The new backlash against Prozac and its anti-depressant cousins Zoloft, Paxil, Lovox and Celexa may be more than just another round of pharmacophobia, fixed on the serotonin boosters so phenomenally popular in our Pharmacy Nation.
Dr. Joseph Glenmullen’s anthology of side-effects stories could give you pause. Loss of libido, sexual dysfunction, is a price some people are ready to pay for relief from depression; but what about facial tics and memory loss; some patients report a Parkinsonian stiffening all over, others a manic caffeine sort of high.
After a decade of Prozac, Dr. Glenmullen says the seratonin boosters have hit the ten year start of the same ten-year disenchantment cycle that hit cocaine elixirs a century ago and some famous tranquilizers more recently.
Fluoxetine (Prozac) Side Effects
Agitation, anxiety, trouble sleeping, sleepiness, tremor, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, delayed orgasm.
Get ready for a lot of bad news about Prozac, he’s telling us: and wake up to the old-fashioned alternative treatments that are better.
We’re treating depression in the second hour of The Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Dr. Joseph Glenmullen