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Heart Palpitations Forum >> General Discussion >> Prozac and heart palpitations?
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Message started by zilly84 on Dec 29^th, 2012, 10:27am

Title: Prozac and heart palpitations?
Post by zilly84 on Dec 29^th, 2012, 10:27am

I've been on fluoxetine (generic for prozac) and the first week while I was on 10 mg I started feeling better and hadn't had palpitations in a few weeks. I started thinking my palpitations must have been from anxiety. Then the day that I upped my dose to 20 mg, I had a huge palpitation felt in my chest while laying flat on my back in bed. It scared the crap out of me. I had not been feeling anxious at all. I'd actually been feeling pretty good for a change. Well after that my anxiety about the palpitations came back. The next day I could hardly eat, but didn't have more palpitations. That week I had probably 2 light ones felt in my throat. The next week I had about 2 or more also felt in my throat. But this last week was pretty bad. I was having 2 a day which is unusual for me. Then finally on Thursday I had about 3 and then later that evening had a panic attack and from that the grand total was at about 7 for the day. I started thinking that maybe the prozac was actually making me have more anxiety hence more palpitations. I called my doctor to tell him about my panic attack and how I've been having more palpitations than usual and more anxiety since upping my dose. They sent the pharmacy a prescription for 10 mg. So I didn't take any prozac yesterday and still had a bit of anxiety in the morning but noticed I started to feel a little tiny bit better. I had no palpitations. Now it's Saturday morning and my boyfriend is at the store getting my 10 mg pills. I guess we will see if I start feeling better and maybe not having palpitations every day? I looked online and in a clinical study 1 in 100 people on prozac reported having palpitations. From the study they consider it a frequent side effect. I'm thinking I may be one of those lucky people since I am already prone to getting them. I'm hoping that on the lower dose I won't get them because the medication will actually help and not give me more anxiety. I'll try it for a week or more and if it's not getting better I think I'm just gonna talk to the doctor about going off of it. I hope it works though. The first week I really felt a lot better.

Title: Re: Prozac and heart palpitations?
Post by kmwondering on Dec 31^st, 2012, 5:31pm

this is the second time I've been on an ssri for anxiety. I was prescribed them for a really bad period about ten years ago. both times, my psychiatrists discussed with me the fact that many people experience an initial increase in their anxiety as they start and get to a therapeutic dose. this usually subsides within several weeks. both times, I was prescribed a short term course of benzos to get through that initial anxiety increase. I can't speak to your symptoms, of course, but it fits with my experience. my psychiatrist was right the first time. I am hopeful it will be similar this time.

Title: Re: Prozac and heart palpitations?
Post by jadson0 on Jan 10^th, 2013, 11:16pm

If you are unfortunate enough to experience heart palpitation anxiety may be the likely culprit. Anxiety tends to be the major cause of that fluttering that you experience in your chest. Heart palpitations are also known as PVC's and they are caused by your heart skipping a beat. Your body tries to compensate for this missed beat... and this is when you feel that uncomfortable feeling in your chest.