription for Fluoxetine (Prozac?) 10mg and told me to take this tomorrow instead of the luvox, and to just stop taking the Luvox. I have always thought that you had to wean-off of Luvox... because of the withdrawal symptoms.
Or, since the fluoxetine is an SSRI, and Luvox is an SSRI, they will "work together" so I don't get these symptoms.

Has anyone here had this feeling of depersonalization? How did you cure it? What was the root cause of it?

And is it okay to switch from Luvox to Fluoxetine like this?

Thank you, I appreciate your help!


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## VERBW (Jul 23, 2013)

cwild1 said:


> I have been on Luvox (Fluvoxamine) for about 3 or 4 years now for panic attacks/anxiety disorder. Lately, it has seemed like it has stopped working and losing its effect.
> 
> The past few weeks, I have been feeling "out of it" all day. I have Googled my symptoms and all point to depersonalization & derealization.
> This feeling is very similar to the "withdrawal" symptoms I get when I miss a dose or 2 of my Luvox.
> ...


I don't know why he switched you from Fluvoxamine to Fluoxetine. They both do pretty much the same thing. It might work, but it doesn't seem like an inspired decision.


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## GiftofGABA (Oct 2, 2013)

Yeah antidepressants can poop out. Sometimes that's dealt with by increasing the dose or changing meds. If you go straight onto the prozac you should be able to avoid the SSRI withdrawal because prozac shares the same mechanism of action.

So you're only getting the depersonalization after coming off the luvox?


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## cwild1 (Oct 8, 2013)

No. I have been feeling like this 24/7 for a few weeks now.


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## Focus123 (Aug 30, 2013)

cwild1 said:


> I have been on Luvox (Fluvoxamine) for about 3 or 4 years now for panic attacks/anxiety disorder. Lately, it has seemed like it has stopped working and losing its effect.
> 
> The past few weeks, I have been feeling "out of it" all day. I have Googled my symptoms and all point to depersonalization & derealization.
> This feeling is very similar to the "withdrawal" symptoms I get when I miss a dose or 2 of my Luvox.
> ...


Like GiftOfGaba mentioned, antidepressants can poop out on you, after working well for a period of time. This is referred as tachyphylaxis, which is a good keyword for Google in terms of searching about this condition.

It seems for those on a maintenance dosage of antidepressant medications, if prescribed on a low dose, the brain may learn to tolerate the medication, and basically just ignore it. When this happens, the medication doesn't impact your body like it once did. However with higher dosages of the medication, the brain is forced to interact with the medication, since the medication is producing more chemicals or neurotransmitters for the brain to interact with.

Here is some information on how this condition has happened with other users of psychiatric medications:

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts...kinsHealthAlertsDepressionAnxiety_3288-1.html



> I went to the psychiatrist today. He gave me a prescription for Fluoxetine (Prozac?) 10mg and told me to take this tomorrow instead of the luvox, and to just stop taking the Luvox. I have always thought that you had to wean-off of Luvox... because of the withdrawal symptoms.
> Or, since the fluoxetine is an SSRI, and Luvox is an SSRI, they will "work together" so I don't get these symptoms.


You'll be fine if your switch from a SSRI to another SSRI over night. My psychiatrist did the same when he switched me from Prozac to Zoloft. It's only when you are moving from one antidepressant class to another, such as moving from a SSRI to a tricyclic or a MAOI, would the doctor wean you off a SSRI, and put you on to the other class of psychiatric medication, gradually.



> Has anyone here had this feeling of depersonalization? How did you cure it? What was the root cause of it?
> 
> And is it okay to switch from Luvox to Fluoxetine like this?


Your feelings of depersonalization may just be not having the right dosage of medication in your system. Your doctor is assuming that if you switch SSRIs, you might jump start your system to better respond to antidepressant medications. It's akin to having an exercise program, but you can't loose anymore weight, so a trainer might give you a different program, which causes your body and mind to react differently, since the mind became mentally lazy and adjusted to the same exercise routine. This new change, however, affected your metabolism, and the change in metabolism gives you better results to loose weight.

And the transition just might work, but with antidepressant medication, there isn't an exact science on how a person's body will respond to a medication, since everyone's body chemistry is different.

Since you've been in a state of worry or anxiety for the past few months, due to Luvox not working effectively, your brain has allowed your thinking to lean towards the anxious side, but with the new medication, it should "jump start" your brain to be less anxious.

You may need to wait few weeks to feel the effect, since this is how long antidepressants normally take for a body to respond too. So, unfortunately, patience is also needed in addition to taking a new antidepressant.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Was this befor or after the vyvanse was added maybe it interfering with your medication?


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## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

that's quite something! fluoxetine has way less side effects and drug interactions than fluovaxamine.


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## billyho (Apr 12, 2010)

I would be careful and titrate down the dose of fluvox and titrate up the dose of prozac simultaneously. I believe fluvox has some sigma agonism or antag which accounts for part of it's mech of action so quitting cold turkey one is bound to experience effects of the different mechs of actions of different drugs. Remember, if all these SSRI's all hit the same receptors in the same percentages then there would only be one ssri as no others would've been allowed to be patentted from a different company.
In other words, when a doc says ssri's are interchangeable, he is bs'ing you. they are not. I've been thru this process with my doc and he was full of s-h-i-t-e.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

VERBW said:


> I don't know why he switched you from Fluvoxamine to Fluoxetine. They both do pretty much the same thing. It might work, but it doesn't seem like an inspired decision.


Fairly certain that prozac and luvox are completely different given that luvox inhibits CYP1A2 (caffeine and other drugs) while prozac doesn't.

They might be in the same class but Paxil did squat for me while Zoloft does way more, so there can be a huge difference.


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## VERBW (Jul 23, 2013)

gilmourr said:


> Fairly certain that prozac and luvox are completely different given that luvox inhibits CYP1A2 (caffeine and other drugs) while prozac doesn't.
> 
> They might be in the same class but Paxil did squat for me while Zoloft does way more, so there can be a huge difference.


Fair enough. You're right about Luvox inhibiting CYP1A2 for sure. My psychiatrist says this makes it a less attractive option.

In any case, trying two different SSRIs is probably not a bad idea - just don't bother trying all 6 or 7, or however many there are on the market.


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## LuFromMars (May 6, 2012)

*updates? I'm in the same situation*

Hi! I was just looking for experiences like this one, I was on Fluvoxamine for about 6 months and everything was great, it made the anxiety go away and I was more open, talked and smiled more, loved it.... but it had one and only one side effect and it was it made me sleepy.... and the last three months were the worst, I would just be all day sleepy, would try to study and basically just pass out on the couch....wasn't able to concentrate from being so sleepy.

So, I decided to go talk to my doctor and she prescribed floxetine, saying it's the same thing but instead of making me sleepy it wakes you up, so I had to take it in the morning instead of at night like I did with fluvoxamine.

She told me to reduce the dose of fluvoxamine, by taking half of it for 10 days and then to start the other one slowly too, taking half or a quarter for a few days (about 4) and then gradually make my way to the whole pill per day.

But I was scared of being on meddication since my friends and family don't agree on taking it, and were worried for me, saying it will create an addiction or end up causing worst anxiety/depression.

So I went off fluvoxamine....and for a week without taking anything I was fine, but then I started getting back the anxiety syntoms I had: rapid heart beats, sweating, mouth dryness, urgent need to urinate, tense up and hand shaking...

So now, I got the fluoxetine, I bought it but I'm still scared since I saw so many negative experiences and people that got rashes and lost alot of weight because they lost appetite....the doctor didn't tell me about this, she just said it was the same as the one I was on...

Did you take it? Did you have side effects?

Please if can I answer, I would really appreciate it! thanks


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## Learydp01 (May 2, 2013)

Those symptoms might be withdrawal from stopping the medication... it's not a good idea to quit cold turkey without consulting a doctor. Secondly, the medications you are on are not known to be abuse-able, so you shouldn't worry about becoming addicted.

Your doctor should inform you of these potential side effects. If you have any concerns, ask them about it and they should address it. If you feel like she's giving you bad advice, it might be time to consider switching to a new doctor.

I know your friends and family mean well, but unfortunately sometimes even the ones we love are ill-informed. You need to decide for yourself whether or not medication is right for you, regardless of what they think.


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## SSRIManiac (Jun 14, 2014)

That's one reason I will never go on Luvox again. I have taken it for about 4 years then quit cold turkey with no knowledge of how to withdrawal from it and I remained lost for years with no explanation. Most people would tell me it's just more self-awareness that I've gained. I had the worst depression and anxiety of my life. 

Hopefully Prozac will stop that from happening because it's really activating compared to Luvox and will stop these feelings, if not make sure to decrease the dosage and discuss it with your pdoc.

Eventually I did get better overtime, but it was absolute hell. I have no idea what this particular med does to the brain, but the withdrawals seem to be mainly mental and not physical.


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