My girlfriend has been taking Prozac since she was 18 years old to treat an eating disorder. She's 44 now. It's the standard maintenance dose (40mg) and has never changed. The ED is generally under control. She's had therapy for it as well over the years and she still does purge from time to time, but it's manageable.
It's obviously a sensitive subject with her, but she's very open with me about it. Very few people know she has an eating disorder. Just immediate family and her best friend. I've questioned whether she needs to be on the AD any more and whether it actually does any good. It seems to have little influence on the ED as she's gone years without purging and purged daily on the same dose. There seems to be no direct influence. She's aware of no side effects, but she's been on it so long, it's been her normal state since her teens and any side effects would now be established as her norm.
I've used antidepressants off and on over the years to fight SAD, so I understand them and the effects, and am sympathetic to the need. My concern is that nobody really knows what the long term effects of these are and since we're getting pretty serious, I'm a little worried about her being on these for the rest of her life. She has no desire to ween off of them, even though she can't state with any certainly that they're actually helping her at this point. She has to see a doctor to renew the prescription every year, but they just sign off on it and seem to care little as to whether or how they are actually helping her.
I guess my question is, should I worry about this? Is it possible they are or could be affecting her adversely? She has had a little trouble with weight gain lately, likely just due to age, but it's a trigger for her and is causing her some distress. She compensates by running and working out and looks great for her age (any age, actually), but still purges a few times a week when she eats wrong, misses workouts, or just feels fat.
I'm completely supportive of her, but having been on AD's, I made the mistake of suggesting that maybe the Prozac is contributing to some of the weight gain and is it really doing her any good at this point? That went over like a lead balloon. She also doesn't have much sexual initiative (I initiate) which I wonder might also have something to do with the AD. She does orgasm fine, though, which I could rarely do on the SSRI's.
Anyway, should I care about this, or just let it go?
Thanks in advance!
It's obviously a sensitive subject with her, but she's very open with me about it. Very few people know she has an eating disorder. Just immediate family and her best friend. I've questioned whether she needs to be on the AD any more and whether it actually does any good. It seems to have little influence on the ED as she's gone years without purging and purged daily on the same dose. There seems to be no direct influence. She's aware of no side effects, but she's been on it so long, it's been her normal state since her teens and any side effects would now be established as her norm.
I've used antidepressants off and on over the years to fight SAD, so I understand them and the effects, and am sympathetic to the need. My concern is that nobody really knows what the long term effects of these are and since we're getting pretty serious, I'm a little worried about her being on these for the rest of her life. She has no desire to ween off of them, even though she can't state with any certainly that they're actually helping her at this point. She has to see a doctor to renew the prescription every year, but they just sign off on it and seem to care little as to whether or how they are actually helping her.
I guess my question is, should I worry about this? Is it possible they are or could be affecting her adversely? She has had a little trouble with weight gain lately, likely just due to age, but it's a trigger for her and is causing her some distress. She compensates by running and working out and looks great for her age (any age, actually), but still purges a few times a week when she eats wrong, misses workouts, or just feels fat.
I'm completely supportive of her, but having been on AD's, I made the mistake of suggesting that maybe the Prozac is contributing to some of the weight gain and is it really doing her any good at this point? That went over like a lead balloon. She also doesn't have much sexual initiative (I initiate) which I wonder might also have something to do with the AD. She does orgasm fine, though, which I could rarely do on the SSRI's.
Anyway, should I care about this, or just let it go?
Thanks in advance!
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