DOSE:

20 mg

oral

Pharms - Fluoxetine

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

45 kg

I was diagnosed with depression in December 2002, and given a prescription for Prozac for 9 months.

I took the Prozac between Dec 2002 and May 2003. It made me feel slightly 'disconnected', but I didn't think this was noticeable until my brother mentioned it one day. In general, the Prozac seemed to 'temper' my moods - it made me neither happy nor sad, rather 'indifferent' is a better word. I never got those moments of joy that should happen in a normal person, but I also had very few episodes of feeling 'low' for no reason.

However, when there was a particularly bad event, the Prozac seemed to make me feel worse than I ever had before. This happened on four or five occasions. At one point I found myself rationally thinking about the logistics of my own suicide. During these 'bad' turns (which always had an identifiable event as the catalyst) I became very violent. I lost all sense of consequences of my actions. I didn't care about my own personal safety or the safety of those around me.

I think that's a good way to sum up my experience of Prozac - it made me just not care about anything.

Some of the more unpleasant side effects were a decrease in sex drive and crap orgasms when I had them. I also got extremely itchy legs for some reason. I was constantly scratching, and at any one time had numerous patches of skin that were scabby or raw. I think this itching was the worst side effect, it was almost (but not quite) as bad as having a permanent poison ivy rash.

One day I just decided that I was not going to be dependent on Prozac any longer. I stopped it then and there, and have never touched the stuff again. Stopping Prozac was one of the best decisions of my life. I experienced absolutely no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever, aside for feeling more 'real'.

I want to emphasize that suicide ideation and bursts of violence (even in people without explosive natures) are very real side-effects of Prozac, despite Eli Lilly's claims to the contrary.

I think Prozac may be an appropriate drug for some people, but for me I know it was not. I will never take the stuff again, as for me at least I think it did more harm than good.

I have spoken with several psychiatrists and doctors about Prozac, all of whom had a generally positive view of it (but none of whom ever took it themselves). Many also did not seem to grasp the full extent of the violence and deep depression and suicide ideation that Prozac can set off.

Incidentally, I had a friend on 80mg fluoxetine a day who ended up killing himself - he was very depressed, but I partly blame the fluoxetine too.

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 48896
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 21, 2007	Views: 21,829
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Pharms - Fluoxetine (80) : Health Problems (27), Depression (15), Medical Use (47), Not Applicable (38)