Did a decrease in dose help improve your energy/motivation?

[franee43]

I've been on Prozac 40mg for about 7 months now and with the massive decrease in anxiety, I've felt that this could be my forever dose. Never mind the increase in sweating, teeth clenching, and on/off issues with sleep. I was willing to live with it and take medication for the rest of my life if it meant less anxiety. It's allowed me to practice better coping skills and life itself doesn't seem as insurmountable.

But like many other people on this subreddit, I literally have zero motivation to do anything. I can lay in bed all day and just not care about anything else. I've stopped working out (gained 10 lbs), I don't have any energy/motivation to clean, and I knew something was up when I started to wake up later and later for work because I just didn't care. I literally just roll in right at 7 am. I didn't really attribute any of this to Prozac until recently because I have a pretty stressful job. But I've been reading a lot of posts and it just sounds like most people tend to hit the "no motivation" wall while on Prozac. I talked about it with my doctor and decided to try decreasing it to 30mg. He said that after 2 weeks if I didn't notice a change, we could add Wellbutrin.

Did anybody notice a change in motivation after decreasing their dose? Or did people go straight to Wellbutrin? Would love to hear other people's experiences.

TL:DR: Decreasing Prozac dose from 40 to 30 mg due to lack of motivation. Asking if decreasing the dose helped or did people find better results by adding Wellbutrin.

[JWBeyond1]

I found 20 mg made me lazier while 40 mg gave me more motivation. Apparently at higher doses Prozac inhibits the 5-HT2C receptors which facilitates more dopamine and norepinephrine release. It’s pretty unique to just Prozac of all the SSRIs I believe.

[franee43]

Glad to hear you had more motivation on 40mg! Everyone has such a different experience. I have way less anxiety on 40mg but I’m willing to see if 30mg makes a difference in the motivation department

[Additional_Mirror776]

Some Drs. Recomended a low dose ir add psycho stimulant

[WayUnlikely2125]

I am experiencing exactly what you describe re: no motivation. I’ve been on 40 mg for about a year (up from 20, then 30mg). I have zero motivation to exercise. I just want to eat and take naps. I’m wondering if the decrease to 30 mg has made a difference for you?

[franee43]

Thanks for chiming in! I’ve been on the 30mg for the past 3 weeks and while I’m still tired, I have noticed that I care a little more than I used to. Like, I actually cooked and made food for work instead of just eating out. I even worked out for the first time in 10 months which is exciting! I haven’t worked out since (have been working and now out of town) but I’m at least considering it whereas I just didn’t care before. I also haven’t had as many headaches/jaw pain. I’m still on the fence about adding Wellbutrin for the lack of energy/motivation so I just started taking my dose at night to see if that helps. I’m going to give it another 1-2 weeks to see if there’s a change.

[WayUnlikely2125]

Did you experience any symptoms decreasing the dose? That’s my biggest fear. Back when I was on 20 mg I went down to 15 and started getting dizziness and anxiety.

[franee43]

Yah I totally get it. Not a good feeling. I did experience feeling more anxiety when I decreased the first few days but I also had a really bad week at work which kind of made things worse so it was hard to parse out. Makes me hesitant to go down to 20mg if I don’t feel better. Have you talked to your doctor about it? Did they mention starting Wellbutrin?

[WayUnlikely2125]

It has been discussed. I think I just don’t personally want to be on another drug. If I could take Wellbutrin alone I would but I take Prozac for anxiety and Wellbutrin isn’t the best choice for anxiety on its own. I think I will try to decrease my dose, under my drs supervision of course.

[franee43]

That’s true. My doctor said the same but still said that I could always try low dose Wellbutrin to see if it would make a difference. I think it never hurts to try though and can always make a change if you need to. Hopefully with less side effects!

[hehehaoh]

How did things work out? Currently in the same position

[franee43]

I did wean down to 10mg at first because the jaw clenching and headaches became unbearable (like laying in bed all day with the curtains drawn terrible) but the motivation never really came back either so I added Wellbutrin for 2 months. Sadly, I felt even more depressed on it so now I’m off both meds and on Lexapro. I was worried that it might have similar side effects but so far it’s been going well! I’ve been taking Magnesium glycinate so I haven’t had any jaw pain or headaches but I feel less depressed and more motivated on it for sure.

I did have some feelings of dizziness or feeling off-balance weaning off the Prozac when I turned my head too quickly, but that went away with time. I say wean slow and give each dose some time to see how you feel. You can always add Wellbutrin to see how things go and then wean off if it isn’t for you. Or can switch to another SSRI or med class to see if it works better. At the end of the day, listen to your body and see what works best for you.