PROZAC IF 20MG=GOOD 40MG=FABULOUS?

You really should consult your doctor before changing your own dosage. Sure, it'll make you more perky, but at what cost?

Also, consider that where you want to be might not necessarily be what's best for you.

http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/PRO1362.HTM

A reputable doctor will prescribe the lowest dosage of a mind altering drug at the outset.The higher the dosage of a drug, the more the possibility of adverse side effects.

The doctor has to weigh the benefit of the drug to the person with the possibility of side effects. He/she will then, after a reasonable length of time, adjust the dosage if he feels that the patient needs more medication in order to control symptoms.

It is utter folly for a patient to fool around with these drugs himself.

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/fluoxetine_ad.htm

It typically takes FOUR weeks before you even BEGIN to notice the effects of taking Prozac.

Most doctors prescribe a slightly higher dosage for the first 30 days and once the medicine begins to have an effect, they lower your dosage.

Be responsible: read the information that came with your prescription.

By no means should you decide your own dosage.

I can speak as far as prozac

but I am on zoloft long term (anxiety not depression, 1st cousins)

When I first got on it, the dosage was at 25mg.

I would feel much better for awhile, then we would have to up the dosage again.

I told the doctor I was afraid we would just have to keep going up and up, since the symptoms would come back, albeit in a milder form.

She told me most people will settle at a particular dosage, ususally 150mg. The most she would prescribe was 200mg.

So guess what? That's right, 150 did the trick, have been at that level for over 2 years.

Talk to your doctor about what he/she feels where the most beneficial dosage is.

BTW - they say zoloft takes awhile to work too, but I felt a difference right away. But then again, I've sensitive to any drugs.

Glad you're feeling better, even if it's just a little bit so far. Believe me, you'll continue to improve, if not on this medication, then another.

It's like someone is starting to give you your life back, isn't it?

another thing to keep in mind about dosage of an SSRI--prozac, zoloft, paxil, celexa, lexapro, and others, whew--is that effects aren't linear, meaning, if you double the dose, you don't necessarily get twice the effect; you might get 1.5x the effect, or 4 times the effect, or anything in between, and as phoenix suggested, increased dosage often means increased side effects.

Oh right you are yitwail

I had the best nap of my life when I increased from 75mg to 100mg.

I was sitting on the couch one winter day, watching my cat sleep in a sunbeam. I thought "What a marvelous idea."

For the first time I could ever remember, I woke up from a nap refreshed and calm.

however, going from 25mg to 50mg woke me up in the middle of the night with a full blown panic attach.

yes, follow doctors orders, no doubt.

I remember the Prozac incident...I wanted to kill myself I got so dammed depressed. Since then I have handled low grade depression with no chemicals at all...just don't trust them.

sturgis, meds should certainly be a last resort. and i think a few pessimists here and there break up the monotony you'd get if everyone was perky all the time.