headache. insomnia. decreased sex drive, not \'feeling\'.........
dry mouth. desensitized!

Well that\'s one I\'m not gonna try...lol

I took Prozac for a few months several years ago. It helped me get through a crisis, but shortened and also intensified my suicidal feelings. I had to fight not to kill myself!! Since then, I have heard that it is good for an acute (short term) episode of depression, but not for long term use. Over time, people tend to build a resistance, needing higher and higher doses to maintain the same degree of relief. And then wind up eventually where they started from emotionally and dependent on Prozac.
I had a T-shirt once with nine smilies on it. under each smiley was the name of a different mood. Happy, sad, angry, excited, etc. Underneath it all, was the phrase, \"The many moods of Prozac.\" I think that pretty much expresses my sentiments about all antidepressants. I wore it to a therapy session once, and the therapist thought it was funny. Sometimes it is necessary to take antidepressants, I know, but there is always a trade off. You just have to weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself.

How long did you take Prozac before you \"felt\" it working? When I was on Lexapro and Paxil, I felt it was working within a few days.

I took Prozac for about a year.
It took several weeks (about 3 - 4) for the medicine to take affect. I recall after about 3 weeks on Prozac I was driving down the road (I remember specifically which road and that day!) and ALL OF A SUDDEN, I felt very different. Different in a good way, though. I recall from that point, I was in a good mood all the time. Things that used to upset me, just rolled off my back and I had the attitude of \"oh well.. it\'s not the end of the world.\"
I could also FOCUS very well on what people would be saying to me whereas usually I get distracted often when people are talking to me. And it\'s difficult to pay attention at times.

OOH.. I got the GREATEST benefits alright, However, Prozac made me feel like I wanted to sleep during the day a lot. I wasn\'t getting anything done, like, cleaning house, paying bills, you know, those sort of \'necessary\' things to do. I probably would look at the mess in my house and see some unpaid overdue bills on my table and think \'oh well... not the end of the world\' and then go take a nap.
ha ha. No, I was kidding on that last part.
Seriously, though, it did make me VERY tired a lot and that part obout Prozac really sucks. But, other than that, it was good for a temporary time, but I eventually had to get off of it because of the tiredness.

I needed something like that at the time though, the depression I was going through.

-Les38

Exactly the same here. Prozac helped after 3 + weeks, but the whole time I couldn\'t stop yawning! I was very sleepy, and once in a while even fell asleep at work. Once I was on a road trip alone and I had to pull over and just crash for a while.

Prozac also increased my cravings for alcohol.

The worst part? Prozac was the best med I found. All the other stuff I tried (Paxil, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, and this one other psychosis-inducing crap thing) just didn\'t work at all for me.

Seriously, this is the best we can do for people? There has got to be a better way to prescribe and predict medications for people who need help. This trial and error thing is dangerous!

Oh yeah, GraceWest reminded me of the other effect Prozac had on me.

I was going around yawning almost all the time.

That was really weird.

-Les38

i have noticed that every night i get a headache like clockwork. i am not sure if my prozac is the reason since i take it in the mornings. it does seem to send me into a manic mood after i take it but i would rather be manic than depressed.

I have been on for 14 months - went from 10 to 20 t0 40 mg. I had the same experience as many below in terms of being tired - many days at 3:00 i would do anything for a nap!!.

However, anger is less, obcessive compulsive is less. I have a much more positive outlook. Still debating trying another treatment, but prozac seems better than nothing.

Prozac was the first med I tried and will never go back on it I had a real bad experience with that
I had terrible mood swings fought with my husband constantly,tried killing myself and let alone throwing a metal dustpan at my husband and ended up cutting his wrist that was the ended of Prozac for me. I never wanted to hurt my husband. I am just thankful he stayed beside me thru all of that.

Prozac:

I just am trying to find the solution. When I took
Prozac, I got very agitated. It's interesting how
each person's brain reacts to these chemicals.
Others here got very tired on it. If I stayed on
that med. for two weeks, Their would be no
sleep, and I would be a loon. It's such a challenge
to find the right med.
Thanks, Scott

When I went on prozac years ago it was like a dang miracle. I mean it was Christmas morning as a kid for at least a year. I had been moderately depressed for 10 years. I had a few side effects that went away. I loved that med and fully expected to stay on it the rest of my life. That was A OK with me! But it pooped out. It worked for 7 years@!!!!!!!!!

My experience with prozac has been in between some of the ones I've seen on here, I started at 20 mg and it did wonders, I asked the psychiatrist to up the dose so that I could see if it helped even more. I feel great and the side effects have been somewhat interesting. At first I was going through all my separation and anxiety and trying to get good there, I lost 20 pounds but I was also taking valium and was goign througha separation, I did not eat almost ever, that has since calmed down and I've gained a few pounds back. I get tremors and am unable to control my hands at times. Sometimes they shake so bad people ask me if I'm doing alright, it kind of brings me into the limelight when that happens, but I don't mind that.

Now the sexual side effects have ended up actually helping, I am not too modest to admit I did not last long before, and now I don't think about sex very often, dont' feel I need it as much as I used to, and when I get it, I last much much longer, and am more fulfilled and feel that she enjoys it much more as well.

So I am a little back and forth with this drug, I think it's done wonders, but the tremors are a little unnerving, I get by though.

I was on Prozac for 10 years and it worked great!!! The only negative side effect was the decreased sex drive. I weaned off about 9 months ago and and needed to start back up. I experienced the most VILE start up side effects on 20MG. I had to stop taking because they were unbearable. After a month I started back up on 5mg to introduce it to my body more slowly. Hopefully it will work out for me.

I'm taking 60mg a day. It helps me make efforts on my own. Before it I could not even get out of bed, my thoughts were awful. I still get down but I can fight it better. Hope that helps.