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Nearly fluoxetine

Delight note

This page will give you lot general information about fluoxetine. Information technology is not medical advice.

Always talk to your md almost your situation and whether this medication is for you.

How fluoxetine works

Fluoxetine is a type of antidepressant called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

Research suggests that depression or depression mood is more likely to occur when the encephalon doesn't take plenty serotonin.

Serotonin (also called '5HT') is a naturally-occurring chemical messenger (or "neurotransmitter") that has an important part in areas of the brain that command mood and thinking.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - similar fluoxetine - are thought to piece of work by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain. They do this past blocking the recycling of released serotonin dorsum into the nerve endings.

Fluoxetine is often prescribed aslope a talking therapy.

Find out more about low

Fluoxetine and everyday life

Oftentimes asked questions

Antidepressants like fluoxetine tin get-go to work on low within the first two weeks of treatment, with the improvements continuing over the following weeks,

For anxiety, antidepressants like fluoxetine can take slightly longer to work. For some people, anxiety briefly increases at the showtime of treatment, just the anxiety does decrease with continued treatment.

Your weight can be affected by fluoxetine.

A side effect of fluoxetine can exist non feeling as hungry every bit normal, which might atomic number 82 to weight loss.

It is very difficult to know how this will affect each person who takes it.

Talk to your doctor about this if it worries you lot.

You can experience drowsy in the first few days of taking fluoxetine. Nevertheless, it should get better afterward the beginning calendar week or two. You lot may go more anxious, or it may make you lot irritable. This should settle after a couple of weeks.

If y'all experience very sleepy, and yous've been taking it for more than a month, you should go back to the doctor and meet what else you could practise.

Alcohol

You can go on to beverage some booze while taking fluoxetine, simply information technology is best to practise and so in moderation. Fluoxetine can sometimes cause drowsiness as a side effect, then it is possible that booze might make you feel more drowsy than usual.

Drinking alcohol every day, however, can make the symptoms of depression worse and you will not feel the benefit of your medicine.

Side effects might make yous sleepy or you might lose your focus when you starting time start taking fluoxetine.

This could be dangerous if you drive or use machines or do annihilation that needs a lot of focus.

During the outset few days, it might be best to stop drinking alcohol until you run into how the medicine affects yous, or until the effects pass.

Street drugs

Be careful if you are likewise using street drugs.

Cannabis tin can have unpredictable effects when taken with fluoxetine, and so great care is needed.

Cannabis and other drugs may accept their own side effects on your mental wellness, like anxiety or psychosis. For more information, accept a expect at our drugs and alcohol folio.

Methadone and fluoxetine together tin can seriously affect your heart and then these should merely be combined under medico supervision.

Fluoxetine has been shown to dampen down the 'high' of cocaine.

Taking fluoxetine with cocaine, ecstasy or amfetamines could bring on serotonin syndrome. You could become a high temperature/fever, agitation, defoliation, trembling or weird muscle movements. You need to go to hospital if this happens. Tell the doctor everything that yous have taken.

Fluoxetine can produce a false positive test for amfetamines and LSD on a urine drug screen. Talk to your dr. about this if it is a problem for you.

Fluoxetine does not mix well with some other medicines and drugs.

Do not have fluoxetine if yous take an antidepressant medicine called a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), or if y'all have taken 1 in the concluding two weeks. MAOIs include moclobemide, isocarboxazid, phenelzine and tranylcypromine.

Tell your doctor or pharmacist before you lot take fluoxetine if you are prescribed whatever other medication, to cheque that the combination is safe.

Before you lot starting time taking fluoxetine, tell your doctor if you are taking any other medications, including things you have bought over the counter for common illnesses similar colds and flu or topical applications that you put on your skin.

Let your pharmacist know if you accept any food allergies or intolerances, and ever check with them if y'all're concerned about any of the ingredients in your medication.

Practise non bulldoze or ride a bike just later on you starting time taking fluoxetine.

Taking fluoxetine may affect your ability to practise things like drive a machine, ride a cycle, apply machines, or anything else that needs a lot of focus.

It might exist best to stop doing these things for the commencement few days, until you know how it affects you lot, or until the furnishings laissez passer.

Do not worry - most people bulldoze every bit normal while taking fluoxetine.

Pregnancy

If you get pregnant while you are on fluoxetine, you should carry on taking the medicine and go back to your dr. equally shortly every bit possible, to run across if y'all should alter or cease your medicine.

At that place is a slightly college risk of problems in the developing baby if y'all take fluoxetine it in the early stages of pregnancy. Nonetheless, fluoxetine and related antidepressants (known equally SSRIs) are thought to be better choices if you need antidepressant medicine.

Remember that yous demand to stay well through your pregnancy, and you may need a medicine to aid yous to do that.

Fluoxetine may cause heart problems in the developing infant, and other symptoms in new-born babies.

If you and your md hold that you will go on taking fluoxetine during your pregnancy, then you lot should tell your midwife that y'all are taking it before you give birth.

Post-natal

If fluoxetine is taken in the terminal five months of a pregnancy, it tin can cause a serious condition called persistent pulmonary hypertension of the new-born (PPHN). This can make the babe breathe faster and look a bit blue in colour. PPHN affects around three in ane,000 babies born to mums who accept SSRIs. This compares with a rate of two in i,000 among babies born to mums who do not take SSRIs.

PPHN appears in the outset 24 hours later on nascence. You volition demand help from the midwife and doctors, and then it is better if they are looking out for symptoms.

The newborn babe may also develop withdrawal furnishings, which might not appear directly away simply might develop over the first few days of life. These could include:

being irritable and crying a lot
having difficulty sleeping or sucking
poor weight gain

Breastfeeding

Fluoxetine is passed to the infant in breast milk, and side effects have been seen in breastfed babies. The primary one is likely to exist colic.

The amount of fluoxetine in chest milk is usually around seven% of the mum's dose, merely information technology tin can build upwards over time. This is because fluoxetine is hard for your babe to get rid of. This does not mean breastfeeding will be a problem, only practice look out for side furnishings.

If your infant was premature or has health bug, then you may exist better off not breastfeeding every bit your babe volition likely struggle fifty-fifty more to become rid of the fluoxetine.

Talk to your doctor or midwife about your feeding options.

Sex

Fluoxetine can have side effects that might bear upon your sex life. These include:

painful erections that last for a long time (this is rare but serious - visit a infirmary or see your physician straight away if you lot experience this side event), or problems getting an erection (getting hard) and ejaculating (coming)
bleeding from the vagina
difficulty reaching orgasm the same way as before
some growth of the breasts and some milk flow, regardless of gender
you lot may take a lower sexual practice drive

Fluoxetine has been known to slow growth and filibuster sexual development (puberty) in a modest number of children and young people. Your doctor should bank check your growth while you lot are taking information technology. If this worries you lot, talk to your physician or pharmacist about it.

These effects should pass after the get-go couple of weeks. If they do not, and this is a problem for you, go back to the doctor and see what else y'all could try.

The good furnishings of fluoxetine may, subsequently a while, have a positive impact on your sex life equally your mood lifts and you become interested in life and relationships again.

Fertility

Fluoxetine does not seem to affect human fertility.

Talk to your doctor about your fluoxetine if you lot are trying to get pregnant.

Fluoxetine is not a banned substance in sport.

Taking fluoxetine may impact your ability to practise things like riding a bike, competitive gymnastics, or anything else that needs a lot of focus.

Information technology might be all-time to terminate such sports for the beginning few days, until you know how it affects you or the effects get better.

Practice not worry - about people play sports every bit normal while taking fluoxetine.

Try not to accept fluoxetine for the offset time just before your exams.

Taking fluoxetine may bear on your ability to do things that need a lot of focus, like exams.

You should talk to your doctor about whatever future exams if you lot are starting fluoxetine.

Yous might decide together to delay starting information technology until you accept washed them. If they are more than a calendar month away, however, yous might find that information technology is better to outset fluoxetine to lift your mood and improve your motivation to study.

Do non worry - most people do exams as normal while taking fluoxetine.

Uses, warnings, safety and side effects of fluoxetine

Taking fluoxetine

How long will I need to accept fluoxetine for?

Near people take fluoxetine for at to the lowest degree six to 12 months after they beginning to feel better.

If you have suffered from depression in the by, you should go on taking this medication for at least 2 years later on y'all kickoff to feel better.

You and your doctor should talk nearly how long you lot need to accept fluoxetine before y'all begin your treatment.

If you terminate taking the fluoxetine besides soon, the chance that your mental health symptoms volition come back increases.

You lot should simply take fluoxetine as agreed with your physician

Y'all will get the best effect from fluoxetine if y'all take it every day at the dose prescribed by your doctor.

Your doctor might start yous on a low dose and then increase information technology to your full dose slowly over 2 to four weeks.

Make sure that you know your dose. If it'south not written on the label, bank check with your pharmacist or doctor.

Young people aged eight to 18 may start taking fluoxetine at a lower dose using the liquid, and then motility on to the capsules if the dose increases.

It is usually best to have fluoxetine in the morning. This is to reduce the adventure of it causing indisposition (difficulty sleeping). Still, information technology is important to cull a time each twenty-four hours that you lot can always call back. This could be when you wake upwardly, a mealtime, or when you castor your teeth.

Fluoxetine is all-time taken after food.

Swallow the capsule with a potable of water - if you chew it, it tastes bitter.

What should I do if I miss a dose of fluoxetine?

If you call back afterwards during the day, have information technology as soon as possible.

Yous may find it difficult to sleep if you lot take it towards bedtime.

If you forget to have it past the time of your next dose, merely accept the adjacent dose.

Do not take a double dose.

What will happen if I forget to take my fluoxetine?

If you forget to have it for a few days, you may start getting withdrawal symptoms and should talk to your doctor nigh it.

Stopping the use of fluoxetine

Stopping fluoxetine suddenly can sometimes cause side furnishings, which are normally mild, but for a few people can be severe. Also, if you stop taking fluoxetine also soon, the chance that your mental health symptoms will come dorsum increases.

In one case you commencement taking an SSRI, the brain adjusts to having a new level of serotonin effectually. If you stop taking the SSRI suddenly, the balance starts to alter over again. Y'all could go some symptoms from the change.

Fluoxetine is less likely to cause withdrawal effects upon stopping than other antidepressant medicines. This is because your trunk takes longer to get rid of it.

You can cease taking fluoxetine safely with your medico's help. Many people who take 20mg or less of fluoxetine can stop taking it without bug. For people on college doses of fluoxetine, the dose may be stepped downwards over a few weeks to reduce the run a risk of withdrawal effects.

Fluoxetine and other antidepressants are not addictive. Although there tin can be withdrawal effects when they are stopped, yous will not have cravings for or go 'hooked' on an antidepressant.

Some of the withdrawal effects you might get when fluoxetine is stopped include:

influenza-similar symptoms such as chills, muscle aches, excessive sweating, headache, and feeling or beingness sick
feeling unusually tired or weak
sleep disturbances such as difficulty sleeping or vivid dreams
electric shock-similar sensations - especially downwardly the spine (back)
dizziness, peculiarly when moving
feeling anxious, restless, irritable, or agitated
difficulty remembering things or concentrating on things

These symptoms should finish subsequently two weeks for most people, but some people can go them for a few months.

Warnings and safety

Safe headlines

If y'all have taken more fluoxetine than the dosage recommended by the doctor who prescribed it to you, you must get medical aid immediately –even if you do not feel any dissimilar.

While taking fluoxetine, some people may remember about hurting themselves or taking their own lives. You lot must go directly to hospital with your medicine if you take whatever of these thoughts.

Fluoxetine can also cause rare merely serious side effects: allergic reactions (difficulty breathing, swelling of your face or throat, itching peel lumps), rashes or blotches on your skin, and a rare condition called serotonin syndrome (see 'Side Effects'). Get to a infirmary with your medicine if you become whatever of these symptoms.

Do not take fluoxetine if you accept taken a monoamine oxidase inhibitor antidepressant (MAOI) like moclobemide, phenelzine, isocarboxazid or tranylcypromine in the concluding fourteen days.

Stopping fluoxetine suddenly can sometimes cause withdrawal effects, which are usually balmy, only for a few people tin can be astringent. Also, if you stop taking fluoxetine also shortly, the adventure that your mental health symptoms will come back increases. Encounter your doctor if you desire to cease fluoxetine or have withdrawal effects after stopping it.

Y'all might non exist able to concentrate very well, and may feel sleepy, in the get-go few days later taking fluoxetine. Do not drive a car, ride a bike or operate machines until you run across how this affects you.

If you lot are pregnant, or thinking of becoming pregnant, please read the pregnancy section (see 'Side Furnishings') because fluoxetine may touch on the developing baby.

When to go to the hospital

If you have taken more fluoxetine than the dosage recommended by the doctor who prescribed information technology to yous, you must get medical assistance immediately –even if you do not feel any unlike.

Go to A&Eastward. Take your medicine with you to show to the doctors. Tell them how much you lot have taken. Become a friend or family member to become with you, if you can, but in case you experience ill on the manner.

You might go any of the following signs:

feeling sick or existence sick
having seizures (fits)
an irregular heartbeat or a heart attack
breathing difficulties
a alter in the way you feel, ranging from agitation to falling into a coma

You are likewise at take a chance of getting 'serotonin syndrome' (symptoms include a high fever, agitation, confusion, trembling, shivering and excessive sweating or weird movements of your muscles). This is rare, but you should picket out for it.

If y'all have any thoughts of taking your own life or of other ways of hurting yourself, become straight to a hospital with your medicine. This may be a side effect and is more common at the offset of treatment. Thoughts of suicide are more likely to occur if you are nether 25 years erstwhile. Fluoxetine is safer than other antidepressants for people under the historic period of 18.

You must stop taking Fluoxetine and become straight to hospital if you have whatever of the following symptoms:

tiredness, confusion, headache, irritability, feeling or being ill (nausea and vomiting), and muscle twitching. These can exist symptoms of a low blood level of sodium, but some of these are likewise symptoms of serotonin syndrome
rashes; blotches; itching; blistering; redness; peeling; or ulcers on your skin, in your mouth, or in your genital area. These can be symptoms of a rare only serious skin reaction
difficulty breathing, swelling of your face up or pharynx, and itching pare lumps. These may be symptoms of an allergic reaction
having seizures (fits)
feeling very excited or 'high'

Go to a doctor or hospital straight abroad but do non stop taking your fluoxetine if you get the following symptoms:

your behaviour changes considering you feel irritated or agitated
yous get an erection that is painful and lasts for a long time (priapism)

Side effects of fluoxetine

Side furnishings of fluoxetine

Please do not be worried by the side effects listed on this folio. Many people accept fluoxetine without whatever side effects or just a few balmy side effects. Starting with a lower dose tin can sometimes aid if side effects practice occur.

Side furnishings that do announced should disappear or go ameliorate after a few days. If they do non, you lot should go back to your doctor.

Do not end taking the fluoxetine until you talk to your physician, or you may get withdrawal symptoms equally well.

Very mutual side effects when taking fluoxetine (affecting more than one in ten people) include:

insomnia (slumber problems)
headache and feeling tired
diarrhoea (loose poo)
nausea (feeling sick)

Common side effects of taking fluoxetine (affecting up to i in ten people) include:

not feeling hungry
weight loss
nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, poor concentration, feeling tense
decreased sex bulldoze or sexual problems, including difficulty maintaining an erection (staying hard)
sleep problems, unusual dreams, tiredness or sleepiness
dizziness
modify in sense of taste, or dry mouth
uncontrollable shaking movements
blurred vision
heartbeat feels quick and uneven
flushing, sweating more, feeling shaky or chills
yawning
indigestion, being sick
rash, itching lumps (hives, urticaria), other skin itching
joint hurting
needing to wee more oft
unexplained vaginal bleeding

There are other side effects that you can go when taking this medicine – we accept only included the most common ones here.

Please expect at the leaflet inside your medicine box, or ask a doctor or pharmacist, if you desire to know whether you are getting a side effect from your medicine.

If y'all do get a side effect, delight think near reporting information technology via the Yellow Menu Scheme.

Near this information

The data on this page was reviewed by the College of Mental Health Pharmacy in March 2020.

Visit the CMHP website

CMHP. College of Mental Health Pharmacy

More information and advice

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Source: https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/medications/fluoxetine/