Living With Prozac: And Other Seratonin-Reuptake Inhibitors: Personal Accounts of Life On Antidepressants [Paperback]

Debra Elfenbein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1995

Used by more than 11 million people worldwide, Prozac's healing powers have been widely acclaimed. For those who are presently taking Prozac or who are considering it, this invaluable resource presents actual testimonies by patients who speak out about the benefits of this life-changing drug.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Numerous self-help titles discuss the medical effects of prozac; but what's it really like living on doses of the drug? Those taking antidepressants explain what it's like to be on Prozac and related drugs, and how their lives have changed because of it. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper San Francisco (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062512064
• ISBN-13: 978-0062512062
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,426,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to understand what people go through on Prozac, December 21, 2003

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Living With Prozac: And Other Seratonin-Reuptake Inhibitors: Personal Accounts of Life On Antidepressants (Paperback)

Continuing along the same general reading theme this week, I finished Living With Prozac by Debra Effenbein. This is a compilation of personal accounts of people who took Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. Each personal account is one to three pages long, and covers a very wide cross-section of situations and conditions. The author is very up-front about this not being a scientific study, and she also recognizes that these are most likely examples from the extreme ends of the experience scale. Still, a reader of this book will start to see some trends..

Most of the stories had individuals coming from severely depressed conditions and hitting rock bottom before going on Prozac. Quite a stretch from dysthymia and where I started from. For many of these people, the effects mirrored my own... It took a few weeks for the effects to kick in, but one day you wake up and think... I'm different. I am finding pleasure in life again. I'm not living at the extremes anymore. I may still be sad at times, but it's "normal" sad. On the other side, there were a number of situations in the book where people started with Prozac and went from bad to worse. The drug exaggerated their existing conditions, and they had to discontinue it before they lost it completely.

You'll also read about the wide range of side effects that may or may not affect a user. Some people had nausea, some didn't. Some people had problems sleeping, some didn't. Some had more vivid dreams (I've noticed this one), some didn't. Some had a marked decrease in their libido (especially women), some didn't. Some lost weight, some gained weight. About the only effect that I have (and that was mentioned by one other person) was a slight ringing in my ears. This whole area of side effects reminds me of one of the statements in the book... "Prozac can make you healthy generally, and make you sick locally." While the overall effect of the drug can be a lifesaver, there are areas in which you'll be worse off than before (sleep, nausea, sex, etc.) It then becomes up to you to decide whether the "local" should take precedence over the "general". Treating conditions such as depression with pharmaceuticals can be as much an art as a science.

The book was published in 1995, so it's been awhile. But the drug is still the same one, and the dosages are still the same. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the real-life experiences with SSRI drugs.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book With Real Life Experiences, Not Just Opinions, November 27, 2006

By 

Salvation Is Here (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living With Prozac: And Other Seratonin-Reuptake Inhibitors: Personal Accounts of Life On Antidepressants (Paperback)

This book was such a relief to me. Every other book I read on prozac, paxil, or zoloft was negative. Essentially, there are a lot of authors making big bucks writing about all of the negative aspects of these drugs. The effect is to make the depressed person feel even more guilty about taking a drug, and to make their families even more judgemental "You really shouldn't be taking those pills. What's wrong with you!"

After reading some of these books I had to ask myself, if these drugs are so bad why are so many doctors prescribing them?

This book answered the question. It's about EXPERIENCE. Only a person who has taken the medication can truly judge it's effectiveness. And only a doctor who has treated many patients can make an educated decision about which medication to try. Everything else is just an opinion.

If you suffer from depression, I recommend that you read this book first.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative book!, February 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Living With Prozac: And Other Seratonin-Reuptake Inhibitors: Personal Accounts of Life On Antidepressants (Paperback)

After searching the net and bookstores alike for accounts of what others go thru while on anti-depressant medication, this book has been a Godsend. With personal accounts of how others encounter and perceive depression, and it's alleviation through Prozac and other SSRI's, the book seems to illustrate that the various maladies of the disease are uniform. The book will remain in my library as a reference AND inspirational source. I look forward to Elfenbein's LIVING WITH LITHIUM, which is said to be next in the series.