My Prozac Experience

When I tried Prozac, I was told, that it was having a "good" effect, by those who knew me. My own experience was a more subtle feeling than yours, things generally seemed more placid. But, like you, I had a side effect, more of the intestinal kind, for a month and so ended my excellent adventure.

I do feel the infinite, exquisite combinations taking place in our brains can be aided by the right substance; sometime the trade offs can't be made if, a workable drug can be found at all. I can't recommend any, I'm afraid, not so far. I wouldn't hesitate to try but that's a personal decision because I think everything we ingest affects us, though we can't always feel it.

There are very few one size fits all drugs around, and it seems like reactions, side effects, and whether a drug even works varies so with different people.  This would appear to mean that you have to try any drug yourself to find out just how it will work. For those of us who shy away from drugs in general, that makes it all the tougher.  It is good to learn all one can ahead, and one hopes that the prescribing doctor would caution folks on the side effects, but as I noted, these seem to vary so, that I wonder if even doctors know of them all...so...we get to all be mice... how nice. 

it is good these days that we have the internet to research those things we can understand.... and good to hear the experiences of others.... such as your article

I didn't realize you are currently not taking an antidepressant.  I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would take one, but I now do (starting at the age of 34) and it just seems to smooth things out.  I am less irritable and things that would give me anxiety before now only slightly bother me.  I went off mine (Lexapro) for about 9 months, and there was a bit of a difference in my temperament.  Not a huge change, but I was more easily aggravated and more emotional.  Even though mine is the lowest dose, it's enough to keep me more level-headed during an MS attack and while taking IV steroids. 

My side-effects on Lexapro are minimal: some dry-mouth in the morning and a craving for sweets (moderate.)  Surprisingly I have not gained any weight on it.  This is also a selective seretonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), so it might not work for you, but I've had no problems on it.  I think there is something out there for you-- if you are looking to try another antidepressant-- that WILL work correctly and bring you some relief.  I guess it's just trial and error. Good luck, Merely Me!

yes, yes, yes, that is what got me to stop taking welbutrin - feeling flat. i wasn't feeling down, i wasn't feeling up. i felt like all the edges had been sanded off. all emotion was flat. i wasn't depressed, but i wasn't really anything else either. i would rather experience everything - the highs and lows.

i also didn't like feeling medicated. i'd rather get to know my shadow, understand it, feel it, recognise it, and even enjoy it's company sometimes. it is only when my shadow envelopes me and doesn't let me go that i have a problem. i think it is important to know and feel every bit of me that i can.

Hi, I was on Cilift (SSRI) for about 3 years and then changed to Prozac in Feb of this year.  Must say, if it was not for the meds, I would surely not have been here anymore.  I read that Prozac is suppose to suppress appetite, but I seem to be gaining weight, no matter how little I eat.  Any advise on something that I can take that's not contra-indicated with Prozac?  Also, I agree with the flat-feeling.  I can't even remember what it feels like to 'feel good'.  The meds just help me to not feel so sad.  While on the Cilift, and going through a rough patch), I decided on my onw to half the dose.  That was a BIG mistake!  So, I have to say that my Prozac is definitely helping me...

Hello,

I've read your post about prozac, and I can say also that I too wonder what it would feel like to be on a working anti-depressant, I've had my feelings and bursts of joy blamed on a manic reaction before, only to be put on effesor and Abilify, and even adding Welbutrin to the mix.  I too think to myself my god, I'm 43, I've wasted, let go by, done nothing with, almost 10 long years of my life.  I'm afraid, I'm afraid of being alone, I mean all alone with no parents with me.  It really scares me thinking to myself when they go, I'll just follow along with a little help.  I can recall short bursts of joy coming from physical workouts, but don't have the mental motivation to go back to the gym.   i do notice a small difference over the past week, a very small one, but it's there.  I stopped ALL ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, all drugs except the Methadone for opiate addiction and the occasional trazadone for sleep, and I am or think I am starting to feel better, maybe, I think so.  All my mind does is go back to that time at Austen Riggs where with all these  psychoanalysts   around me NOT putting me on  meds but doing the opposite of taking ME OFF ALL MED"S and my actually feeling better in the long run.  Oh sometimes how I wish I could go back to Riggs, but thats just the adolescent in me wishing I could turn back time, to a better time, a happier time, a time in my life I hardly remember feeling at all.

Prozac didn't turn out to work well at all for me. It made me extremely restless, hyper, and irritable almost from the beginning, but I was still depressed. Now I know that I have bipolar disorder and that was one of my classic mixed mania episodes which was probably triggered by the Prozac, but at the time no one had a clue. One day after I'd been taking it for a few weeks, I slashed a huge gash in my wrist with a paint scraper because my ex wasn't home to help unload the groceries. Needless to say, the Prozac wasn't doing me any good, so I never took it again. I've never had any luck with the SSRI's, all of them making me slew from depression into some sort of mania or appearing to do nothing at all. 

Prozac was the first and the worst...gave me major anxiety attacks. After that I tried others and they all made me agitated, but I wasn't smart enough to not take them as it was the early days when docs insisted they were wonder drugs...instead I was given other drugs to get rid of the agitation and anxiety...one drug led to another...it was all a bad trip.

Now I've come off everything and I'm withdrawing from Klonopin at the tail end of my journey. Drugs were a mistake for me that I hope I recover from. The withdrawals have been hard on my body.