I have had signs from depression some months, and my doctor gave my a Prozac SSRI (fluoxetine).
I have started on this medication 2 days ago, and wondering:
Could this SSRI cause any changes in my sleep and dreams? If so, are it bad or good side effects?
Thanks for you answers.
Most people usually take this medication early in the morning because if they take it to late they have difficulty sleeping. Some people report having vivid dreams on it while others say it did not affect there dreams at all. Everyone reacts differently to medication so you will just have to wait and see how it effects you.
i think it’s a huge disasterous mistake to take those things, I won’t tell my story here but basically
Doctor: Oh, you’re sad? here, take these! shoves pills down your throat and stuffs his pockets with $$$
Those things are next to impossible to quit, they CAN make you more depressed (my case) and THEY DO NOT SOLVE A DAMN THING UNLESS YOU GENUINELY HAVE A SEVERE CHEMICAL IMBALANCE
basically medication should be a last resort thing when tests have been done to determine the problems are not psychological, yet they’ll dope you up the second they talk to you without getting to really know anything about you.
If you just started well it is of my highest recommendation to tell them you want to quit before it gets out of hand, that you don’t think relying on pills for happiness is a good solution.
It is not a good solution.
I don’t think you are going to listen to me though, but I’d rather take up pot to combat sadness (not that I recommend this at all) than anti-depressants…
Those things permanently change the way your brain works, deotxoifying and quitting is an extremely slow and hellacious process.
all that aside, when I was on zoloft I do remember getting a few isolated amazing lucid dreams… I’m not sure if they happened shortly after taking them or what… the really interesting dreams (more like nightmares… for an understatement) came when I quit… whoa man… I can’t remember them, but i know they were insane and heavily involved SP.
finally excercise + meditation can cure depression better than any pills can.
I would have to say I agree with most of that, Holy…
I seriously doubt the number of depressions resulting from chemical imbalances is anywhere near as high as the amount of people on drugs to “fix” their imbalances.
Just to share my own horror story:
I was having some emotional problems that I believed resulted from my social anxiety problems, so I went to a doctor. She asks me, have you ever thought about suicide? I’m thinking, what sane person hasn’t, of course I have. She references me to a psychologist who thoroughly convinces me that I’m depressed and that there’s something wrong with me. I go to a few of her “sessions,” which amount to no more than us debating about topics and her “correcting” me, (I’m being sarcastic, because I could literally think circles around this woman; there is no humble way to say it: I’m smarter than this person.) and a psychiatrist doping me up so bad I can barely think straight. After about 4 weeks, thanks to these quacks, I was more depressed than I ever have been. I literally tried to walk off a building, but couldn’t muster the guts to do it (death is even more scary than public speaking, I found out).
Finally, about a year and a half later, after doing quite a few illegal and quasi-legal self-prescribed drugs (and developing quite a distate for psychiatry), I’m finally back to the me that I remembered and thought I would never get back again. Sometimes I have some spells of general sadness (although it’s far more rarely than before), but I just write about it. (Actually, I’m writing a novelette about many of the topics that my depression stems from.) I’ve decided that, by far, I am the best person to deal with my own problems. When I reached my hand out in the hopes that someone could help me, vultures try to tear the flesh from my bones to get to my wallet. I may not be perfect, but at least I’m still alive, which is probably more than I could’ve hoped for placing my life and future in the hands of people who saw me as nothing more than a profit venue.
Holy tangent! Sorry, everybody needs to vent sometimes… sigh deep breath
As to not completely hijack your thread, I’ll summarize. You should definitely understand that there are risks involved. These self-proclaimed experts churn patients in and out all day, and they’ll tell you whatever it is you need to hear to keep their cash register ringing. I’ve heard quite a few times that many people on anti-depressants have been killing themselves in noticeable numbers recently. It might be a good idea to do a little more research, like holy suggests, before throwing yourself willy-nilly into the hands of these white-collar drug dealers (excuse the bias, I’m sure you’ll understand).
EDIT: Wow, excuse the poor English. My eyelids are literally heavy.
Wow… I don’t think I’ve ever seen this issue addressed so perfectly.
Despite my hatred towards that community, I’m majoring in psychology, go figure, if I ever do become a shrink (i don’t think i would as i’m too anti-social) I’d probably be so unconventional that I’d end up getting fired… but maybe I could make a difference and a reform to the way people are treated.
There is an over the counter drug called 5htp (i believe) that when taken at night produces more seratonin in you and gives you better dreams, as well as suppoesdly makes you happier… you might want to research that… I’m not sure how it works, I’d imagine if abused it can create huge imbalances and seratonin withdrawals… I myself would not desire to try it, but according to some people simply eating and excercising etc produces seratonin, and it’s normal to more or less “artificially” put more amounts into your body…? Don’t take my word on that at all, it doesn’t sound quite right, but, it’s a cheaper solution to think about and research
also: the anti-deprssants killed my sex drive, made it hard to get an erection, made it take forever to climax… I still haven’t seem to have ever recovered… it may just be a psychological thing for me, but it takes me forever to ‘get the job done’ and well… i don’t know… those things really screw you up in so many ways… some of them i fear might be permanent.
lol. That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a while. 
(Sidenoate: quite a large deja vu I got from preparing to respond to your post…)
Ah, thanks for the suggestion about the 5htp. I might look into it from a research perspective, but I’m doing pretty good nowadays, so I think I’ll just stay the course. 
Also, as far as it taking longer to climax, I wouldn’t rule out that the factor(s) might be as simple as getting older, or becoming more experienced (so to speak). But of course, you know your body much better than I could.
Wow, far from it. Between you and holy reality, I feel threatened as a writer! Your guys’ posts rock.
I pretty much agree with the things you both said, but I have my doubts about the efficacy of pot over prescription drugs. Marijuana messes your brain up too and changes the chemical composition. The best answer is: nothing foreign. Work through it with meditation and exercise, like was already stated. I just know (from those related to me) smoking makes people ultra paranoid, antsy, and worst of all: dependent on a costly substance that gives them a limited amount of highs. It’s a never-ending cycle that is so hard to beat.
well I mean I know some guys use it medicinally for depression and chronic pain… I imagine you are paranoid becuase what you are doing is illegal, though I have not succeeded at getting high from pot, and have not had a chance to try it again.
I certainlly don’t advocate it though but providing it is like people say it is I think I’d rather use it than anti-depressants for trying to chill down and relax and feel good.
I imagine the situation is quite different in America. You all pay for non-emergency health care, don’t you? We have the National Health Service here in the UK. It’s the world’s third bigest employer.
I think the problem here isn’t the doctor thinking “I’ll give them some Prozac and get them out of the way, a quick customer” but the patient saying (in some areas) “Come on, give me some Prozac, the miracle cure!”
Anyway, about this 5htp: Does serotonin increase or decrease the amount of REM? If it increases it, that doesn’t sound like something which will make you happier.
Well, back to the topic, which is… oh, it’s sleep drugs! How handy.
Oh! I didn’t mean to sound like I was advocating any drugs. I fully support decriminalizing so-called [.doublespeak]victimless crimes[./doublespeak], but that was just basically an aspect of my story. Actually, I don’t do marijuana at all anymore. But thank you kindly for the compliment. 
I will always consider it a great honor to threaten you. 
(joking, of course)
Thanks for the answers, everybody.
“holy reality”: You said you still have some side effects from the the anti-deprssants. Could I ask you a question? How long did you take the medication, and how long is it since you stopped the medication?
I took a light dosage of zoloft since the 9th grade which would be close to 5 years ago…
then junior year I got my dosage increased to just abuot as high as it could safely go, then was put on effexxor instead and had that up as high as it could go, got it quadrupled within a one month time span… and senior year, a year and a half ago, I quit the drugs.
ever since being on them i’ve been prone to seeing “auras” if you will, my vision has been a bit quirky, and my sex drive has never recovered, I guess that could be due to other things.
Some people have beneftted from taking anti depressents. A combination of medication and therapy can be helpful or just one of them. It depends on the person. I’ve been on low doses of various anti depressants for a while now and they definitely helped me through my worst time. I’ve never experienced very bad side effects.
Anyway, back on topic, the only time I noticed myself having some weird and frightening dreams was when I’d forgotten to take my effexor 3 days running. I don’t usually have nightmares but these were like that and kept waking me up for up to 3hrs after I went to bed.
No, I didn’t think you sounded that way at all. I just had to mention how I don’t think pot is very helpful either (in the long run).
Hmm, is that doublespeak stuff straight out of 1984?
I have been on antidepressant and antianxiety medication before and… wowowowow… I got even more depressed even though it was supposed to make me numb from it. It was hell for me when I was on it. It made me really disconnected and numb, but yet… I still felt my depression and it was much worse than before.
My doctor just quickly determined that I had those problems (after seeing her about my lungs problem) and shoved that medications to my mouth… (that’s how I felt)… I quitted those medications against my doctor advice because when I came back and told her how I hated being on them… she was like, “You seem to do much better. Keep going with it ok? Don’t quit on it.” I was like arrrrrrrgh can’t she ever listen to me? So I just quitted them cold turkey. Now I’m doing much better with them… meditation and exercise do help a lot and personally I think I got over with depression a long time ago and when I had that nasty manic depression long time ago… no one could help me… not even pyscological counselors could (I have seen diff. 4 of them so far) help at all. When I began to meditate to help myself recover… I just suddenly got over with it as if nothing happened. And right now yes I do get frustrated sometimes in a while… very natural to feel that right? But it seems that I’m at that “labeled” age and “labeled” group where I’m most likely to be depressed… I am not at all.
Because of that… my doctor didn’t correctly diagonise me so I ended up having to go to ER few times because of my serious asthma attacks and my lungs was going out of control. It took me a while to get it under control with herbs, etc. Now I’m on the road to recovery before I can go back to college… which I have failed twice because of my health. I just feel that if my doctor wasn’t so determined that I had problems with depression and anxiety that she could’ve inspected me correctly and have given me those correct medications to control my asthma and lungs, I’d do much better.
I just had to vent as well… I apologize for that…
I just wanted to say… “Be careful.”
And yes Procraz can affect your dreaming from what I have heard. Some antidepressant medications do affect your sternion therefore it does affect your REM.
I hope it’s helpful to you and good luck.
Ah, gotcha.
Yes. I knew you would get it, since we had that mini-dialogue about your signature (although you’ve changed it now, along with poor old Hobbes…).
I think this is an amazing site, by the way: studentsfororwell.org/
Sorry, I go off-topic so much. I must have a digression gene or something. I’ll just say, Good luck with it all, Neptun.
I have been on the fluoxetine medication for 5 days now. Hopefully, the dosage will not be increased.
I have not noticed any side effects. Therefore, I wonder how long it usually takes before the side effects occur. Could they start to occur very long after the medication is started?
Well, Holy Reality and others definitely have some strong views about this and I will address some of their concerns. I work as an advocate for people with disabilities and I work mostly with people who suffer from psychiatric symptoms ( depression, bi polar etc). I believe in a persons self determination in there own recovery. So I strongly object to someone telling you what to do.
Medication can be helpful for some people. I have also seen people recover without medication. I suggest getting all the facts and then make your own decision.
First off I want to tell you that I am not a doctor. So verify every thing below with your physician or pharmacist:
Yes, some medications can be addicting however, Prozac is not in that class of medication. There are very rare instances where people had trouble stopping Prozac but, like I said they are rare. All medication, addictive or not, should be reduced slowly before stopping it anyway.
Yes there are instances where Prozac can make you more depressed. This is true with almost all anti-depressant medications. It is something that can happen. Since your doctor has just started you on it he should closely monitor you to make sure you do not have any adverse reactions.
Some advice: Talk openly with your doctor about any medication you take. Ask about side-effects and adverse reactions. I also recommend that you go online get as much information as you can about the medication. Find other people who take the medication and read what there experience was like. If your doctor is uncomfortable with your questions or does not take your concerns seriously that is not a good sign. I would recommend you change your doctor. Still that is your decision.
In general most people have no problems with Prozac but, as with any medication there are “horror stories”. If you look you can find cases where people have died from taking just one Aspin.
With all that said, doctors do tend to hand out anti-depressants like Mc D’s hands out fries.
For some people medication can be helpful while others choose alternative treatments which can also be helpful. Only you can decide what is right for you. In the end you have to weigh the potential benefits with any risks. Do your own research so you can make an informed decision as to what is best for you. Everyone is different.
it’s not that they are addictive it is that the withdrawals are extremely horrible and agonizing, even with weaning yourself off.
I do not doubt that you went through a very hard time with Zoloft ( similar to Prozac ) but, that is the exception rather than the rule. Don’t get me wrong. I am not an advocate for medication. I just believe that people need to make that decision for themselves. Many people recover with alternative treatment. Meditation, herbal supplements, exercise, peer-counseling just to name a few. Some people use a combination of both traditional and alternative treatment.
Dm7
It is hard to find a good doctor who does not just assume that you have x disorder without even looking into any physical causes.
Many doctors also do not really explain what the medication is or it’s side effects. So, I think “Having meds shoved down your throat” is an appropriate description in many cases.
That is the worst side effect of being labeled with a “mental illness” is the loss of “credibility”. Any symptoms from that point on becomes a part of your depression or in your case anxiety. Doctors often waste critical time treating you for your “mental illness” and as in your case people often go misdiagnosed.