Prozac linked to suicide -- warning

[ShroudedSorrow24]

Today in school we were having discussions about current events going on in the world. We started talking about how water over in the UK drinking water is contaminated with the anti-depressent drug known as Prozac. A large portion of people in the UK take Prozac ( I think around 30% of the population) and the water and sewage treatment plants do not recognize Prozac so they do not try to take it out of the water (although they are now going to star upgrading the facilities). If you drink enough water you will feel the effects of the Prozac. Also, since Prozac hasn't been around very long, doctors are just finding out now that when younger children take Prozac it causes them to have suicidal tendencies ( I dont know how young they mean.. teens? preteens? younger?) There have already been lawsuits against Prozac by families who have lost their children to suicide related to the drug. I dont want this post to get lengthy so I'll just finish up. If your pregnant you might not want to drink the tap water (drugs are bad for the baby), and if you're young you might not want to drink it either. Buy some bottled water I hope this helped some people and brought knowledge to others.

 

On a side note I believe Paxil also causes suicidal tendencies in the younger crowd.

[sisterlynch]

Just to continue with the discussion on anti depressants and their side effects. There are a lot of depressed people in the world, 30% in the UK doesnt surprise me at all.

 

"Suicidal tendencies" is talking about commiting suicide, right? This is probably true, because people on prozac or any other drug may find themselves revealing all their most private thoughts and memories and emotions. Which is actually theaputic, however in the days before prozac, like when I was your age, we were taught to keep our dirty secrets quiet and hold in all our anger and rage, which pushed a lot of people over the edge, so to speak.

 

Without prozac, a depressed person is more likely to take their own lives, not on it. Prozac may make you think about how depressed you are feeling, but that may mean that you may need to change your drug or try going off it for a while.

 

Prozac is often given to pregnant women and if children are drinking it in their water, then it may make them feel better rather than worse. Have you heard the one about the birth control pill making reproduction difficult for the Salmon in the Pacific Ocean? They used to swim up a river that has a water purification plant and got to injest a lot of the Pill in the water! So their fertility is going down.

[mahlina]

Wow! Interesting ShroudedSorrow & Sisterlynch. Thanks for sharing that with us. I wanted to add to the part where you mentioned less Salmon reproduction in the Pacific Ocean. It's really sad because if you think about it, other things that go into the ocean that's not healthy for us either (i.e. oil spills, toxic chemical wastes from factories, pollution in general). That's why I don't boogie board as much as I used to. Sure there are ways to treat those toxic chemical wastes, but how often are these companies using the 'proper' procedures for biohazard wastes? It's kind of sad to think how we can't really swim in the ocean without worrying about catching some kind of bacterial infection. After taking microbiology, it's made me ten 10x's cautious about going into the ocean. And think about it, all of the toxic pollutants get recycled into the atmostphere. In turn, all of that nasty crap falls onto our crops through precpitation. Where does it all go? It all adds up!

 

It's sad to see that the basic things that we rely on, are chemically tweaked without us being informed. No wonder cancer rates are so high. I wouldn't entirely blame it on genetics. I think it has a lot to do with the what's going on in our evironment. Think about it. All of those wastes. All of that junk that we injest into our body systems, and we don't know it. What's up with adding Prozac to tap water? I swear. These large corporations should be penalized for 'pretending' to not know about their accidents. They have chemical engineerers who know what they're doing. I think that these large corporations are just to stingy to pay up for proper waste procedures, and finding efficient ways to produce their products without harming the envirnoment. They're too greedy to think about the long term effects on the environment, and common respect for mankind in general. Nice topic! Thanks for the info.

[Gunther]

I am on the drug prozac, and the reason for the suicide related events to prozac and other things in my theory is because they were depressed in the first place. Although it is not a good idea for pregnant women or children under 3 to take prozac as some of its effects are still unknown. With my insurance they gave me the option of a phone counsiling for free. I declined but it is still nice, they were trying to decrease the suicide rating of the drug. Also do research on the effects. I have had considerable improvement in my depression, if you look at some of my old posts you can tell i was pretty bad. But when school starts up that will be the big test. Hopin for the best.

[drahcir]

Thats absolutely ridiculous that drinking water in the UK is contaminated with Prozac. There have been urban legends like that for a long time-Stories about different substances being excreted out of people and contaminated everyone's water. None of it is true, just gossip.

 

Maybe people who commit suicide on prozac commit suicide because they are depressed, not because of the Prozac. IN any case, the drug does more good than harm.

 

However, I don't believe that depression is a mental illness. It is simply feeling sad. By calling it a mental illness, it demeans people who feel sad and hopeless. It also makes them feel like victims, rather than giving them power in thier lives to overcome thier problems. Anything can be considered a mental illness. Before homosexuality was also considered a mental illness. Now there is a mental illness called "Rebellious Adolescent Syndrome" (i am not lying, this is true). ANyway calling depression a mental illness is demeaning and doesn't enpower hurting people-it hurts them more.

[Ravens_eternity]

this one is too drahcir.

i'm not saying i know everything but i'm not saying everthing is right

but you do not even know what depression really is to even say about it

i thought the some way you did untell i want out with a girl(the one i love) and soon found out that she got depression. i thought it was just her being sad about "something" and i thought this for a long time. but soon i found out she was just crying out of nowhere and sad about nothing i talked to lot's of docters and read up on it. the thing is peaple who have depression they get sad about nothing at all and i'm not talking about nothing as in small things but nothing, just nothing at all. and some time even cry out of nowhere even if she was vary happy about 5 min ago. so some what you can call it a illness peaple dont' call it that just for

fun they call it that beacsue it is an illness.

yes i know there is some thing out there that sould not be even called anything but an illness, but people call it that beacuse there like you they don't really understand what it really is.

thanks for your time

[Tolly]

I'v never heard that about prozac. Are you sure that they weren't in fact talking about the contraceptive pill. It is true that the massive use of the pill has increased hormone levels in river (and thereforeeee tap) water and that it is changing the sex of fish in these rivers. It is also true that sewage treatment works dont screen for it but will be soon.

[sisterlynch]

I think that calling something an illness is more empowering to the individual who is suffering because it shows you that there is a way of releaving the symptoms so that you will not feel ill. I don't think that depression is a mental illness, it is an emotional illness. It is a sickness in the brain chemistry that regulates the normal feelings that we all have.

 

If you are prone to this emotional illness or have a close family member who is "ill" then there is treatment available.

 

If you have erectile disfunction, there is a treatment for that symptom of Depression, too.

 

I think that we live in a time of medical miracles and the research scientists who are constantly coming up with chemicals to make us happy or sexy are really helping us in unknown ways!!

 

Hats off to the medical community!! 8)

[avman]

Actually Prozac has been found to have the LEAST tendency to cause suicide in young people. Its the drug Paxil that has been causing problems.

 

And I'm afraid that the notion of the drinking water being contaminated with Prozac is not possible. Your body absorbs that drug and only the by products are excreted.

[EmptySoul]

*smiles* I just got evaluated for meds today, and guess what they put me on? Prozac.

 

Empty

[djgreen_uk]

a lot of high level antibiotics are linked to suicide. Oxytetracycline is one of very few that have not had any suicide links or attemps accociated with it.

[Empathy]

My brother was on Paxil when he committed suicide. He was 24.

[SilentLife]

i live in england and i think thats a load of poo tbh.

 

i drink loads of water, i mean loads. i dont feel lightheaded, i feel suicidal but thats just my life atm.

[shademan]

I use prozac doesn't work anymore don't ask me why ?

[finnerss]

To Drahcir,

 

I agree with the post in which they tell you about depression being an illness, it's really important to know one from another. One thing is feeling sad, for a reason. If you lose a loved one, it's only human to feel sad and depressed. But when the chemistry in your body among with other scientific elements are unbalanced, can make someone depressed, in other words, they are sick.

 

When this happens, there are treatments other than standard psychological therapy, like drugs and/or changes in your diet. Even excercise alters the chemistry on your body and helps with depression, and it's not only a matter of "feeling better" because you're being productive, but actually because you release endorphines and they also function as a natural antidepressant.

 

I agree calling someone suffering with depression "Sick" is not demeaning, and the further post showed a good point, that means that you can be helped and there's relief someplace. It seems that you don't suffer from depression and that's good, but it's even better if you learn a little about it so you are not judgemental with people who might be suffering from the illness, so you can help instead of making them feel worse by actually "demeaning" their problem by calling it simply "sadness".

 

This topic is really interesting and I couldn't really lean one way or the other about the water in the UK, though it is a scary premise.

 

Best wishes to everyone

 

Sergio

 

(p.s. also, OCS, really good to see you in this topic and to learn that you're doing much better, I did see some of your earlier posts and you seem like a really really really nice and worthwhile person and you deserve to have a happy life, so let it come to you.)