Living with Prozac: And Other Selective Serotonin-Reuptake Inhibitors. - book reviews

Whole Earth Review, Fall, 1995 by Louis Engel

(And Other Selective Serotonin-Reuptake Inhibitors) Debra Elfenbein, Editor. HarperSanFrancisco, 1995; 287 pp. ISBN 0-06-251206-4 $9 ($11.75 postpaid) from HarperCollins Publishers, Direct Mail, PO Box 588, Dunmore, PA 18512; 800/331-3761

Reading this book is like spending a day with seventy-five people from around the country and listening as each takes five minutes to tell their Prozac (or Paxil or Zoloft) saga. It is straight talk from patient to patient (or potential patient). This is what life is like on the drug. For some it is a transforming savior for others it is the drug from hell. For most, it is somewhere in between.

* I expected to never have anything bother me, never get excited or stressed. I feel all the normal feelings that everyone feels, but not to such a magnified degree. Not such drastic highs and lows. And I'm not so much in a hurry to organize the world it's to a more normal level, and not so obsessive. If I get depressed, it lasts about two minutes, and fades away. I can calmly and constructively handle all of life's ups and downs. I can go into new places such as restaurants alone, still with a little anxiety, but a very small amount. An amount that I can get through. I'm not so spooked by people. I feel more that I fit in. Overall, I feel wonderful, and free. I feel that I have a new lease on life. Finally, I can enjoy life to its fullest and not be so constricted by anxiety and phobias.

* What I like is that life is easier. I cry at more appropriate times. I feel more at ease with social relationships. I'm a calmer parent (as my children will attest). I have not felt panicked or detached from my life for months. With the support of medication, I am better able to enjoy the progress that I'm making in therapy and in my recovery. I have fingernails most of the time. Medication doesn't take away my problems, I still have some symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, but I have much more than I could have dreamed. I am happy.

* I noticed that while on Prozac I would start to feel more hostile and violent. These feelings were expressed one weekend, when I almost had three car accidents within an hour's time. The next day I got into an argument with one of my neighbors in the laundry room.

The next day I went to work and arranged with my therapist to be admitted to First Hospital Vallejo.

* Two months later, I crashed. In a six-hour period I sank into a darkness that separated me from everything. I had used Zoloft not as an aid to recovery but as a tool to allow me to push beyond my limits, so that the third episode of depression was far worse than either of the other two. I had not heard the warnings of both my doctor and therapist.

* For now, I've resigned myself to taking medication. I am not seeing a counselor, and see a psychiatrist only for my prescriptions. Although I occasionally grumble about being dependent on a pill, I feel grateful for the medication. With a limited energy level, I go for quality rather than quantity experiences. My eating is moderate and my weight stable. I can't say I will never purge again, but for now I am not doing so. I look forward to an old age filled with joy and wisdom.

* I am a therapist and have been on Prozac for about a year. I have not tried any other antidepressants.

I have not noticed a HUGE change but little changes. It seemed to work very gradually to make me not as anxious, and I don't take things as seriously as I once did.

I tend to be a very workaholic, responsible, caring person, and sometimes I care too much! I think Prozac has helped me detach a little and also focus. I think I have a little ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) also, and it has helped that.

The only side effect I had was a little insomnia at first. I think it has also helped my PMS [premenstrual syndrome]. I am almost menopausal, too (age 50), so I feel it may help that too, or is it the placebo effect?