Posted by roo on May 15, 2001, at 11:26:50
I have been taking prozac for about 5 years. Every time
I try and go off, I get really depressed again. I even
tried tapering off slowly, 5 mg's at a time, and I still
get really down. I've talked to quite a few people who began
taking antidepressants for situational depression, but then
found when the situation passed and they'd been on the drug
long enough to help the problem, they couldn't go off it
without relapsing. I'm scared that my brain has become dependent
upon antidepressants to create seratonin and can't do it
without them now. While I'm grateful that there are drugs out
there to help my depression, I never counted on having to be
on them forever--particularly since they effect my sexual life
so dramatically. It really depresses me and makes me feel bitter
that maybe I've done something to my body that has made it unable to
produce what it needs to produce naturally without chemical
help. Am I overreacting? Has anyone else had this fear or talked
with other people who took an antidepressant not for life long
clinical depression, but for a situational thing, and then was
unable to come off the drug without getting depressed?
I feel like there's so much info. out there about the drugs and
what they can do for you, but hardly any about how to handle
going off, and what happens to you physically when you go off.
Again, I'm not antidrug, and I will keep taking my prozac rather
than being depressed...but I am really disappointed that I may never
be able to go off of it and have a normal sex life again.
poster:roo
thread:63095
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010515/msgs/63095.html