Posted by Bill L on October 31, 2000, at 8:48:02
In reply to prozac/suicide, posted by cindyh on October 31, 2000, at 6:33:33
Cindy - I am really sorry to hear about your husband. You are in my prayers. It's especially a shame that died so soon after taking a big step in the right direction by starting an antidepressant.
Ofcourse I can't give a definitive answer to your question in your husband's specific case but the general rule is the other way around that drugs such as Prozac prevent suicides. Prozac has a very strong and positive 11 year track record as an antidepressant.
People do commit suicide on Prozac, but that's because it doesn't work very well for everyone. Some doctors postulate that Prozac may cause some people to commit suicide. The theory is that Prozac gives a depressed person the strength and energy needed to kill himself. Some doctors think that Prozac causes people to commit suicide more so than other antidepressants (due to some studies) and therefore prefer to start patients on different antidepressants.
On the other side of the coin, for a lot of people Prozac works better than the other antidepressants. It's still the first antidepressant that many doctors prescribe for depressed patients.
In any event, it does take about 4 to 6 weeks for Prozac to build up in one's blood and have a significant antidepressant effect. Since your husband was only taking it for 10 days, it would not have very much of an antidepressant effect. But Prozac can have side effects including agitation. I guess it's hard to know if it caused him to be agitated in such a short time frame and even if it did, if it caused him to kill himself.
You didn't say how depressed he was before taking the Prozac but I imagine that it must have been pretty bad. If it's any consulation, atleast you know that by starting him on Prozac, he and his doctor took a step in the right direction even though it didn't work out.
Once again I am really sorry to hear what happened and you are in my prayers.
> what is the correlation of taking prozac for 10 days and taking one's life? My husband did this, and he seemed to get worse instead of better. We were waiting for the month or so we were told it would take to get better. Could the two be related? I'm searching for answers...I don't understand any of this. Please help. please. Thanks
poster:Bill L
thread:47805
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001022/msgs/47816.html