HOME

State Laws

Legal Guides

Legal Law Help Home > Safety & Health Guides > Antidepressants > Prozac

ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS: Celexa, Cymbalta, Effexor, Lexapro, Luvox, Paxil, Prozac, Remeron, Serzone, Symbyax, Wellbutrin, Zoloft

Talk to Products Liability Lawyers & Attorneys in:

Albany, Albuquerque, Ann Arbor, Appleton, Arlington, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Bismarck, Boston, Brooklyn, Bronx, Buffalo, Charleston (SC), Charleston (WV), Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbia, Columbus, Dallas, Dayton, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, El Paso, Fargo, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Wayne, Fort Worth, Fresno, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Greenville, Greensboro, Hartford, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Lehigh Valley, Little Rock, Long Island, Los Angeles, Louisville, Madison, Main Line, Manhattan, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Montgomery, Montgomery County, Nashville, New Haven, New Orleans, New Jersey - Central, New Jersey - Northern, New Jersey - Southern, New York City, Northern Virginia, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orange County, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Queens, Raleigh, Richmond, Rochester, Rockford, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Savannah, Seattle, Springfield (IL), Springfield (MO), St. Louis, Staten Island, Syracuse, Tampa, Toledo, Tucson, Tulsa, Victoria, Virginia Beach, Washington DC, Westchester

If you don't see your location above,
click here for additional locations
Products Liability Lawyers & Attorneys

Prozac

What is Prozac and why is it used?

Prozac is an antidepressant drug in the serotonin re-uptake inhibitor class. The drug is used to treat depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and bulimia.

How does Prozac work?

Prozac is a SSRI antidepressant which works by inhibiting the re-uptake of serotonin between neural connections. This action leaves more serotonin available to transfer neural electrical messages more smoothly and efficiently.

How long does it take for symptoms to be relieved by Prozac?

Symptoms may lessen within the first week but it usually take three-four weeks for symptoms to subside.

What is a standard dose of Prozac?

Starting dose of 20mg/day not to exceed 80mg/day. Prozac should be administered once daily in the morning and may be taken with or without food.

What are the common side effects of Prozac?

• anxiety
• insomnia
• nausea / vomiting /diarrhea
• dry mouth
• dizziness
• tremor
• nervousness
• seizure
• rash
• sweating
• sexual dysfunction

What medications should not be taken with Prozac?

MAO inhibitors should not take Prozac at the same time or within two weeks of stopping MAO inhibitor medication. Likewise, MAO inhibitors should not be taken until Prozac therapy has stopped for at least two weeks. MAO and Prozac taken together nay cause severe reactions and death.

What is said about Prozac today?

While 1000 may seem like a small number, consider the number of people taking just one of these medications; approximately 38 million in over 100 countries take Prozac. That equates to 38,000 very agitated and possibly dangerous people out there because of an adverse reaction to taking Prozac.

When Eli Lilly applied for a license to sell Prozac in Germany in 1984, the German authorities became very concerned.

During treatment, 16 of the patients on Prozac therapy made suicide attempts with 2 of the attempts being successful. In Germany, a suicide warning must be on the Prozac labeling. The label also requires that the patient is observed sufficiently until the antidepressant effects of Prozac sets in and that the patient may need an additional sedative in the meantime.

According to lawyers representing patients who have taken Prozac, over 45,000 reports have been filed to the FDA, including 2500 concerning wrongful death by suicide or violence caused by severe agitation induced by Prozac. The FDA did investigate these allegations in 1991, but released a report stating that there was no correlation between Prozac and the severe agitation that caused suicidal or homicidal behavior.

Prozac Lawsuits

1997- Patricia Williamson, 60, of Beaumont, Texas, stabbed and slashed herself more than 100 times in the bathtub while her husband ate breakfast in their kitchen. She had begun taking Prozac six days earlier to help her through a depression that had arisen just a few months before. Her husband found his wife semi-conscious in a pool of her own blood. She died the next day in the hospital. An out-of-court settlement was made with Eli Lilly, the makers of Prozac.

1996- Reginald Payne, 63,a teacher from Wadebridge, Cornwall, suffocated his wife and threw himself off a cliff. He had been taking Prozac for just 11 days. A lawsuit was filed by his family against the makers of the drug Prozac.

Bill Forsyth was having difficulty adjusting to retirement after he and his wife moved from California to Hawaii. He saw a doctor and was prescribed Prozac for a mixed depressive anxiety disorder. At first, Mr. Forsyth said he felt marvelous, but within two days he was begging his family to check him into a psychiatric hospital. After he returned home from the hospital, he stabbed his wife June to death and impaled himself on a kitchen knife.