IS FLUOXETINE USEFUL FOR WEIGHT LOSS? - NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

Fluoxetine can be used to lose weight, according to a postulation that has emerged in recent years. It is a drug that can cause considerable weight loss when consumed regularly.

This postulation has created considerable controversy when it comes to defining the specific effects of fluoxetine and the proper use of this drug. Given the new "fad" that has uncovered the effects on weight of fluoxetine, many people believe that this drug is a useful drug for weight loss.

Leaving aside the usefulness of this drug for weight loss, first of all we have to take into account what fluoxetine is and what it is made for. To begin with, it must be made clear that fluoextin is not a drug that has been designed to lose weight or is used for such purposes.

Thus, fluoxetine, also known as prozac, is an antidepressant drug, so it is designed to treat mood disorders. More specifically, this psychotropic drug consists of an antidepressant from the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class.

Fluoxetine was designed in 1974 and has been in use since 1987, making it one of the oldest psychotropic drugs in use today.

What is fluoxetine used for?

Fluoextine is one of the most widely used psychotropic drugs and is mainly used to treat acute depressive disorders, that is, to treat depression and related disorders.

It is an effective medicine to treat other mental disorders such as nervous-type bulimias, obsessive-compulsive disorders or some bipolar disorders.

On the other hand, fluoxetine can be used occasionally to treat alcoholism problems, attention deficit disorder, certain sleep disorders (especially those associated with narcolepsy), migraines, post-traumatic stress disorder, tourette syndrome, trichotillomania, obesity and some sexual disorders.

Thus, fluoxetine is in its essence a psychotropic drug that allows changes in the brain mechanisms that control mood and is designed to intervene in psychopathological disorders, especially those that have affective components such as depression.

With this brief approach to this psychotropic drug, we clearly see that fluoxetine is not a drug that is used to lose weight, since it is not intended, manufactured, designed and marketed for such purposes.

However, this fact does not mean that this drug cannot have effects on the regulation of body weight and can be effective in losing weight.

To be able to resolve doubts and analyze more clearly the efficacy and convenience of this drug for such purposes, we need to delve a little deeper into all the effects that fluoxetine has on the body and, more specifically, how it modulates weight loss..

Fluoxetine for weight loss

Fluoxetine has been postulated as an effective treatment for weight loss since many people, when consuming this drug to intervene mental disorders such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder, have experienced a weight loss.

This fact is mainly explained because, as we have seen previously, serotonin regulates the sensations of hunger, so by modifying the functioning of this substance through fluoxetine, appetite can be decreased.

Serotonin is an inhibitory substance, so regarding hunger, its main function is to send messages of satiety when the body has already been sufficiently nourished.

Thus, when consuming fluoxetine, this regulation of satiety is altered, so the brain stops regulating the sensations of hunger through the body's own mechanisms.

This is explained because the body, when it has eaten a sufficient amount of food, begins to produce serotonin so that the brain knows that it is already satiated and that it does not need to eat more.

Now, what happens when serotonin is not produced through the body's mechanisms but through a drug that prevents its reuptake such as fluoxetine?

Why is fluoxetine not indicated as a weight loss treatment?

When consuming fluoexetine to lose weight, we can begin to have feelings of satiety when we are not really satiated, that is, when the serotonin produced by fluoxetine indicates it and not when our body indicates it.

This fact can be dangerous; we can start to have unhealthy eating patterns, since we can not eat when our body really lacks certain nutrients.

It has been concluded that fluoxetine can be an effective drug for weight loss as it inhibits hunger but it is not a suitable drug for weight loss. In fact, weight loss is one of the side effects of fluoxetine and is interpreted as a harmful phenomenon that the consumption of this medicine can produce.

Thus, fluoxetine's inhibition of serotonin reuptake is intended to be selective in increasing mood and relaxation capacity, and minimizing side effects on hunger.

However, the complexities of the human brain do not allow this drug to have no side effects, so it can often affect feelings of appetite and satiety.

Thus, fluoxetine cannot be considered as a suitable and effective drug to lose weight mainly because the effects it causes on the appetite are neither desired, nor controlled nor healthy for the person.

In addition, it must be taken into account that this drug is used to achieve specific effects in brains that have specific needs.

Trying to increase mood through increased serotonin in a person who already has an optimal mood with adequate levels of serotonin in their brain can be harmful.

How does fluoxetine work in the body?

Fluoxetine, like all medicines, is taken with the aim of making changes in the way the body works.

In this way, the chemical properties that this drug possesses are ingested so that when they enter the body, they can make changes in endogenous chemical processes and achieve a series of effects that make it possible to supply deficiencies or deviations in the body.

In addition, it must be taken into account that fluoxetine is a psychotropic drug, so the effects that are pursued with the consumption of this drug are carried out in the brain.

Thus, fluoxetine makes changes mainly in brain function, with the aim of making the relevant chemical changes that are able to restore optimal functioning of the mental regions.

Let's see how this psychoactive drug is consumed and what effects it has when it accesses people's brains.

What brain modifications does it carry out?

Fluoxetine is administered orally and is absorbed through the digestive tract.

Although the body tends to absorb this drug very easily, the presence of food in the stomach delays its absorption. However, it does not make changes in the extension of the substance, it simply delays the appearance of its effects, that is, the drug takes longer to reach the brain.

Once absorbed, fluoxetine is metabolized by the liver, binds to plasma proteins, is distributed through the blood, and reaches the brain easily overcoming the blood-brain barrier.

When it reaches the brain, fluoxetine begins to make a series of changes in brain function.

As we have commented previously, fluoxetine is an antidepressant belonging to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. This means that upon entering the brain, the main action it performs is to inhibit the reuptake of serotonin.

What effects does fluoxetine have on serotonin?

Serotonin is a specific substance in the brain that is responsible for carrying out a large number of brain actions. Like serotonin, there are many more substances distributed throughout all brain regions, and each of them perform specific actions.

These substances carry out their actions when they move from one neuron to another, that is, they are distributed through different brain regions.

This transit of substances between the different neurons of the brain is carried out through receptors, which are responsible for transporting substances from one neuron to another.

When the substance is transported through the receptors, they enter the neurons through a reuptake mechanism.

Fluoxetine-serotonia effects

The action of fluoxetine consists of inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, so when this substance is transported to a neuron, it cannot enter the cell interior since fluoxetine prevents it.

This means that serotonin is transported equally but does not enter the interior of the neuron, so it stays longer in the intersynaptic space, that is, in the space between neurons.

As the brain continues to transport serotonin from one neuron to another, these substances accumulate in the space between neurons, which is why they perform greater neuronal stimulation.

Now, what mental processes does serotonin regulate and what happens when fluoxetine increases the activity of these substances? Well, serotonin is a very important inhibitory substance in the brain that performs a large number of brain activities, but the main ones are the following:

Produces melatonin and regulates sleep.
Regulates hunger through satiety.
Balance sexual desire.
Control body temperature.
Control feelings of well-being.
They control the ability to concentrate.
Regulates aggressiveness.
Regulates the state of relaxation of the body.
Regulates the mood.

As we can see, serotonin regulates various aspects related to mood, which is why fluoxetine, by inhibiting the reuptake of this substance, is a suitable psychotropic drug to treat depression and other affective disorders.

However, we also see how serotonin regulates hunger, a fact that would indicate that it could be effective to increase the feeling of satiety and help in the weight loss process.

Fluoxetine for depression

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants began to be used to treat depression based on a very relevant scientific discovery.

It was shown how, in many cases of depression, altered mood is directly related to low levels of serotonin in the brain.

Why is fluoxetine effective for depression?

People with depression usually have deficits in the production of this substance, so the individual does not experience the main effects that serotonin has in relation to mood.

Serotonin (which is even known as the hormone of happiness) produces feelings of well-being, satisfaction, optimism and gratification, so having low levels of this substance can develop depressive episodes.

As fluoxetine inhibits the reuptake of serotonin, this drug allows to increase the levels of serotonin in the brain and therefore recover the gratifying sensations that the depressed person lacks.

This fact, together with the performance of multiple clinical trials that have demonstrated the efficacy of fluoxetine to treat mood disorders, have made it an effective psychotropic drug to intervene in cases of depression.

References

Cooper, JR, Bloom, FL & Roth, RH The biochemical basis of neuropharmacology. Oxford University. Press 2003.
Davis KL, Charney D, Coyle JT, Nemeroff CB. Neuropsychopharmacology: The Fifth Generation of Progress. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002.
Fleischhacker WW, Brooks DJ, Brooks, DJ (Editor). Neuropsychopharmacology Springer-Verlag New York, Incorporated, 2003
Montgomery SA and Corn, TH (Eds) Psychopharmacology of Depression Oxford University Press, British Association for Psychopharmacology, Monographs No. 13, 1994.
Preskorn, FEIGHNER JP., Stanga, CY, Ross R. (Eds) Antidepressants: Past, present and future. Springer-Verlag, 2004.

IS FLUOXETINE USEFUL FOR WEIGHT LOSS? - NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - 2024