Fluoxetine/Prozac side effects

[ipanema]

I've started taking fluoxetine last month - I have noticed a significant improvement on my mood and in my capability to do daily tasks. I no longer feel like staying in bed all day and crying all the time.
However, I've also started to notice a lot of other things.

For example, I loved to eat. I never had an eating disorder or anything like that, but if I was bored or if I had something I loved to eat around the house, I would eat it as fast as I could. I was going to the fridge at least 10 times a day. Now I only eat when I have a sort of stomach ache (It's not on purpose, I don't even remember to eat). I was always looking forward for lunch and dinner, and now I feel like I never want to eat. I'm getting skinnier and skinnier - I'm really tall, so it is quite noticeable. My self-esteem is not a problem, but I'm affraid people will think I have anorexia.

Also - and this is weird to talk about - I always had a huge sex drive and was always thinking about boys and how much I wanted a boy to love me. I don't know if this is associated with the fact that in the last year I have been severely disappointed my men (specially my father and a guy I had a "relationship" with). But right now, I never think about how much I need a boyfriend, or someone to cuddle with. I even have been thinking about the possibility of never meeting the "right man". A few months ago that would scare me, but now it just seems like something that could happen and that is okay.

Is it normal? Will it go away when I stop taking prozac?

 

[Tawny]

Loss of libido can be temporary. Some do take much of that desire away but it returns of you ever stop or change med.

Weight loss I had too. Too much! Part of that was weight lost during depression still needing to put back on. I think after a while we mostly gain weight, after a year or two, some more than others.

Diet shakes are easier to consume when you aren't hungry. Soups, smoothies, veg stew, yoghurt drinks.

 

[Mariejean]

I remember many years ago when I took it that I did lose my appetite until my system adjusted to it. I still had libido but it was reduced.

 

[wasteman420]

decreased sex drive is normal. My sister is on prozac and fluo and she told me she has absolutely no sexual desire. She also had a load of other nasty side effects at first like frequent upset stomach and weightloss, but she eventually adjusted. However she gets the same symptoms again if she forgets to take her meds or gets the dosage changed. Reasons why i'm terrified to go on antidepressants because i already suffer enough with anxiety making me sick all the time i really cant afforto add another thing to the mix. (yeah i know there's various meds out there that have diff levels of side effects but ALL of them seem to have at least one thing that puts me right off).

 

[A_Wilted_Daisy]

I took Fluoxetine years ago in my 30s. I turned into a Kleptomanic during the short time I was on it. I had no idea that was even a side effect until years later when I saw a few case studies online. I thought I stole because I was dealing with so much stress at the time from depression and OCD. Luckily, I wasn't on the drug for long before I took myself off. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I didn't think it was working.