My Prozac Experience

By week two, however, there was more than mood changes to think about.  The Prozac would have a very interesting effect upon my body.  I began to have trouble with urination.  I would go to the bathroom but I found that I could not release all of my urine.  By the middle of week two on Prozac, I was in serious discomfort.  I went to see my gynecologist to see if this were a urinary tract infection.  It was not.  It was like having a full bladder all the time and the feeling of an elephant sitting on it with no relief.  I could not sleep from the pain and discomfort.  I went back the next day to my gynecologist demanding to know what was causing this and how to stop it.  When he could not give me any answers I went to my general practitioner.  He asked if I was taking any new medications.  The bells began to go off.  New symptoms and a new medication, the Prozac!  I called my neurologist to ask if Prozac could have this effect.  Of course she never answered my phone messages except to say days later to stop taking the Prozac.  I tapered myself off of it and miraculously the urinary problems ceased. 

Nobody told me that this could happen.  I suppose that with any medication there are always side effects we never can foresee.  This particular side effect was one that I never had anticipated but was severe enough to make me stop taking Prozac completely.  But for my son, he had experienced no such bad side effects thank goodness.

It just goes to show you that everyone has a different chemical make up regardless if you are biologically connected or not.  For some people, Prozac works wonderfully well.  And for others, it does not. 

I had taken the Prozac for less than three weeks total, not enough time for me to have made any judgments about it's effectiveness on my mood.  However I did continue to write in my diary about the changes taking place for as long as I was taking it. 

Here is another excerpt from my Prozac diary:

"The sluggishness ended and I seemed to hit an even plateau where I said to myself...
"Hey...I am not sad." but then thought as well..."I am not happy either." I just was in this straight line state of...okayness. It seemed everything was equal in my mind. "Wanna go for ice-cream?" might bring the logical response of "Sounds good to me." But likewise..."Wanna watch endless re-runs of Scooby Doo?" might produce the same response. All possibilities for activity sounded equally as viable. Not only was I becoming lethargic but rather apathetic as well.

I found my sensitivities dulled in that things that would normally irk me would produce a Spock like conclusion of "I should be upset by that but I don't feel so upset." Likewise a compliment or good happening would elicit the logic of "Yes this is good and a happy thing" but I wouldn't be feeling the corresponding feelings. It was as though the emotional exclamation points which had been so prevalent before were mostly omitted.