Does Prozac numb your emotions?

hartbroken · 11:28 PM

I think I'm noticing my emotions numbing up after 3 weeks of taking Prozac. Is this common?

Jan 04, 2012, 11:41 PM

It can be depending on dosage.

hartbroken · Jan 04, 2012, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calista+12

It can be depending on dosage.

I'm on 20mg, I wouldn't think that would do it.

sunrise · Jan 05, 2012, 12:28 AM

It depends on the person. Is it having that effect on you?

ECHOES · Jan 05, 2012, 05:07 AM

Yes. That is it's purpose.

hartbroken · Jan 05, 2012, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ECHOES

Yes. That is it's purpose.

Wow. It's working. It makes me wonder if I love my girlfriend. I know I do, because I care for her feelings, and don't want to leave her because it would hurt her. But during the meantime I'm not enjoying myself very much with the numb emotions. It's a hard mental game to keep remembering what you once knew in order to keep a relationship going. I hate this disease.

venusss · Jan 05, 2012, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hartbroken

Wow. It's working. It makes me wonder if I love my girlfriend. I know I do, because I care for her feelings, and don't want to leave her because it would hurt her. But during the meantime I'm not enjoying myself very much with the numb emotions. It's a hard mental game to keep remembering what you once knew in order to keep a relationship going. I hate this disease.

disease or the "cure"? I am not even bring my stance on meds.... but I know few people who take psychdrugs and are not emotionally zombified.

This is not how it is supposed to work. It is possible to achieve a balance where you still feel things - good and bad, just not overwhelmingly intense.

Please, don't accept this as "it". Emotional numbness is worse and can be more dangerous than actual depression.

rockgal · Jan 05, 2012, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hartbroken

I think I'm noticing my emotions numbing up after 3 weeks of taking Prozac. Is this common?

Some people do have emotional numbing with SSRIs. I have personally never experienced emotional numbing on any med. They have generally restored my emotions to a normal range. Everyone's experience is different, though. I did experience apathy on Lexapro and low-dose Effexor. I had emotions, but I just couldn't get anything done. And on top of the apathy from the depression, it was tough.

My current meds (Lamictal and Abilify) are great for helping keep my moods in a more reasonable range and not inducing apathy.

Jan 05, 2012, 09:39 PM

Prozac can do that, as can most SSRIs (and also untreated depression). Personally it didn't numb my emotions (made me really agitated), though other SSRIs and the depression itself have. It's clearly a problem if you can't remember if you love your girlfriend or not so I would recommend talking with whoever prescribed it. They could try something else.

All the best,

*Willow*

AniManiac · Jan 06, 2012, 05:24 PM

Antidepressants aren't supposed to numb emotions, but rather make them less extreme. Unfortunately sometimes that means a numbing effect, it's not entirely uncommon.

I agree with others, you shouldn't accept that. One of the SSRIs I tried at some point made me feel numb; it was awful, so I changed it. Prozac in particular made me hallucinate. Docs are usually pretty careful about SSRIs with bipolar patients because they can trigger mania.

Umbral_Seraph · Jan 07, 2012, 02:47 AM

Emotional numbness is one of those side effects that tells you this is not the right medication and you need to get off it soon, especially since it is interfering with your relationship.

sunrise · Jan 07, 2012, 02:13 PM

Emotional numbing is not the purpose of an antidepressant. If a pdoc tells you this, shame on him/her. The purpose of an antidepressant is to help the person be less depressed. Some people get an unwanted side effect of numbing, but not everyone. hartbroken, if you are feeling your emotions are numbed, then please report that to your prescriber so you can try a different antidepressant (e.g. Zoloft, Effexor, & Cymbalta tend to produce numbing less often) or have a second med added to the Prozac (addition of Wellbutrin often helps people who experience the numbing side effect). The numbing effect is also known as the zombie effect. It is not the goal of pharmacological treatment for depression.

kmtree · Jan 28, 2012, 12:42 AM

Trust yourself. Not all docs trust you. These meds are not cures. We really don't know what causes the "disease". The meds just shake things up, so that our biochemistry isn't working like it was. Not that it's working better, we're just drugged. All but one pharmaceutical company has stopped their research related to neurotransmitters. It's a dead end scientifically. Our environments make up what we are. Epigenetics - how our genes interact with the environment (our thoughts, what we eat and experience, toxins, sunshine, etc.) is the new hot field. While we wait for the next drug to target our epigenetic biochemistry, why not just change our environment and what we expose ourselves to if we can?

superstressed · Aug 23, 2013, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hartbroken

I think I'm noticing my emotions numbing up after 3 weeks of taking Prozac. Is this common?

I was wondering the same thing. A few years ago I took 20 mgs of Prozac in the morning, and just stopped after a few months because I still felt crappy. I've been on 40 mgs of Prozac every morning for about a year. My mood is MUCH better, but I notice that sometimes I stare off at something for a few seconds. I am aware of what's going on around me, I just wonder why it happens. I recently lost my favorite uncle and grandfather in less than three weeks from each other. I was also the person who had to tell my mother that her daddy was dead. That bothers me. I still haven't cried yet. I have feelings, and I miss them terribly, but I haven't had the big boo hoo yet, and it's been three months now. I'm starting to think it's the meds, because normally I would've been a basket case. My family hates to tell me bad news because I don't handle it well. I think they are wondering when I'm going to break down, because they're always asking me how I'm feeling.

kirby777 · Aug 23, 2013, 06:28 AM

Zoloft did that to me. I felt like a walking zombie, staring into space.

Then the pdoc increased it to 150 mg, and I became extremely aggressive, always wanting to argue any point.

Aug 23, 2013, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirby777

Zoloft did that to me. I felt like a walking zombie, staring into space.

Then the pdoc increased it to 150 mg, and I became extremely aggressive, always wanting to argue any point.

I was a zombie on Zoloft some years back....I don't remember the dosage though. I remember actually having nothing in my head, like no thoughts. It was pretty scary now that I think about it.

Anyway, hartbroken, there are lots of drugs out there, I would definitely try something else!

onionknight · Aug 23, 2013, 05:01 PM

I experienced numbness, lack of motivation and blunting on both antidepressants I've tried--Zoloft and Effexor. Yeah, I stopped caring so much about what was upsetting me, but the cost was too high.

I'm withdrawing from Effexor now, and I still feel totally spacey and numb. I truly look forward to the day I get my emotions back.

jesusplay · Aug 23, 2013, 07:34 PM

Been on 20mg of prozac for 5 weeks.

I don't know what you're talking about op.

sugahorse1 · Aug 26, 2013, 03:30 AM

My emotions are numb, and the ADs I am on are Wellbutrin and Zoloft

cmyang05 · Sep 07, 2013, 09:45 PM

I just started 10mg of Prozac on August 16th, and was upped to 20mg August 30th. While I noticed that it has taken the edge off of my anxieties, I do feel an emotional numbness toward my relationship with my gf. I did not feel that way before hand, and like the OP stated...I don't know if I love her anymore. I do care about her, but I just can't feel anything regarding our relationship. I've also had a loss of interest in sex as a side effect, which she has noticed as well. I feel distant and can't relate to her or don't feel like talking with her like I used to.

I do not know much about anti-depressants, and I told my counselor that I felt emotionally numb. She said that such a low dose shouldn't do that, but I can't help the way I feel, and I'm pretty sure it isn't all in my head since I did not feel this way before the meds started.

I need to talk with my psychiatrist to figure out if there is a better drug out there that does not make me feel emotionally numb. However, I am glad to find that this is relatively common among people who take SSRIs.

lostincornflakes · Sep 08, 2013, 07:53 PM

I was on prozac 40mg since I was originally diagnosed with bipolar. It worked for me. But last February I had a psychiatric meltdown. Spent 3 weeks in the hospital while they stopped the prozac and put me on depaoke. It was awful and I'm still not sure I'm on the right ones now but my pdoc is seeing me often. I just want to feel better.

IndieVisible · Sep 08, 2013, 07:58 PM

I don't like any of the SSRIs I've ever tried.

Sep 08, 2013, 07:59 PM

Prozac made me emotionally numb, and also made me grind my teeth and occasionally twitch uncontrollably.

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