Posted by ramsea on May 13, 2004, at 3:43:05
In reply to Re: Blunted Emotions after taking prozac, posted by BrakeGuy20 on May 12, 2004, at 17:19:22
I'm no expert, just speaking as a consumer, I doubt very much that Prozac could as such damage you physically in a permanaent way, in the sense you describe. Of course all serious medicines can have serious side effects--it is always the case. Even aspirin kills and maims. But blunting your emotions would mean having experienced a very specific brain damage, in a specific area of the brain. I would never say never to anything, coz it's true enough that strange things can happen with medicines, and companies can hide information that they dislike.
But Prozac has been used for like 15 years and by millions of people around the globe. I figure if sustaining brain damage is possible, in the emotions area of the brain, it would be mentioned. You could check Medscape on-line, you don't have to pay, and it is frontline info doctors use. Also check RXlist on-line, for the doctors info, and go through all the side effects. Remember though that some of the side effects listed are only associated with the drug, not proven.
May people take higher doses of Prozac and appear better for it. Others stop and side effects go away. I know anti-psychiatry people would probably say, yeah sure man, that drug could have wiped out your brain,, but I have to admit my own belief is that they have a missionary zeal that doesn't always accord with the facts. Onthe other hand, I am obviously a lover of words and think debate is great and useful in free society and people who are anti-psychiatry have a right to their beliefs. It's just my belief that we don't normally suffer known brain damage from our meds. Like drinking booze may kill some brain cells, which is brain damage, but for most who have had this it isn't noticable to them or others. Lithium actually causes brain cells to form, I have read in science/medicine sites.
So you have brought up a very interesting question, but I know you have suffered much over this. It's not theory you want or some comsumer in cyberspace yakking at you. It just strikes me though that even if Prozac caused some damage, I would have thought you'd have recovered by now. We don't grown new brain cells (except with long-term lithium, apparently), but as with strokes and other injuries to the brain, we usually redirect and make up for loss unless it was a very severe injury. Did you notice a serious brain "event" at any time? Have you had a MRI brain scan? Maybe it's time to have one??? I am not trying to be scary, just thinking of what I might do. Also, I would think about what caused me to go onto Prozac for a year at a high dose. Could that reason have any connection to your present state? Sometimes people who have been through a lot of distress lose emotional connection, or have this blunting, as a survival tactic that kind of goes too far.
There is a reason behind your difficulty, or a combo of reasons. It might be Prozac-related, it might not. If it is brain damage, I really think a neurologist might be able to confirm this.
Take care, ramsea
poster:ramsea
thread:346051
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040510/msgs/346363.html