Has anyone ever had difficulty dealing with a friend who is taking a high dosage of PROZAC?

I have a friend from back at the univeristy who used to travel europe, debate, haggle, argue, and with the best of them but now is a zombie of a human hanging onto the drug like a liferaft.

I'm not against prozac although I feel its over-prescribed in the USA and the pharmaceutical companies are very powerful and publish one-sided positive literature everywhere, they even have it government approved now for children and the elderly to take.

In my friend's case he has been on it for 8 years and he can't do much of anything but blink and twitch and smile.

Sound familiar to anyone?

Yes. Often coming off government prescribed drugs has worse side effects than illegal drugs. Stevie Nicks would have a few words to say about it.

spell edit.
[This message was edited Sat Jul 5 5:37:02 PDT 2003 by Cloudbuster]

Cloudbuster said:

Why Stevie Nicks ?

There seems to be really bad press regarding Prozac in the states.

It is sad that someone has been over prescribed an anti depressant for them to have such shocking symptoms.

Can you not persuade your friend to seek advice from a different doctor and get the dosage reduced or changed?

I strongly doubt that Prozac is the sole reason for your friend being only able to 'blink and twitch and smile'...i myself am on a similar anti-depressant and have been for a couple of years and I am a high functioning former depressed person who once had first episode psychosis (seriously).

I suggest you talk to those that know your friend well (ie family, etc or even yourself if you have the guts) and think about getting them a professional diagnosis from a psychologist. And by that I don't mean some new-age woo-woo blather 'therapist'. Prozac shouldn't do this to a person...unless it is a very high dosage....it really sounds like they need real help...it's nothing to be embarrassed or scared or ashamed of...more people are undiagnosed mental cases than let on because they're scared of what others will think...heh...but things will never get better unless people just front up honestly and fix their lives up.

Then again, like you say...it could just be a very high dosage.



A second or third opinion is recommended in my experience.
And bottom line - DON'T take what the doctor's say as the gospel....BE ASSERTIVE.

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[This message was edited Fri Jul 4 6:30:33 PDT 2003 by mrdespues]

Sorry, I wish I could help but I've not had to deal with someone taking large amounts of it. I had a aunt who was depressed and was suposed to take it but she didn't (it made her ill). I just had 2 b there for her. She's fine now, she has a nice home, an intresting job and she provide for her daughter.

REDFEATHERS said:

thanks
I understand that he tried to reduce it "alone" and it messed him up for a whole month. Once I get back to the USA for a visit, i'm going to try to help him reduce it. In the past 8 years he has disconnected from all his friends in the USA. Thats one of the documented problems with prolonged usage.. most patients start disconnecting from everyone.

I crack the funniest "knee-slapper" jokes and he doesn't even laugh anymore so i think they increased the dosage.

for information and support regarding mental illness you can contact the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
www.nami.org
phone 1-800-950-6264

mrdespues said:

I suggest you talk to those that know your friend well (ie family, etc or even yourself if you have the guts) and think about getting them a professional diagnosis from a psychologist.[/quote]


A 10 psychologists for a diagnosis and you will get 10 answers back, the best doctor is often yourself.




[/quote]And by that I don't mean some new-age woo-woo blather 'therapist'. Prozac shouldn't do this to a person...unless it is a very high dosage...it really sounds like they need real help...it's nothing to be embarrassed or scared or ashamed of...more people are undiagnosed mental cases than let on because they're scared of what others will think...heh...but things will never get better unless people just front up honestly and fix their lives up.[/quote]

Why is it always the first step of doctors to prescribe drugs instead of dealing with the issues that surround depression.

It's not always a chemical imbalance nor is it purely emotional, truth is...they don't really know.

10 studies on the topic and 10 experts give their opinion.
Drugs are fine for the short term, 2-3 months at most...after that it's getting to the route cause and not hiding behind a chemical screen.

It's too easy to reply on drugs to hide the real issues, and it's also a fact that prolonged usage of these drugs lead to dependancy and addiction...and when you try get off these same drugs you have withdrawl symptoms.

Thus you feel like crap again, and to try not feel that way you take, what?, another drug.

Vicious circle.



[/quote]Then again, like you say...it could just be a very high dosage.[/quote]


Could be that she is having a bad reaction to these drugs, that enough work was done to tailor the treatment she needed to her specific needs.



[/quote]A second or third opinion is recommended in my experience.
And bottom line - DON'T take what the doctor's say as the gospel...BE ASSERTIVE.[/quote]

lol...try be assertive and they'll suggest you're manic and need to be medicated, challenge them and they'll suggest that you are not a doctor with 10 years of this or that.

Doctors hate to be challenged, it's an ego trip to them and many want you out of the office as quick as possible.

Savannah said:

DONT get him to decrease it without professional help. If you want to talk, share, feel free to orgnote me, ok...

I've helped 2-3 people in the USA get off the drug with medical advice.. but never someone hooked on it for 8 years.

Not only is he on a heavy dosage of Prozac but he also works as a bartender at a biker bar which his aging parents own.

The environment is so unhealthy for him, i'm surprised his doctor recommends it because before he went on the prozac and before he had a breakdown.. the one thing in the world he hated was working there.

And like I said, before the Prozac he was a walking talking Encyclopedia Engergia. . . now he has the personality of a sesame street character and the conversation skills of a zombie. He was like a brother to me.

Has this happened to anyone here? Is it so hard to get off the drug?

But PROZAC really shouldnt kill ones personality as you describe, he needs to get a second opinion, quick!

You're right Prozac won't kill it.

But prolonged usage often does. Especially as you can imagine when he may need a 2nd opinion or another doctor.

I remember there were some ppmlers that were considering Prozac back n the day, then they all vanished from the net forever.

Savannah said:

She was prescribed tranquilizers after her cocaine addiction and suffered worse withdrawl symptoms from the legalised drug.

liberation said:

Thanks.. this is true.

It takes alot of work to get to work on the real problems and it looks like in the past 8 years.. all he has been doing is "railroading" everything. The doctor sold him on the "Its not Mental, its a Chemical problem" and if I had been in the USA then, this never would have happened.

What are the withdrawl symptoms you talked about??

Savannah said:

Thing is Savannah, in the UK, Prozac is prescribed free on the NHS, in Americam you pay full whack (I think?) unless you have medical insurance.

I am not sure, but are these doctors making BIG money from their patiets and disregarding them by prescribing this medication? We dont have such a problem in the UK, although I can sympathise for you and your friend, I think your friend is being taking for a ride and it is the doctors damaging his health by prescribing a heavy intake ofthis drug..

REDFEATHERS said:

Its free? Wow what a country !!

I was thinking to first video tape him on the drug.
Then work with him to help him get off the drug.
Then maybe play the tape for him afterwards so he can see what a Zombie he was.

I sure hope Dr. Chemical has good security at the door.

Savannah said:

Well, free for some, I have been reading US books where US citizens pay 100s of dollars for the drug.

If you are working people pay about $9 for 2 months prescription

Wow you really know alot about this..
Do you know someone special on the drug?

I mean, its painful to watch. They (he and others i've known) don't remember anything. There are no ups and downs to the conversation and when you hit a funny, serious or sensitive subject.. its like they go into gerble mode and weren't even listening to you. A man I worked with didn't start the repeated blinking of the eyes til' about 4 years on the drug..

I can only imagaine it must be very painful when a struggling family member surrenders to the dependency.

Savannah said:

I have never met anyone suffer the symptoms you have mentioned here, maybe they are on a lower dosage than your friend, which is why it horrifies me that doctors let him get to that stage.

UPDATE *

I listened what he and his doctor had to say. He said his brain is still in a fog and even on the prozac, he has anxiety attacks and depression. The doctor suggested changing his medication to Paxil instead of Prozac, and when they did.. it had the opposite effect and made things worse. Paxil is being blamed for people turning suicidal. Prozac is not without its critics, and if Prozac was the dangerous older brother then Paxil, Zoloft and Wellbutrin are the evil sisters, and none of them are perfect and each one has its own side-effect profile.

The fog is starting to lift from his head, he says. He is still not himself. He doesn't get into that verbal sparring and argumentative posture that made him the person we all knew. It's frustrating to see a friend hurting like that when you can't do anything to help.

Does anyone know a friend on even a prolonged light dosage of Prozac?

Savannah said:

I had a friend who was on it for 5 years and she was a zombie like you descibe, when she went off she had several violent outbursts and was hospitalized for a time. Her diagnosis was manic depression and she was put on lithium. It equaled her out but like you said before she is no longer in touch with anyone from the past, including her parents. I haven't seen her nor heard from her for 8 years.

I am on a low dosage I take it every other day to keep my levels even, If i take it everyday I get the jitters and my sex drive is affected. I find that every other day works for me I am fuctional and it keeps me even, not zombie like but not so high strug either. My doctor was/is irritaed with me because I modified my own dosage he said I would just have to deal with the side effects and I said bullshit if I take it when I want regularly, I have no side effects. So I keep my eyes open I go to counseling and if it starts being bad for me I'll try something else. My diagnosis is clinical depression/ADD.

Obviously, this is a case-by-case thing... but I don't know about "dealing" with friends on Prozac. That's an interesting way to put it.

It's not exactly Valium for Chrissakes. I was prescribed Prozac in high school and it had absolutely no effects. They upped the dosage twice and gave up. Your friend can only blink, twitch and smile? I highly doubt this is because of the Prozac.

I am so sick of stereotypes about "mental illnesses", "insane people on Prozac", etc, as well. There is a big difference between depression and insanity. Many of my own good friends in school knew nothing about the subject. They honestly thought the two went hand in hand. It makes me sick.

In my personal dealings with depression/anxiety, I've found the best way to get any results is just strip down and deal with it. My doctor told me if I continued taking the stupid pills, I wouldn't need them in a few years. What bullsh*t. It's just sweeping it under the rug, my opinion.

butterfli25 said:

You modified your dosage to every other day??
Thats brilliant!!!

Was this hard to do at first???

INSATIABLE said:

INSATIABLE said:

For some people, though, medication has been the difference between life and death. Literally. Their lives have improved tremendously due to the medication--they're not "high" or really different, they just feel more "themselves" and more hopeful in general. But I totally agree with you that people who only use medication and refuse to deal with the underlying, behavioral aspects of their depression/anxiety that they cause themselves are sweeping it under the rug.

AnotherLoverToo said:

Thats the funny thing about Prozac.. he thinks he is ok and doesn't need to dive into the counseling sessions. Meanwhile they are completely different, not even human in many ways.

You could go to someone you know well and recovering in the ICU wing of a hospital and say something special that only they would laugh at and you'll get a smile.. but the people I know on prolonged dosage of Prozac don't even get the joke anymore.

INSATIABLE said:

"Sweeping it under the rug??" is that what alot of physicians are doing today?

A long time ago (pre-prozac days), I worked in a Mental Health crisis unit. This is the place where they evaluated violently mentally ill patients and some bad cases who were having problems with the meds. So I agree with what you are saying...

But to "deal with" a friend on Prozac is a hard thing to do. As a friend of mine put it.. the television station that he is tuned into (on prozac) now has less snow, a better picture, its just not on the same channel that you're used to. He can't change channels and that is very hard to deal with... "ESPECIALLY" when the person has been on the drug for many years and isn't as you say "Stripping down and dealing with it"

How can you get someone stuck on the same channel to see that?