I just got prescribed yesterday and I'm debating whether I should take them or not. Thoughts?

xox

It brought me out of a deep depression, was very helpful. There were side effects for me, weird thoughts, dreams at first. A really bad headache for the fist couple of days, but then that went away. Diminished sexual feelings, but it was worth it. I was at a bad place and it was a lifesaver.

I did not notice any side effects. It helped me cope, so I could get through my days, until I could handle things better. From what I understood, its one of the safer antidepressants to take. It worked fine for me when I needed it.

Prozac is an excellent designer drug for people who deal with anxiety/depression.

Give it few weeks to fully kick in and never stop it abruptly.
It won't solve all your problems but you will find that it will take the edge off.

If the depression is serious, then anti-depressants are often the only answer. I took it for five weeks last winter and then had to stop because of side effects.

It also pulled me out of the cesspool I was in, a combination of factors that were seriously affecting my work and that "winter-from-hell" we had this last year with the inversions, etc.

I'm keeping other SSRI's in mind if it returns, but so far I'm a lot better (having addressed some other medical conditions as well). This was the first time in over thirty years of recovery that I couldn't "shake" a depression with more ordinary recovery tools. You do need to remain on it long enough for it to have therapeutic effects.

Curiously, my sister, an MD, had the same side effects with Zoloft that I did with Prozac; she's been on various other SSRI's for years now and notes that she "can't drive across town" without them. In general, my old mentor assures me that this class of anti-depressants is among the "cleanest," and I have no reason to doubt him. People's reactions to them will vary considerably.

Keep a close contact with your physician and/or psychologist; depression is serious, serious stuff.

I took Prozac for three months. It wasn't nearly as helpful for me as Wellbutrin was. And it also killed my ability to have an orgasm. But that doesn't mean it's not a good drug for some people. For me, Wellbutrin was a lot better.

I took it for depression. Seems everyone in my immediate family has been afflicted with depression. It was a life-changer. The real benefit for me was it alleviated my 'social anxiety'.

A few times, I've decided to go off and taper down. But after skipping 2 days, I experience the fleeting sense of dread, hopelessness and free-floating anxiety I had originally that was unrelated to anything going on in my life.

BTW, some suggest that St. John's Wort and Fish Oil are as effective. They aren't!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2013 09:18AM by Twinker.

with Prozac. It fixed the family mood problem--which, in my case, involved extreme morning bitchiness and mood swings that one of my bosses called "the trajectory." When I'd get upset, things would just spin around and around in my head and I couldn't get past them.

Prozac really cleared things up, within about 2 weeks. Everybody said I was like a new person, but for me it was more like I woke up in a new world. I took it for 2 years and haven't had a problem since.

I used to say Prozac is wonderful stuff and they should put it in the drinking water, but in retrospect, I think it made me feel too good. I got all la-di-da and one with the universe, and invited that guy from the internet to come live with me and be my love.

My beliefs have since evolved to where I think I could stay out of the woo zone, and I'd take it again if I thought I needed it. The only side effects I noticed were I ate less and had awesome, colorful dreams.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2013 09:45AM by munchybotaz.

Prozac helped with my depression but stopped working for me after a couple of years. At higher doses it actually increased my anxiety so I had to stay on a lower dose. It made having an orgasm very difficult at times but my wife didn't mind that side effect. ;) Overall, it was one of the antidepressants I tolerated the best.

Yes, it has literally been a life-saver for me. As someone else said, you might need several weeks for it to have built up enough to do any good. And, again DO NOT stop suddenly. It is a drug that you must wean yourself from.

However, if for some reason it doesn't work for you. DO NOT GIVE UP! There are many other drugs out there and odds are, one of them will work for you. It just takes time.

Prozac is similar to the Mormon Church. The promoters lie to the public. Go on youtube and learn about the dangers. Read books critical of Prozac, such as "Talking Back to Prozac" by Peter Breggin.

Prozac actually causes suicides and homicides sometimes, in people who would otherwise never kill anyone. This is why they banned it in Germany. It does something to the brain that causes psychotic breaks. Look it up. The company that makes it is the same company that created LSD, and sold it to the public as a safe drug until the dangers of LSD became obvious. Don't trust the FDA; they are about as corrupt as the rest of the government. Do your own research.

Andrea Yeates was on Effexor, another SSRI, and she drowned her children. These drugs can affect the pineal gland, so you lose the ability to dream. You then dream while you are awake, but you act out your dreams because your body is not paralyzed like it is in the dream state. Yeates said that killing her kids was her "worst nightmare"; she was truly acting out her nightmare while awake.

I tried Prozac, but it had no effect on me. The psychologist said to increase the dose, but by that time I had studied the drug, and he was a rude man, so I quit taking the drug and I quit seeing him. Once you take the drug, you give a psychiatrist power over you, since it is dangerous to stop taking the drug too soon. It may not work, and your psychiatrist may switch you to another SSRI, and so on. He may give you other drugs for the side effects, and before long you may be on a "drug cocktail", which can be bad for your health.

It has also affected my family relations since my dad keeps saying I should take SSRI's, but he can't understand why I don't want to take them. I wish he would study the sources I have studied.

For me it is a moral issue. Even if I took SSRI's and they helped, I would still feel bad because I would be enriching a company that has caused many people to kill. People who want to control guns should look into the SSRI phenomenon. Many shootings have been caused because of SSRI's, but the government ignores it because the companies have too much power.

They can make you worry less, but they can do this by making you so that you just don't care about things. Many Mormons probably take them because the drugs cause them to "not care" about all the evidence against the Church. I don't like the thought that if I took them I might "not care" about the very real problems they cause.

I read about a man who said he would rather live for 1 year on Prozac than for 40 years off it, but not everybody feels that way. It may work for you, but my conscience won't let me take it. I am also not severely depressed. I suffer more from obsessive compulsive disorder, which the drugs can help, but I can deal with the disorder without taking drugs.

Seriously, do some research. Watch court cases on youtube where mothers talk about their sons killing themselves while on SSRI's. Listen to a woman who has compiled many suicide/homicide cases resulting from the drugs, who says we should be up in arms about them. Read how they are frequently used in the military and the possible connection between them and the rise in military suicides. Read about how they can cause people to commit crimes such as shoplifting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2013 11:48AM by behindcurtain.

I agree with you. I think anti-depressants do a lot of harm.

-1

It's not Prozac that causes these weird issues you are speaking. Rather it is the person that is taking the drug that was "not right" in the first place. The drug just gives a person more energy to do the weird things that were already on their mind prior to taking it.

Hi Orange,

I think you're very close to the truth.

I doubt that an SSRI fundamentally alters people's personalities. Instead, they alter mood (among other things, such as a craving for carbs) for most people, most of the time, for the better. They seem to usually cause sedation, and to create emotional blunting (i.e. things don't bother you as much). Emotional blunting could be a lifesaver in some cases, such as when dealing with the death of a spouse that you loved deeply.

However, if you take someone who is violent and blunt their emotions, you're likely to see someone who seems like a sociopath, so you have to be careful about using SSRI's. For most of us, though, who have taken them, we're struggling with excessive anxiety or depression, and these most definitely shorten one's life span if left untreated (and make us very miserable along the way), so you have to look at the tradeoffs.

Honestly, from personal experience with a bunch of different SSRI's, they just don't do all that much. They won't turn a normal person into a serial killer any more than caffeine will. Most people don't seem to complain about what SSRI's do when they work the way that they're supposed to (mood elevation and anxiety reduction), but about the side-effects: sexual side-effects, fat gain, constant sleepiness to the point where it feels like you're struggling to stay conscious every waking moment (which, itself, creates anxiety), hives, etc.

It's extremely important to keep in mind that our brain chemistries and metabolisms are different. The way that an SSRI might impact me may be very different from the way that it might impact you. For example, I took Prozac for a few weeks once, but it made me so sleepy all the time (far worse than any other antidepressant) that I couldn't function. I couldn't focus my attention well enough to follow conversations without sometimes asking that a person repeat themselves. It was seriously awful. I vividly remember going to work, having to meet with a lot of different people, being HIGHLY caffeinated (enough to keep a large elephant awake for a week!), and being terribly sleepy. Caffeine made no difference at all. On the other hand, other people that take SSRI's don't seem to experience sleepiness nearly to the degree that I do.

Most of us never appreciate that the way that we feel and think is heavily influenced by our brain's neurochemistry. If something alters the concentration of serotonin or glutamate or any number of other neurotransmitters in our brains, all kind of bad things could happen, including suicidal ideation. You really have to be careful. An SSRI might make a person less inhibited, so that if they're angry to start with, they might become violent after treatment (but that's not very likely; more likely, they'll become less angry).

No one really understands what we even mean by depression. The serotonin hypothesis (that depression is caused by insufficient serotonin between neurons) is false. We know that because there's an anti-depressant drug in Europe that works by *lowering* the availlable serotonin in the brain! Unfortunately, nobody knows how depression really works, and it may be different in different brains. Basically, by manipulating serotonin in the brain, you're carpet bombing the brain, hoping that you'll eventually take out the enemy--never mind the collateral damage along the way.

Again, I want to stress that I don't think that SSRI's are bad. They can be, and have been, lifesavers for countless numbers of people. But even when they work, they help with symptoms. I'm not sure that they "cure" anything. Perhaps others can chime in with their viewpoints.

I'd just like to reassure you a bit. Please don't worry. Go ahead and take the Prozac. Take a low dose for a week. Your body will tell you whether to go up, or down, or stop. Just listen to it. Don't go too fast. Be gentle. Nothing bad will happen, and in a month, you'll think it silly that you ever feared that it would.

The real question is: Which side-effects will you have? Will you get fat? On Prozac, no, in all likelihood. Will you sleep well? I really hope so; that's very important, and probably you will. Orgasms? Forget it. Sleepiness? I really hope that you'll have much better luck than I did. And if you experience some type of side-effect that you can't tolerate, you can easily decrease the dose after four weeks, and either switch to something else such as Lexapro, or stop.

So, don't worry. In the grand scheme of things, Prozac is mild. It could help. It won't hurt. Stick with it for four weeks and then made a determination as to whether you want to keep going or not. Don't allow yourself to be talked out of trying it due to fear-mongering. I fully support trying psychotherapy first (or alongside drug treatment). However, a lot of people need an SSRI to get symptoms under control, to enable psychotherapy to work.

Your enemy isn't Prozac. It's fear. And chances are, you won't need to take it forever. Give it a try. It's really not a big deal. You *will* be okay.

Take Care,

Steve

Prozac is a fairly "old" drug and some better ones have been developed in the last 10 years of so. Even so, it may work. One thing to keep in mind with these types of drugs...it is a bit of a trial and error process to see if they work for you. Many people will go through two or three different ones before finding one that will work. Also, it takes about a month (or two) to decide if they are "working". They will likely produce a few side effects which may in fact lessen over a course of 2-3 months. So don't give up too easily. Very serious side effects are possible, so don't be afraid to call the doc and say "let's try something else".

I wish you the best. From the doctor in a previous lifetime. :)

I will probably get trashed for this, but I try to avoid ingesting anything that contains any active flourine in it, including toothpaste and municipal water supplies.

FTR, teflon is not a source of active form flouride.

OK .... go ahead and prove me wrong. I am unaware of any critical metabolic and/ or biological function that is actually exclusively facilitated by the flourine atom and flourine compounds, of course I am not counting death as a critical biological function in this instance and flourine is not the only way to have that happen, so any way go ahead and fill me in on flourine compounds as nutrients, and / or prove me wrong, by consuming substances with active flourine. Hydro flouric acid would be a great one to start with.

In the mean time, I still feel like the less flourine in my body then the better. maybe that's because I am not taking prozac.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2013 12:10PM by lucky.

I've been following this one for fifty years; the discovery that extremely modest amounts of fluoride in the water prevent tooth decay was made by dentists (and advocating fluoridation amounts to acting against their own interests), and the movement toward fluoridating public water began based on that information.

Opponents of fluoridation are, quite frankly, among the most dishonest sorts on the planet; most were members of the John Birch Society (the forerunners of today's Tea Party). I was horrified a few years ago when I gave an academic sort a ride to the airport a few years ago; he'd just been hired to teach at BYU-Idaho, and he informed me in all seriousness that "fluoride was a neuro-toxin."

In short, debating this issue is on par with debating a Creationist or an assassination conspiracy buff. I find it impossible to remain polite and not call a liar a liar.

First link:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/fluoridated-water

You can see how this fits into the "anti gubm'nt mentality" of the paranoid crowd.

http://www.ada.org/fluoride.aspx

Now if I sound hostile, it's partly because of the 20 grand spent on my teeth the last few years on dental work. My youngest sister, who had fluoride available at birth (I didn't until age six), has two cavities in her entire mouth.

Sorry about the damage to your teeth.

Prozac has kept me from jumping off a ledge a few times! Seriously--it put me on even ground emotionally so that I could get to therapy and work through my issues. My family tends towards depression anyhow--so I go on prozac every few years as needed. My teen daughter was profoundly depressed (due to bullying) and she started prozac three weeks ago. It helped her so much! She's in therapy as well. We hope she only needs the prozac for about a year--playing it by ear. Just a few weeks ago she was sobbing in my arms about wanting to end her life.

Take the prozac to help yourself.

Prozac has been a life saver for me. I went into a very severe depression shortly after graduating from BYU. Prozac didn't solve all my problems, but it stabilized me enough that I was able to deal with all the issues that were contributing to the depression.

I tend to have an obsessive-compulsive personality, and Prozac takes the edge off of that as well. I've been taking Prozac for about 23 years now with no side effects. (I continue to take it to counteract the OCD.)

Like has been said, it sometimes takes some experimentation to find the right medicine for you. Several family members have had excellent results with Zoloft. I decided to try that instead of the Prozac several years ago, and I had just about every side effect listed on the Zoloft label. I quickly went back to Prozac.

For me at least, Prozac saved my life and has truly been a miracle drug. It didn't solve my problems, but has been a tremendous help in getting me to the point where I can successfully deal with my problems.

I suffer from combat related PTSD and take fluoxetine. I believe it helps me out alot. I don't suffer from any bad side effects from it. But each of us is different.

I've used it...a big help. Not as fast-acting as some SSRIs like Lexapro, but a lot cheaper! Side effects? Sexual...yes...not diminished desire, but "anorgasmia." Somewhat frustrating.

The only anti-depressant that ever worked for me was Pamelor - and after 9 years of success (and no side effects) it stopped working - supposedly because I went through menopause. My shrink and my primary care docs have tried any number of other drugs on me. I have suffered with depression for most of my adult life and I would really like to find something that worked.

But either I cannot tolerate the side effects, or the medication doesn't combine well with other stuff that I have to take for other medical conditions. I have given up looking. I take Xanax for anxiety and Ambien for sleep; those two make life tolerable.

To be honest, I am grateful that I am old enough to be considered "on the way out." I'm not anxious to hurry things along, and I am capable of occasional fleeting enjoyment of circumstances, but basically, depression sucked the joy out of my life a long, long time ago, and I won't be sorry to say good-bye.

I've been on many, many different anti-depressants. I went off of my last one 2 years ago and am happier than I've ever been in my adult life. I suffer from seasonal affective disorder and bought a sun lamp. It did wonders. I also moved from WI to a southern state that has no snow and much sun. That helped immensely.

I think anti-depressants are a mere band aid. Often with terrible side effects. I was on Paxil for anxiety and gained 15 lbs in 3 weeks. I'm very small so 15 lbs was like 1/7 of my original weight. I was miserable and felt disgusting.

For me sunshine is my "cure". I couldn't take 8 month winters and 8 week summers. 8-9 months of grey sky and snow did me in.

Try to find the source of your depression. I think for many of us there is a source. Yes, some truly have that chemical imbalance in their brain that's causing it, but I think for many it's situational.

I have taken prozac two different times in my life. The first time was many years ago and after taking it for about a year I began having very violent dreams. The final straw was when I had a dream that I was fighting with a blonde woman (I did not know her nor had I ever met her) and in the dream I took her throat in both hands and strangled her until she was dead. I then threw her lifeless body on the ground and kicked her and said something like how do you like that you stupid bitch. I woke up completely drenched in sweat and went and threw the prozac away and did not take them for about ten years. Then about ten years later I was still dealing with severe depression and on two other antidepressants that weren't helping so the doctor put me on prozac again. I was desperate and even though I had vowed never to take it again I took it at a pretty high dose just because I was desperate to feel better. It helped a little and I lived on three different antidepressants for a couple of years.

What eventually got me out of that depression was getting out of a marriage that I should have left in the first year but stayed for 30 more years and leaving the morg. I left the morg first and that helped more than I have words to say, and then when I got out of that bad relationship I threw all the pills away and have been happy as a lark ever since.

People who have not experienced depression will tell you that you don't need pills just have a positive attitude. That is bullshit!!! If you are suffering from depression you need to do something and if prozac will help you then use it. Try it for a few weeks and if you are not feeling notably better talk to your doctor and try another. There are so many different meds for depression on the market and since each person is unique in their body chemistry one should work for you but you may have to try several different meds until you find the one that works best for you. Good luck, I know how debilitating depression can be.

I took it for awhile about two years ago. I didn't have many side effects and was able to go off cold turkey without any issues either.

Works great for me.

I took it when it first came out a couple of decades ago, it was a life saver!!! I have also taken some others that did work better in the long run. In retrospect something I should have done but didn't know better at the time was to have my vitamin d and thyriod checked. I started taking supplements just over a year ago and absolutely pay tribute to the doc who put me on them. If not the thyriod medicine I should've been taking at least vitamin D. Just a thought.

I can only speak for myself. I took it years ago and it worked great for me. I had no side effects. Everyone is different. I eventually went off it. Sometimes I think I should go back on it!, but I've learned coping skills. If you have bad depression, medication can help. It just helped me get through a tough time. Good luck to you.

I tried Prozac briefly years ago for PMS-related depression, and it left me so exhausted I was falling asleep at work. So, I couldn't take it long enough to gauge whether it would help my depression. I currently take citalopram, and that does help and doesn't make me tired. Good luck!

Prozac is the best of the of the anti-depressants I have taken (I have also taken Paxil, Wellbutrin, and some others I cannot remember). One thing that people do not often talk about is that Prozac has a much longer half-life than other antidepressants. Why is that important? Because if you accidentaly miss a day, or if you stop taking the drug, it does not leave your system quickly. Going off of Paxil and Wellbutrin was HELL! I was dizzy for months. I did not have the same problem with Prozac.

Only side effect I had was Prozac was delayed orgasm (which isn't always a bad thing!). I am male, so not sure if it affects woman is as much.

ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING: If you are taking a generic version of Prozac, not all generic versions are created equal! I took the Walgreens version and it did not work at all. Then I switched to the CVS version and it worked just as well as the real Prozac.

Some people like the newer medication, Lexapro (escitalopram)for the fewer side effects. It is a strict serotonin reuptake inhibitor with little or no other actions on other receptors.

Anyway, why ask this question on website like this????? There are many different people here, all anonymous with possible major mental illness of their own giving you "advice". Not a good idea. Please just talk with your doctor about the medication and side effects if there are any for YOU specifically.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2013 08:46PM by orange.

Hi Orange,

Who better to give advice than people actually *taking* the drugs, as opposed to psychiatrists that have *never* taken any of them!?

It's vitally important for people considering taking a drug to ask questions and listen to those of us who have taken the drugs. Of course, they affect everyone differently, but the truth is that we can tell those considering taking one about our experiences; with enough of us posting, that's probably enough to give the original poster some idea of what they might actually expect to experience. And that can be very valuable, whether it helps to alleviate the anxiety related to starting to take an SSRI in the first place, or related to side-effects.

Psychiatrists have usually never tried the drugs that they prescribe. I'd much rather have a psychiatrist who has actually taken one or more of the drugs or--better yet--is actively taking them right now, rather than a theoretician. It's perfectly acceptable to post such questions here, and I'm confident that those of us who have used the drugs can provide invaluable help to those considering taking them.

Take Care,

Steve

Prescribed it in 1988 when I was 18.

Continued on it until around 1993, when I switched to Paxil.

What stands out in my mind in first deciding to switch to Paxil was because I felt flattened and without any real strong emotions one way or another on Prozac. I didn't feel like a person, real -- and I didn't like it. It did get rid of the strongly depressive feelings, but it obliterated not only the lows but the strongly positive states (the 'highs').

I hesitate to use the term 'highs' because of the seeming eagerness of those who wish to diagnose bipolar leaping upon it, to say that if I felt happy 'highs' along with depressive 'lows' it proves I am 'bipolar'.

Nonsense. I submit instead that I am relatively normal: given my personality/temperament, deeply happy, even euphoric highs when warranted, mediated by medium states when nothing much is going on, and crashing lows when extreme disappointment or unexpected sadness comes. Normal. It is who I am.

Anyway - back to the topic. I took Prozac at 18 because the first really serious puppy love (ie, first sexual experience) of my life had broken up with me. I was utterly despondent for months. It was the late 1980s. My parents were sold on the magic of pharmacobiology, rather than their teenage daughter having been through one of the first major traumas of her life. They took me to a shrink, who after knowing me for 5 minutes prescribed the Prozac.

I went off it in the early 90s, still looking for the magic answers as an alternative to developing coping skills. The flattened effect I'd had on Prozac abated somewhat when I went on Paxil, then Zoloft, then Effexor...the pattern repeated.

One thing I can say for sure about Prozac. It absolutely fucked over my libido, particularly my ability to orgasm. Not saying it was all that different on the other SSRIs mentioned.

But my experience with Prozac for those 5-6 years? Less than impressive. Stabilizing - but ultimately dehumanizing, producing an almost apathetic "whatever" state of existence.

I still deal with depression quite a bit - but I find it far more tolerable than the "flat" state of being drugged on SSRIs. At least I feel that who I am is real - that what I'm going through is real - and I have the choice to meet it or avoid it.

Thanks guys :)
I'm on my third day...I feel so super tired but I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks to see any 'real' changes.