# Struggles and Support > Medication >  >  Prozac/Fluozetine

## Otherside

So I'm sure you've all heard about Prozac. I was prescribed it today after coming off Celexa/Citalophram, which was causing me to be agitated and suicidal, especially when the dose of celexa was upped from 10mg to 20mg.

I'm just curious about what peoples expierences are of Prozac on here. Google and the accompanying information sheet thing are telling me that it can be used in the treatment of panic disorder as well (Which I'm diagnosed with). So did it help your depression/anxiety much? And did anyone happen to feel agitated/suicidal due to the drug?

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## metamorphosis

Here is a vid. on fluoxetine by DOCTOROFMIND. I don't know if you have seen his videos, but he acts pretty zany in them. He is a licensed psychiatrist and provides excellent info in his videos. The vids. of him, during his normal practice hrs are completely different. He is very well put together and has great credentials. He uses these crazy looking vids. to get peoples attention, to watch and learn about medications and how they work. Instead of the sometimes dull and monotonous vids. from most pdocs.
I hope you gleam something from this. I am also going to put a link in from askapatient.com for many anecdotal reports.






http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=18936&name=PROZAC

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## Equinox

Both Celexa and Prozac are in the same class of medications (SSRIs) they differ slightly but are overall considered similar. Suicidal ideation is a concerning adverse reaction that occasionally occurs with this class of medications. If I recall correctly you mentioned once that you had bipolar disorder? People with this disorder are more likely to have this sort of adverse reaction to this class of medications, it doesn't necessarily require stopping the drug but it often requires either switching to or adding a mood stabilizer to resolve the issue. That said, given the potential additive side effects of poly pharmacy it's probably an okay idea to give prozac a trial on it's own, but if you have the same response to both of these SSRIs (celexa and prozac) then it's probably time to consider an alternative treatment.

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## metamorphosis

The main difference between Prozac and the other SSRI's is it's long half life. It takes a long time to clear the system once it reaches a steady state. This can be a good thing, if you were to discontinue suddenly. You wouldn't experience any physical withdrawals at 20-40mg. Even though you should still reduce it every 4-5 days at 40mg. It also comes in a 10mg capsule. This is a major difference, than with Paxil. Paxil, with it's short half-life, can cause flu like symptoms within days of discontinuation . If someone does not reduce it properly and goes cold turkey.

 On the other hand, the flush out period for Prozac is prolonged because of it's long half life. It takes between 20-30 days to leave the system completely. So, if you were to stop it and switch to another serotonergic drug; The wait time is longer than with the other SSRI's. You do not want to get serotonin syndrome, which can be deadly in severe cases. Say, Prozac wasn't working. Your pdoc would have you wait longer before starting an SNRI, Tricyclic, MAOI or any other 5HT drug.

Also, be careful with supplements that effect 5HT. They are also contraindicated. That would be St. Johns Wort, 5-HTP, and tryptophan. Sam-e is usually ok at 200-400mg doses. 

Chart on SSRI's and their half-lives, side effects etc.:
http://www.emedexpert.com/compare/ssris.shtml

http://www.preskorn.com/books/ssri_s6.html
http://www.raysahelian.com/prozac.html

 This is a good link about tapering off SSRI's and supplements that can be used, B-vits., probiotics. A lot of serotonin is found in the gut, choline- lecithin granules and others.
http://bipolar.about.com/cs/antidep/..._ssridisc2.htm

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