Prozac Dosing: An Introduction
The dose of
Prozac® (
fluoxetine hydrochloride) that your healthcare provider prescribes will vary depending on a number of factors, including:
- Your age
- The medical condition you are being treated for
- Other medical conditions you may have
- Other medications you may currently be taking.
As is always the case, do not adjust your Prozac dose unless your healthcare provider specifically instructs you to do so.
Prozac Dosage for Depression or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
The recommended starting Prozac dose for people with
depression or
obsessive-compulsive disorder (
OCD) is 20 mg once daily. Your healthcare provider may choose to increase the Prozac dosage if symptoms continue or decrease the dose if side effects occur. The maximum dose of Prozac for these conditions is 80 mg per day. Doses above 20 mg can be taken once a day or divided into two doses and taken twice a day.
Prozac Weekly, the long-acting form of Prozac approved for depression, can be used to replace daily doses of Prozac 20 mg. Because all Prozac stays in your system for so long, the first dose of Prozac Weekly should be taken one week after stopping Prozac 20 mg daily. As you might guess, Prozac Weekly is taken once a week (on the same day each week).