Really looking to start up this topic again. I’ve gone through the forum reading our current and past user’s experiences with low dose prozac and it has me curious. If one tries a google search of everything related to this topic plenty of info regarding fluoxetine’s ability to boost allopregnenalone. Also going through this forum allo seems to be most pfs sufferers issues of importance. There are plenty of posts with user’s questions / experiences and no confirmed negative low dose prozac ( low dose 2.5mg not 20mg) experiences , some positive experiences but no one who has ever stuck around long enough to answer these question in detail. So where have all these users gone??? Why havent more people tried this approach to boost allo and gabaa. The research clearly states that at a low dose it boosts allo and regulates gaba. The users who have tried it can you please weigh in. And users on this forum who havent , then why not? Users on this forum are here for pssd and i think that has validity on why not try it but at this dose it is different and before this forum merged with accutane.and post ssri then would anyone would have second guess this as a concern my guess is probably not.
I commented here with a question about the mechanism by which it raises allo. According to that study I think it’s saying that Prozac would raise allo levels by preventing the current amount of allo you have from converting back to other things. Not by just creating new allo. So if we have no allo then it’s not gonna do much.
What makes you think you havent got any allo? The damage done by finasteride has certainly drastically lowered it but by no means wiped it out completely and the studies show that. Like you said the way fluoxetine boost allo isnt through reduction 5a dhp but by blocking it from metabolizing therefore storing more of it in the brain.
I believe one of the studies pointed to very low concentration of allo in all the patients. Didn’t mean we had 0 of it.
So do you still think you have zero? Boosting the little amount we have might be slightly beneficial and worth trying.
I’m not sure but I took 10mg Prozac for a week last year and it made me feel terrible. Sweaty, worse sleep, and muscle stiffness. I know 10mg is different than low dose though
Is this forum there are tons of posts and stories about PSSD. Serotonin drugs are bad and are usually no better than a placebo. They can cause permanent damage, like finasteride and accutane.
Remember that the way they make conclusions about serotonin drugs and allo is based on extrapolation. We cannot directly measure allo or serotonin or anything in the brain in an alive human being. The theory that serotonin goes through a deficiency in the brain which causes depression itself always been on shaky ground in science–it is the pharma industry that took it and ran with it to obviously make lots of money on the hypothesis that it is how depression works.
Finasteride has been used in scientific research to knock out allo in animals like rats. Finasteride inhibits enzymes that are needed to make allo! So if one’s brain is damaged by finasteride, and the mechanics that should be functioning are not functioning, then taking a serotonin drug is not going to do much.
SSRI s also help people out of very dark places and for some people after being on ssri, they can come of them because their brains have been rewired or mended, that is positive. Perhaps it has a way of fixing a bad situation. There are 1 in 10 people in North America on a form of ssri, are you saying their meds are comparble to a placebo? I dont want to seem like I’m all for them , healthy brains and minds shouldn’t take them, people with issues could benefit. They are also prescribed off label for many different ailments one of them being ED.
Do you mind linking to where they are prescribed for ED? I’ve heard of PE but never for Ed
When my Phyciatrist and I were discussing treatment with SSRIs I questioned him regarding the possible side effects, specifically ED, he said most definitely it can cause that for people without ED temporarily while med are taken, but for people with ED it can help the user relax more in sexual situations, take that anxiety away. The mechanism of the PFS sufferer’s ED is more than just anxiety but is still worth mentioning.
Sorry I dont have a link.
Yeah, so some people with extreme depression might benefit from taking a serotonin drug. But to use the drug off label is a big danger due to the side effects and the potential that they not ever go away. Yes everyone is a little bit different but we are all humans-- and the usual side effects they found in the 1980s are still around for people who take them in 2020.
PLUS we have to be skeptical of a drug, of 1 pill, being able to be THE solution to the problem.
Depression and mental illness are biopsychosocialbehavioral disorders, not just neurological/brain ones. Good psychotherapy like CBT ACT DBT is better than taking pills and does not do biological harm to the body.
Yes and taking a drug like an SSRI will CAUSE ED! So then the psych will say “increase the dose, you are more anxious” which is totally getting it @$$ backwards. Dangerous. And to think that instead of learning with a therapist or with books how to deal with premature ejaculation, Big Pharma says “take this SSRI–we already know you will have trouble with your erection and orgasm while taking it” It is so blatantly obvious that they are confirming the bad side effects of serotonin drugs by repurposing them for things like Premature E!
Isn’t that why we all keep coming back to propeciahelp.com to check in on this forum day after day. Hoping there has been some sort of breakthrough overnight that is going to help us get better, I know I do. Thank you for your input Crossroads.
Before we get too far off topic I’d like to return to the OP. Are there any active members who can report positive experiences from using low dose prozac??
This topic interests me as well, some users have tried this it seems. Most people here completely missed the point. OP is asking about Prozac (Fluoxetine) in very low doses (so low that they don’t even affect Serotonin, so they shouldn’t cause serotonin ED).
SSRIs act as selective brain steroidogenic stimulants (SBSSs) at low doses that are inactive on 5-HT reuptake
What came first: the chicken or the egg?
What I mean is: did the person get depressed because he is struggling with having PFS and therefore his brain is not producing “enough” allo compared to nondepressed people?
OR, is the person not producing enough allo because finasteride/PFS reduces/blocks at least one of the two enzymes that are needed to create allo inside the brain, which leads downstream to a depressive state?
Sorry, but the truth about SSRI’s is so horrific most people wouldn’t even believe. Drug companies only have to have 2 successful clinical trials to proceed so they keep on repeating untill they get the results they want. The truth is not only are placebos more effective, more people die from suicides while on them. Drug companies have been successfully sued for this therefore there is now a black box warning on the box warning of suicide. That was their response, not to take it off the market. Suicide isn’t because people are already depressed it is because these drugs induce akathesia which is so violently disturbing it makes a happy person want to immediately kill themselves. This is due to way these drugs intensely deplete dopamine in some individuals. With in a couple of doses people are walking in front of trains and tying rope around their necks. Google any of these things and you will find the disgusting truth.
For the rare few that need that extra serotonin in their brain chemistry, yeh it may work. For some just a change in their brain chemistry will allow them to think they’re better, inducing a placebo effect.
I can’t be sure how it works nor is there any point in wasting time trying to figure that out(big pharm doesnt know how ssris work, if it works that’s all that matters,isn’t it?) but what I do know is that whenever I take supplements that work on gaba receptors my cognitive issues seem to improve. Whether that is with Benzos , Taurine, Alcohol, the results are similar and undeniable. I would be doing myself a great disservice if I ignored the research that states low dose prozac boosts allopregnenalone which we all know is a potent gabaa modulator. Remember this topic is low dose prozac, nothing more, try to respect that please.
I take it at 20mg daily.
@betweenjobs why don’t you go and get a prescription for Prozac liquid form and try it then? You can just tell the doctor you want to start at a super low dose and work up to the normal or something.
I have pfs like symptoms from a ssri sertraline. Dont take it