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When Prozac first hit the market in 1988 people were frightened of it. TV talk show hosts like Phil Donahue dedicated entire episodes to the new antidepressant claiming the drug caused people to do crazy things like put their babies in the oven or try to commit suicide.
Once the negative exposure surrounding the Vista Lab drug died down people quickly learned that Prozac was good news. The SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) antidepressant was the biggest thing to happen in psychiatric pharmacology since the advent of antidepressants in the 1960’s that included drugs like Elavil and Anafranil.
Prozac’s function involves balancing levels of Serotonin in patient’s brains thereby improving moods for many. It didn’t take long before millions of Americans went on the drug, some with tremendous results. In the years that followed, other SSRI’s were developed including Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro and others, and have met with great success for many.
There is a reason why these pharmaceutical companies are doing so well selling these drugs. It’s because they work and today 11% of the population in the United States takes the drug regularly. The vast majority of patients taking Prozac agree that taking a chemical to improve their quality of life is worth it.
Depression, sleepiness or insomnia, unexplained aches and pains, fatigue, loss of interest in doing things a person used to love are all signs of a possible brain chemistry imbalance. Anyone with these symptoms would be remiss not to ask their doctor about antidepressants. In addition the drug can be prescribed for post partum depression and PMS.
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um...I am a psychiatric social worker...since someone up there wanted a professional ...these drugs and all psych drugs are dangerous and overused.
yes some people find them helpful...and that's fine...the tragedy is that people are not routinely informed of the very real dangers and the fact that there are viable drug free alternatives for all mental health issues...
that is a message pharma controls....
also withdrawals are potentially dangerous and most docs don't have the faintest idea how to get people off safely if they are one of the large percentage of people who suffer from withdrawal syndromes...
they should NOT be a first line of defense. period.
Gianna Kali
April 24, 2009 - 1:53pmThis Comment
This is what I mean about people not taking responsibility... When you say "the tragedy is that people are not routinely informed of the very real dangers..." In my opinion, people who are on these drugs should be the ones keeping up with warnings, side effects, etc."
April 27, 2009 - 9:42amThis Comment
Hmmmmm... how do you say prozac in arabic?
April 24, 2009 - 1:07pmThis Comment
How about the guys who hijacked the planes and flew them into the towers on 9/11, is there a link to an article you can throw me for that one too?
April 24, 2009 - 11:16amThis Comment
Yes there is an article on that too. Thank you for bringing that up. It is an article by an LA Times reporter and was printed in the Seattle Times three months after 9/11. He quoted the Taliban psychiatrist as saying what those hijackers needed was "MORE PROZAC" - so the question would be what dose did he have them on BEFORE they flew the planes into the towers?!!!
April 24, 2009 - 12:31pmThis Comment
You are sick and tired of people not taking responsibility for what? These people were trying to take responsiblity for themselves, that is why they went to a physician and accepted a prescription for an antidepressant.
You don't understand what www.SSRIstories.com contains. It has 3,000+ news articles or reports from the FDA hearings and you can GO IN And READ the ORIGINAL NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.
Gosh, if you can't believe over 3,000 media articles, then what can you believe. Anyway, why would a reporter claim that someone was on an SSRI antidepressant when they were not. What would be their motive?
As for O.J. Simpson, read the original newspaper article here:
http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=1307
For the driver of Princess Diana the night of the crash, read here:
http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=1357
For the Crown Prince of Nepal who killed 9 [nine] family members and himself, click here.
http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=1372
April 24, 2009 - 10:59amThis Comment
LOL, sorry honey the only thing I am on is coffee!
I'm not being smart-alecky (good word though). I'm just sick and tired of people not taking responsibility.
O.J. Simpson? C'mon... you're reaching now aren't you?
Anytime I've received a prescription the first thing I do is read the entire package and all potential side effects.
It's kind of like people who sign mortgage contracts without reading the document first and then cry because their rate sky-rockets! Or like people who build their homes on stilts and then cry on TV because their house is floating away during a snow storm.
And by the way, don't believe everything you read on the net. It's almost as bad as believing everything you see on TV. And for the record... No one should own a physicians desk reference or a scale.
April 24, 2009 - 10:13amThis Comment
I firmly agree. The doctor who told me that Lexapro has quote "no side effects" and I might need to take it for the rest of my life, (I don't know about you but I would call being arrested 5 times in 1 year, and never before in my 40 years more than a mild unwanted side effect,) and the drug companies' exec.'s who hid studies and hired ghostwriters and published misleading information and doctors who prescribe these drugs to the wrong age group take responsibility for their actions as well as people who take the drugs. If what you are saying is true, you would never take any prescription given to you because even anti-biotics have death as a rare and unusual side effects in the package insert. You obviously don't know what you are talking about and have not read any package inserts b/c with any substance, even aspirin, someone somewhere has taken it and died. The package insert on a prescription drug is the 10,000 word font size so small that no one over 50 could read with the help of the best eye surgeon in the world, written in almost impossible to understand technical wording. It's as useful as safety instructions for a playpen sold in kentucy written in chineese. Blame the parents when their kid suffocates, they were warned.
September 26, 2009 - 11:35amThis Comment
To anonymous,
You are being riduculous. Of course, not all murderers are on Prozac. Still, when you give millions of people a drug that has listed in the Physicians Desk Reference as side effects: mania, psychosis, hostility, etc., you are bound to get some people who will be pushed over the edge.
One of the cases on www.ssristories.com is O.J. Simpson. Another is Andrea Yates. Another is Melissa Huckaby. I can tell that you are on an SSRI because you are being so smart-alecky.
I had an M.D. [who is related to me] tell me once that he could always tell if his patients came in with an SSRI in their system because they were so smart-alecky.
Maybe the PDR should list that as an adverse reaction too.
There is also no compassion here. No saying, "Gosh, I didn't realize that SSRIs could cause mania and psychosis, abnormal thinking & agitation. Perhaps we should warn people before they harm themselves or others.
No, you never ,ever hear someone on an SSRI say this. Revealing, isn't it.
April 24, 2009 - 8:45amThis Comment
Oh.... and to the person who wrote this:
"Not sure what planet you are on, but down here on earth there are SO MANY horrific effects of these drugs that I rarely get a chance to catch my breath trying to keep up with them all! I have served as an expert for two decades in SSRI-induced tragedies like the murder/suicide of comedian Phil Hartman and his wife, Columbine, Red Lake, Andrea Yates, the Atlanta Day Trader, the NY City Subway Bomber - to name only a small handful that involved antidepressants."
An expert at what?
I bet Osama Bin-Laden was on Prozac... oh and Charles Manson and the guy from the Wako thing, that woman in Florida who killed her daughter. Oh snap, I bet the girl who went missing in Aruba was on it too. A great defense in court! Judge... I'm not insane, I'm on Prozac.
April 24, 2009 - 7:12amThis Comment