Posted by Else on July 23, 2001, at 6:56:44
In reply to Listening to Prozac vs your own experiences, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 22, 2001, at 16:08:29
> For those people who have read "Listening to Prozac," I am interested in hearing your reaction to taking SSRIs compared to the case studies in the book. In the book, a number of individuals suddenly go from depressed, inhibited, sensitive, shy etc. to being popular, dynamic, attractive, energetic people whose careers and social lives take off - basically a miracle transformation of personality from miserable to the life of the party. Has this really occured for anyone here or is it a bunch of crap? What good is being more attractive if you become numb below the waist? What good is your career taking off if you gain 40 pounds?
>
Prozac and Zoloft certainly diminished my anxiety but let's just say that, considering I had read the book beforehand, they were a huge disapointment. They didn't just make me numb below the waist, they made me numb all over. I had no initiative whatsoever and was content working a CRAPPY HORRIBLE job for two years while I was on it. Plus it made me irritable as hell. I think the people who do great on these probably become hypomanic in some way.> I have read a lot of responses to SSRI questions here and have read a lot of negative opinions. Five days of Paxil was enough to convince me I had no interest in these medicines and would rather try something more benign like Wellbutrin, but of course Wellbutrin has no book written about it singing its praises so I don't know exactly what I should expect from it, except presumably a better overall mood.
At least you wont feel "numb below the belt". There's no book on Wellbutrin but there is this interesting article:
http://bupropion.com/wonderwell/index.html
> I am not saying SSRIs don't help some depressed people become better, although often at the very high cost of their sexuality and often at the equally high cost of very significant weight gain, but I am just wondering if the expectations set up by the "better than well" terminology in "Listening to Prozac" has been matched by your own experience with SSRIs. Is it really "better than well" to have no libido and to gain 40 pounds?The short answer is no.
> Given that there are drugs around for depression and social anxiety that do not have these devastating sexual side effects nor weight gain side effects, like Serzone, Wellbutrin, and Klonopin, I have to wonder why the SSRIs remain the first drug of choice for the average doctor confronted by a depressed or anxious patient. Do the SSRIs truly have a personality-transforming power that Wellbutrin and Serzone do not? Or is it just baloney?
Doctors don't prescribe Klonopin because of *the risk of addiction* (which of course is much worse than being a zombie with no sex life).
In medical magazines and reviews, SSRIs are commonly advertised as "first-line" therapy and GPs (and some pdocs) have gotten into the habit of picking these over other drugs, probably because they are more familliar with them and know what to expect. They've heard more about them. Other drugs sound exotic to them (GPs).
poster:Else
thread:71393
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010720/msgs/71480.html