People with manic depression should be warned not to be sucked in by
Elizabeth Wurtzel's passion for Prozac (Shrug drug that saved my life,
January 21). Most English doctors are likely to know (or to refer to
the BNF and discover) that a common side-effect of Prozac is suicidal
ideation, especially in people with manic depression.

I speak from bitter experience. My month on Prozac, several years
ago, gave me a week of quite disturbing joie de vivre followed by two
weeks with a knife on my wrist. If it hadn't been for my medical
training encouraging me to look for side-effects, I doubt I would be
here now.

The suicidal intent Prozac gave me was much stronger than any I have
felt in more than a decade of mood disturbance. I'm coming off Lithium
now; it has been a safe and helpful, albeit fattening, harbour from
the storms, but I'm tired of being excused from life. I've been at
Wurtzel's anti-depressant party for too long.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, time passes and I want to try to do something
with my life, not sit it out on the sidelines with a sick note from
the doctor.

J L Trobridge
Nr Leighton Buzzard, Beds