| Re: I just started prozac what to expect
Hi, I have suffered from depression since the age of 14, on and off. For me, its like being an alcoholic, I will have to live with it for the rest of my life. I have spells which come and go and the length of these spells varies. At the moment I am currently at the lowest I have ever been and have been stuck like this for the last 4 years since being made redundant from a job I loved and had for 21 years. I no longer am able to leave the house as people scare me. During my many years of depression I have been on Prozac on three separate occasions. I can only tell you my experience of this drug, and it is obviously, as you will know, not going to be the same for everybody. What Prozac did for me was make me able to cope with every day things. Whilst on this drug I didn't have to have time off work and could cope with getting up and going to work every day and did my job to my usual high standard. Nobody could tell I was on medication at work as there was no difference to how I was able to do my job. It sort of numbed me and I was unable to cry whilst on the drug. It was like I could feel nothing, sort of like a zombie is best to describe it. I remember the first time I was on Prozac, I had been on it for about 6 months and I was walking home one day when the pavement seemed to be coming up at me. It was very strange. I felt dizzy. The reason I came off Prozac the first time was my choice. Things had stabilised and I wanted to try life without it. I gradually cut down until I stopped. The last time I was on Prozac I came off it because I was in my garden with my husband talking to my neighbours and when I went inside my husband followed me and asked why I was shaking when I was talking to our neighbours. He asked me if I was scared of them. I said I wasn't even aware that I had been shaking. I knew I had started to shake but didn't know it could be noticed by others. This scared me enough to come off the drug. That was the last time I took it. I am now on clomipramine and risperdal. Despite the affects towards the end, I think Prozac was a good drug for me and helped me through bad periods in my life. I would, given the choice, be on Prozac now but because my depression is so bad it was felt by my specialist that something stronger was required. I think if you use this drug as a short time aid to get you through a particularly bad time it is okay but I don't know about the long term affects. I have been on my current medication for over 3 years now and can't see myself ever coming off them. I hope you find some comfort and help with prozac. One thing the doctor told me, and which I found to be very true, is that you feel worse before you feel better. It will take you a month or so to feel the benefit of prozac and you may feel worse and think why am I taking this but stick with it and you should feel better in time. Its like everything else, it takes a while to get into your system and start doing its job. I really hope you do get well enough to not have to take any medication for depression for long and wish you all the best, remember you have a little baby to look forward to. Take care.
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