Unfortunately, constant stresses and, as a result, depression and nervous breakdowns, become an indispensable attribute of the life of a modern urban dweller. When other methods have already been tried and have not had the desired effect, one has to resort to the use of antidepressants. But, like all medications, they can cause complications. Your task is to minimize the risk of this.
Types of antidepressants
Today, there are three groups in the market of drugs with antidepressant effect:
- tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
- monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
- selective absorption inhibitors of serotonin (IPSI)
The first group of TCAs includes drugs developed in the 50s of the last century, these include all that contain active substances such as imipramine, amitryptiline and nortriptyline. The second includes those that were synthesized in the second half of the last century, the active substance in them is genuine, tranylcypromine andisocarboxazid. The third, most recent group of antidepressants, has been synthesized already recently.
A distinctive feature of TCAs and MAOIs, which are still widely used in Russian medicine for minor disorders due to their democratic price, is the presence of a number of complications (TCAs) and stringent requirements for compatibility with other medicines (MAOI).
For the treatment of generalized mental disorders, protracted depressions, chronic forms, panic attacks, etc., the newest antidepressants of the IIPS group are used. These drugs have fewer side effects, but their cost is quite high, which in the Russian reality is the reason for their limited use. Their action is based on a selective reverse capture of the mediator serotonin, on the amount of which the mood of a person depends.
Overview of the latest antidepressants
The effectiveness of all modern antidepressant drugs is almost the same, the main question is only to choose one of them that will do less harm to health. After all, the effect on the concomitant symptomatology, as well as the number and severity of possible complications, they differ quite strongly.
To the new generation IPS is fluoxetine, or “Prozac”, on its basis currently produced a lot of generic drugs under different names. In addition to affordable prices, they do not have special advantages. According to the results of the studies, when part of the subjects took the drug and part of the placebo, the side effects were expressed quite strongly: 24% of those taking the drug suffered from nausea, whereas in those taking placebo this symptom was observed only in 9%, insomnia was observed in 19 – 10%, increased drowsiness – 12-6%, anxiety 12-6%, nervousness 13-8%, tremor 9-2% and asthenia 11-6%. Complications from this drug include sexual dysfunction, caused by a decrease in sexual desire, weight change. The drug is addictive, but the withdrawal syndrome is not expressed strongly.
The newest group of anti-anxiety drugs include generics: fluvoxamine, paroxetine, citalopram, escitalopram, serotonin and vilazodone. The latter is only 2 years old as it is allowed to be sold in the US, so it is impossible to buy it in Russian pharmacies. All of them have a good antidepressant effect and give about 50% of positive results in the treatment process and 20% of long-term remissions. But the complications can include the same sexual dysfunction, both in men and women.
Such a side effect, like sexual dysfunction, is absent only when taking antidepressants based on nefazodone and bupropion
One of the drugs that cope well with prolonged depressive and obsessive-compulsive disorders, panic attacks, social phobia and post-traumatic stress syndrome, is sertraline. On its basis in pharmacies you can buy drugs such as “Asentra”, “Stimuloton”, “Sellyft”, “Serenata”, “Thorin”. These drugs can cause nausea, insomnia, diarrhea, drowsiness, dizziness, tremors and sexual dysfunction, but their effectiveness is 1.4 times higher than that of fluoxetine.
A drug that, with equal effectiveness, produces fewer complications, is escitalopram. In medicinal forms it can be found as “Tipralex” and “Selectra.”
When taking it, be prepared that you will have insomnia or drowsiness, dry mouth, weakness and fatigue, constipation, gastric distress and sweating
Try to live without pills
As you can see for yourself, even the newest antidepressants have rather unpleasant side effects and complications. The conducted medical researches allow to assert with confidence about their efficiency only in cases when the disorders have a pronounced character. In those cases where they were used to treat moderate depressions and disorders, their effectiveness was comparable to placebo. In these cases, it is not necessary to drink pills – you will be helped by herbal preparations and phytotherapy, the correct mode of life and nutrition.
