Depression Medicine

Depression medicine, or anti depression medications, can often provide quick relief of symptoms but also have side effects you should be aware of BEFORE starting any kind of therapy prescribed by your doctor.

Don't expect your doctor to tell you all the side effects. He or she will only probably tell you about the most common ones. However, you should know them all so you can know what could be happening if you get one of the more uncommon ones and, just as important, what to do about it.

The first things you need to know is what the different kinds of drug classes are and the specifics drugs in each class. I will list them here. Click on the link for side effects at the bottom of this page to see the side effects for each one.

Drug Classes

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) act specifically on the neurotransmitter serotonin. They are the most common agents prescribed for depression worldwide. They work by artificially increasing the serotonin that is available in the nervous system of the body.

SSRIs include fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), and fluvoxamine (Luvox).


• Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)

Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are the second-most popular antidepressants worldwide. These drugs block the reuptake of both serotonin and norepinephrine thus increasing the amounts of these chemicals in the nervous system.

SNRIs include venlafaxine (Effexor) and duloxetine (Cymbalta).


• Norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI).

Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is a very popular antidepressant medication classified as a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI). It acts by blocking the reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine.


• Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are older agents seldom used now as first-line treatment. They work similarly to the SNRIs, but have other neurochemical properties which result in very high side effect rates, as compared to almost all other antidepressants. They are sometimes used in cases where other antidepressants have not worked.

TCAs include amitriptyline (Elavil, Limbitrol), desipramine (Norpramin), doxepin (Sinequan), imipramine (Norpramin, Tofranil), nortriptyline (Pamelor, Aventyl), and protriptyline (Vivactil).


• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are also seldom used now. They work by inactivating enzymes in the brain which catabolize (chew up) serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine in the nervous system, thus increasing the levels of these chemicals in the brain.

They can sometimes be effective for people who do not respond to other medications. However, they are the least safe antidepressants to use, and they have important medication interactions and require adherence to a particular diet. MAOIs include phenelzine (Nardil), isocarboxazid (Marplan), and tranylcypromine sulfate (Parnate).

Antidepressant side effects

I have one last word of advice is to consider. Once you have a prescription from your doctor, order your depression medicine from a reputable online pharmacy. This accomplishes two important things.

First, It will save you money as depression medicine is very costly and they are normally much less expensive online than at a local pharmacy.

Secondly, you won't have to order your medications in public where unaware people can snicker and friends or neighbors who you prefer don't know about it can become aware of your problem.

While you certainly shouldn't be embarassed at all since you have a medical condition just like anyone else, some people still connect illnesses like depression with being weak or somehow not capable. While they're not correct, it can still be much easier when you don't have to add any other stresses to your life.

Click here to go from depression medicine back to the home page.

Or click your browsers "back" button to go back to the page you came from.