I was on 20 mg of Prozac for the past 5 years. I am a small person — 5’1 and 105 pounds, so it wasn’t a tiny dose for me. My ob/gyn put me on it because I had had (untreated) post partum depression with my previous pregnancy, and we wanted to prevent that from reoccurring. I stayed on it because I felt good and to help deal with PMS and seasonal affective disorder. This Spring, I decided that I wanted to try being off of it, to see whether I really needed it. I slowly tapered off over 2 months and didn’t have any issues until recently. I noticed that I felt things more clearly — both happy and sad. But overall, I felt pretty good.

I have been Prozac free now for 3 weeks. I have noticed that for the past week that I have been more tearful, easily upset and depressed. I’ve had one period off the med— it was fine, no bad PMS symptoms. My question is — how long do I have to be off the medication to fairly evaluate whether I need it?

I am in therapy, but don’t have a doctor helping me with this besides my ob/gyn. Thanks for any insights.