Help

[martin19]

Just been prescribed Prozac (fluoxetine) 30 mg is this stuff good ?? I have panic disorder and OCD

[martin19]

Hello!!??anyone

[becki]

Have you searched the threads for old posts about Prozac? I'm not on that drug so I can't help but by searching you should find some.

[laurandisorder]

I haven't tried it myself, but check this site out - it does list potential side effects, but also goes into a lot of detail about dosage and research that has been conducted on the drug.

http://www.crazymeds.us/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Meds/Prozac

From what I know it's quite old school. The Grand daddy of Effexor. But it's still around for a reason - proven efficacy.

[alankay]

Agreed. It works as well as any other in the class(SSRI's). Been out in generic a long time so should be cheap to. Alankay

[helplessinseattle]

Hi. Prozac is is still a god med even though it's been eclipsed by the marketing of newer SSRIs. Sometime when you first start it you might feel a bit more anxious and nauseated but these pass quickly. It is very safe so stick with it. As a practitioner and an anxiety/depression fellow traveller I think I have a pretty good take on this drug. It is the only SSRI that has a very long half-life, meaning that, should you decide to stop it you won't need to go through the protracted and often miserable withdrawal as with the other SSRIs. It is as effective for anxeity and depression as the other, newer SSRI's. These are all maily symptom relievers as are most medications but Prozac can give you a brigther window of time during which you can approach and benefit from psychotherapy. Meds will never be a cure for the events or biochemistry in our lives that have led us to the need for help. Medication is best seen as an adjunct to psychotherapy, good therapy, that will ultimately ease your mind and allow you to live a much happier and calmer life. Prozac is a good choice and is regaining respect in the psych community. If you find that your panic is not relieved after a few weeks on Prozac, you might wish to speak with your provder about a short course of a benzidiazpene ( the valium family of meds) or perhaps a longer course of BuSpar (busipirone) which is another anti-anxiety agent that does not build tolerance and can be stopped without withdrawal. BuSpar takes a couple of weeks to kick in so, if you and your provider agree that this is a good choice for you, don't give up if your anxiety is not relieved right away. Note that I am by no means intending to interfere with your provider's recommendations, just adding a bit of information that you might find useful to discuss. My best wishes to you. You will be OK because you have chosen to seek help for your own precious self.

[sandyrdh1]

Hi. Prozac is is still a god med even though it's been eclipsed by the marketing of newer SSRIs. Sometime when you first start it you might feel a bit more anxious and nauseated but these pass quickly. It is very safe so stick with it. As a practitioner and an anxiety/depression fellow traveller I think I have a pretty good take on this drug. It is the only SSRI that has a very long half-life, meaning that, should you decide to stop it you won't need to go through the protracted and often miserable withdrawal as with the other SSRIs. It is as effective for anxeity and depression as the other, newer SSRI's. These are all maily symptom relievers as are most medications but Prozac can give you a brigther window of time during which you can approach and benefit from psychotherapy. Meds will never be a cure for the events or biochemistry in our lives that have led us to the need for help. Medication is best seen as an adjunct to psychotherapy, good therapy, that will ultimately ease your mind and allow you to live a much happier and calmer life. Prozac is a good choice and is regaining respect in the psych community. If you find that your panic is not relieved after a few weeks on Prozac, you might wish to speak with your provder about a short course of a benzidiazpene ( the valium family of meds) or perhaps a longer course of BuSpar (busipirone) which is another anti-anxiety agent that does not build tolerance and can be stopped without withdrawal. BuSpar takes a couple of weeks to kick in so, if you and your provider agree that this is a good choice for you, don't give up if your anxiety is not relieved right away. Note that I am by no means intending to interfere with your provider's recommendations, just adding a bit of information that you might find useful to discuss. My best wishes to you. You will be OK because you have chosen to seek help for your own precious self.

Are you a GP?

[martin19]

Cheers doc :)

[helplessinseattle]

Nope, not an MD. A nurse practioner with a focus on several things but mainy mental health stuff, my own included lol.

[sandyrdh1]

Nope, not an MD. A nurse practioner with a focus on several things but mainy mental health stuff, my own included lol.

Well close enough:) lol. Have you ever heard of having constant heart palps everyday for 7 mths and then told to take fish oil and mag citrate and they went away?? It also resuced my anxiety sooo much. I have only had a few palps since last Sunday. I don't know what to do with myself now. Lol.

[helplessinseattle]

Wow, great question. I did some research on a couple of real medical sites (watch out for the others!) and whaddya know, magnesium supplement sure can help w/palpitations. The fish oil research is interesting, too..... in some situations it can actually cause palpitations but, on the other hand, can help prevent heart disease in the long run. So what I came up with is this. If you are taking fish oil and not having palpitations all of the time then there's no reason not to continue. The magnesium is the real thing here and apparently can help improve mood, etc, which heaven knows we could all use. Here's the dosing info from a legitimate medical site but it the dosing here is different from what your MD recommends then go with the MD dosing.
•Males 19 - 30 years of age: 400 mg daily
•Females 19 - 30 years of age: 310 mg daily
•Males 31 years of age and over: 420 mg daily
•Females 31 years of age and over: 320 mg daily
•Pregnant females 19 - 30 years of age: 350 mg daily
•Pregnant females 31 and over: 360 mg daily
•Breastfeeding females 19 - 30 years of age: 310 mg daily
•Breastfeeding females 31 years of age and over: 320 mg daily
It's advised not to give mag to children without consulting a pediatrition or pediatric NP.
I'm SO SO happy for you that your palpitaions are nearly gone. They're not dangerous but for those of us with anxiety they are absoltely miserable and can make coping so much harder.
I'm always very happy to share what knowledge I have though it should never be taken as prescribing or treating a person I have never seen as a patient. I'm sure you get that!

[sandyrdh1]

Wow, great question. I did some research on a couple of real medical sites (watch out for the others!) and whaddya know, magnesium supplement sure can help w/palpitations. The fish oil research is interesting, too..... in some situations it can actually cause palpitations but, on the other hand, can help prevent heart disease in the long run. So what I came up with is this. If you are taking fish oil and not having palpitations all of the time then there's no reason not to continue. The magnesium is the real thing here and apparently can help improve mood, etc, which heaven knows we could all use. Here's the dosing info from a legitimate medical site but it the dosing here is different from what your MD recommends then go with the MD dosing.
•Males 19 - 30 years of age: 400 mg daily
•Females 19 - 30 years of age: 310 mg daily
•Males 31 years of age and over: 420 mg daily
•Females 31 years of age and over: 320 mg daily
•Pregnant females 19 - 30 years of age: 350 mg daily
•Pregnant females 31 and over: 360 mg daily
•Breastfeeding females 19 - 30 years of age: 310 mg daily
•Breastfeeding females 31 years of age and over: 320 mg daily
It's advised not to give mag to children without consulting a pediatrition or pediatric NP.
I'm SO SO happy for you that your palpitaions are nearly gone. They're not dangerous but for those of us with anxiety they are absoltely miserable and can make coping so much harder.
I'm always very happy to share what knowledge I have though it should never be taken as prescribing or treating a person I have never seen as a patient. I'm sure you get that!

I appreciate your time:) I am so glad you joined this site. You knowledge will be so helpful to us all:) well I got the 400 mag citrate but break it up in 4's. so it's like I take 100 mg a day. I did not want to take to much since I was doing this on my own. My doctors all said it was anxiety but I knew my body. My heart doc said the mag thing was a myth. So for 7 mths I did nothing but take a beta blocker that was really hard to get off of and klonopan. I don't like meds. So when I found out I was low on B12 and D and have to do B12 shots and did the 50,000 D for 6 weeks is when I started researching more about vit deficiency's. I am a hygienist and learned some about vit's but needed to be refreshed. Lol. That's when I found that they even use higher doses in heart attack and irregular heart beats. It also, like you said calms nerves and muscles and I even sleep better. I have not had 1 palp today and the other days 1-2:):). It caused most all of my anxiety. They took my breath away and made me a nervous reck and even felt like someone was pinching my heart when it would skip. Just down right uncomfortable. But I forced myself to get up and go do things and go to work even when I felt like I could not go anymore. I knew they would not kill me. I have been miserable for 7 mths. So I really am praying that these vitamins are what my body was lacking and causing this.

[dedee]

I appreciate your time:) I am so glad you joined this site. You knowledge will be so helpful to us all:) well I got the 400 mag citrate but break it up in 4's. so it's like I take 100 mg a day. I did not want to take to much since I was doing this on my own. My doctors all said it was anxiety but I knew my body. My heart doc said the mag thing was a myth. So for 7 mths I did nothing but take a beta blocker that was really hard to get off of and klonopan. I don't like meds. So when I found out I was low on B12 and D and have to do B12 shots and did the 50,000 D for 6 weeks is when I started researching more about vit deficiency's. I am a hygienist and learned some about vit's but needed to be refreshed. Lol. That's when I found that they even use higher doses in heart attack and irregular heart beats. It also, like you said calms nerves and muscles and I even sleep better. I have not had 1 palp today and the other days 1-2:):). It caused most all of my anxiety. They took my breath away and made me a nervous reck and even felt like someone was pinching my heart when it would skip. Just down right uncomfortable. But I forced myself to get up and go do things and go to work even when I felt like I could not go anymore. I knew they would not kill me. I have been miserable for 7 mths. So I really am praying that these vitamins are what my body was lacking and causing this.

Sandy I have exactly same situation as u .. Taking D 50,000 for 6 weeks now .. Much better thanks God . Still few heart beats from time to time ,,, mainly I am almost normal (%85) I started my lexapor in November .
Do u think meg will help my beats ??

[sandyrdh1]

Sandy I have exactly same situation as u .. Taking D 50,000 for 6 weeks now .. Much better thanks God . Still few heart beats from time to time ,,, mainly I am almost normal (%85) I started my lexapor in November .
Do u think meg will help my beats ??

The way I feel about it is its worth a try. It can't hurt you. Everyone is different but for me to have them for 7 mths and then taking the mag citrate and they pretty much stopped. The first few days after taking it I had a few maybe 2 a day compared to every other beat or every other 20 beats ect all day every day. Now I have not had any for almost 2 weeks:) the day I started I was having them every 30 beats and took it and with in a hour they were gone. I was told about the mag but just did not go get it because the heart doc told me it was a myth. But I was going nuts with them so went and bought them after doing research on them and found it would help skipped beats. So, for me, I am glad I at least finally tried it. I got the mag citrate 400 but cut it in 4's to start out and took 1 which equals 100 mg and that has worked for me so that's what I take every day. If you find that a 400 gives you dirrea just decrease it. It's used to release constipation too in higher doses. I have no prob with the 100mg a day:)