Information on Fluoxetine?

I help finding information on fluoxetine. I take an anti-depressant, and lately I haven't felt like taking them. I went with my mom to the psychologist, and he gave me this lecture on how fluoxetine vanishes from the body when you stop taking the pill for one day, and you have to take it again or it loses its effect.

I *know* that's not true, (Fluoxetine should take WEEKS to get out of my system, since I took it for 3 months straight) and if that's not true, what else isn't? What are the adverse effects of this stuff?

I am not going to leech off other's help, i'm trying to find this information as well.

-Shoop

reply to post by ShoopDaWhoop


Here's a website with a lot of questions and answers regarding Prozac.

druginfonet

I would be cautious about taking advice by anyone on this board or on any forum who isn't a qualified physician.

It's different for almost everyone. I would go to the company's website and research the half-life.

I'd also just make sure to look up all the side effects too on the manufacturer's website.
*thumbs up*

I'm a permanent tooth grinder from that stuff.

Thanks for the help everyone.

That druginfo net seems to have a lot of the information I've been looking for.

I read off the company's site, that stuff is horrible NEVER AGAIN!

The adverse reactions are almost ridiculous. Apparently it can even impair judgment in some people...

Your doctor is mistaken. Fluoxetine has a half life of 4-6 days when it has been taken a while which means there would be clinically significant amounts in your body for a couple of weeks.

- PM

I googled it and the half life of that drug is 1-3 it said. I don't think it would take longer to get out of your system, even if you have been taking it for awhile. Someone said that it does though so who knows. The problem is the body adapts to the drug (as I'm sure you know), and getting off any antidepressant can have some nasty withdraw effects. So don't quit cold turkey lol.

If you type in fluoride into the ATS search engine, you'll probably get many more hits than you want. That drug has a pretty high amount of fluoride in it. I won't say anything specifically about fluoride, but there's a bunch of different ideas on it if you research it. There are antidepressants that are fluoride free but some of those, like all antidepressants, can have unpleasant side effects.

[edit on 22-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

I've been having some strange double posting going on today, hmm.

[edit on 22-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

oh, triple posting, lovely.

[edit on 22-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

reply to post by ghaleon12




I think I will quit cold turkey I've been at death's door so many times I should have my own chair there.

The half-life is actually longer then three days, Primordial was correct.

...Oh man... this stuff has fluoride? At least they haven't killed my willpower.

It's medicines like this that make me wonder... WHY do they release this stuff when it's got so much potential to screw you up permanently?

Is it all part of some thing to make everyone dumber?

[edit on 22-4-2009 by ShoopDaWhoop]

Isn't it funny that we can discuss manmade pharmaceuticals and not natural pharmaceuticals?

It's illegal to discuss natural pharmaceuticals here but do your own research, they're much safer than the poisons big pharma has the nerve to pass off as 'treatment'.

I will start off by stating that I am a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) who practices clinically in an Emergency Department and am a clinical professor of pharmacy. I will also note that I have no vested interests in any pharmaceutical companies, have received no benefits from big pharma, nor do I hold any stocks, bonds, options, or any other source of income from any pharmaceutical company. I will also state that in no way am I trying to provide medical advice. I have never seen you as a patient and am thus disqualified from giving you medical instruction. If you feel that you are having any medication related problems, I would highly recommend seeing your primary physician. In this post I am simply trying to answer questions that were posed based upon the expertise regarding medications I possess as a licensed PharmD.
In an earlier post you stated that you are going to stop taking Prozac (fluoxetine) "cold turkey". Prozac works through by inhibiting the re-uptake of serotonin. Basically this means that it helps your body hold on to and more effectively utilize your naturally produced serotonin, therefore "enhancing" your mood. If you were to stop this medication cold turkey, it has the potential to decrease the levels of circulating serotonin and can make you feel very ill, much like you had a bad case of the flu. Ultimately, the decisions you make in life are just that, your decisions. Just know that by suddenly stopping a medication that you have been taking for an extended period of time, there lies the potential for serious side effects. It is possible to stop taking Prozac, it simply requires a downward titration, or tapering, of the medication. If you speak with your physician he or she can help you to develop a plan to take you off of the medication.
There was also a question as to what the half life of Prozac is. If you have been taking it acutely, i.e., for a short amount of time, the half life is approximately 1 to 3 days. If you have been taking it chronically, i.e., for more than a few months, the half life is extended to 4-6 days. Essentially, a half life is the approximate amount of time that is required for the serum concentration of the drug to be decreased by half. It takes approximately 5 half lives for a medication to be completely removed from the body. If you have been taking Prozac for a period of months, I would estimate that you could experience side effects for a period of approximately one to two weeks but this is highly variable between patients and I would be hesitant to give you an exact time you could expect a resolution of symptoms.
Regarding fluoride, I have no idea about what the earlier poster was referring to here. The active ingredient of Prozac is fluoxetine HCl. Inactive ingredients are used to affect the properties of the medication that allows for the proper formation of tablets. These inactive ingredients do not have any pharmacologically significant activity.
Why is it, exactly, that you don't "feel like taking" Prozac anymore? Do you feel that it isn't working for you? Are you experiencing any adverse effects? If so, which ones?

Just so you know, I practice what I preach. I do take medications for medical conditions that I have and I take them as scheduled. I am not one who will "force" someone into doing something that I would not do myself. I truly do care for the well-being of patients and don't recommend medications just to "make a buck", especially since I don't receive ANY financial compensation when I recommend medications for patients.

You can see the molecular structure for Prozac here: www.3dchem.com... and yes, there are fluorine atoms in it.

Originally posted by X-tal_Phusion
You can see the molecular structure for Prozac here: www.3dchem.com... and yes, there are fluorine atoms in it.

That's like saying that because a patient has a "sulfa" allergy, they will have an allergic reaction to something with sulfur in it which is simply not the case. It all has to do with moieties of chemical constituents and if the component is active or inactive.
FluorINE is an element and is commonly used to enhance chemical and ionic bonds. What your are thinking of is Sodium FluroIDE which is what has been used to fluoridate water. They are two different things and just because something has fluorine in it doesn't mean that it is fluoridated.

I have heard that long term use of most of the modern anti-depressants (serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) are very bad for your teeth - that's why dentists ask about them, but I have never heard anything about fluoride in them. I don't remember where I heard that though. I've also heard that fluoride does most of it's damage to your gums.
I wonder if this means anti-depressants can lead to bone loss.

I never said what it was used for, only that the structure contained these atoms. You are inferring something I never said. Please read more carefully from here on out. Most people won't know what fluoxetine is so I thought it would be helpful to show them the structure (perhaps as a way of explaining the nomenclature).

[edit on 22-4-2009 by X-tal_Phusion]

reply to post by ChrisCrikey


Some medications can cause dry mouth, which seems pretty harmless until a person realizes that remineralization occurs from saliva. That might be what they're talking about.

reply to post by raptor28


It makes me *very* suicidal at times.. Back when I was taking it I had a period of days where all I thought about was dying... not my style...

That and, I honestly feel like I do not need them. I've been looking at life in a different point of view, and it is not that bad now.


(Oh, and facepalm at fluoride and fluorine )

It goes without saying that Fluoride provides a fundamental role in how this medication works.

Look under volatile anaesthetics, notice a tend? All contain fluoride.
en.wikipedia.org...

If the Prozac molecule remains intact and leaves the body identical before and after metabolism, then I wouldn't be nearly as concerned. But if the fluoride separated or something, that'd be less than ideal lol.

Fluorine is an univalent poisonous gaseous halogen

www.lenntech.com...

So we're talking about fluoride, not fluorine




[edit on 23-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

reply to post by ShoopDaWhoop

I've been on and off fluoxetine since i was 14 or so, the side effects on me can be pretty intense. I don't want to say anything to make you want to stop using this or anything i REALLY think you need to go see your doctor about this because there are plenty of options if fluoxetine isn't working out for you.

Side effects i find (personally) is insomnia, weight loss(some people gain it), and my brain doesn't seem to function quite as fast as when i'm off it. When i stop using fluoxetine i find it takes weeks to wear off. But just stay on it till you have spoken to your doctor. When you come off it you can feel like death if you have been on it long enough so just getting off it straight away isn't a great idea.

If you want to talk more about it or something just U2U me i don't want to go into my experiences too much here

They gave it to me for fibromyalgia pain and sleep.

In older men it can cause prostate enlargement i had this no fun when it takes 15 minutes to take a leak.
It also can make you feel like your head is stuffed full of cotton.

They gave me a 30 day supply when i started.
I did not take all of them it was so bad.
I even felt unsafe driving my brain was so fogged up. It was like i was drunk.

And they never did anything for the fibromyalgia pain and keep me up for days.