antidepressant
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
We have all seen the advertisements for mood-enhancing drugs to battle depression. Antidepressant medications seem almost magical in their promise to improve daily living by improving mood. But do they work for everyone? Are there risks and, if so, how serious are they?
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs May Reduce Effectiveness of Some Antidepressants
A new study has found that some anti-inflammatory medications, including ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen, can reduce the effectiveness of SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), the most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications. SSRIs are often used to treat depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This could help explain why many people suffering from depression do not respond to antidepressant treatment.
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Psychotropic Drugs Have Potential to Cause Birth Defects
Researchers at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Studies at University of Copenhagen (UC) have found that children of pregnant women who use psychotropic medications are at an increase risk of birth defects. UC Professors Lise Aagaard and Ebba Hansen’s study investigating the adverse drug reactions of psychotropic medications on children 17 years and younger over a ten-year period is available in the open access publication BMC Research Notes (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/3/176/abstract).
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Patients Experience More Side Effects from Depression Medication Than Psychiatrists Admit
A study from Rhode Island Hospital shows that patients report side effects from medication for the treatment of depression 20 times more than psychiatrists have recorded in charts. The researchers recommend the use of a self-administered patient questionnaire in clinical practice to improve the recognition of side effects for patients in treatment. The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Volume 71, No. 4, now available online ahead of print.
Some Antidepressants Bring Higher Risk of Developing Cataracts
A new statistical study has found that some antidepressant drugs are associated with an increased chance of developing cataracts. Researchers at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and McGill University conducted the study, based on a database of more than 200,000 Quebec residents aged 65 and older, that showed statistical relationships between a diagnosis of cataracts or cataract surgery and the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), as well as between cataracts and specific drugs within that class.
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Brain Stimulation May be More Effective Than Antidepressants
For those who are dealing with debilitating depression, antidepressants are meant to provide relief. Recent research, however, has identified that more than one third of patients with depression may not be achieving a satisfactory response from their medication.
A recent post in Science Daily shows that deep brain stimulation (DBS), a form of targeted electrical stimulation in the brain, is undergoing careful testing to determine the role it could play in the treatment of patients who have not sufficiently improved during more traditional forms of treatment.
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Study Finds One Antidepressant Could Promote Brain Growth
A new study has identified a secondary benefit to a specific type of antidepressant. The Science Daily recently released a report concerning the use of amitriptyline, a widely used antidepressant and pain medication. This particular drug has been shown to impersonate the brain’s own growth factors.
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine made this discovery and the results were slated to appear in the June 26 issues of the journal Chemistry & Biology.
First introduced in the 1960s, amitriptyline and other tricyclics are thought to exert their effects through the process of increasing the levels of the messenger chemicals serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.
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