Posted by med_empowered on October 1, 2005, at 11:22:11
In reply to Re: Prozac was only poplular in the 1990's, posted by Phillipa on September 29, 2005, at 18:26:55
I think Prozac was a huge, unbelievable hit and cultural phenomenom--remember "Listening to Prozac," and "Prozac Nation"? I think its probably the first psychiatric drug since Valium to make such a huge impression on the national psyche. Anyway, it also epitomized for a lot of people what was wrong with pill-culture, and SSRIs in particular--overuse, loss of libido, akathisia, careless RXing by docs, drug-induced mania/psychosis, etc. Plus...shrinks seem to love new drugs--they may not be much better, but they are new...I guess it makes them feel like they're on the "cutting edge"? Well..whatever. Seems like Prozac is still used, but its definitely not first-line for most people anymore...amongst my friends, I see it mostly in combos (Symbyax or other AP/SSRI combos, mixed with Wellbutrin, added to benzos, etc.), but I dont know many people who do Prozac monotherapy. One cool thing...for whatever reason, the Eli Lilly people did some research with combining Prozac with alternative treatments....B-vitamins, I think saint john's wort and/or SAMe, that kind of thing. So...it appears, based on their data, that Prozac (and presumably other SSRIs) are more effective when combined with certain "alternative" treatments, and the results and faster and more pronounced than using either medication alone. I think its a good sign docs are still using Prozac in generic; a lot of times, it seems prescribers get lured by shiny new drugs away from the tried-and-true. Since lots of SSRIs are now generic, or will soon be generic, this certainly bodes well for the cost-conscious mental health consumer.
poster:med_empowered
thread:560807
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050927/msgs/561575.html