Is there anyone who can say anti depressant tablets truly help?

Question

Or are they just placebos - if you have faith in the Dr and the tablets they will work and vice versa. I have been through about six different antidepressants (as well as ECT) and nothing works. I can't see any hope in the medical profession.

Answer 1

A minimum of 40% (some researchers say half or more) of depressed patients fail to respond to standard anti-depressants, and this is often after only trying several of them. And when they do work, data from published studies show it can take up to six weeks to begin working, which is a long wait.

I don't know if you've tried it yet, but there is a newly approved transdermal anti-depressant called "Emsam". It is a patch you place on your body and change once daily at your convenience. The patch is like a little square of scotch tape, almost. Anyway, Emsam is different from other commonly prescribed anti-depressants in that it doesn't inhibit the reuptake of neurotransmitters serotonin or norepinephrine. Rather, it prevents the breakdown of different neurotransmitters by acting as an MAO inhibitor. One of the things that makes it different is that it will have a substantial effect on raising levels of "dopamine", while all the other commonly-prescribed anti-depressants do not really affect dopamine levels. (Wellbutrin may have a very small impact on dopamine levels, but mostly all of its action is on norepinephrine). And ironically, the most effective anti-depressant ever developed was Survector (amineptine). This was a specific dopamine reuptake inhibitor (SDRI). One study showed it was efficacious in up to 78% of depressed patients who tried it. It was only on the market for a short time in the U.S. before the FDA banned it. Apparently it was possible to get high on it if one overdosed, and could become addictive for this reason.

MAOI's (like Parnate and Nardil) are not new drugs, in fact they were around before the SSRI's. And the efficacy of MAOI's is superior to the SSRI's and SNRI's you've probably already tried. The reason they have been rarely prescribed prior to the approval of Emsam is that there is potentially a very serious reaction when standard MAOI's are taken with food containing substantial tyramine, like aged cheese, aged meats, soy sauce, and beer on tap. It can cause hypertensive crisis. The transdermal Emsam patch prevents the need for dietary restrictions at the standard dose of 6mg/24. Higher dose patches carry the warning for food interactions as a precaution, but 5 studies were done with the higher dose patches without dietary restrictions and no problems were reported with food interactions. Again, with Emsam you'd still have that six week wait to see if you fee any different. Given that you probably haven't tried a dopamine increasing agent yet, it might be worth a try. (Again, the piddily effect that Wellbutrin has on dopamine doesn't really count.)

As an interesting note about Emsam (generic name selegiline), this drug has been found to consistenly and significantly extend lifespan in healthy animals including rodents and dogs, by over 20%. In other words, it may have some anti-aging properties. It is also often referred to as being a neuroprotectant at lower dosages, while some other antidepressants may actually be neurotoxic, including several of the tricyclics. It also helps to lower levels of oxidative stress in the brain by boosting levels of natural antioxidant enzymes your body makes. In effect, there's some interesting evidence that this drug may do a number of positive things in humans and animals.

All in all, currently available anti-depressants are really unsatisfactory for millions of people and often have no effect on their depression. Some of the newer drugs under development are taking a different approach altogether, but most of these won't be available for years.

With regard to electroconvulsive therapy, this treatment is controversial, and just this month the person considered the leading expert and proponent of ECT (Harold Sackeim) admitted that ECT routinely causes potentially permanent amnesia and cognitive dysfunction (problems thinking in certain ways), after telling everyone for 25 years that it did not, and the American Psychiatric Association adopted his position that it did not cause brain damage. This new study published this month was actually the FIRST large-scale study (believe it or not) to even check for peristent cognitive dysfunction after ECT. His results show, albeit indirectly, that ECT may cause brain damage that may be irreversible in some people.

Getting back to anti-depressants, I can tell you that even if you did find a drug that helped to you some extent, you can easily defeat the action of the antidepressant by following an unhealthy lifestyle that's likely to lead to depression (example: staying in bed all day and not doing anything). So, you have to be willing to do your part regardless of the drug.

Finally, there's also a drug called Stablon that is only available from overseas, and acts as a serotonin reuptake accelerator rather than an inhibitor. Some of the recent research shows that it may work by increasing neural plasticity. Some people in the U.S. are importing the drug and using it, since its mode of action is unique. But again, many still do not respond to it.

You've probably also heard of seasonal affective disorder that can cause depression. The name can be misleading, because lots of people have this condition year round, it's simply much more common in the winter. It is caused from lack of adequate sunlight, and is treated with special lightboxes and/or spending more time in the sun where possible. Basically, certain wavelengths of light when entering the eyes stimulate the release or shut-off of certain hormones and possibly other chemicals in the body. Apparently, some people require very little sunlight, and others quite a bit more for this purpose.

Answer 2

They worked for me and it was right after my son died so at that time I didn't have much faith that anything would work . But about a month or so later I started feeling better. . . it was so gradual that it was almost like it snuk up on. Psychiatric drugs are "hit & miss" - the only way to know if they work is by trial and error. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. However, if you have family members who take antidepressants you might try what they are taking . . . for some reason if it works for a family member it has a better chance of working for you. I also found that physical exercise helps you a lot mentally . . maybe you should try exercising if drugs aren't working for you . . . best of luck to you . . . I hope you feel better

Answer 3

Like most medicines, it depends on the individual. What many of the antidepressants like prozac, paxil, zoloft, ect, do is to interfer with the reuptake of serotonin at nerve terminals that secete serotonin. There are three basic receptors at these nerve terminals, that either calm, cause nausea, or cause agitation. It is the agitation that leads to violence, but the drug companies don't properly advertise it as such, they call it an increase in depression. Another main problem with these antidepressants is that there are no blood tests for levels, even though there is wide variation in blood levels found in subjects in the research phase of the drug studies. Lastly, many people are labled as 'depressed', as though it is a clinical depression caused by biochemical imbalance, when in fact it is a situational depression. Those people need their situation improved. See the Merck manual now available for free online, it is a good resource, but be cautious, as it is printed up by a drug company.

Answer 4

This is a very good anti-aging program I'm following: http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=547


it's developed by Steve and Becky Holman and it's 100% natural: no drugs, no supplements, no gimmick. They teach how to slow the aging process. There are specific ways to move, eat and think that tell your brain to stop and even reverse the aging process. There are also things they you absolutely have to avoid if you really want to look younger and achieve your ideal body. More info on the site.

Answer 5

I can honestly say that I really think that they help... I work for a psychiatrist and I see so much improvement in a lot of people. You just have to find the right combination. Also, if you just have a kind of situational depression than they won't work on you, they are for chemical imbalances, not for situational depression. I also believe in non pharmaceutical intervention... where you do therapy as well and also do some self empowering exercises. That may be what your treatment is lacking.

Answer 6

From my experience I have found them useless, along with the doctors that prescribed them. I've found healthy eating and exercise, although boring!, does work.There are other things that you can do to try and bring yourself back up and you can use them in conjunction with the anti depressants if you like...do a bit of web research. Depends on your circumstances/personality and why you're not feeling so good, as to what might work for you. Although I would say, you need to know or have a rough idea as to what it is thats making you feel like you do before you start x

Answer 7

I have used many anti-depressants - some of them truely worked and some did not. Wellbutrin was the first one that really helped, but I had to keep raising the dosage and finally had to change to Lexapro, which I think has helped even more. Anti-depressants wear off as our body adjusts to them and some stop working altogether. Getting lots of natural sunlight (not through glass), exercise, and doing something productive (such as working or going to school) should help with severe depression.

Answer 8

i think anti - depressants do work in the short term. they just cover up the sad feelings though and do not eliminate the problem.

i do feel however the best method to get over depression would be to seek advice from a counsellor or a cognitive behaviourist therapist!! or get a good mental health nurse to talk to you which is what i am training to be!!

good luck with whatever problems you may have and dont worry you will find the right solution one day soon xx

Answer 9

Every person is different, Like 1 could work for me but it might not work for u, I was on Efexer they helped a little after a while, but not alot, i am now on Lustral and im doing better then ever, theres a great improvement n me now but thats with councling 2, but as i said the same thing might not work on everyone, but goodluck

Answer 10

Most anti-depressants are not really designed to solve your depression. Especially if the source of your depression is some circumstance in your life. If there is something in your life that depresses you, then you need to do you best to either fix the situation or remove yourself from it.