Generic name:fluoxetine [ floo-OX-e-teen ]
Brand names: Prozac, Prozac Weekly
Drug class:Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
What is Prozac?
Prozac is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant. Fluoxetine affects certain chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) that communicate between brain cells and helps people with depression, panic, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Prozac is used to treat major depressive disorder, bulimia nervosa (an eating disorder), obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
Prozac is sometimes used together with another medication called olanzapine (Zyprexa) to treat manic depression caused by bipolar disorder. This combination is also used to treat depression after at least 2 other medications have been tried without successful treatment of symptoms.
If you also take olanzapine (Zyprexa), read the Zyprexa medication guide and all patient warnings and instructions provided with that medication.
Warnings
You should not use Prozac if you also take pimozide or thioridazine, or if you are being treated with methylene blue injection.
Do not use Prozac if you have used an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days (such as isocarboxazid, rasagiline, selegiline, phenelzine, or transcypromine). Do not use fluoxetine with thioridazine, linezolid, pimozide, or methylene blue injection.
You must wait at least 14 days after stopping an MAO inhibitor before you take Prozac. You must wait 5 weeks after stopping Prozac before you can take thioridazine or an MAOI.
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