Share your stories: Prozac

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I used an SSRI for a period of about a year, not branded Prozac by Seroxat.
Noted the loss of libido for a while.
Made a gradual withdrawal under my GP's supervision, being vigilant for any mood crash.

This is very good reading, Is. I understand it completely. I’ve looked at my situation, and I was always generally positive thinking prior to the prozac. I went on it due to circumstances that brought me to my knees. I did try coming off it about 8 months ago, but having felt those same negative emotions flooding back, I realised, that for me, it’s about getting from A to B in this life in one piece. I’m able to enjoy life now, and feel invincible, and its working... though I’m very aware, that it’s placing a band-aid on an injury.

I can’t begin to imagine taking prozac as a pre-teen. So sorry to hear that you were so depressed, that it was viewed that a drug was needed to help you get through your days, when so young. I would be thinking along the lines of changing your environment, your school situation etc. Thanks for sharing this experience.

^^
No worries! I'll be on pmeds for the rest of my life too, because of CPTSD. There is no shame in needing support if it brings you peace. This is the first time in ten years I haven't been on SSRI of some sort but my ADHD meds and Prazosin seem to do the trick for now. I still take anxiety meds when needed, but not daily.

If I need SSRI again I will go back to 25 mg Zoloft or 5-10 mg Trintellix, because they're tested and true.

I'm glad your Prozac has levelled off and that it's helping you!

Good luck!

Thanks for your input, Rowan. Curious, were you then put on an alternative drug, or did you cope in other ways or go on to manage okay without assistance?

Thanks, Is. You too. Really appreciate your feedback.

Thanks for your concern but I don't think he would consider it for a moment. He's tanked up, larger than life and having a blast. Before the prozac he was into MDMA and booze. Last summer when I saw him at my sister's, visiting the grandchildren he was micro dosing LSD. Thankfully he's given up drinking and loves it and only smoking a few ciggies every day. Haha, he's 72 and had a stroke 5 years ago. He's still good company for superficial fun and he's popular with his friends. It's just the way it is.

He needs something, if it wasn't the prozac, he would be self medicating. I don't mean to be judgemental about it but I'd go easy on it.

Ah ... understood. Thanks for explaining.

I was prescribed Prozac right before the whole pandemic started, but the bottle's been sitting in my cabinet for a few months now. I'm an overall paranoid person so I just know I'm going to interpret any physical side effects I might have as coronavirus So I guess I'm waiting for the pandemic to be over before I give it a try.

I took fluoxetine (prozac) for a little over a year. It worked for about a month which I suspect was probably the placebo effect. I also found it quite difficult to remember to take it because it was in the morning.

I’m now on mirtazapine which isn’t a silver bullet but does have a few advantages: it is taken at night rather than the morning, and it helps with sleep.

I think anti-SSRI hysteria is bad for society. There is clear evidence that they work, but it can be difficult to find the right dose or the exact right drug for a given person. I wish I’d been put on them much earlier rather than being given useless stuff.

Maybe half of all healing is psychosomatic. The mind can sometimes overcome amazing odds. No matter how effective drugs are, confidence is a huge asset. I don't think we have a hope of obtaining accurate information as long as drugs are made for profit. Corporations have no morality, and their most preferred outcome is a long-lived unthinking patient totally dependent on expensive products. Most research data is discarded, with marketing selecting what to keep. The long procedure of trying various compounds and dosages is not much different than hiccup cures. None of them work except to amuse the onlookers, but the one in use when the hiccups stop on their own gets the credit. If you are taking pills, you are not only open to change, but expecting it. If you are not taking pills, you may be feeling stuck, and that prevents change unless you find hope elsewhere.

Meditation is also effective for anxiety, and it is easily described. However, we find many teachers with lots of disposable income because charging for the instruction gets people to pay more attention to it. Pushing pills works the same way. Simply charging more can increase effectiveness. Such business should only be done by producer co-ops and publicly funded universities, with full transparency.

i found the half life too short. the side effects were bad during the lead up to the next dose. had to stop it.

paroxetine is the worst ive ever taken. brutal side effects when withdrawing.

Hysteria is never good but a healthy scepticism is good.

Please post the proof? What Ive read has not been convincing at all. (eg barely more effective than a placebo is not a good trade off for all the negative side effects)

I'm currently on it, but a smaller dose than I was on previously because we added in Cymbalta but I know it helped me a lot when I first started it. I've been taking it since 2011, I think. It's often hard for me to decipher which medications I'm on are helping and which aren't because I'm currently on five different psychiatric meds.

There are now blood tests to measure a person's serotonin / dopamine levels, and the tests can identify which SSRI / SNRI would work best with your body chemistry. I didn't have the test myself but I know people who have, and it worked well. They did comparison blood tests to compare their serotonin / dopamine levels after taking the meds, and correlated this with biorhythm data to adjust the dosage.

now this is interesting topic for me. as i always hated taking pills other than for nutritional deficientys
pardon spelling ,that i was able to try hit and miss until finding a good supplement s (yes a pill, ugh).
Had been through the gambit of all aforementioned meds . narrowing it down to one or 2 eventually
After experiences with Prozac and variety of SSRI s and the such . Finally was able to discern that . they almost seemed ittle more than placebos , please pardon my frankness here .
BUT selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors . Seemed counter productive. As the cause of the issue
was a lack of seratonin .. So in my own logical way . Started upping my intake of seratonin foods and supplements .. Seemed to help immensely at the time but reality does not go away..
please if you read this recognize your brain chemistry is a complex thing , and these people are playing hit a miss with meds. And if you miss with your chemistry it can cause issues , if you do decide to go supplement route and meds , please check PubMed website and with your doctor beforechanging your regimen . Good Health to All.