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March 29, 2024, 08:40:58 AM

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Fluoxetine

Started by bgmnts, August 28, 2020, 01:36:24 PM

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bgmnts

I was told today that, due to my age, the only 'licensed' anti-depressant for me is Fluoxetine (or Prozac for people who find scientific names daunting). I find this confusing because last year I was on Sertraline and my mother is also currently on Sertraline.

Anyway, I have to go for an ECG before I get my happy pills and I'm a bit concerned, will Fluoxetine explode my heart? Anyone else on this?

thr0b

Have you tried speaking to another GP first?

They don't always agree with each other, and if it's about a medication you're not comfortable taking, that second opinion may be worthwhile.

(One doctor at a surgery I used to use when reviewing advice given by his colleague said to me "As we're partners in the practice, I'm not going to advise you to make a complaint. I will however tell you that the complaint forms are in the third drawer down and reception will happily get you one.")

Blue Jam

How old are you if I may ask? I came off Fluoxetine last year after experiencing the dreaded "Prozac poop-out" (nothing rude, just means it stops working after a while) and went onto Venlafaxine instead. I was 38 at the time (still am for a little while) and my GP never mentioned anything about age as a risk factor.

I never had any heart palpitations or anything with Fluoxetine, it's not that stimulating. Is your GP possibly just being overly cautious?

bgmnts

Quote from: thr0b on August 28, 2020, 01:45:53 PM
Have you tried speaking to another GP first?

I probably should but I assumed he meant its literally the only medication I can have. It's hard enough just to get through to my regular GP to be honest, especially now during covid.

Quote from: Blue Jam on August 28, 2020, 01:46:31 PM
How old are you if I may ask?

I'm 27, close to 28, but I'm a big fat fuck so maybe it would have severe side effectd with my heart. He also mentioned it can really exacerbate suicidal ideation, which is an odd thing to specifically affect.

Utter Shit

Quote from: bgmnts on August 28, 2020, 01:54:30 PM
He also mentioned it can really exacerbate suicidal ideation, which is an odd thing to specifically affect.

That's common to all anti-depressants when you first start taking them, I think - certainly is the case with citalopram.

Unless things have changed recently (as in the last few years) I'm not aware of different pills being prescribed on the basis of age - I was on citalopram from the age of about 23 or so.

Pink Gregory

I was put on Citalopram last year, and I'm now 29, similarly haven't heard anything about age.  Ms. Gregory is 40 and got put on Sertaline *this* year.

thr0b

I've been on Citalopram for many years, and am 39 currently. And also a big fat fuck.

Three GP practices have not suggested at any point that I should/could change to another either.

spaghetamine

For whatever reason, GPs are often fairly clueless about the drugs they prescribe

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: spaghetamine on August 28, 2020, 02:18:03 PM
For whatever reason, GPs are often fairly clueless about the drugs they prescribe

Probability taking themselves!


Hahahahaha

Blue Jam

Only a mildly fat fuck here, but one with a family history of heart disease and who can't take any contraception containing oestrogen as a result. Antidepressants are all fine tho.

Mr_Simnock

Quote from: bgmnts on August 28, 2020, 01:36:24 PM
I was told today that, due to my age, the only 'licensed' anti-depressant for me is Fluoxetine (or Prozac for people who find scientific names daunting). I find this confusing because last year I was on Sertraline and my mother is also currently on Sertraline.

Anyway, I have to go for an ECG before I get my happy pills and I'm a bit concerned, will Fluoxetine explode my heart? Anyone else on this?

You could try and talk to a pharmacist if you could, their knowledge on these things I tend to find is far more extensive than a GP (but that's the point really). I sometimes come into contact with some pharmacists at work (I create reports for them at times) and it always surprises me just how much they know about any drug you mention straight of the top of their head (considering there are thousands of them). As for Fluoxetine, Citalopram and Sertraline (and their generic equivalents if they have them) we (the NHS lot I work for) like to keep an eye on those being prescribed for a few reasons. You lot should check this place out if your really up for a bit of background info on prescribed drugs https://bnf.nice.org.uk/, https://bnf.nice.org.uk/#Search?q=Fluoxetine, https://bnf.nice.org.uk/#Search?q=Sertraline, https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/sertraline.html#Search?q=Citalopram. These drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors which are, well this explains it better than I can

bgmnts

Cheers for the advice, all.

Zetetic

Quote from: bgmnts on August 28, 2020, 01:36:24 PM
I was told today that, due to my age, the only 'licensed' anti-depressant for me is Fluoxetine
That's nonsense.

Whoever told you that needs reporting.

QuoteHe also mentioned it can really exacerbate suicidal ideation, which is an odd thing to specifically affect.
Pretty much all antidepressants carry this risk, since one of the major main effects of them - by and large - is to make you feel less thoroughly helpless and more able to affect things around you again.

Which is a mixed bag for someone who's still otherwise fairly miserable.

Quote from: Mr_Simnock on August 28, 2020, 02:43:24 PM
As for Fluoxetine, Citalopram and Sertraline (and their generic equivalents if they have them)
Those are the generic names.

Zetetic

Quote from: Utter Shit on August 28, 2020, 01:58:07 PM
Unless things have changed recently (as in the last few years) I'm not aware of different pills being prescribed on the basis of age
Fluoxetine is the only antidepressant indicated for use in children in the UK. (I think I was prescribed it at 15. Maybe, 16?.)

Beyond that it's not a matter of licensing, but there are some views about tolerability of side effects, liver function and age. Some classes of antidepressant run the risk of (reversibly) inducing parkinsonism in the elderly. I was always under the impression that the elderly often end up on citalopram. (And we do put an awful lot of people with dementia on antidepressants.)

Pingers

As far as I'm aware, all SSRIs are very similar in their chemistry, I've never heard age mentioned as a contra-indicator, a second opinion on that would be worthwhile. That said, I'm on fluoxetine and it's helped me a lot. I did get more pronounced side-effects than normal when I started on it (3 weeks of feeling like I was on speed, not all bad), but since then, apart from periods of jaw tightness, it's been all good. If you're on other meds, they might be contra-indicated with other SSRIs, I dunno.

Glebe

I've been on Faverin (fluvoxamine) for a good long while now, before that was on Seroxat (paroxetine) for many years.

Hand Solo

There's a sleeping pill called Zaleplon or Sonata is the marketed name. Is there anyway to get this legally, or is it prescription only? The last doctor I asked wouldn't prescribe it but it really helped my insomnia and felt amazing at calming my anxiety. It's got weird with prescriptions, because years ago doctors would hand out valium like sweeties and I'd mix them with booze and get into a right state. I don't mix things anymore, but I bet you can't get valium as easily these days.

idunnosomename

maybe she's born with it
maybe it's sertraline


(i take sertraline, pretty sure it gives me night sweats by the bucket occasionally, but also stops me having massive angry bennies so swings and roundabouts)


GoblinAhFuckScary

Quote from: bgmnts on August 28, 2020, 01:54:30 PM
I'm 27, close to 28

Honestly know plenty of people older than 30 in the UK who take many different kinds of SSRI

Glebe

Quote from: idunnosomename on August 29, 2020, 01:24:19 AMmaybe she's born with it
maybe it's sertraline

Heh! Karma mate.

H-O-W-L

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on August 28, 2020, 02:20:51 PM
Probability taking themselves!


Hahahahaha

haha swEET SHOP: SWQ$EET SIHOWPERSDPOFI EGHWEETY SGHOPTY BAHAHAHAH BAUSY WEAYTAKIUGN THEMAS THEMSEALVEASS!!!!! JHAHAHa!!!!¬


JaDanketies

SWIM is on SSRIs. When they were prescribed them, the doctor said they wouldn't necessarily have to take them forever, and that they could just give the brain a break and stop it thinking these OCD depressed thoughts for long enough for it to retrain itself.

I'm doubtful now. Has anyone itt ever stopped taking SSRIs on the advice of a doctor?

Zetetic

#23
Yeah, quite a lot people don't take them forever. NHS Scotland's page mentions specific suggested course lengths, which I've never actually seen anywhere before in the UK
https://www.nhsinform.scot/tests-and-treatments/medicines-and-medical-aids/types-of-medicine/antidepressants

Not much encouragement to stop SSRIs by and large as they're cheap, mostly harmless and discontinuation can be a pain to manage (for both the user and their GP).

I'm not convinced that "give the brain a break" is the mechanism at work, but rather that a course can help rejig some low-level mechanisms (around reward or learning from reward or something like that) enough to enable you to engage properly with other stuff and start unlearning everything else that's part of the problem.

The latter bits are probably easier with help - in the form of therapy or the like - and external causes being removed.


Zetetic

(I feel I should admit that I intend to be on my tricyclic until I'm dead, and it's far more expensive and a bit less safe than the first and second-line SSRIs. Part of that is not being fucked to deal with discontinuation.)

Butchers Blind

Get on the amphetamines ASAP you big wally.

bgmnts

Good god my absent mindedness has gone nuclear since coming on this. I've never been able to concentrate on podcasts or books or films or anything for years and I'd regularly put the coffee jar in the fridge etc but I actually accidentally shoplifted today. I picked a pen up and put it in my hand and forgot I had it in my hand.

Shit myself.

imitationleather

The shoplifting is worrying, but I'm most concerned about the incontinence you've developed.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: JaDanketies on August 29, 2020, 09:16:40 AM
I'm doubtful now. Has anyone itt ever stopped taking SSRIs on the advice of a doctor?

Mrs nose is in the process of reducing hers down to (eventually) zero, having been told when she was originally prescribed them (about 9 years ago) that she'd probably be on them for the rest of her life.

She's doing it VERY gradually with her GP (who, luckily, is our town's mental health specialist) monitoring it and reducing the dosage as necessary, and it's going to be a long process of a few years (basically it's like the Harry Hill mash spoon joke) as the brain needs to be "tricked" into making naturally itself what the anti-depressants have been doing chemically.  She's now a year into it and neither of us have noticed any mental or physical differences since she started, but this one year in relative terms is still quite early days.

JaDanketies

Benzodiazepines (used to) make me deliberately shoplift

Thanks Shit Good Nose!