“Is long-term use of Prozac safe?”

Yes. The only black box warning is increased suicide ideations, typically within the first few days of starting. Since he has started some time ago, and seems to be stable, this is likely not a concern. He should have had some basic blood work done to ensure the body is tolerating the medication and his platelets are still functioning appropriately and no easy bruising. If not, ask for some basic blood work and continue. That being said, there should be a time where the medication should be decreased or terminated, if medical provider sees fit. There are certain conditions that this can be done, so just follow up with whomever is prescribing the medication.
Hope that helps.

Thank you for your question at FADT. It depends what is the illness prozac is used for. For example, if the illness is clinical depression, then most of the disadvantages of prozac (example some risk of interference with calcium metabolism, or changes in appetite) are of smaller significance compared to the risk of suicide if depression is left untreated. In addition, I think it is important to point out that approximately 30-60% of individuals age 25 years or younger with depression or anxiety, are able to stop their medication after two years of successful treatment. I hope this helps, thank you! Dr. Dodd, MD.

yes

Yes. If he is getting a good effect there is no reason to withhold the benefit. We have a lot of experience with long-term use very successfully. After a year of use often worth a trial off (assuming it is a reasonable time in his life, family and environment) typically 2 trials off resulting in continued need suggests long-term use indicated.

First of all, we have to define what you mean by long-term use. Initial studies have shown safety for about one year. Furthermore, treatment recommendations for depression is to treat for about 6-9 months post remission. Which means that after about a year of treatment, if the adolescent is back to normal, there needs to be a discussion with the patient and the parents whether treatment needs to be continued or whether it’s safe to start tapering off the medicine.