The purpose of this journal article is to research the effect of Prozac on the person brain and also the effects it has on the person physical health. Physical health can be defined as an essential part of overall health of an individual, which includes everything from physical fitness to overall wellbeing. Prozac is one of the most common and effective anti-depressant on the market. Prozac was introduces in 1974 by Eli and company to help treat mental illness. Prozac is considered to be a non-habit forming and non-addictive drug.  As Prozac works as an anti-depressant that is used to affect the brain if the chemicals are unbalanced making the person feel unhappy or chooses to act in a certain way. Serotonin can raise and fall causing depression as it can be too high or too low in serotonin that causes a person to feel depressed.   If Prozac decrease a person ability to feel motivated to perform physical active in result to this might make a person feel a certain way and throw out the balance of serotonin that Prozac is trying to fix.

This report will explore the chemicals that effect the way Prozac works and how it effect the brain. Also how Prozac can affect the physical health of a person.


Background

Prozac or scientifically known as Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin inhibitor anti-depressant. Prozac is used to affect the chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced. Prozac is used to treat, major depressive disorder, bulimia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorder. Prozac works by increasing the brain levels of serotonin, this is a neurotransmitter that influences sleep, appetite, aggression, pain, moods or any other body to brain processes. With taking Prozac there are many side effects that come with it, example sleep problems, strange dreams, headache, vision change, feeling nervous or anxious, pain, weakness, feeling tried, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, sweating, change of weight, flu symptoms and decreased sex drive.
Fluoxetine hydrochloride is the first agent in the make of antidepressants. Prozac is made up of 17 carbon, 18 hydrogen, 3 fluorine and nitric oxide.

Figure 1: Prozac chemical structure

A process for the preparation of pure fluoxetine of the following formula: and its pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts which comprises reacting N-methyl-3-hydroxy-3-phenyl propylamine of the following formula: with 1-chloro4-(trifluoromethyl) benzene of the following formula: in the presence of alkaline metal hydroxide in sulfolane in the presence of a catalyst. Which comprises using sodium or potassium hydroxide as an alkaline metal hydroxide.

Neurotransmitters are chemical release from the axon that swim across the synapse to carry the message to the cell.  When serotonin is released from the sending nerve cell, the left over serotonin is normally reabsorbed by an uptake pump.  By locking the uptake pump, Prozac increases the amount of active serotonin that can be delivered to the receiving nerve cell. This means that the neurons steep for a longer period of time in the serotonin you already produce. The pre-synaptic cell membranes that serotonin passes through within the brain. Therefore blocking the serotonin so that it cannot pass through into the blood stream where it is quickly inactivated. The drug blocks the sensor on the axon that tells the cell when enough serotonin has been produced. This causes the axon to release even more serotonin. Finally, over a period of 2-3 weeks, the receiving cell becomes more sensitive to serotonin, and this is the point at which the anti-depressant effect becomes experienced by the patient. Fluoxetine (Prozac) is extensively metabolizing in the liver. 

Prozac can raise the level of tricyclic anti-depressants and MAOs (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors) to toxic levels. As Prozac is a highly protein drug can cause excessive stress to be placed on the organs involved in metabolizing and elimination, the liver and pancreas. Patients that have extremely adverse effects right away tend to be those with pancreatic and liver weakness. One of the first observation is that Prozac can make the liver function impaired. Once the liver function is impaired, Prozac will rapidly accumulate within the body to toxic levels. With the combination of fluoxetine (Prozac) and alcohol or other drugs or excessive intake of processed sugars or the inability of the body to maintain balanced blood sugar levels, the liver go into overdrive and not be able to function normally. This would create much higher levels of Prozac in the blood. 

Prozac is usually provided to patients in a capsule or tablets but there has been people that snort Prozac, by breaking down a tablet into a power which releases Prozac slower then capsule. Prozac can range anywhere from $10-50 depending on how many mg there are and how many capsule or tablets are provide.  Prozac dosages are different for the different mental illness that Prozac treats for. patients with depression aged 8 to adults there dosage it 20mg of Prozac orally once pre day. For patients with bulimia the dosage is 60mg once per day. Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder the dosage it between 20-80mg once per day. Patients with panic disorder dosage is 20-60mg once per day. Prozac shouldn’t be used in high dosages and only be taken once per day as it can throw out the balance of serotonin.

Discussion

Prozac works in increasing the serotonin levels in the brain, could there be a chance that the way Prozac change the serotonin levels might throw out a person physical health. A side effect of Prozac is a change of weight being gaining weight or losing weight. With Prozac causing blood sugar imbalanced which can make a person have obsessive appetite craving.    When a person gains weight rapidly it can make a person self-esteem lower which can lead to serious health problems. A person can also feel ashamed by the fact that they are gaining weight rapidly that they don’t feel as they can go out and exercise in trying to lose the weight. Prozac is believed to make a person have a lager appetite and in some cases slow down the person metabolism. With the large appetite and the slow metabolism means that the person will eat large amount of food and the person won’t burn it off storing it as fat. It’s good that if a person that is taking Prozac should walk daily to help burn off calories or exercise regularly.
      
A person physical health can also mean the wellbeing and the mental health of the person, another side effect of Prozac can also be suicidal thought and in some cases making a person to feel depressed. This can be caused by sometimes having a high serotonin level because depression can be cause be low or high serotonin levels. Usually this happens at the start of people using Prozac and eventually the serotonin levels will balance out. But if a person start to feel suicidal or think suicidal thought they should contact the doctor as Prozac is working to treat the depression not make it worse for the person. If a patient has a high level of Prozac in their blood this can a ‘nightmarish’ which can give an explanation to why a patient report suicidal thought or behavior.

Conclusion

Depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and bulimia are all mental disorders that affect people’s lives daily. There’s many people that go unnoticed and untreated but many choice to take medication to help treat and prevent it from increasing. There are many drugs that have been invented to help people to overcome these mental disorders. One of the most common and most effective anti-depressants is Prozac. Prozac works on balancing the serotonin levels in the brain and effectively make a person mood and to feel happier. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that influences the brain to body processes. Prozac works by increasing serotonin levels that have become unbalanced though out life. Prozac has been found to have effects on the physical health of people being there active health or the wellbeing of the person. In this effect it could throw out what Prozac is trying to fix. 

In addition to the question if Prozac effects the brain and the physical health of a person. Prozac obviously affect the brain by the change of serotonin levels and the how it pairs with the nervous system. Prozac dose also effect a person physical health as Prozac can make people gain weight and also effects there mind making them more depressed and in some cases suicidal thought and behavior. 

Public education piece

My public education piece is a poster to advise the general public of the information learned during this research assignment.

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