I went back on an SSRI (fluoxetine) because my psychiatrist got very annoyed at me for going off it so I could trip. So long story short, I'm back on an SSRI, which makes tripping flat out impossible. This coincided with a couple month break from drugs just to give my mind a rest. I'm planning to go back to psychedelic use very soon, however, and have decided to come back off the SSRI (and just won't tell the damn shrink, and stop placing the refill orders.... I don't have anxiety issues anymore anyhow). So my question is this: if I was on 20mg fluoxetine daily, how long must I wait for it to be feasible to trip again (halflife of 4-6 days after chronic use).
Just to be safe I would wait a full 2-3 weeks. Here is an Excerpt I found on Wikipedia.
"The extremely slow elimination of
fluoxetine and its active metabolite norfluoxetine from the body distinguishes it from other
antidepressants. With time, fluoxetine and norfluoxetine inhibit their own metabolism, so fluoxetine
elmination half life changes from 1 to 3 days, after a single dose, to 4 to 6 days, after long-term use. Similarly, the
half-life of norfluoxetine is longer (16 days) after long-term use. Therefore, the concentration of the
drug and its active metabolite in the blood continues to grow through the first few weeks of treatment, and their steady concentration in the blood is achieved only after four weeks. Moreover, the brain concentration of fluoxetine and its metabolites keeps increasing through at least the first five weeks of treatment. That means that the full benefits of the current dose a patient receives are not realized for at least a month since its initiation. For example, in one 6-week study, the median time to achieving consistent response was 29 days.
Likewise, complete excretion of the drug may take several weeks."
