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prozac can stunt your physical development and of male sexual charecteristics

9K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  AnnBlakeTracy 
#1 ·
hi im an irish guy who was on prozac from 18 to 27 for ocd, only now having been of prozac almost 2 year s have i become aware of how durring that time not only did i not gain in height but also failed to fill out physically, i am 5"8 smaller than my father brother male cousins etc. most of my school mates who were my height at 18 had a late growth spurt something which never happened to me; also i didnt grow any facial hair while on prozac bar some on my neck and chin anyway becoming more aware of my lack of physical development and male characteristics after coming off prozac i googled " prozac stunts growth" and alot of scary studies confirming prozac stunts growth came up dating back to 1998 the year i began prozac despite the fact that no where on an ssri list of side effects will you see this, i also noticed studies pointing out possible problems with testes development in teenagers on ssris. you can imagine how angry i feel about this and please dont think im being superficial my main concern is because at the moment i do physical work and find it very challanging due to the fact that my arms an upper body bone structure is narrower and smaller than colleagues, i know other people who are smallish but they tend to have compensated by being stockier. anyway the reason i am posting this thread is to highlight this danger to anyone on an ssri or considering trying it, however i would also like to hear from anyone who may have experienced stunting of growth, puperty etc. as i would like to start some sort of campaign to highlight what i regard to be a very seroious issue especially given that its estimated that 1 in 6 american teenagers are or have been on an ssri and its increasingly being prescriped to teenagers in europe.
 
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#3 ·
A study published in the journal Endocrinology (2004) reveals that giving Prozac to children may result in a loss of bone mass. The study was conducted on mice and showed an average 9.4% less bone formation in the thighbones of the mice taking Prozac, compared to mice who were not given the drug.
According to another study published in the journal Pediatrics (1999), infants whose mothers took Prozac while breastfeeding grew significantly less than infants whose mothers had discontinued Prozac after delivery. The study concluded: "The data set forth in this study indicate that infants who are breastfed by mothers who take fluoxetine [Prozac] track a growth curve significantly below that of infants breastfed without the medication."
Previously, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (1996) found that the birth weight of babies exposed to Prozac during pregnancy was less than those not exposed to Prozac during pregnancy.
 
#5 ·
i think the main reason why this hasnt gained more attention is due to the power of the drug industry, 90% of studies carried out on drugs are financed by the drug companies so invariavly the results tent to paint drugs like prozac in a positive light, basically there is no money for research for a negative study another big factor is the power of these companies to lobby the FDA. look how prozac got thru the net despite its links to suicide.
 
#10 ·
Ditto. Risk vs reward seems to be implied nowadays. Doctors only vaguely explain the side effects of non-controlled meds, and that's only if the patient specifically asks them to do so (but if it's a controlled med, they tend to exaggerate the risks and downplay the effectiveness, ha). All meds come with unintended effects, but if there's a clearly defined need for it, then take it or leave it. Do you think the schizophrenics who have to take antipsychotics that cause massive weight gain and movement problems are in any position to complain? For them, it's either fat & functional or skinny & insane. Rarely does anybody actually WANT any medication's side effects, so it's really choosing the lesser of two evils.
 
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#15 ·
here is more info on prozacs effect on growth in children. this is from 2004

"A CLINICAL trial by the makers of Prozac has revealed evidence the
antidepressant could harm the growth and development of children.

The Sunday Herald has uncovered details of a 19-week trial carried
out by Eli Lilly where children aged between eight and 17 years old
who were given the drug gained an average of 1cm less in height and
1.1kg less in weight than others treated with a placebo.

The results revealed that treatment with fluoxetine, the generic name
for Prozac, was also linked to a decrease in levels of alkaline
phosphatase, an enzyme crucial to bone development.

Despite concerns from America's Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in 2001, which requested that Lilly carry out a further
one-year trial to ensure the drug was safe to be used by children, no
such test has ever been done.

According to FDA documents seen by the Sunday Herald, Lilly refused
to carry out a more thorough trial, but was granted a licence to
prescribe Prozac to children a year later. In the FDA paper Andrew
Mosholder, medical officer for the FDA, writes: "Nineteen weeks
of fluoxetine treatment was associated with reduced growth velocity
relative to placebo."
imagine if they lost 1 cm in 19 weeks. that works out at 2 and a half a year. thats 15 cm or 6 inches over 5 years.

below is the link

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/pfpcnews/message/225
 
#16 ·
Agree that Prozac stunts bone growth

I agree that prozac stunts bone growth.... I was taking prozac from ages 15 - 21... I am now 31. I have always been skinny, but looking back my bones did not grow much, if at all, since the age of 15 when I first started to take prozac. A few years ago I compared my wrists to those of my 2 sisters... One sister's wrists are the same size as mine and the other ones wrists are actually thicker and denser than mine! I am taller than both my sisters. My fathers wrists in comparison to mine are at least twice the diameter of my own! To be honest I thought nothing of it until last year I decided to do a bit of research and found many articles relating to this. I'd also like to hear from anyone else who feel their bodies development has been stunted by this wonder drug, Prozac!!!
 
#17 ·
From what I understand basically the increase in serotonin triggered by an SSRI can interfere with the dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems and as a result cause an elevation of prolactin levels.

Dopamine and norepinephrine normally play a large role in the regulation of testosterone, and cause an increase in testosterone production due to inhibition of prolactin.

Catecholamines stimulate testicular testosterone release of the immature golden hamster via interaction with alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors.

Abstract;
Several lines of evidence suggest that catecholamines are involved in the regulation of the development of the testis. We have therefore investigated the ability of testicular parenchyma (decapsulated pieces of testes) from 18 to 20-day-old golden hamsters to respond to catecholaminergic stimuli in vitro. Norepinephrine and epinephrine, as well as the beta-receptor agonist isoproterenol and the alpha-adrenoreceptor agonist phenylephrine were able to significantly stimulate testicular testosterone production. Dopamine and serotonin were not effective. The stimulatory action of norepinephrine on testosterone production was dependent on the concentration. In incubations of testes with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and norepinephrine, no synergistic effects on testosterone release were observed. The stimulatory effect of norepinephrine could be partially blocked by incubation with beta-receptor antagonist propranolol, or with alpha-receptor antagonist prazosin, while a combination of propranolol and prazosin completely inhibited the norepinephrine-induced testosterone production. Moreover, isoproterenol and phenylephrine in combination stimulated testosterone more than either drug did alone. Measurements of concentrations of norepinephrine and epinephrine in testicular homogenates revealed higher values for these catecholamines than in the plasma, implying that catecholamine levels in the interstitial spaces of the testis might be in the range of concentrations effectively stimulating testosterone production in vitro. This suggests that in the immature testis of the golden hamster, catecholamines acting through both alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors may be potent physiological stimulators of testosterone production.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1337237
 
#19 ·
I was fully grown before having taken any anti-depressant. I did take Depakene at ages 4-6 which I believe has permanently ****ed my appetite.
 
#21 ·
Prozac produces HUGE increases in cortisol to impair growth

Irish guy you are exactly correct in that Prozac (but in fact all antidepressants) will stunt growth. I believe that is mainly due to the huge increase in cortisol the drugs produce - a doubling of cortisol with only one 30mg dose! I have written. lectured, done media interviews, etc. - basicaly doing anything I can think of to get this information out since the early 90's. Here is an article I put out back in 1997 three years after the first edition of my book Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? was published. http://www.drugawareness.org/ssri-babies/

There is far more about the damaging physical effects of these drugs in this article, but this is the part that touched on growth. Also due to this impairment of development I have seen MANY young people become gay on these drugs:

Parents need to be aware of the drugs' damaging effects upon their children's bodies as well. This drastic increase in cortisol causes a multitude of serious physical reactions including impairment of linear growth, as well as impairing the development and regeneration of the liver, kidneys, muscles, etc.
 
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