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CozPoz2802
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10 May 2012, 6:04 am

Apparently, psychosis can be caused by prozac, as it raises dopamine levels. Should I stop taking it? I do have psychosis at the moment and I take prozac every other day for my depression, which isn't that bad if I don't take it. Should I stop or not?


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OddDuckNash99
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10 May 2012, 6:41 am

Never stop any medication without your doctor's approval. But if you have psychosis or psychotic depression, you should definitely be on an anti-psychotic and/or mood stabilizer. I definitely recommend making an appointment with your psychiatrist right away.


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10 May 2012, 7:24 am

You need to contact your psych doc right away! This can be a serious problem if untreated. Don't stop on your own without talking to the doc. He/she can come up with a reducing schedule, so you can safely reduce the dosage, until you can be taken off of it. There are a number of different depression meds available. The psych doc can prescribe you a different one to try once you are off Prozac. While some people are helped by this med, it has been known to cause psychosis and other problems for other people, so do call your doc right away. Not every drug is right for every person, as we each have a different biochemistry.


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CozPoz2802
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10 May 2012, 8:05 am

Thanks, I'll have a word with them once I've gotten an appointment about it. I'll keep taking the prozac for now :)

But I'm not taking anything for my psychosis, I don't like the look of the side-effects, especially as my exams are close.


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OddDuckNash99
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10 May 2012, 10:44 am

CozPoz2802 wrote:
But I'm not taking anything for my psychosis, I don't like the look of the side-effects

What is your diagnosis exactly, if you don't mind my asking? What type of psychosis do you have? Do you have bipolar disorder? Unipolar depression with psychotic features? Schizoaffective disorder? Schizophrenia with comorbid unipolar depression? Since you have a mood disorder component, you might not necessarily need to take a true anti-psychotic. You may very well be helped by a mood stabilizer alone. The most common mood stabilizers are lithium, Depakote, Tegretol, and Lamictal. This is what you definitely need to talk to your doctor about ASAP.


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10 May 2012, 1:06 pm

Prozac made me rather psychotic after 3 and a half weeks so I ended up throwing the rest away..........and luckily the hearing people whispering about me and weird psychotic stuff went away.


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CozPoz2802
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14 May 2012, 7:58 am

OddDuckNash99 wrote:
CozPoz2802 wrote:
But I'm not taking anything for my psychosis, I don't like the look of the side-effects

What is your diagnosis exactly, if you don't mind my asking? What type of psychosis do you have?


I've been told little about it, all I know is that I'm having a 'first episode' of it, they won't tell me anything else. I don't want to take anything else, I don't even really want to take my prozac.



archraphael
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14 May 2012, 8:03 pm

CozPoz2802 wrote:
Apparently, psychosis can be caused by prozac, as it raises dopamine levels. Should I stop taking it? I do have psychosis at the moment and I take prozac every other day for my depression, which isn't that bad if I don't take it. Should I stop or not?


I am not aware prozac raises dopa levels...
Prozac is an SSRI... It increases the time serotonin sits between your synapses.
I do believe over time the rise in serotonin can cause aggressive/agitated behavior, because serotonin is a NT associated with, social hierarchy behavior.


Wellbutrin is the only antidepressant that falls under dopamine/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor...
I have firsthand experienced psychosis with this drug.



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14 May 2012, 8:14 pm

CozPoz2802 wrote:
OddDuckNash99 wrote:
CozPoz2802 wrote:
But I'm not taking anything for my psychosis, I don't like the look of the side-effects

What is your diagnosis exactly, if you don't mind my asking? What type of psychosis do you have?


I've been told little about it, all I know is that I'm having a 'first episode' of it, they won't tell me anything else. I don't want to take anything else, I don't even really want to take my prozac.



That would drive me crazy. I would have to know what the heck is going on. I actually find it frustrating that mental health professions aren't more upfront with their patients. I understand a quick judgment is not appropriate, but most good therapists/drs. have a good idea within a session or two. Of course the bad ones never seem to know very much (and that's being overly kind).
You deserve an explanation about why you were proscribed prozac! I could rant on and on about this but I won't.



OddDuckNash99
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15 May 2012, 8:03 am

archraphael wrote:
I am not aware prozac raises dopa levels.

Most SSRIs work slightly on other neurotransmitters besides serotonin. They just have the most affinity for serotonin. The tricyclics tend to work more evenly on the various neurotransmitters, but the SSRIs are falsely believed to ONLY be active on SERT/serotonin. Here's an article about how SSRIs aren't truly selective for serotonin: http://www.naturalnews.com/006639.html

Also, serotonin and dopamine are highly linked in the brain and affect one another greatly. This is a big reason why most atypical antipsychotics take advantage of this principle by being a serotonin antagonist to combat the amount of dopamine antagonism (and subsequent tardive dyskinesia) that the traditional anti-psychotics produce.

And low serotonin is much more linked to aggressive behavior than is high serotonin.


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