Antidepressants --- Shortcut or Dead
End?
The runaway bestsellers for treating depression are fluoxetine
hydrochloride and its cousins, sold under the trade names Prozac,
Zoloft, Paxil, Lovan, and Luvox, used by about 30 million people
worldwide. Fluoxetine hydrochloride inhibits the enzymes that
break down serotonin so that more serotonin stays circulating
in the brain.
Because it blocks the "re-uptake" of serotonin in
the brain, it is defined as an SRI, a Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor.
What's wrong with that? After all, serotonin and dopamine
are the two neurotransmitters that mediate mood. Why not inhibit
serotonin reuptake and keep your brain cells sloshing
in the stuff day and night? Guaranteed serenity, nothing bothers
you...
And while you're at it, why not ensure you always have ample
dopamine too? That way you could get a permanent boost
in energy and initiative! So what's the DRI, the Dopamine
Reuptake Inhibitor?
Oops - it's cocaine...
We darn well know that cocaine isn't such a good idea for
boosting dopamine levels: We've heard the horror stories of psychotic
episodes and ruined lives. We may have observed the destructive
effects of cocaine use in someone close to us. Still active cocaine
users can fill us in on what's wrong with artificially and permanently
elevated dopamine levels.
Could it be the same with fluoxetine hydrochloride, Prozac
et al? If artificially raised dopamine levels are so destructive,
we wondered, what about artificially raised serotonin
levels? Here's what we found:
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Prozac Scares a Lot of Very Credible
People
By December '95 there had already been reported
35,230 adverse reactions to Prozac - including hallucinations,
aggression, hostility, assault, manslaughter and suicide - resulting
in a total of 2,394 deaths.
These antidepressants work by creating a sense of detachment
in the people who take them, and this in turn walls off their
capacity for interpersonal relations. Peter R. Breggin, M.D.,
says in his book, Talking Back to Prozac, "What we're
seeing is people losing their feeling for the other people in
their lives. They stop caring about their husbands or wives or
children. They stop caring about life and God." Along
with the loss of interest in other people goes, not surprisingly,
a reduction in sex drive.
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These antidepressant drugs also produce akathisia, a condition
of constant agitation, not in the sense of fussing and fretting,
but more a manic and speed-like state. It's been estimated that
one quarter of Prozac users experience this side effect, often
in conjunction with hostility, violent behavior and suicidal
thoughts. Here are two recently reported examples:
A woman in her thirties had been taking Prozac for two years
when she began having violent temper tantrums. One day, without
provocation, she picked up a baseball bat and smashed the windshield
of her car. Another young woman, moderately depressed over a
divorce, was given Prozac. Shortly thereafter, she walked up
to the bedroom of her two sleeping children and shot them dead.
The newspaper story of the incident noted that she was on Prozac
but immediately mentioned that it was "not related to the
drug but merely coincidental."
The holistic practitioner Dr. Julian Whittaker reports what
he personally saw happen in the family of a close friend whose
sister was put on Prozac for depression. Her personality definitely
changed, and two weeks later she shot herself. Dr. Whittaker's
friend recalled that before his sister started taking Prozac,
they would talk on the phone regularly, sometimes three times
a day. But afterwards they had no communication at all for the
two weeks prior to her suicide - she wouldn't pick up her phone
or return her messages.
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Dr. Whittaker states in his excellent newsletter Health
and Healing that Prozac
"...seems to deprive people of the essence of their
personality. If you are at all observant, you can tell right
away if you are dealing with someone who's on Prozac. If you
yourself are taking Prozac, you know this zombie-like feeling
at the core of your soul. Initially you may feel this numbness
as an improvement over depression, but you know it can hardly
be considered healthy.
The side effects of Prozac are far more serious than just
the addiction to it. Of all the drugs I've ever cautioned people
against, Prozac is the one which terrifies me most."
Think these are "scare stories selected by people who hate
drugs"? Read the Prozac Horror
Stories emailed to this website by truly courageous Prozac
users, and check out the links in the sidebar on the left.
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Views on Prozac by People Who Neither
Make It Nor Sell It
Why do so many people have such horrific experiences
with Prozac? With the patterns of their self-destruction so similar
to those of cocaine users? We searched the literature, questioned
our scientific friends, and asked our corporate and show-biz
performance trainers. The answers we got were all different but
fell into two groups like this:
(1) A couple of scientists reminded
us that cocaine doesn't produce dopamine, it just
inhibits its re-absorption in the brain, keeping the "old"
dopamine around longer. This increases brain dopamine levels
for a while, but it also causes the body's metabolism itself
to produce less and less new dopamine. Soon the cocaine
user needs ever increasing doses to make the existing dopamine
go further and last longer. Ultimately the body seems to stop
producing dopamine altogether, so that no amount of cocaine is
able to maintain dopamine levels. That's when the cocaine
user finally crashes. Remember that low or no dopamine means
extreme anxiety, raw fear, compulsive-obsessive behavior, and
so on.
The situation may be similar with the serotonin reuptake inhibitors
Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Lovan, or Luvox. It would mean that their
users will ultimately crash too.
That's one theory. It doesn't fit all cases but it made a
lot of sense to us. It would mean that what's precious and
should be enhanced is the body's own natural ability to make
dopamine and serotonin.
(2) A slightly different view
also made sense to us. It was taken by a number of the performance
trainers. They claim that what you don't want are serotonin and
dopamine levels that go up and stay up. It's the last thing they
want for their celebrity clients, some of whom are recovering
drug abusers (surprise!).
They recommend that your serotonin and dopamine levels should
fluctuate naturally over a 24-hour period. You want high dopamine
in the morning and in stressful, confrontational situations.
There are other times where you want your serotonin levels
to rise: For social events, and as the day comes to a close -
so you can make peace with yourself and the world, go to bed
and recharge your batteries. To produce such rhythmic neurotransmitter
levels naturally is the objective of their diet and lifestyle
recommendations.
In Everyday Life, How You Feel is What
You Get
Conventional depression researchers study the mood levels of
other people --- we studied our own. We came to the problem of
depression from the side of everyday life because we saw
how badly lower mood levels reduced motivation, performance and
income. We researched and compiled the information in FOOD, MOOD
and MONEY because in business, "How You Feel Is What You
Get." Our readers tell us that the natural methods in our
report have caused their "inner weather" to brighten,
first subtly, then dramatically, empowering them to tackle more
challenges and achieving more goals than they ever dreamed they
could.
Of course that's not the only application. Whatever lifts
you from a neutral ("the blahs") mood level, will
also lift you from such greater depths as dysthymia ("timidity"),
and even depression. It may take longer, possibly a few months,
if you are setting out from a lower starting point. By way of
illustration, our FOOD, MOOD and MONEY diet is so powerful that
we use St. John's Wort purely as an optional "mellow"
supplement. So if you are battling with dysthymia or depression,
please obtain the report and try its methods --- because among
all the things you work on in this world, you yourself are your
most important project.
Depression Is Being Cured by Natural
Means
Noy just performance consultants, lifestyle coaches and corporate
trainers, even a few enlightened medical doctors know about the
connection between food and mood. They have been treating not
just dysthymia (= timidity, a mild form of depression) but full-blown
clinical depression by natural dietary means, with success rates
equalling those of prescription drugs. A number of them have
recently published booksh. If you need to convince your physician
about what you are doing to get better, we recommend the book
Up From Down by Dr. Priscilla Slage, MD.(see Backup
Data).
Antidepressants - Tapering Off Carefully
If you're now on Prozac, Zoloft or a similar antidepressant and
wish to stop taking it, don't stop abruptly. You could have a
marked rebound depression, possibly deeper than the one before.
Build a healthy biochemical infrastructure first, then discuss
with your doctor how to replace the drug with the diet and lifestyle
changes you're making.
