prozac and multiple sclerosis

[LATW]

Do a google search on this....interesting.  I am being taken off of prozac because of side effects but if you can handle it you may have a good option.
LA

[LATW]

Lu- what I found said there were no larger studies and not to get too excited about this yet.  My MS doctor put me on Prozac and used this study as the reason.  He said I am progressing and he wanted to stop it.  
I am grateful he wants to stop it but Prozac is not working out for me.

jd- That is exactly my complaint.  I told the psychiatrist my MS doctor sent me to see that I am afraid my MS doctor is trying to blame psychological issues for my progression. That does not sound like a good plan to me.  
My Ms doctor put me on Prozac for two reasons, he thought I was severely depressed because my walking has become more difficult, and he said he chose Prozac because of this new finding.
The psychiatrist said I am NOT depressed and my physical symptoms are not based on any psychological disorder. He is sending a letter to my Ms do "strongly" stating the above. This should be interesting! ;-}
And about getting lost....I've had my moments of panic also. It is scary to think you could actually get lost in a place you know like the back of your hand. :(  

[jdhecaj]

Yes I saw this when it was published LATW. I'm not certain what you googled but I book marked this article....

http://www.msobserver.com/2008/05/prozac-may-help-curb-disease-activity-in-multiple-sclerosis/

This was interesting to me because I had ON and was told this could be MS at the time but I wasn't diagnosed with MS for another 19 years. No one told me & I didn't investigate what MS was. During those 19 years I believe I had MS relapses, I just didn't recognize I was at high risk of developing a neurological disease.

During one time, I kept getting lost, I couldn't change a light bulb because I couldn't get the bulb socket into where you screw it in, I was wetting my pants, sometimes very embarrassingly public, I lost alot of weight because it got too tiring to lift a fork to my mouth. I was pretty upset about that. It looked like depression, especially the large rapid weight loss.

So a psychiatrist prescribed prozac for me. He made me promise that I would continue to take prozac for a full year even after I felt better. He said a lot of  people take it until they feel better and then stop. But it is important to continue to take it even after I start feeling better.

Well know I know I do have MS and all those symptoms were likely a relapse and the relapse cleared and it looked like I needed an anti depressant. But it was far more likely MS Relapse-Remission.

Prozac are not steroids so id doesn't treat the inflamation of a relapse, so it may have slowed my MS down but I do not think it treated that exacerbation. I think MS went into remission again & it looked very much like I had been successfully diagnosed and treated for depression....

I wonder how many other people with MS, looked like they had been successfully treated clinical depression?

That experience of getting lost all the time remains with a person. This happened a few months ago.I went to my new neuro's office for the first time. When exiting the examination room, a person goes down a short hall then turns right to get back into the waiting room but there is also a door on the left that will get you into the billing office for the whole clinic. The first time I saw her I selected the left door & I found myself in this big room with alot of cubicals and people talking on the phone. I just froze & thought 'Oh no, it's happening again'.

Then I looked back & saw there was another door and went to it and saw the waiting room and the door to exit the building. I was suppose to stop at the nurses station to make my next appointment & schedule the MRI the doc had ordered. But I just kept walking to the exit. Two days later I called back & and innocently said I forgot to make these appointments. Since it was the first time I had an appointment with her,they had thought I had chosen not to continue with her as my doc after the initial appointment......BUT IT WAS JUST THAT I THOUGHT I WAS GETTING LOST AGAIN AND I WANTED TO GET HOME BEFORE I COULDN'T FIND MY WAY HOME. Panick in other words.

A person does not forget that time when they did get lost a lot.The memory stays, it had been about 8 years since that time.

[Lulu54]

Hi LA,
That was interesting - I wonder if any researchers have undertaken larger studies to look at the benefits.

Lu