About Side Effects Of Medication: Side Effects Of Medication

Read about the side effects of medication and how it can lead to more problems, especially in depression. Depression not only affects the person who is going through it, but also everyone around them, including friends, family, loved ones, spouses, and children.

The side effects of medication

Major depression also known as Major Depressive Disorder is a serious disorder where the symptoms can affect a person’s thinking' working' eating' attitudes' sleep' study and make the person move away from activities that brought him/her joy once. It is an episodic condition and can happen throughout a person’s life time during certain periods.

‘The symptoms that people go through will vary from one person to another depending on the period of time and severity of the condition. Major depression often co-exists with other illnesses and can be the cause of the depressive disorder or can be a consequent of it. Often such depression is not diagnosed as it is associated with the medical condition that a person is going through' thereby taking it as the norm' even if they notice such behavioral' mental and physical changes in a person.

There are many causes for depression' social' psychological' genetics and heredity are some of the risk factors for depression.

Depression is preventable and treatable. As such knowing what major depression means and taking every precaution and getting prompt treatment will be effective and also can prevent further occurrences. Generally' major depression is treated with antidepressants and psychotherapy. Before deciding on the type of treatment' the physicians will fully analyze the situation and get all information required as to the background' and when and how it happened and carefully investigate the symptoms. The treatment will vary from one to another depending on the severity of the condition. Antidepressants medications are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)' and these SSRIs are fluoxetine' sertraline' citalopram are some of the few. The antidepressants with the combination of serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are quite similar to SSRIs but these include venlafaxine and duloxetine. These can sometimes cause slight side effects. The most common side effects of these drugs are:

• Nausea
• Insomnia
• Headache
• Nervousness
• Anxiety
• Sexual problems

SSRIs and SNRIs are most commonly used' the older form of antidepressants such as tricyclics known for its chemical structure and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)' have less side effects' and they are:

Bladder problems
Dry mouth
Sexual problems
Constipation
Sleep or drowsiness during the course of the day
Blurred vision

Though these antidepressants SSRIs and other types are known to be safe' according to a survey conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004' they found that there are unintentional effects on the young adults and adolescents. Clinical trials on antidepressants taken by 4'400 young adults and adolescents revealed that 4% of them had thoughts of suicide' though none took place. Therefore a warning label of a ‘black box’ is indicated on antidepressants as a warning and the potential risk of suicide. The warning indicates' that people taking antidepressants must be closely monitored' especially during the initial first few weeks.

Therefore it is your responsibility to be on the watch and help those who cannot help themselves. It is a helpless and hopeless situation for them' and your help will go a long way to get them out of their depressed situation and even possible death.