Posts Tagged ‘antidepressant’

New Antidepressants

Monday, April 6th, 2009

The SSRIs act by inhibiting serotonin reuptake, and are considered the most popular, effective and safe prescription medications. The new prescription SSRIs used to treat depression include citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram oxalate (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac, Prozac Weekly, Sarafem), paroxetine (Paxil, Paxil CR), and sertraline (Zoloft). Citalopram, a chiral compound, has its serotonin reuptake inhibitory activity in the S-enantiomer. Escitalopram, the S-enantiomer of citalopram has demonstrated Antidepressant activity in animal models. Prozac has shown significant success in the treatment of depression and prevention of suicide. It exhibits less potential side effects as compared to TCAs and MAOIs. Paroxetine exhibits anti-cholinergic effect and causes sedation. Zoloft has few drug interactions, but has the side effect of causing diarrhea and male sexual dysfunction.

The currently available SNRIs (desipramine, duloxetine, nefazodone, and venlafaxine) keep both serotonin and norepinephrine at the right level to alleviate depressive symptoms. Nefazodone alleviates anxiety, causes sedation and positively affects sleep. Venlafaxine (Effexor) has significant anticholinergic effects (dry mouth, blurred vision, urinary hesitancy, and constipation), induces sedation and has potential withdrawal effects.

The drug bupropion (Wellbutrin, Wellbutrin SR) is the most commonly used member of the novel Antidepressant class. It is quite unique in its efficiency to inhibit the reuptake of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Reuptake lowers reception of feel-good brain chemicals. Maprotiline (Ludiomil) and mirtazapine (Remeron) are the two main drugs from the group of tetracyclic Antidepressants. Mirtazapine acts by increasing the amount of noradrenaline and serotonin, and is of benefit in particular for the treatment of depression accompanied with anxiety, agitation and /or sleep disturbances.

Antidepressants provides detailed information on antidepressants, antidepressant comparisons, antidepressant medications, antidepressant side effects and more. Antidepressants is affiliated with Symptoms Of Schizophrenia.

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Headaches From Anti-Depressant Medications

Friday, March 20th, 2009

It isn’t uncommon to suffer from Zoloft or Prozac headache. These powerful medications cause chemical changes in the brain. These chemical changes are supposed to relieve your depression or anxiety. Unfortunately, like with any medication you can experience side effects. You should tell your doctor immediately if you are suffering from a Zoloft or Prozac headache.
Give It Some Time
The Zoloft or Prozac headache you are suffering from could just be temporary. It takes a while for the body to get used to the medication and for it to begin to successfully treat your anxiety or depression. However, if you are not noticing any improvements in your mental health in 4 to 6 weeks, but you are still get a Zoloft or Prozac headache from time to time, then your doctor needs to know. Even if there is a marked improvement in your mental health, it may be worth trying another medication rather than suffer from the headaches.
I suffer from anxiety and I have tried Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, you name it. While I never suffered from a Zoloft or Prozac headache, the different medications were not all equal in their ability to treat my anxiety. In fact, with the exception of Lexapro, no anti-anxiety has been able to satisfactorily treat my condition. Usually these medications take a few weeks to kick in. Lexapro started relieving my anxiety within a half hour of first taking it. So, if you have a Zoloft or Prozac headache, ask your doctor to try another medication that can successfully relieve your depression or anxiety symptoms without giving you a headache.
Other Factors Contributing To Your Headaches
Now, your Zoloft or Prozac headache may not be caused by the medication alone. Other things do cause headaches. Tension headaches are caused by the muscles in your neck and head becoming cramped from months of tightening these muscles when under stress. If tension is partly the cause of your headaches, then you can’t just rely on the medication alone. You need to learn how to properly manage your stress. You may find that by doing so, your Zoloft or Prozac headache will go away.
One of the best ways to deal with stress and keep it from getter the better of you is to take deep breathing breaks. Whenever you feel stressed out, find a place to be alone, lie down on your back or sit in a chair and do deep breathing from your diaphragm for two minutes. This will restore your breathing which becomes shallow when you are anxious and also fill the brain with calming oxygen. Whether or not you have a Zoloft or Prozac headache, you should be doing deep breathing exercises on a daily basis to relieve your anxiety and depression.

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Prozac and Menopause – Is it Wise

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

To deal with the side effects of menopause, some women find the following helpful; taking to exercising, avoiding beverages as well as foods with caffeine in them, and also steering clear of alcohol and spicy food, which should help them avoid hot flashes. However, if those do not alleviate the symptoms for you, it may be time to talk to your doctor for a medication to help.

Prozac is one such medicine. When used for menopause is known to relieve hot flashes. This has especially been found true in women that also have breast cancer, or who may be at risk of contracting the disease. However, Prozac for menopause may benefit all women with hot flashes problems.

An antidepressant like Prozac for menopause has been known to alleviate the sudden temperature changes experienced by women having menopause, and this is why many doctors prescribe Prozac for this condition, though more data is required on the subject of treating menopause with Prozac. Because many women may be somewhat reluctant to use estrogen to treat their hot flashes, Prozac provides an excellent alternative.

According to certain studies, women that have taken prozac for menopause have reported back that it helped in decreasing the frequency as well as severity of their hot flashes by as much as half, while women in the placebo group only had thirty-six percent decrease in the symptoms. This shows that Prozac for menopause is effective though it has yet to be ascertained how Prozac helps in alleviating the symptoms.

More research is being conducted on the topic of the relationship between prozac and menopause relief. Speak with your doctor if you feel this could benefit you.

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