Prozac

[adelia]

Anyone take it? Did it help? Anyone stop taking it? What happened? I need feedback before I decide to try it. Thnks

[Divasu]

An antidepressant does not work the same for each person (IE: each person's brain chemistry is unique and may not respond to the same medication, the way others have).

 

I believe Prozac is one of the most commonly prescribed medications on the market.

 

What are you taking it for, if you don't mind me asking? IE: Do you have a history of depression, does it run in your family, is it situational, etc.

[calgary]

i'm taking it, it really helps. I don't think about my ex half as much as I used to or get upset about my life even though things aren't the way i'd like them to be. i'm on 20mg daily. I have a lot of bad things going on. the thing that messes with my head is, that I take a pill and I stop caring about all the things I used to care about. they were the reason I was depressed. now i'm just happy being a loser if that makes sense?

[DannyMason]

I've never tried Prozac, but I had great success with Wellbutrin XL for my own very long lasting and severe depression.

[FitChick]

I'd look for forums where people discuss these medications. I'm sure there are a few shills from BigPharma but you should be able to spot them. You have to be very careful. You can wind up more depressed the longer you take some of them and some of them you have to take for life because if you go cold turkey you could wind up in the nuthouse or shooting up a school.

 

If you have health insurance, have blood tests to determine your Vitamin D level. Low Vitamin D3 causes a lot of depression. If fact, most people have low levels so it can't hurt you to take 1000 IUs of it. I buy mine at Trader Joe's. Have a hormone panel taken as well since unbalanced hormones can be a cause of an unbalanced mind. Low thyroid level can cause depression so have that tested as well.

 

Start being physically active, especially outside if you can for the sunshine. Do you have a bike? Exercise elevates my mood.

 

Eliminate sugar and processed foods as much as possible from your diet. Google "foods for depression" and "foods for anxiety." Easy to incorporate into your diet.

 

Taking the easy way out by popping a pill will likely cause more problems later. Not to mention the added expense.

 

There will be people who say taking drugs changed their life and they are much happier. Well, maybe they would have been happier doing other things, even shooting heroin!

 

Everyone has problems. No one is happy all the time. That's the human condition.

[Divasu]

Where did the OP go?

[Mack05]

Anyone take it? Did it help? Anyone stop taking it? What happened? I need feedback before I decide to try it. Thnks

 

You know I love yeah ya Ad.

 

This is just my opinion (I will never claim to be a medical expert) so feel free to ignore. For me this stuff is a no no. It's just a mask to cover the cracks. Ok short term is good, but in the long term bigger cracks appear.

 

Have you looked at St John's Wort? Herbal supplement which is far better for you.

[DannyMason]

I'd look for forums where people discuss these medications. I'm sure there are a few shills from BigPharma but you should be able to spot them. You have to be very careful. You can wind up more depressed the longer you take some of them and some of them you have to take for life because if you go cold turkey you could wind up in the nuthouse or shooting up a school.

 

Haha, not to shill for Big Pharma but I might have gone over the deep end and shot up my school if not for the antidepressants. And yes, when I quit, I had quit cold turkey.

Edited April 2, 2013 by DannyMason
typo

[Feelin Frisky]

St. John's Wart is for Wiccan crones to pour into cauldrons with eye of knute when the moon is Nye. If your doctor is prescribing you Prozac, I can say, as I've said before it has served me very well for 20 years. If your brain chemistry or the bioelectrical apparatus around it are impert just like most people's although some will deny it and suffer until their last breath. No medicine is a cure for the condition but it acts much as a cure if you keep taking it. Whatever the problem is, it will go back to what it was. That's just truth with every antidepressant med. I find it transparent--it doesn't not bother me and I don't feel it. I did however feel some tenseness in the first three months that eventually went away. What it does for me is it helps me sort out my emotions from my intellect and helps me think faster than I feel. If you feel faster than you think, you are stuck with those feeling for a while until they subside. I hate to be angry or have my feelings run my life. So, Prozac allows me to turn the tables and think a tad faster than I feel, so I can decide what to feel and how much. This it helped me cease being shy, which is a great thing.

 

Please don't take the advice of non-professional who tell you to avoid real medicine. Listen to your doctor and work diligently with him or her. These other over the counter things are mostly toxins that are not effective.

[adelia]

Thnks for the feedback. I'd like to try natural first and if that route doesn't work I may try the Prozac in a mild dosage. I'll ask my doctor about st johns wart hopefully he is up on the naturopath side of things. My biggest fear is starting on a medication and not being able to stoptaking it if I so decide. Or it changing who I am in a negative way. Not feeling emotions I used to. I think that's a great idea looking into forums that discuss these meds and reading up on them further.

[Feelin Frisky]

Thnks for the feedback. I'd like to try natural first and if that route doesn't work I may try the Prozac in a mild dosage. I'll ask my doctor about st johns wart hopefully he is up on the naturopath side of things. My biggest fear is starting on a medication and not being able to stoptaking it if I so decide. Or it changing who I am in a negative way. Not feeling emotions I used to. I think that's a great idea looking into forums that discuss these meds and reading up on them further.

 

 

The so-called "natural" way is a marketing ploy to make things seem benign and preferable those with scary big words like scientific, USDA approved, and used successfully by hundreds of millions of people whom have spent hundreds of billions of dollars with a quarter-century of case study to show the rarity of anything going wrong. The so-called "natural" remedies are unregulated which means you can never be sure of the quality or potency between one brand and the other, you can get crooks who will put tea in there to make a buck. These can be manufactured in countries who have no standards or inspections. They can be made of animal products. None of these are medicines--they are strictly herbal mixtures which are toxins which may have drug-like properties but effectively poison your glands in either small or big ways because they were not engineered by scientists to work selectively only on the problem and not casually spill over into other things which may prove harmful or fatal. The first letter in SSRI of which Prozac is selective (as in selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

 

Do you see the warnings on meds of all kinds on TV, some of which can sound frightening? Well if herbals were regulated those lists would be twice as long. I sympathize with the want to simply drink carrot juice and find that that fixes you forever. But as a person who knows the ins and outs of mild depression called dysthymia and has treated it for 23 years I can tell you that you need to understand that your brain chemistry and the electrical micro-neurology that determine your "feelings" are very very subtle and are what they are. You can't drink a smoothie and consider them fixed.

 

You have to reflect very deeply very often about your own impulses--the things which make your feelings and how you cope with those impulses and feelings. For one thing if an herbal preparation contains any kind of tranquilizing agent, it will make it that much more difficult for you to perceive much less measure any improvement. I once bought a bottle from a reputable store for "Nature's natural relaxant". How could you go wrong? It said nature twice in the title. Well not everyone's system responds the same way. Instead of boosting my supply of an important transmitter, the abundance cause by me taking one a day told my system to stop producing its own. One day I stopped taking the supplement and I began months of panic attacks, sleeplessness and general anxiety disorder. And I am not inclined whatsoever to be afraid of anything. This panic happened only when asleep and was so upsetting to the stomach, I could not get back to sleep. Just a few days of sleep deprivation is enough to keep you in the house and all balled up in a mess. Though I became addicted to XANAX because of this, I realized through research what I had done and I needed months of gabapentin, Valium and buspar as well as Prozac to recover. I could have killed myself, went jail, hurt some else, all because the word "natural" appealed to me.

 

If you want to waste time rolling the dice with things you can't be sure are measured and manufactured precisely where you can gauge from day to day how may times you choose to let something that could bother you go or how well you like the self you're becoming, then go ahead, gamble your future on some unregulated companies claim. But I'll consider my duty of answering your call for knowledge done. Good luck--it's often cheaper to do the right thing than to create problems and pay double to fix them if you can.

[adelia]

thnks you make a good point. the way you described how your thinking pricess is faster from your emotional i get. its nice when you have time to seperate the two and not just be engulfed in the emotion. on the flipside i dont want to be unfeeling or numb id rather be depressed.

have you had any side effects from the prozac and what about weight gain?

thnks again

 

 

The so-called "natural" way is a marketing ploy to make things seem benign and preferable those with scary big words like scientific, USDA approved, and used successfully by hundreds of millions of people whom have spent hundreds of billions of dollars with a quarter-century of case study to show the rarity of anything going wrong. The so-called "natural" remedies are unregulated which means you can never be sure of the quality or potency between one brand and the other, you can get crooks who will put tea in there to make a buck. These can be manufactured in countries who have no standards or inspections. They can be made of animal products. None of these are medicines--they are strictly herbal mixtures which are toxins which may have drug-like properties but effectively poison your glands in either small or big ways because they were not engineered by scientists to work selectively only on the problem and not casually spill over into other things which may prove harmful or fatal. The first letter in SSRI of which Prozac is selective (as in selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

 

Do you see the warnings on meds of all kinds on TV, some of which can sound frightening? Well if herbals were regulated those lists would be twice as long. I sympathize with the want to simply drink carrot juice and find that that fixes you forever. But as a person who knows the ins and outs of mild depression called dysthymia and has treated it for 23 years I can tell you that you need to understand that your brain chemistry and the electrical micro-neurology that determine your "feelings" are very very subtle and are what they are. You can't drink a smoothie and consider them fixed.

 

You have to reflect very deeply very often about your own impulses--the things which make your feelings and how you cope with those impulses and feelings. For one thing if an herbal preparation contains any kind of tranquilizing agent, it will make it that much more difficult for you to perceive much less measure any improvement. I once bought a bottle from a reputable store for "Nature's natural relaxant". How could you go wrong? It said nature twice in the title. Well not everyone's system responds the same way. Instead of boosting my supply of an important transmitter, the abundance cause by me taking one a day told my system to stop producing its own. One day I stopped taking the supplement and I began months of panic attacks, sleeplessness and general anxiety disorder. And I am not inclined whatsoever to be afraid of anything. This panic happened only when asleep and was so upsetting to the stomach, I could not get back to sleep. Just a few days of sleep deprivation is enough to keep you in the house and all balled up in a mess. Though I became addicted to XANAX because of this, I realized through research what I had done and I needed months of gabapentin, Valium and buspar as well as Prozac to recover. I could have killed myself, went jail, hurt some else, all because the word "natural" appealed to me.

 

If you want to waste time rolling the dice with things you can't be sure are measured and manufactured precisely where you can gauge from day to day how may times you choose to let something that could bother you go or how well you like the self you're becoming, then go ahead, gamble your future on some unregulated companies claim. But I'll consider my duty of answering your call for knowledge done. Good luck--it's often cheaper to do the right thing than to create problems and pay double to fix them if you can.

[adelia]

An antidepressant does not work the same for each person (IE: each person's brain chemistry is unique and may not respond to the same medication, the way others have).

 

I believe Prozac is one of the most commonly prescribed medications on the market.

 

What are you taking it for, if you don't mind me asking? IE: Do you have a history of depression, does it run in your family, is it situational, etc.

 

hi sorry for the delay

i have had a family member with bipolar but no depression that i know of. for years ive had mild depression and just lived with it. i find though that when difficult situations arise it makes it worse. its so hard to know how to gauge it. severe is obvious not getting out if bed suicidal etc which i am not. am i mild or medium depression no clue.

[skydiveaddict]

Anyone take it? Did it help? Anyone stop taking it? What happened? I need feedback before I decide to try it. Thnks

 

Prozac worked great for me. But it's not the same for everyone. Whether or not it works for you doesn't matter. If it doesn't, there is a medication out there that will.

[Divasu]

hi sorry for the delay

i have had a family member with bipolar but no depression that i know of. for years ive had mild depression and just lived with it. i find though that when difficult situations arise it makes it worse. its so hard to know how to gauge it. severe is obvious not getting out if bed suicidal etc which i am not. am i mild or medium depression no clue.

 

It's okay. Just wondered if you were okay.

 

Based on what you wrote, depression does run in your family (Bipolar is depression, it's called manic depression). I'm just curious if your doctor suggested Prozac and knows your full medical history, because that's very important.

 

Having said that, I know someone who takes it for OCD (Obsessive-compulsive disorder). She didn't have symptoms of depression, but she is an A Type personality where everything has to be perfect and clean and she works excessively to the point of exhaustion. Since she has been on it, she'll let the little things fly (like not cleaning the house 24/7, I mean if a crumb dropped on the floor she would be on the floor cleaning it for an hour).

 

I know another person who took it for depression, and the side effects were too much for her to handle. Some of the side effects can include suicidal thoughts, that's why it's important to make sure you're being properly treated by a medical professional and your medical history (including family history) is taken into account because each person's brain chemistry is different and responds differently.

 

Here is a good link to help you gauge where you are in terms of your symptoms:

Depression: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

 

Try to continue speaking with your doctor on what course of action is best suited for you.

[Feelin Frisky]

thnks you make a good point. the way you described how your thinking pricess is faster from your emotional i get. its nice when you have time to seperate the two and not just be engulfed in the emotion. on the flipside i dont want to be unfeeling or numb id rather be depressed.

have you had any side effects from the prozac and what about weight gain?

thnks again

 

Hi adelia,

 

Prozac hasn't caused weight gain for me. If anything it helps me with weight loss because when I feel less depressed and less out of sorts, I exercise more, get more oxygenation into my brain, and eat less "pleasure foods". There are two ways at looking at your mental wellness or you patterns of feelings--one is how you feel in that moment, and the other is how well or how poorly you think you've been dealing with the many feelings you have as the knocks of day to day life take their toll i.e. your state of mental wellness. The SSRI meds are not for the first way of looking at feelings--the feelings of the moment. And they are neither a "happiness pill" or an "emotional flat line" pill that takes away positive or negative feelings. They won't "fix" and probably won't even help if you use them that way. They are a therapy for the second way of treating your longer term states of mind and whether you're pleased and proud of your ability to deal with things or know in your heart of hearts that you don't react well, often get sullen, hold grudges, walk around reliving things that upset you, get "depressed". People who live like that often take to alcohol, pleasure eating, recreational drugs, and other instant pleasures. I have been there. In fact I would never have been able to express myself the way I have had my medication not helped give me the clarity to build my reason upon--to clearly see the lines. If it took away my feelings, why would I care to try to help you?

 

Do I still love? You bet. Am I an emotionless zombie? Not in the least. Can I still be angry and sad? Of course. But I don't just dwell on negatives anymore to the point where I can say my state of mental wellness is poor and I dislike myself. I have discipline that has probably extended my life. And I never regretted the day I chose to start researching medicine for depression and feelings and getting the appointment with the doctor to start treatment. Remember, it's subtle and it's about looking at yourself in bigger periods than how you feel in the moment. You can take Prozac and certainly still have things that please and elate you or piss you off in those moments. Your goal is to give yourself the power to let the garbage go rather than have it eat at you and to learn how and where the garbage we hang on to resides and how to say good bye to it. Those instructions don't come on a bottle of milk thistle or St. John's Wart.

[adelia]

Thnks so much for sharing your experience you've convinced me to set an appointment up with my doctor and discuss the prescription. The way you described how you deal with things now that you've taken the meds really makes sense and is promising. I'm a dwellerand tend to go in circles rethinking things and bring myself down. I'm not looking for a quick fix just a boost so I can deal with things a bit better and work on areas of my life

 

Hi adelia,

 

Prozac hasn't caused weight gain for me. If anything it helps me with weight loss because when I feel less depressed and less out of sorts, I exercise more, get more oxygenation into my brain, and eat less "pleasure foods". There are two ways at looking at your mental wellness or you patterns of feelings--one is how you feel in that moment, and the other is how well or how poorly you think you've been dealing with the many feelings you have as the knocks of day to day life take their toll i.e. your state of mental wellness. The SSRI meds are not for the first way of looking at feelings--the feelings of the moment. And they are neither a "happiness pill" or an "emotional flat line" pill that takes away positive or negative feelings. They won't "fix" and probably won't even help if you use them that way. They are a therapy for the second way of treating your longer term states of mind and whether you're pleased and proud of your ability to deal with things or know in your heart of hearts that you don't react well, often get sullen, hold grudges, walk around reliving things that upset you, get "depressed". People who live like that often take to alcohol, pleasure eating, recreational drugs, and other instant pleasures. I have been there. In fact I would never have been able to express myself the way I have had my medication not helped give me the clarity to build my reason upon--to clearly see the lines. If it took away my feelings, why would I care to try to help you?

 

Do I still love? You bet. Am I an emotionless zombie? Not in the least. Can I still be angry and sad? Of course. But I don't just dwell on negatives anymore to the point where I can say my state of mental wellness is poor and I dislike myself. I have discipline that has probably extended my life. And I never regretted the day I chose to start researching medicine for depression and feelings and getting the appointment with the doctor to start treatment. Remember, it's subtle and it's about looking at yourself in bigger periods than how you feel in the moment. You can take Prozac and certainly still have things that please and elate you or piss you off in those moments. Your goal is to give yourself the power to let the garbage go rather than have it eat at you and to learn how and where the garbage we hang on to resides and how to say good bye to it. Those instructions don't come on a bottle of milk thistle or St. John's Wart.

[Feelin Frisky]

Thnks so much for sharing your experience you've convinced me to set an appointment up with my doctor and discuss the prescription. The way you described how you deal with things now that you've taken the meds really makes sense and is promising. I'm a dwellerand tend to go in circles rethinking things and bring myself down. I'm not looking for a quick fix just a boost so I can deal with things a bit better and work on areas of my life

 

Success!

 

Stay in touch. You'll need support and I do it for recreation, no strings attached. I think you have the kind of mind it can work for. There is no short-term answer for feeling a little depressed that doesn't involve rolling the dice with your pleasure centers of your brain--that's what people do, drink, snort, eat, gamble, take a tranquilizer, ball someone you don't know etc. And truly most of that stuff is what kills them. Bou if you find a way to think a little faster than you can feel, you create a long-term bubble of "wellness" around yourself. Yes, it may mean taking a medication but believing we are or should be perfect and hide the evidence if we are not is what the world has done for thousands of years, and we're no closer to perfection now than ever. Mastering one's imperfections is hard without help because you can't feel angry, lonely, hungry and tired AND ALSO be 100% objective and discerning and lucid all at the same time. We're inside nature--not above it. We need to just embrace that we're imperfect and can help our selves in the long term by keeping an eye on how well we are behaving and feeling from day to day.

I didn't like my behavior and I new my impulse to share my complaints with people would turn them away from me. It's a fair assumption, I know I don't like to have lunch with someone who does nothing else but gripe.

[FitChick]

Side effects of prozac listed here.

 

A book you might want to read is Overdo$ed America, about the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA. Written by a doctor who had access to research that most never see. Fascinating! Here is his website with lots of articles and information.

[adelia]

Thnks I will keep updated on here I have my appointment next week. I'll discuss Prozac in depth and learn about the dosage he prescribed and more information.

You're right sometimes we need a little help in life and if done properly it can be a good thing not something to look down on. My biggest issue was feeling I could and should deal with it on my own because it's never been severe. The fact is it's been there for years and flares up depending on what's going on.

By the way I think it's ok to "complain" to those who care about you. I know what you're saying though. People who truly care will listen with no strings attached

 

 

Success!

 

Stay in touch. You'll need support and I do it for recreation, no strings attached. I think you have the kind of mind it can work for. There is no short-term answer for feeling a little depressed that doesn't involve rolling the dice with your pleasure centers of your brain--that's what people do, drink, snort, eat, gamble, take a tranquilizer, ball someone you don't know etc. And truly most of that stuff is what kills them. Bou if you find a way to think a little faster than you can feel, you create a long-term bubble of "wellness" around yourself. Yes, it may mean taking a medication but believing we are or should be perfect and hide the evidence if we are not is what the world has done for thousands of years, and we're no closer to perfection now than ever. Mastering one's imperfections is hard without help because you can't feel angry, lonely, hungry and tired AND ALSO be 100% objective and discerning and lucid all at the same time. We're inside nature--not above it. We need to just embrace that we're imperfect and can help our selves in the long term by keeping an eye on how well we are behaving and feeling from day to day.

I didn't like my behavior and I new my impulse to share my complaints with people would turn them away from me. It's a fair assumption, I know I don't like to have lunch with someone who does nothing else but gripe.

[adelia]

Side effects of prozac listed here.

 

A book you might want to read is Overdo$ed America, about the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA. Written by a doctor who had access to research that most never see. Fascinating! Here is his website with lots of articles and information.

 

Thnks for this info I'll be looking it up!

[Feelin Frisky]

Biased propaganda from a biased person likely not experienced except using themselves as the standard for what everyone else should be capable of. Seen it before.

[adelia]

Just an update. I went to my physician last week and she said to try the st johns wort. I'm now day two and notice incredible changes. Not only has the depression lifted quite a bit but I have more energy. It could be the energy is a result of not feeling as down. I'll wait and see how long it lasts in case it's just coincidental but so far it seems to be working. I'm taking three a day.

[Treasa]

St. John's Wart is for Wiccan crones to pour into cauldrons with eye of knute when the moon is Nye. If your doctor is prescribing you Prozac, I can say, as I've said before it has served me very well for 20 years. If your brain chemistry or the bioelectrical apparatus around it are impert just like most people's although some will deny it and suffer until their last breath. No medicine is a cure for the condition but it acts much as a cure if you keep taking it. Whatever the problem is, it will go back to what it was. That's just truth with every antidepressant med. I find it transparent--it doesn't not bother me and I don't feel it. I did however feel some tenseness in the first three months that eventually went away. What it does for me is it helps me sort out my emotions from my intellect and helps me think faster than I feel. If you feel faster than you think, you are stuck with those feeling for a while until they subside. I hate to be angry or have my feelings run my life. So, Prozac allows me to turn the tables and think a tad faster than I feel, so I can decide what to feel and how much. This it helped me cease being shy, which is a great thing.

 

Please don't take the advice of non-professional who tell you to avoid real medicine. Listen to your doctor and work diligently with him or her. These other over the counter things are mostly toxins that are not effective.

 

I love it whenever Feelin Frisky posts on this, because it saves me a few minutes of typing.

 

I've been on Prozac and Wellbutrin for two years. It hasn't made me emotionless. It hasn't decreased my personal sex drive. Actually, I'm hornier than ever.

 

What it HAS done is make me more even keeled, more calm, and better able to make decisions. I'm actually very lively and pleasant, and I do still get angry or sad at times, but they're at appropriate times and within appropriate measures, unlike before when I was crying all day, every day, for absolutely no reason.

 

I'm not going off Prozac because I feel better. Of course I feel better. It's because the Prozac is providing me with a stable base.

 

Don't listen to others. Every experience varies. This should be between you and your doctor.