Nation without "prose"

A year and a half of the war, heavily affect the psyche. And it becomes more difficult to treat it - Russians periodically face interruptions in the supply of popular psychotropic drugs

Back in mid -September, RBC announced a deficiency of the Proseak antidepressant in Russian pharmacies. According to the publication, the drug could only be found in four of 4405 Moscow pharmacies. A year earlier, in October 2022, Zoloft disappeared from sale for several months.

The specificity of antidepressants is that they are selected very individually: the drug that has approached one can cause strong side effects in the patient with the same diagnosis. The patient gets used to the drug very gradually, starting to take it in very small quantities and gradually increasing the dosage to therapeutic. Sometimes it is not possible to find a suitable medicine on the first attempt, a psychiatrist has to sort out different options. In general, when a person, and so exhausted by depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder, finds his “his” antidepressant, he certainly does not feel desire (and often does not have the strength and money) go this path again if the necessary drug disappears from pharmacies. But sometimes it is necessary.

Magic tablet

In the early 70s of the last century, American pharmaceutical companies were looking for an ideal drug for depression, which would have the smallest amount of side effects. It was fluoxetine, known under the trading name Proseak: in 1972, David T. Wong, a researcher at the large American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, opened the drug. Wong was engaged in the study of the mechanisms of reverse capture of serotonin - it is with this neurotransmitter that most antidepressants work.

Interestingly, scientists still do not know how exactly the Prose -ak works and why it helps to treat depression. By the way, it is prescribed, like other drugs of the selective capture of serotonin, not only from depression: the instructions for the medicine also indicate bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

“I have a borderline personality disorder and depression,” says Alina ( the name was changed at the request of the heroine - approx. Ed. ). -I started drinking a “prose” in mid-March 2023. They raised me a dosage, and, accordingly, more money was spent on pills. It was possible to be treated only until mid -August - then it ended, and I switched to his analogue, “fluoxetine”. Dereaalization has begun, it still lasts. The “prose” appeared after some time, but there is not an option to jump from one medicine to another, there will be constantly different side effects. And the most amazing thing is that in some cities the “fluoxetine” disappears-I was in St. Petersburg in August 23, there it also ended, although I should not. ”

In Armenia for "Zoloft"

The deficit of the Prose and other antidepressants is a popular topic of psychological forums and specialized telegram channels. A 19-year-old student of the Contemporary Art program in the Higher School of Adelaide ( the name was changed at the request of the heroine - approx. Ed. ), When the Zoloft disappeared, went to Armenia after him.

“About fifteen years, I have been stably experiencing existential anxiety, a feeling of global meaninglessness,” she says. -When I was smaller, I did not have a thought that I needed to somehow be treated. Therefore, basically I drowned my anxieties with the help of psychoactive substances. In the summer of this year, I went to a psychiatrist, and he prescribed to me the “Zoloft”. I chose the time very unsuccessful to start drinking it, because already in July - unfortunately, it seems that Once again - Zoloft disappeared from the shelves of pharmacies. He has analogues, because the main substance - sertralin - is contained not only in “Zoloft”, but, for example, in “Serenate”. However, these drugs are not suitable for me: quite strong side effects arise from them, which are not with the “goloft”. I had a choice: either tolerate them, or to get the “Zoloft” in some other ways. Therefore, I flew to Armenia, to Yerevan to buy it there in a pharmacy. ”

"About five of my patients attempted suicide"

Different medicines disappear - not only the most popular and in demand. The user of the forum “Soul balance” under the nickname Aloe wrote about the disappearance of a strong antidepressant “Venlafaxin”, including the treatment of a large depressive disorder.

Victoria, a psychiatrist of one of the Russian clinics, says that against the backdrop of interruptions in the “Zoloft” (one of the few antidepressants who are prescribed to minors), suicidal risks of several of its teenage customers have increased.

“Against the background of transitions to the analogs of“ Zoloft ”there were only a few with good treatment results, almost everyone had deterioration,” says Victoria. -

About five teenage my teenage patients attempted suicide, but, thank God, everyone is alive and healthy.

This happened after the outbreak of war, plus minus a year ago. Generics are drugs recreated by the formula of the original drug. It can be repeated inaccurately, and this explains the side effects: the medicine can be simply cleaned worse. Sometimes it changes from party to party, which are produced at the same factory. ”

According to Victoria, antidepressants are not the only psychotropic drugs with which there are problems. For example, drops of “Rispolept” disappear, which are used to treat schizophrenia, or Strater - the only cure for hyperactivity.

"The sensations were terrible"

Sometimes a deficiency of drugs can last months - this was the case with the Zoloft immediately after the start of the war, when the manufacturer of the drug stopped supply and for several months was looking for ways to renew them. “Without the drug, a person returns to its original state, but also with the abolition syndrome. It is necessary to change treatment, and it is advisable to choose a medicine that will not disappear, ”says Anna psychiatrist ( the name was changed at the request of the heroine - approx. Ed. ). Here, for example, what Alina experienced when she could not buy a “prose”: “It was not as difficult for me as it could be: I was a wing of three or four days, no more.

But the side effect was very rigid - weakness, tremor of the hands, as from anxiety, which is not characteristic of me.

The sensations were terrible, but it could be covered for two weeks. ”

There is no “fluoxetine” deficiency - it is sold even on Ozon, and there is an inexpensive drug: 144 rubles for a package of 20 tablets of 20 mg. But with the original "prose" interruption.

“In November 2021, I was given [the diagnosis -] a borderline personality disorder with periodic deep depressive episodes,” says Masha ( the name was changed at the request of the heroine - approx. Ed. ). - They stably fell on the periods from October to November and from February to the end of March or early April. With the outbreak of war, in addition to the strongest depressive episode and the fact of the fighting itself, I faced a deficit of the “prose”. By March, he simply could not get it.

Russian analogues of drugs cause a bunch of side effects: from nausea and the inability to eat anything but porridge on the water, to heart problems - a constantly rapid pulse, for example.

At the same time, they cope with their task very poorly. As a result, I radically changed the scheme: I switched to therapy, reduced drug treatment. Only Atarax remained from anxiety and a complex of vitamins. They are also troubles, but more solved. ”