About Prozac and Depression
Prozac, also known as Fluoxetine is an antidepressant medication. Generally antidepressants are used to alleviate symptoms of depression such as “suicidal thoughts, dejection, hopelessness” and various other disruptions in the body’s normal functioning, like “sleep, energy and appetite” (Discovering Psychology 5th ed). According to Wikipedia, Prozac is prescribed for the treatment of “major depression (including pediatric depression), obsessive-compulsive disorder (in both adult and pediatric populations), bulimia nervosa, panic disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.”
Prozac affects the neurotransmitter serotonin, by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain. The functions of serotonin involve control of appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, mood, behavior, cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, endocrine regulation, and depression.
By keeping serotonin in the synapses longer, Prozac gives serotonin more time to exert an effect in the body. Prozac is a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI); it blocks the reuptake of serotonin into the terminals, thus leaving serotonin in the synapse for a longer time period than usual. Because the serotonin stays longer in the synapse, it will work on/ alleviate the above symptoms and importantly the symptoms associated with depression. In effect the Prozac acts as an antidepressant medication.
Agonist drugs are “drugs that promote/enhance the operation of a neurotransmitter”. From that definition of agonist drugs, Prozac can be classified as an agonist because it enhances the operation of serotonin in the body.
The text “Discovering Psychology” mentions that Prozac was “specifically designed to alleviate depressive symptoms with fewer side effects than earlier antidepressants” but I stumbled upon interest statistics on eMedTV.com which showed a (fairly) large number of side effects. The most common side effects of Prozac included: Insomnia, in up to 33 of percent of users; Nausea, up to 29 percent; Weakness, up to 21 percent; Headache, up to 21 percent; Diarrhea, up to 18 percent; Loss of appetite, up to 17 percent; Drowsiness, up to 17 percent; Anxiety, up to 15 percent; Nervousness, up to 14 percent; Dry mouth, up to 12 percent; Decreased sex drive, up to 11 percent; Indigestion, up to 10 percent; Impotence, up to 7 percent; Ejaculation problems, up to 7 percent. I think side effects, in this case, such as insomnia, anxiety and decreased sex drive are serious side effects because they themselves are causes of depression. The list of side effects goes to show that some care must be made to reading and understanding the effects of Prozac before taking it.
Despite the side effects that come with Prozac, the text “Discovering Psychology” mentions that “by the early 1990’s an estimated 1 million prescriptions per month were being made for Prozac”, indicating that Prozac remains a popular drug, and must be functioning well as an antidepressant. Depression is a silent killer because almost everyone at some point in their lives goes through some period of depression, however; when depression causes sickness and prevents the human body from function to its maximum potential, it is necessary to alleviate it.
Judging from the number of prescriptions made, I think treatments involving Prozac seem to be working successfully.
Category: Health
I really enjoyed your article Zambani, especially as you listed all of the side effects and the percentage of people who experience them. Prozac is an extremely effective drug but can occur a high dependability purely because of the nature of it. I feel, as wikipedia stated, that Prozac should be prescribed only in extreme cases. As a first port of call I would try vitamin supplements, sleep and excercise. Our brain uses these vitamins of B-Complex others as a catalyst to create the serotonin that we need.