Did fluoxetine worl for you? Prozac?

Question

I have been on celexa and lexapro... the lexapro eventually stopped working and I hit rock bottom... It was too expensive anyway... I just started fluoxetine on Saturday and I am kind of bummed out because most of the reviews I am finding are negative... I really don’t want to gain weight as a side effect. I really had high hopes for this drug and would like some honest feedback... also how long did it take to work? Details?

Answer 1

Prozac Studies suggested  8-10 Percent more likely to commit Suicides .  DON't take it!   Just get therapy, talk to people more about your thoughts, force yourself to smile and say hi to people walking down the street.  Being friendly to others, giving things to others- money or clothes to needy is the BEST way to make yourself feel good!

Answer 2

It's a very good but difficult question to answer.  I've not had experience with Fluoxetine personally, and as it was the first SSRI which came out circa 1984, later generations of SSRIs/NRIs started touting Prozac as being "dirty" with respect to receptor specificity, long half-life, and other criticisms, but despite this it was truly a breakthrough in Psychiatry and a welcome surragate for the "old" tricyclic anti-depressants.  As new,"more specific" agents came out claiming a better adverse effect profile, shorter half-time (prefered for compromised or elderly patients), were marketed heavily by Big Pharm companies.  Then you had this select group of patients who had untoward experiences with Prozac and became determined to demonize it.

Ironically, as agents became, supposedly, "superior" in receptor affinity and better side effect profile, Psychiatrists started finding that the novel agents (especially with shorter half-lives were frequently having withdrawal-type reactions following sudden cessation of the agent).  Thus, there was a sudden increase in prescriptions for fluoxetine as it seemed to work quite well for many patients with any number of disorders, it was available as a generic (more affordable, and had a longer half-life, making it a welcome surrogate to those agents associated with withdrawal.

In short, Prozac is a good medication.  Most people do well with it.  As with any medication, there are side effects (not nearly as bad as with the old tricyclic agents which were once used), and it may or not work for you.  Many people have done extremely well with it, some have even lost weight (as a bonus), but at this point it's really tough to say how you'll fair with it.  If your psychiatrist feels that it's appropriate, then you probably should take her/his advice with respect to switching to it.

Answer 3

Well I personally lost weight when i started it, as did my dad. I really didn't have any negative side affects. My nerves and depression got really under control in about a week, I already had a lexapro build up in my system as well so that helps smooth the transition. Hope this helps!