Doctor prescribed fluoxetine

[gillard541]

I wanted some help regarding my brother.

My brother went to a psychiatrist and he prescribed him fluoxetine and xanax. He said that my brother should take one 20mg tablet of fluoxetine for the morning and 0.5 tablet for xanax for morning and night for 14 days . He said to take the 0.5 mg xanax tablet half in morning and the other half at night

So, my brother took the fluoxetine and xanax for 14 days and then again went to the psychiatrist. My brother has not felt any improvement for his ocd or depression from the tablets. The doctor has now prescribed him three 2.0mg tablets of fluoxetine and the same 0.5mg of xanax (half tablet in morning and half at night)

He has said to take two fluoxetine tablets together for the first 10 days and then start taking 3 fluoxetine tablets together. I have noticed that in the prescription of the fluoxetine tablets it says that fluoxetine should be spread out and be taken one in the morning and one in the night. But the doctor said that he should take them all together at the same time.

So, today we gived him two fluoxetine tablets together. But me and my parents are really getting confused as to whether we should listen the doctor or should we follow the instructions written in the prescription of the medication.
So as I told you that we have given him the two fluoxetine tablets together today. Should we continue on giving him fluoxetine tablets together or should we spread out the tablets and give him one in the morning and one in the night?

Is it safe to give two or three 2.0 mg tablets of fluoxetine together?Is it dangerous?

I know this is a long post but I really want to help my brother. Could anyone please guide me.

[des900]

for ocd you not have to take such harmful drugs. i am not saying you to stop taking them but instead consult a psychologist and let them give him coping strategies to deal with ocd rather than drugs based. ocd is not got from a change in brain chemicals as some say but due to specific life events and fear have locked them to live like that avoiding the triggers, so taking drugs alone will never help instead get addicted to drugs and start to form other mental issues also even physical health problems. one example is raised serotonin in blood for long time can cause heart valve problems.

[JGF25]

Okay...I'm not a doctor but this is what I think....

When I took Prozac (fluoxetine) I took it as one dose during the day.  So what I'm getting from your message is that his doctor is taking him from 20 mg to 40 mg and ultimately to 60 mg correct?  The Xanax is to help calm his anxiety that he is having.  Here's the thing though.  It usually takes a good 4 to 6 weeks before the therapeutic dosage is built up in his system.  So it could be that the doctor is trying to see if he can tolerate a higher dose and taking him there slowly.  

The Xanax is good.  It is quick acting but doesn't last very long in the system.  You may want to ask about Klonopin which doesn't work as fast but stays longer in your system.  

Again, I'm not a doctor but rather a person that has suffered from OCD for a very long time so please do not go in and say "the person in the internet said..." but rather make a list of questions to ask your psychiatrist.  

I also want to say that people with OCD benefit greatly from cognitive behavioral therapy.  Usually a psychiatrist does not teach this but rather a psychologist.  You can ask your p-doc about CBT as well.  

Good luck.