Prozac News

Prozac is the name trademarked by the Eli Lily Company for the generic antidepressant drug, fluoxetine hydrochloride. This drug, often touted as a miracle cure for depression, has the distinction of being the world's most widely used prescription antidepressant. It is the first product in a significant new class of drugs for the treatment of depression called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. First introduced to the US market in January 1988, within two years, Prozac was the most prescribed medicine in the United States.

From its introduction into the market its popularity has continued to grow. To date, 17 million prescriptions for Prozac are being filled in the US each year. Belief that Prozac is a wonder drug has been so strong that the inventor behind the drug, Ray Fuller, was posthumously awarded the Pharmaceutical Discoverer's Award from Narsad. Once thought to only treat depression, the drug is now being given to treat the eating disorder bulimia, obsessive compulsive disorders, and panic disorders. Despite the hype that the drug has received, very few people that take it actually understand how it works to treat their depression.

Taking Prozac increases the brain's level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is believed to influence mood, appetite, aggression, and sleep. Neurotransmitters are the message carrying chemicals that move between different nerve cells. These tiny but important messengers are secreted by one cell only to be picked up by receptor proteins on the surface of another cell, where they deliver their message. Once their job of delivering the message is finished, the neurotransmitter is either destroyed or returned back to the cell that originally made it. This process of returning home is known as re-uptake.

When re-uptake is blocked, the effects of the serotonin are increased, bringing about relief from depression. The thought behind the prescription is that taking Prozac hinders the reuptake of serotonin at the nerve endings, allowing it to accumulate in higher levels, therefore bringing about better moods, greater appetite, less hostility, and restful sleep.

Although it has been studied extensively, no one quite knows why increasing neurotransmitter levels can reduce the severity of depression. It has been speculated that raised levels of serotonin will cause many changes in the brain's concentration of neurotransmitter-binding receptors and it is possible that this might make the brain physically and chemically more capable of feeling good. Simply put, the advertisers for Prozac would like you to believe that this pill has the power to make you happy and while it has been shown to decrease depression, the side effects of the drug raise the question a question that must be asked. At what cost is happiness purchased?

There are many side effects that occur when taking the drug Prozac and they can be placed in three general categories. There are the basic side effects that may or may not come about when you take any drug, there are some specific side effects that often occur and take a little while to go away once the drug is discontinued, and there are the long term lasting side effects that users must live with months, and even years after the drug has left their system.

General side effects that are typically warned of by the manufacturer include nausea, difficulty sleeping, drowsiness, anxiety, nervousness, weakness, loss of appetite, tremors, dry mouth, sweating, decreased sex drive, impotence, or yawning. Because most of these issues tend to go away within a few weeks of starting treatment, they are classified as mild side effects and, in most cases, aren't serious enough to cause people to stop taking the drug.

Some people have reported side effects that don't seem to go away until patients have been off the drug for at least a few weeks. These problems include abnormal dreams, abnormal ejaculation, abnormal vision, agitation, anorexia, anxiety, diarrhea, diminished sex drive, dizziness, dry mouth, flu-like symptoms, flushing, gas, headache, impotence, insomnia, itching, loss of appetite, nausea, nervousness, rash, sex-drive changes, sinusitis, sleepiness, sore throat, sweating, tremors, upset stomach, vomiting, weakness, and yawning. Although many of these problems are also on the list of side effects that are considered to be mild, they also make the list of moderate symptoms, because they don't go away once your body has adjusted to the drug. It often takes a month or more after you are off the drug to see the effects of it leave your body.

Severe, major side effects include akathisia, psychosis and suicidal obsessions. Many of these problems are made worse if the drug is taken in combination with other drugs such as an antidepressant medication known as an MAO inhibitor. You shouldn't take MAO inhibitors or Thioridazine for at least 5 weeks after stopping Prozac.

Akathisia is the need to move around, usually characterized by excessive, repetitive, movements such as pacing, foot tapping, and rocking back and forth. Those who suffer from it often report that it feels as if they are going to fly out of their own skin if they don't move. Because Akathisia has been linked to the inability to control one's impulses, it is often linked to the violent acts or suicide tendencies that sufferer's exhibit.

Studies have also shown that Prozac use can lead to psychosis. This is the state in which a person's nervous system can be so over stimulated that they reach a psychotic level. This leads to users becoming even more depressed, paranoid and volatile. When in a deep state of psychosis, some users of Prozac have admitted to having suicidal thoughts or have even attempted to take their own life.

Suicidal obsessions or violent thoughts are a large problem for many Prozac users. The irony of this is that the drug that is supposed to prevent depression and suicide could very well be causing it. Dr. David Healy of the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Wales in the UK directly attributes Prozac and other selective serotonin re- uptake inhibitors to suicide. He states that in his opinion, at least 250,000 people have attempted suicide worldwide because of Prozac alone and he feels that at least 25,000 have succeeded.

In conducting several tests, he concludes that Prozac, more than any other antidepressant causes patients to become suicidal. He even tested the drug on healthy people and found that between 10 to 20 percent of those taking Prozac were affected by mania or mental restlessness and then lost their inhibition about their reactions, an occurrence that the doctor thinks has a direct link to suicide.

With such ravaging side effects, it seems incomprehensible that a drug like Prozac is still on the market. While there have been several different law suits brought against the manufacturer's of this drug, none have been large enough to send any real message to the Eli Lilly Company or in most instances, once the suit went to trial, a strong enough case connecting the drug to violence and suicide was never brought forth.

Parker & Waichman, LLP filed the first Prozac suicide lawsuit in the United States in 1990 and many other law firms have taken up the gauntlet and are continually soliciting for Prozac survivors that have suffered ill effects from taking the drug. Many law firms offer free consultations for former or current Prozac users to bring individual law suits or even a class action suit against the Eli Lilly Company.

The side effects of Prozac have also been discussed in many courtrooms in cases that don't involve the Eli Lilly Company. Several defense attorneys are attributing the violent behavior of their clients to adverse reactions to the drug. Due to the lack of education about the violent side effects of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, most juries don't buy into the Prozac defense and convict defendants despite the evidence that these drugs do contribute to a proclivity for violence in many users.

With the implementation of one of the most successful pharmaceutical advertising campaigns, the Eli Lilly Company is doing its best to make sure that despite the lawsuits, despite the murder trials, and despite the bad press, Prozac continues to reign as king of the antidepressant market.