Jump to content
SurvivingAntidepressants.org is temporarily closed to new registrations until 1 April ×

Antdepressants are sloppy, that's why there are side effects


Altostrata

Recommended Posts

  • Administrator

Here's an explanation of why when you take an antidepressant, it might affect parts of your body far removed from your brain.

 

Neurotransmitters and the side effects of antidepressants

by Dheeraj Raina, MD kevinmd.com

 

We certainly wish that antidepressants in particular, and all psychiatric medications in particular were free of side-effects.....

 

Some side-effects of medications are related to dose — the higher the dose, the greater the risk of side-effects.

 

Antidepressants (and all other psychiatric medications) have 2 additional, common reasons behind their risk of negative effects:

 

  • the neurotransmitters they target are not selective, i.e. they don’t just regulate mental well-being.
  • the medications themselves are not selective, i.e. they don’t act only on the neurotransmitters related to their main action.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that our nervous system makes and uses to communicate between its various parts. When we feel any physical sensation – pain, heat, cold, taste, smell – our body uses neurotransmitters to communicate the sensation to the brain. Our brain uses neurotransmitters to communicate to our muscles to move in response to the sensation, to move away from potentially harmful sensations and closer to pleasurable ones. A few examples of neurotransmitters include chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine. There are several others.

 

When we say, “neurotransmitters are not selective,” it means that a particular neurotransmitter does not just have one particular action. As an example, the neurotransmitter serotonin that is believed to help regulate mood and which many antidepressants target, in addition to mood, also regulates appetite, pain, proper function of our stomach and intestines, sexual function. So, any antidepressant that improves mood by regulating the actions of serotonin, will also end up regulating those other functions – some in desirable directions, others in undesirable ones.

 

When we say, “antidepressants are not selective,” we mean that antidepressants don’t work on just one neurotransmitter. For example, medications belonging to the same group as Prozac were initially called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). But now it’s well known that they affect, other neurotransmitters besides serotonin. They have potent effects on fewer neurotransmitter systems than the older antidepressants, but they are not really selective.So, the roots of their side-effects lie not just in the fact that serotonin regulates other functions besides mood, but also in the fact that they affect other brain chemicals that also have multiple functions.

 

For example, a medication that works on serotonin, may also affect another neurotransmitter called norepinephrine, which is also an important regulator of the function of our heart, lungs, gut, bladder, eyes, arteries and veins. In this case, the potential side-effects include not just those related to Serotonin regulation, but also those related side-effects like palpitations, urinary problems, vision problems and blood pressure changes.

 

In essence, antidepressants work on multiple neurotransmitters, each of which has multiple functions, most of which are not directly related to mood regulation. This is what explains most antidepressant side-effects.

 

Dheeraj Raina is a psychiatrist who practices at the Depression Clinic of Chicago.

 

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/07/neurotransmitters-side-effects-antidepressants.html

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we say, "antidepressants are not selective," we mean that antidepressants don't work on just one neurotransmitter. For example, medications belonging to the same group as Prozac were initially called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). But now it's well known that they affect, other neurotransmitters besides serotonin. They have potent effects on fewer neurotransmitter systems than the older antidepressants, but they are not really selective.So, the roots of their side-effects lie not just in the fact that serotonin regulates other functions besides mood, but also in the fact that they affect other brain chemicals that also have multiple functions.

All the more reason for psychiatry to do what I've been thinking about for some time now: drop the first "S" in SSRI! Jeez, even psychiatry now knows this stuff is nowhere NEAR as selective as once thought. Hell, SSRIs are right up there with steroids for unpredictable, body-wide side effects!

Been on SSRIs since 1998:

1998-2005: Paxil in varying doses

2005-present: Lexapro.

2006-early '08: Effexor AND Lexapro! Good thing I got off the Effexor rather quickly (within a year).

 

**PSYCHIATRY: TAKE YOUR CHEMICAL IMBALANCE AND CHOKE ON IT!

APA=FUBAR

FDA=SNAFU

NIMH=LMFAO

 

Currently tapering Lexapro ~10% every month:

 

STARTING: 15 mg

11/7/10: 13.5 mg

12/7/10: 12.2 mg

1/6/11: 10.9 mg

2/3/11: 9.8 mg

3/3/11: 8.8 mg

4/1/11: 7.8 mg

4/29/11: 7 mg

5/27/11: 6.4 mg

6/24/11: 5.7 mg

7/22/11: 5 mg

8/18/11: 4.5 mg

9/14/11: 4 mg

10/13/11: 3.6 mg

11/9/11: 3.2 mg

12/7/11: 2.6 mg

1/3/12: 2.1 mg

2/2/12: 1.8 mg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use Privacy Policy