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Depression Medication
Clinical depression does not just heal by itself. You cannot tell a person suffering from depression to pull herself together because she cannot. Depression should be treated with medication. Depression medication is composed of antidepressants which have four major classes. These are the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs, the tricyclic antidepressants or TCAs, the monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAOIs, and the atypical antidepressants.
SSRI medications are usually the first choice in treating depression. They affect levels of serotonin in the brain. Most popular examples of SSRI are Prozac (generic name: Fluoxetine), Zoloft (Sertraline), Luvox (Fluvoxamine), Paxil (Paroxetine) and Celexa (Citalopram).
When SSRI medications are not working, doctors prescribe TCAs. Examples of these medications are Elavil (Amitriptyline), Anafranil (Clomipramine), Norpramin (Desipramine), and Adapin (Doxepin). The MAOIs are not prescribed as often unlike SSRIs. These medications may not be taken with many other types of medicines. Patients taking MAOIs should also avoid food that are high in tyramine such as wines, aged cheeses, and cured meats. Examples of MAOIs are Nardil (Phenelzine) and Parnate (Tranylcypromine).
The atypical antidepressant medications are also prescribed when SSRIs failed to work. Examples are Effexor (Venlafaxine) and Desyrel (Trazodone).
It may take one to six weeks for the patient to start feeling better. Patients are advised to see their doctor regularly when taking these medications for monitoring of side effects as well as improvements on their general condition.
These medications are usually started at low doses and are increased gradually particularly for older patients. The same thing holds true when the patient is about to stop the antidepressant medication. Medications should be stopped slowly and gradually by decreasing the dose over a period of time. This is because stopping the medication abruptly might result to more negative effects or worse, may result to a recurrence of the condition.
Older patients should also be carefully monitored while taking the medication especially those who are taking other medications for various illnesses. Antidepressant medications when combined with different medicines may produce harmful results so it would be better to consult your doctor first if you need to take other medicines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA has released an advisory on antidepressant medicines and suicide risk. The FDA strongly warned that patients should not stop their antidepressant medications but should be monitored carefully for any warning signs of suicide.
Monitoring should be carried out at the beginning of treatment and when doses are altered. Patients should also be observed for more severe anxiety or panic attacks, irritability, insomnia and mania.
The FDA has also issued a warning about the antidepressants Paxil and Paxil CR. Taking these medicines in the first 3 months of pregnancy may cause birth defects.
