# Has anyone ever taken prozac (or any ssri) during puberty? Did you still grow?



## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

I'm right at 5'9" and stopped growing at 14, 4 years before I got facial hair, only a year or 2 after I hit puberty I think.

My dad is 6'1", brother 6'3", sister 5'7", and mom 5'3.5". I swear it stunted my growth... I feel "premature" and it is the most disgusting feeling possible.

Anyone here take any SSRI and still grow during puberty??? How tall are you and your parents?


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## euphoria (Jan 21, 2009)

I took Prozac when I was about 17, I think I kept growing. I'm about your height now, which is average. I wouldn't sweat it.


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

Man I am far from average... everytime I go out in public, I am, on average, the 2nd or 3rd shortest out of 10 guys, with the shorter guys only like an inch or 2 shorter and the guys taller are 2-5+ inches taller. The only guys I see my height or shorter are senior citizens pretty much. 

It's been a loooong time since I felt "average."


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## euphoria (Jan 21, 2009)

But it is technically about the average height, as far as I know.


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## Under17 (May 4, 2010)

I'm 6'1" but I feel like I'm still 5'5"... it really doesn't matter how tall you are if you've got no self-confidence.


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## Ehsan (Mar 21, 2009)

i thought SSRIs increase growth rate because exciting 5-HT1A receptors causes secretion of growth hormone.


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## Ehsan (Mar 21, 2009)

AntiADs said:


> I'm right at 5'9" and stopped growing at 14, 4 years before I got facial hair, only a year or 2 after I hit puberty I think.
> 
> My dad is 6'1", brother 6'3", sister 5'7", and mom 5'3.5". I swear it stunted my growth... I feel "premature" and it is the most disgusting feeling possible.
> 
> Anyone here take any SSRI and still grow during puberty??? How tall are you and your parents?


how old are you?



> *Decreased Growth During Therapy With Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
> 
> Background: There is no information on the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on growth and puberty in children.Weexamined growth and growth hormone secretion in 4 children treated with SSRIs for various psychiatric disorders.
> Design: Case study. Participants: Four children (3 boys) aged 11.6 to 13.7 years with obsessive-compulsive disorder or Tourette syndrome.
> ...


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## euphoria (Jan 21, 2009)

SSRIs do decrease dopamine, and dopamine itself increases testosterone and growth hormone, so you could expect the opposite effect. Come to think of it, I'm 19 and my facial hair still isn't fully developed, and I've been on and off SSRIs since about 17. Oh well, now I'm on a dopamine agonist I'll probably develop an afro-beard and a massive dong.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I am 5'10.5" and I wish I was shorter. I wish I was like 5'9" cause I feel too tall and skinny.


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## Timboslice (Jul 28, 2010)

euphoria;1486702 Oh well said:


> If you can dream it, you can do it. :clap


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## LALoner (Dec 3, 2008)

AntiADs said:


> I'm right at 5'9" and stopped growing at 14, 4 years before I got facial hair, only a year or 2 after I hit puberty I think.
> 
> My dad is 6'1", brother 6'3", sister 5'7", and mom 5'3.5". I swear it stunted my growth... I feel "premature" and it is the most disgusting feeling possible.
> 
> Anyone here take any SSRI and still grow during puberty??? How tall are you and your parents?


It might matter which SSRI you took.

Anyway, if it did stunt your growth my WAG is it did by increasing testosterone. High levels of testosterone stop the lengthening of your long bones permanently.

I did some quick googling on serotonin-testosterone interaction and found nothing before I got bored and stopped. I did see that dopamine has a stronger effect on testosterone than serotonin and that anti depressants affecting dopamine have a noticable impact on testosterone production.


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

Omg... omg... omg... I just hyperventilated when I read that article. It stunts the hell out of growth. I was 5'8"-5'9" at 14, I was probably supposed to be 6'1"-6'4" at that rate. I was on Prozac during my entire puberty, and I didn't grow. 

This is unbelievable. This is so bad... I am so suicidal right now. This is so freaking bad. My whole life is just turned upside down.

The worst part is I didn't even need it. My over-dramatic mother forced me to take it. Unreal. I'm stiil in a childs body because of a freaking chemical...

How upset would you guys here be if this happened to you?


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## tennislover84 (May 14, 2010)

Wait, you still don't know that Prozac affected your growth during puberty.

You said that your mother is 5'3". It's quite possible that you just take after her instead of your dad. You get half your genes from your mother and half from your father. So just because your father and brothers are tall, by no means can you be sure that you'd have grown to a similar height! In fact, even if you have two tall parents, you could still end up shorter than them, because some of the genes that your parents pass on to you could be from their parents, or their grandparents, etc.

If you did receive your mother's "height genes", wouldn't you be around the height you'd expect for a male?


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

There's no way possible. I have every possible bodily feature of my father, from bone shape to body hair placement... 

Like I've known Prozac stunted my growth bad for about 2 years now, and about every 2 days I have these serious panic attacks where I freak out and throw crap against the wall because I feel like a walking nasty chemical. Then I read that article and I just can't take it... I know exactly WHAT height means in this world, and nature is nature... this is a freaking chemical. I just don't know how to get over this... from the second I get out of bed, bam, it's my body, freaking chemicals...


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## PeopleAreStrange (Jun 4, 2009)

You need to have some from your mother's side. You can't be all-dad. 5'9 is tall. Maybe I'm biased but tall people are more weird/awkward looking. You really want to be 6'4?
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average height for an adult male in the United States is:
•69.2 inches, or 
•5 feet 9.2 inches


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

I just want to be me. Feeling so "premature" is god-awful. It's a recipe for insanity

And yea, I've seen that 5'9" average statistic... but think about all the guys you know age 18-25. Is the average of all of them really 5'9"? That average is for old, old people. The average height for the 18-25 generation is more like 6 foot


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## PeopleAreStrange (Jun 4, 2009)

Get ripped.


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

I do work out. I could care less about muscle at this point tho. it's only temporary. I hate feeling like a muscular child..


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## tennislover84 (May 14, 2010)

But she's right though, 5'9" is a very normal height. You are not a short person, no matter how you look at it (and there's nothing wrong with being short either)

I can promise you that I have never, ever looked at a 5'9" man and thought that he looked underdeveloped or like a child. I think that this feeling is coming from within you, and that other people aren't going to see you in this way at all. 

Your dad and your brother are quite tall. Your brother in particular is quite a lot above average height, even for the 18-25 age range, I'm sure. I think you might have gotten it into your head that you're under-developed because you're not as tall as your family members, who just happen to be taller than most people.

I have two brothers, the youngest of which is 10 years older than me, so I've always felt like a little boy. They were always sooo much bigger than me when I was growing up. I'm 6 feet tall now, so I'm around the same height as my brothers now, but I'm skinny, whereas they are really broad and just _big_. Even around other people who are not as tall as me, I still feel small, and I think it's because I've had these giant brothers my whole life. You might feel the way that you do for the same reason. It is probably all in your head and there is nothing wrong, or underdeveloped about you.

By the way, I took paroxetine (a different SSRI), for about three years from 15 to 18. I don't think that it stunted my growth, if that reassures you at all.


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

But were you already 6 foot at 15? Or close to it?


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## AntiADs (Jul 6, 2010)

?


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## melpa04 (Nov 12, 2010)

hey dude, I was on citalopram from ages 17-19, not too sure if it's the same as prozac but its an anti-depressant, i too think it stunted my growth but maybe not in height, my dad is 6'0 mum 5'6 brother 6'2 and sister 5'10 I'm very lucky to have made it to 6'0.5 but i grew an inch when I was on them at 18 so was about 5'11.5 at 17 and my arms just didn't grow with my body if that makes sense and they are ment to be the same length as your height, my arms are 3 1/2 inches shorter than my height so they look extremely short, every jacket is too long, its embarassing, also doctors predicted me to be 6'1-6'2 but who knows... I also smoked heavily from 15-19 like 10 a day, I'm 20 now


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

What the f**k dude. Stop being a little b*tch. Suck it up and mann up.

So MAYBE you lost a few inches of height. MAYBE. Maybe you are the height you are supposed to be. Who the hell cares? It's in the past.

Do you have flippers for arms? Do you have mental retardation? Do you have peg legs? Or peg arms? Are you in a wheelchair? Are you blind? Are you deaf? Are you dumb? (can't speak)

Are you poor? Do you live in a slum? Do you have drug addict parents?

Do you have a terminal illness like parkinsons where your body flails around uncontrollably?

I mean seriously dude, stop acting like a little b*tch about this.

You can't change the past. But what you do in the present, shapes your future.

So make good use of your time, instead of moaning "waaaah waaaah waaaah woe is me, i'm so woe"

Peace



AntiADs said:


> Omg... omg... omg... I just hyperventilated when I read that article. It stunts the hell out of growth. I was 5'8"-5'9" at 14, I was probably supposed to be 6'1"-6'4" at that rate. I was on Prozac during my entire puberty, and I didn't grow.
> 
> This is unbelievable. This is so bad... I am so suicidal right now. This is so freaking bad. My whole life is just turned upside down.
> 
> ...


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

AntiADs said:


> I do work out. I could care less about muscle at this point tho. it's only temporary. I hate feeling like a muscular child..


You are acting like a little child, that's for sure.


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## melpa04 (Nov 12, 2010)

Eric69 said:


> What the f**k dude. Stop being a little b*tch. Suck it up and mann up.
> 
> So MAYBE you lost a few inches of height. MAYBE. Maybe you are the height you are supposed to be. Who the hell cares? It's in the past.
> 
> ...


yeah but that's easy for anyone to say if they haven't experienced it first hand so you STFU!

It must be horrible knowing you didn't grow 4-5 inches, I know i stunted my growth by an inch or so, it pisses me off a little but I couldn't imagine knowing i was stunted 4-5 inches and anyways why are you acting like the big shot 'know it all' you have issues to otherwise you wouldn't be on this forum.


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## soapmactavish (Apr 22, 2014)

*Changes since your wrote this?*



euphoria said:


> SSRIs do decrease dopamine, and dopamine itself increases testosterone and growth hormone, so you could expect the opposite effect. Come to think of it, I'm 19 and my facial hair still isn't fully developed, and I've been on and off SSRIs since about 17. Oh well, now I'm on a dopamine agonist I'll probably develop an afro-beard and a massive dong.


Why did you say "massive dong"? Do you think Prozac made your penis small? I'm only asking because my son was taking it through puberty and he has never been interested in girls and I'm afraid this is why.


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## teleblaze (Mar 17, 2017)

SSRI stunted my growth aswell. Started taking them at age 17 when I was 5'11 and I stayed the same height despite having no body hair or facial hair.. only started to get acne at age 17 aswell. I entered puberty very late and as soon as I started taking them I stopped growing, but I had no idea that this was the cause.

My father is 6'2, mother 5'4 but my family from both sides are very tall. It is frustrating because i'm pretty sure I was going to reach 6'1 at the very least. I only started growing body hair and beard at age 20... so that gives you an idea.

I resent my parents for giving me anti-depressants. I wasn't even depressed to begin with.


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