Prozac is a brand of Fluoxetine, an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class. Fluoxetine works by increasing the amount of serotonin, a natural substance in the brain that helps maintain mental balance. Fluoxetine is also sold under the brand name Sarafem among others.
Fluoxetine (Prozac) is used to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (bothersome thoughts that won’t go away and the need to perform certain actions over and over), some eating disorders, and panic attacks (sudden, unexpected attacks of extreme fear and worry about these attacks).
Fluoxetine (Sarafem) is used to relieve the symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, including mood swings, irritability, bloating, and breast tenderness. It is also used along with olanzapine (Zyprexa) to treat depression that did not respond to other medications and episodes of depression in people with bipolar I disorder (manic-depressive disorder; a disease that causes episodes of depression, episodes of mania, and other abnormal moods).
How should Fluoxetine be used?
Fluoxetine (Prozac) comes as a capsule, a tablet, a delayed-release (releases the medication in the intestine) capsule, and a solution (liquid) to take by mouth. Fluoxetine may be taken with or without food. Fluoxetine (Sarafem) comes as a capsule to take by mouth. Fluoxetine (Prozac) capsules, tablets, and liquid are usually taken once a day in the morning or twice a day in the morning and at noon.
Fluoxetine delayed-released capsules are usually taken once a week. Fluoxetine (Sarafem) is usually taken once a day, either every day of the month or on certain days of the month. Take fluoxetine at around the same time(s) every day. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Take fluoxetine exactly as directed. Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor.
Swallow the delayed-release capsules whole; do not cut, crush, or chew them.
Your doctor may start you on a low dose of fluoxetine and gradually increase your dose.
It may take 4 to 5 weeks or longer before you feel the full benefit of fluoxetine. Continue to take fluoxetine even if you feel well. Do not stop taking fluoxetine without talking to your doctor. If you suddenly stop taking fluoxetine, you may experience withdrawal symptoms such as mood changes, irritability, agitation, dizziness, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, anxiety, sweating, confusion, headache, tiredness, and difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Your doctor will probably decrease your dose gradually.
Fluoxetine is also sometimes used to treat alcoholism, attention-deficit disorder, borderline personality disorder, sleep disorders, headaches, mental illness, posttraumatic stress disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, obesity, sexual problems, and phobias. Talk to your doctor about the possible risks of using this medication for your condition.
This medication may be prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.
What if I take too much?
The amount of fluoxetine that can lead to an overdose varies from person to person. Call a doctor straight away if:
You’ve taken too much fluoxetine by accident and experience symptoms such as:
- being sick (vomiting)
- shaking
- feeling sleepy
- feeling agitated
- heart problems
- lung problems
- fits (seizures)
If you need to go to a hospital accident and emergency (A&E) department, do not drive yourself – get someone else to drive you or call for an ambulance.
Take the fluoxetine packet, or the leaflet inside it, plus any remaining medicine with you.
Can You Snort Prozac (Fluoxetine)?
No, you should never snort Prozac. Anecdotal evidence suggests that snorting Prozac is associated with severe pain. Aside from the fact that snorting anything can often burn like hell and lead to problems like chronic sinusitis, perforated nasal septum and other problems, there is absolutely no reason to snort a drug that has to build up in your system for 1-2 weeks before it starts to work, and up to 6 weeks before you get maximum improvement.
Recently, a 16-year-old Maryland boy suffered a seizure after snorting six crushed tablets of an antidepressant. Dr. Christopher J. Welsh, a University of Maryland psychiatrist who treated the boy, says the youth told him several of his friends had also tried to crush and snort the mood pill. One even injected the drug, which acts somewhat like a stimulant.
“I don’t think we have a good sense of how often this is done with any medication,” says Welsh, an addiction specialist. “But almost any [drug] which can be abused, people will do this with.” Snorting a drug gives it quick access to the brain, but it’s less direct than either injecting or smoking a substance, adds Welsh, who with a colleague detailed the case study in a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
How much Prozac can get someone high?
Like other Antidepressants, Prozac does not have the euphoric effects other drugs have. In other words, Prozac can’t get the user high. That doesn’t stop some people from trying, though. Some people think since Antidepressants improve mood that high doses must induce euphoria, but that is not how the drugs work.
The only non-standard effects you can receive from Prozac are the symptoms which follow the chemical poisoning from an overdose. If you take enough, you could probably pass out from dry heaving your poor stomach into total inflammation, if you count that as ‘high.’ If you really take enough, you’ll probably wake up in the hospital. There are virtually no antidepressants or mood stabilizers which have recreational value aside from dysphoria.
What are the signs of prozac use, addiction and dependence?
Someone who has a Prozac addiction will exhibit several warning signs. While a physical dependency is rare, the psychological Prozac addiction can occur. This may occur because the abuser has become addicted to abusing the drug and is trying to get some sort of increased energy, talkative, mood elevated reaction. Some of the signs of Prozac abuse are:
- Talkativeness
- “Speedlike” effect
- Jitters
- Numbness
- Irritability
- Violent thoughts and actions
- Aggression
- Insomnia
Warnings
You should not use Prozac if you also take pimozide or thioridazine, or if you are being treated with methylene blue injection.
Do not use Prozac if you have used an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days (such as isocarboxazid, rasagiline, selegiline, phenelzine, or transcypromine). Do not use fluoxetine with thioridazine, linezolid, pimozide, or methylene blue injection.
You must wait at least 14 days after stopping an MAO inhibitor before you take Prozac. You must wait 5 weeks after stopping Prozac before you can take thioridazine or an MAOI.
Some young people have thoughts about suicide when first taking an antidepressant. Stay alert to changes in your mood or symptoms.
Prozac could impair judgment, thinking, or motor skills. Use caution when operating machinery.
Report any new or worsening symptoms to your doctor, such as: mood or behavior changes, anxiety, panic attacks, trouble sleeping, or if you feel impulsive, irritable, agitated, hostile, aggressive, restless, hyperactive (mentally or physically), more depressed, or have thoughts about suicide or hurting yourself.
