Women today have so many options when it comes to treating the monthly symptoms of being a woman. However, their choices now stretch beyond the common over-the-counter remedies and reach the realm of hard prescription drugs. Prozac, a drug created to fight symptoms of depression, is now being marketed and prescribed to women to fight the symptoms of being a woman.

Women are now a target market for this drug because of the emotional changes they experience during their menstrual cycle. You would not think that PMS could be so easily confused with depression, until you read the vague symptoms that doctors use to determine whether or not a patient is depressed.

I was able to take the Prozac self-assessment test on-line, using the PMS symptoms I experience during my period, and I received a score of 71%. This score was 21% over the “norm” and I was highly encouraged to consult my doctor about taking Prozac. This just does not seem right, that normal women are being told they need to be taking such a life-altering drug.

To make matters worse, Prozac can now be found in two forms. One of them being the common antidepressant drug and the other as the new anti-PMS drug called Serefem. Serefem was recently created or should I say Prozac was recently renamed, for women to avoid experiencing emotional changes during their period. This FDA approved drug Serefem has the same chemical make up as Prozac meaning patients experience the same drastic side effects (headaches, sleepiness, trouble sleeping, hair loss, inability for females to orgasm, loss of appetite, back pains, urinary hesitancy, and increased aggression) and are also capable of developing the same dangerous dependency on the drug. Clearly by the name, Sere"fem", this new drug is a gendered medical technology. Depression is a problem that can occur in both men and women, but this new camouflaged Prozac is only prescribed to women who are going through the normal biological process of womanhood.

So, when did women start to feel that menstruating was a disease that needed to be treated with such drugs? It could be traced back to when doctors decided to label this biological process the name Pre- Menstrual SYNDROME, which sounds like a disease. Are all menstruating women sick and in need of this prescription? When did being a woman become so hard to bear that we need to turn to harsh, life-altering prescription drugs?

Suggested Readings:
Fluoxetine (Prozac/Serefem): http://depression.about.com/cs/fluoxetine/index.htm?iam=dpile&terms=Prozac

Can Prozac Induce Violent Behavior? http://depression.about.com/library/weekly/aa061499.htm?iam=dpile&terms=Prozac