Is it worth trying out Prozac for a month?

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Not true.

I have been researching cannabis for 10 years, down to manipulating chemical combinations using RASMol and other molecular building programs., as well as reading real studies (all done outside of the USA). All the active ingredients in cannabis have corresponding receptors in the body, and not just in the brain. There are no equivalent receptors for the anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs, those drugs force they way into the receptor, or fit poorly over it in an attempt to block it..

I am not saying that cannabis is a cure all, but it effects are much more quickly reversed than anti-depressants. Just something to consider if you do take them.

Because it's required by law, but it affects more people in their 20s.

Yeah, I also never heard of smoking pot being connected to suicide.

Last edited by AdamDZ on 17 Nov 2011, 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This is flagrantly wrong, and also making many assumptions about anti-depressants as a whole.

Pot CAN induce further depression, I can anecdotally confirm that it did for me. (this does not mean it would for most, but it is certainly possible)

You say there are no equivalent receptors, which is a misrepresentation of how receptors actually function, how many anti-depressants function (prozac is NOT the only anti-depressant, and not all are SSRI's even!).

There are NO receptors in the body specifically designed for the active ingredients of pot. Yes, there are receptors that can be activated by them, but that's not the same thing.
Likewise, most psychoactive substances (including most anti-depressants) work by targeting specific receptors, or the activators for them.
Either by binding and activating them (increasing receptor activation rate), binding and NOT activating (blocking, thus reducing activation rate), binding to activators (so there are less to bind and activate receptors), or binding/blocking catalysts for production of those activators, hormones, etc.

Pot is natural, pretty harmless, and enjoyed by lots of people.
But just like ANY psychoactive, effects can vary from person to person, and the act of introducing a psychoactive into your body is by definition not natural.

The reason they have all those warnings is called 'legal boilerplate'.
They warn on the pack that it can do basically anything (and there are general lists of all the potential effects psychoactives can have) to reduce legal liability.

Let's supposed a drug has a 1 in 100,000 chance of causing a specific effect.
Chances of that showing up in clinical trials are so low that it's safest to assume they don't appear in the trials.
But when you start selling that drug, you're not really doing your job unless you're selling it to at least 100,000 people, right?
Guess what, now that specific effect, that was NOT apparent in the trials just happened.
You sold it to 10,000,000 people? Now there's probably about 100 people with that specific effect, and if it's a particularly bad one you might have a class action on your hands...

So what happens in reality, is that any drug that's psychoactive will list all the potential side effects known that can occur from messing with brain chemistry. ALL of them.
Because your drug will have at least a couple 1 in 100,000 side effects.
Probably a ton of 1 in 1,000's, and heck, there might be 1 in 100's that didn't show up in the trials too!

The list on the box is a huge 'cover our arse', it's often not indicative of actual likely side effects.

Given that ASD's are around the 1 in 100 rate in the population, the effects are already less predictable, let alone able to account for the "rare reaction" cases.

Start low, be cautious, evaluate the effects and benefits of each drug as they apply to you, personally.

I take zoloft which is an anti-depresant that also helps with OCD, which I have.
Prozac was a nightmare...it goes into its halflife very suddenly. If you dont take it right on time, not 2-3 hours later, you get hit with this wall of utter dispair (sp) that comes out of nowhere. It like a pretty sunny day, then all the sudden tornado clouds roll in out of nowhere.

I was taking prozac very shortly, but while I was taking it, I was late for my meds by a few hours. My dad came into the garage where I was working and b**ching as he usually did at me. (in my teens, it was the only way he would comunicate to me.)
Well all the sudden, I had this overpowering urge to kill myself. It was so strong that I had to force myself to sit in one place and not move till it passed, which took 15 minutes. It was like something was trying to take over me and make me kill myself. After that, I was weaned off of it by my doctor. (this was long before the black box label)
As for my depression, it helped alittle, but its risks far outweigh the benefits.

I was later put on zoloft which I have had very few side effects with, mostly drowsiness, so I take it at night.

I tried paxil for about 2 years and it never worked for me...and I was depressed all the time, but did make me super sleepy all the time too. In fact, I was diagnosed with that sleep disorder where you fall asleep randomly during the day, but it went away as soon as I quit taking paxil. Later, I found out that Paxil causes a depletion of meletonin...which regulates sleep/awake cycles.

seroquil was a disaster...I started to halucinate on that.....some green elf running across my dorm room

My best advice to you is while you are taking any new drug, expecially psych drugs, if you notice any new issue, mental or physical...it is best to assume that is caused by the drug.

However in your case, from what you describe, your depression seems more situational rather than purely chemical, so anti-depressants will give limited relief, maybe enough to help you cope better, but will not be a cure all.


As for a compromise, you could live in a big city like New York that has a Chinatown...then comute to a university in the city.
You could at least do that while you are in school, so you can be around Asians while still being in the US.

You could then move to China after you graduate.

As far as relating to your experience with Asians, well being female and Bi...I never met any lesbian or Bi Asian women, and I find many Asian men to have a superiority complex when it comes to women, alot of that I understand is cultural.
However, I have met a few Asian men that I liked while in art school.

I do find that Asians are culturally less likely regard eye contact as important as westerners do. That may also be why you feel more comfortable with them. I do like the Chinese sense of humor, they can be very playfully cheezy. Pac-man was a chinese character, shows the playfulness that I like about them.

I did find that I got along best with African forgien students while I was in school, exspecally Kenyans and Nigerians.
To me, they are very warm, soulful, and down to earth people. My experience with them in 2 different schools was totally different than how the American media portrays them. Family and community is the most important part of their lives. At first, I could not understand how what their family wanted them to do was more important than what they wanted to do with their lives, but as I listened, I learned a different point of view than American individualism, they taught me alot.

Jojo

There have been times when I have gotten stoned rather than acting on suicidal thoughts, I think getting stoned was the better option...so if anything it can reduce the motivation for suicide and the depressed feelings.

Actually there are receptors for cannabanoids.

Think I misread the post I responded to.

But I have seen on the very television ads for anti-d's saying up to 35% have thoughts of suicide!

It certainly does reduce motivation, which is in fact the defining characteristic of depression.

Don't confuse sad with depressed. They are not the same thing.

There's a reason manic people are more likely to successfully commit suicide.
Because they're more likely to act on suicidal thoughts.

Pot is used by a lot of people to avoid suicidal ideation, but it does NOT avoid depression.


I never said there weren't any, I said they weren't specifically there for the purpose of the active ingredients of pot.
Of course there are receptors, because if there were not, then it would have no psychoactive properties!

That's the point, that drawing a distinction between artificially introduced cannabinoids and other artificially introduced psychoactives (such as anti-depressants) is not a valid distinction.

The body produces many things to activate many receptors, and cannabinoid receptors exist because our bodies produce such activators; see Endocannabinoids

Those receptors are NOT there specifically to use pot, as though it's some natural feature of our physiology!
Introducing pot into your body is NOT intrinsically more natural than introducing any other psychoactive, such as anti-depressants or anti-psychotics.

In fact, that's how a great many drugs WORK.
The contraceptive pill has artificial estrogens in it, they bind to estrogen receptors.
It would be wrong to argue that those receptors are there for the active ingredients of the pill though.
They are there because we produce estrogens, and some other substance just happens to trigger them. Some researcher discovered that, put it in a pill and started selling it because it's useful.

If our bodies didn't have cannabinoid receptors, then pot would be just another plant no one would have noticed... Well other than making strong fabrics out of!
If our bodies didn't have various serotonin, dopamine, etc, etc receptors, than anti-depressants wouldn't work, so we wouldn't be using them.

Just you be careful with antidepressants. They can make you worse and cause side effects. Not only that but they can be addictive in their own right too.

Yes reduction of motivation does have it's purposes, funny thing is it seems to increase my motivation to do things like my laundry, cleaning the room at my moms house I am living in and helping out with cleaning at my friends house.......but yeah it does slow me down which allows me to relax and think about things.......otherwise I am usually anxious just about 24/7.

And what makes you think I was confusing depression for sadness? I made it to abnormal psychology which means I probably know the difference. I get sad sometimes and I always have depression.......and the difference is. Sadness is a natural response to something that makes you feel sad, Depression is a mental disorder in which you constantly feel sad/depressed for not particular cause or something to that effect.

You are right I cannot avoid depression with cannabis......but it does decrease a lot of the symptoms, and I do enjoy the high but that is not all its about for me. At least cannabanoids are natural artificially introduced substances. Also the receptors are not nessisarly for cannabanoids that come from cannabis but the cannabanoids do fit the receptors. I also know how drugs work for the most part.....especially the ones to treat psychological disorders as those are the ones I learned about in psychology.

It has that effect on me too actually, I get all the more mundane tasks completed but I won't even go near doing anything more!


I was referring to where you mentioned 'acting on suicidal thoughts' which I assumed would have had a cause.
Poorly worded replies from me are poorly worded! :p

My intended point was regarding depression not being directly linked with suicidal ideation, and the implied link in that smoking pot was a response to such (as you were replying to someone saying anti-depressants are linked to suicidal thoughts).


The natural nature of something doesn't really mean much in terms of whether it's good/bad etc.

There are plenty of (fairly) safe natural things, pot is a good example of probably one of the safest naturally occurring psychoactives; but there are just as many not-so-safe naturally occurring things too, and that's without considering allergies.
Likewise, artificial things can be safe or unsafe, good or bad, etc.

So it being natural isn't relevant at all, except when people are trying to argue that natural = good, or natural = safe; which isn't a valid argument.

Talk about the specific things.

Pot is pretty safe, but it will not help alleviate depression. It can help with anxiety, but does so at the cost of motivation and (for many) concentration and judgement.


Correlation and causation are always misrepresented in such things.
I'd say too that the number of people seeking anti-depressants were more likely to be having suicidal thoughts to begin with.
What came first?
My understanding is that in many bi-polar people, SSRI's can heighten manias, thus increasing risk of successful suicide.

If you're looking for something that will help relieve depressive symptoms, anxiety, hyper-responsive emotionality, etc you are far better off trying an anti-depressant.
Because IF you find one that works for YOU, and that gives a side-effect profile that you're happy with, then it will do so easier, and without as many issues as pot.

For some, Prozac is very effective at this. For others it's not. For others is really really bad.
That's why you start on a very small dose and wait to see if you have side effects, then move to a therapeutic dose.

Well when you're depressed it is not uncommon for it to get so bad some days you feel the only option is to act on suicidal thoughts....at least that is how it is with me. That is the trouble it does not have to have a direct cause my mental state is just sometimes so bad suicide starts looking better and better. So what do I do when think about actually ending it.....smoke a bowl instead. I don't recommend it for everyone but it helped me that's for sure.

I know there are very dangerous natural substances...such as datura, though I find the 3 day trip pretty intresting though I pretty much did that with sleep deprivation before......but anyways a lot of times the natural form of things is better than the synthetic. but you're right something being natural does not make it safe any more than something being legal or prescirbed does not make it safe.

Also based on my own experiance and studies they have done cannabis can alliviate depression......also I have no motivation when I am feeling severely depressed, smoking cannabis if anything helps my motivation because it makes me feel better and more relaxed which also=no random back pain, musle cramps or aches from being super tense like I usually am so then I can do more.

Different drugs effect different people differently, like prozac just about made me psychotic and they wanted me to take them for another week before making my decision.....I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I had continued taking them for that week hearing things such as people whispering about me when there is nothing to hear is not something I wanted to get used to so I threw them away. As for concentration I always have so many thoughts going through my mind many of them rather negitive as I am anxious so I am always thinking about different senerios that could happen and how to react and basically I always have so much going on in my mind it's hard to concentrate.......the cannabis slows that all down so I can actually take in more from my surroundings and thus concentrate better.

Ok well after reading various posts about Prozac...I can already tell its not for me. I am not very organized when it comes to taking meds at a certain time everyday because I have a habit of staying up really late sometimes due to being a night owl, which means my sleeping schedule is constantly changing. I know this aids to depression, but I love the night too much and I have always been this way. I already have vivid(lucid) dreams more often than the average person without the help of Prozac...and the idea that I need to keep taking it to feel better bothers me. I feel so stupid for spending what little money I have on a 30-day container of it. I don't think I will be taking it at all to be honest. Especially knowing that when I was living in Asia, I was happy! I used to smoke pot all the time between the ages of 18 and about 25 and yes I liked pot because it made me feel really relaxed, unless I smoked too much, which has happened on many occasions. There were a few times when the pot might have been laced because one time I had a mental breakdown and panic attack and the other time I got so high I was out of touch with my body it was weird. I felt like my body wasn't a part of me and I was just inside it. Aside from those 2 experiences, pot has worked wonders for me. Unlike most people, I would usually be more productive and motivated on pot because I would stop sitting around feeling self-pity and stupid thoughts like that when I was high, which allowed me to focus more on other things. The least productive things I would do when I was high were playing video games and playing guitar for hours on end. The pot nowadays seems too strong. I miss when you could actually smoke a bowl. With the stuff today, you smoke a bowl, you would most likely end up way too high to even leave your house, which I hate. I tried this chronic that my friend had a few month ago and I literally took one hit...just one and I was high for like 8 hours...now that is not fun at all and it is just plain ridiculous. It went from puff-puff pass to puff-pass-done.

Well I have to disagree that playing guitar is non-productive.

Well in my mind I think it is...but apparently some people I know and live with don't seem to share the same sentiment. They do tell me that I am talented, but I guess they think that my social skills aren't good enough to ever get famous or make a career out of being a musician. It is sad because that is my dream in life, but I will probably remain a bedroom musicians my whole life. The furthest I would go in the future would probably be through posting my songs onto youtube for the world to listen to(after copyrighting them of course) and just see what happens. I have seen people who completely suck at writing songs and for some reason, they have become internet sensations.

The importance of taking a medication at specific times is inversely proportional to its biological half-life.
The quicker it's processed by the body, the more import it is to take it at the right times to prevent spikes and dips.

Prozac has a very long half life, taking it the same time every day is completely unimportant except for routine/habit formation.
I sometimes take mine as early as 6am, and other times as late as 3pm.

What will matter is whether the immediately processing of it effects you, as it can affect sleep if your digestive system is still dealing with it, thus why you should take it in the morning if possible.
Its intended effects are long term, though and will not be upset by an irregular schedule.