Date:  Tue May 15, 2001  1:46 am	 

Hi, my name is Cate, this is my first post.  I am looking for help 
because my best friend is / was on Prozac  --  60 mg/day for SIX 
years!  He got off it  --  hooray  --  and then he started again.  I 
am not sure why because he chose to hide it from me.  

I don't think he sees the idiot shrink any more  --  that dope told 
him he had inherited depression, and had his daughter on tri-cyclics, 
and wanted to dope his mother up, too.  He had my friend on Trazadone 
(sp?) at the same time as the Prozac.  Now he takes much less  --  10 
mg, I think, that the cardiologist, of all people, prescribed.

Anyway, before he got off the first time, he developed a cardiac 
conduction disorder ("sick sinus (node) syndrome")and ended up 2 
weeks in the hospital, and with a pacemaker.  These disorders are 
common in people in their 70's and 80's, but he was only 60 when he 
got hit.  He also gained about 50 pounds, gasps and wheezes  and 
sweats from the head at the least exertion, and is tired all the 
time, and falls asleep at the drop of a hat.  Impotence, big time.  
Normal desire?  Not exactly  --  the interest is there, but no 
expression of it.  

Has anyone else had these problems with Prozac?  I looked in Medline, 
and found some references  --  in Europe, of course  --  to 
development of cardiac conduction problems with fluoxetine.  

About the Valerian  --  it is a great relaxer for most people.  About 
20% experience a paradoxical reaction to it, and become hyper instead 
of relaxed.  I had that reaction to it, so I dug into the texts, and 
that was what I found out.  Thanks for listening, 

Cate

Date:  Tue May 15, 2001  4:30 am

Response1:
Hi Cate, I am 33 years old, never ever had heart problems UNTIL I took prozac,  
I only took it for 15 days at 20mg. Yes I believe that prozac causes heart 
problems, and if he took prozac 1 time then stopped and started again, I hope 
that he does not expect the same results, thanks, 

Cynthia

Date:  Tue May 15, 2001  5:09 am

Response2:
this really scares me because I started experiencing shortness of breath when 
I took paxil. I would get out of breath at times just walking across the floor 
but I thought it was because i'd gained weight. This happens to me now 
too (2yrs later) and I dont smoke either, and heart trouble runs in 
my family!! How do I get check for this? What kind of dr. and how would 
I know if it was caused from the paxil? 

T.

Date:  Tue May 15, 2001  2:37 pm

Response3:
Remember that drugs like Fen-Phen and Redux were pulled off the market for 
causing heart valve damage.  These drugs worked on the serotonergic system, 
so if they caused heard problems, why would the other SSRIs?  I think we're 
only just seeing the tip of the iceberg as to what kind of physical problems 
these drugs really cause. 

Trisha

Date:  Sun May 20, 2001  6:24 pm

Pat had those  little blood spots under his skin after 4-6 years of Prozac.  
According to Dr. Breggin, and others, serotonin is found in the blood in large
amounts and in the gut. In fact, before it became the latest psychiatric fad,
serotonin was first isolated in the blood.  
 
Dr. Breggin wrote "Toxic Psychiatry," then he wrote "Talking Back to Prozac", 
and he wrote "Your drug may be your problem". If you read all three you will 
know all you need to about psychiatric drugs and SSRI's (Ann Tracy's is good 
too).  Dr. Breggin shows the political aspect of the approval process 
in "Talking Back to Prozac".  I was floored by the fraud that its approval 
represents.  What an education.  
 
Dr. Breggin gives good information as far as he goes, but he refuses to accept 
that there can be a kind of depression caused by chemicals (as birth control 
pills, for instance  --  thirty years age, that's what did it for me.  My 
daughter caused it by going vegetarian, although that did not affect me  --  
we are all different).
 
What people forget is that SSRI's do not only mess up the brain, and indirectly
all of the neuroendocrine system and associated organs affected by the brain, 
they also directly mess up the liver, heart, lungs, and gut (which in turn, 
ruins your ability to absorb nutrients, which leads to more problems....)  
SSRI's are the most vicious nightmare ever to hit the human race.  They are 
much worse than the Black Death plague of the Middle Ages  -- 
their victims live on and on and on in escalating misery, and every one who 
loves them also suffers for years on end.
 
Cate