Depression and Anxiety Medications

Do You Take Depression and Anxiety Medications?

You may be taking depression or anxiety medications that are designed to eliminate your symptoms…but do they? It is not uncommon for these medications to actually cause the same symptoms that they should be eliminating! It sounds incredible but unfortunately, it is true. In fact, this is what happens with some common medications like Celexa and Zoloft.

Common Depression and Anxiety Medications

For many people medication proves to be either a short-term solution for depression or part of a long-term treatment program.  Depression and anxiety are like any health condition that needs treatment.

Medications for Depression

A few decades ago there were limited medications to treat these issues, but now there are many choices when it comes to medications. They fall into some general categories.

• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) 

SSRIs are newer medications used to treat depression.  They work by regulating the amount of serotonin in the brain.  Serotonin is a chemical that regulates mood as well as other process of the body.

Some examples include Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Celexa.

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• Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs)

These are also a new class of medication used to treat depression.  They help to regulate both serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.

Examples include:  Cymbalta, Effexor, and Remeron.

• Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCAs)

TCAs are drugs first used to treat depression but aren’t as common today.  They work to regulate norepinephrine and serotonin.  However, they have more side effects than more modern counterparts.

Some brand names include:  Elavil, Norpramin and Sinequan.

• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

MAOIs are also some of the first drugs used to treat depression.  They work by increasing serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.  These drugs aren’t used very commonly because of the strict diet required.

There are many foods which interact with MAOIs so it’s important to avoid them.  This makes MAOIs a difficult medication to adhere to.  People are more likely to be prescribed with this class of drug if others don’t succeed.

Some MAOIs include:  Emsam, Nardil, Marplan, and Parnate.

Anxiety Medications

Anxiety is often treated using antidepressants.  These can help you to get relief from your symptoms over time, but if you’re having symptoms that require quick relief, you may be prescribed benzodiazepines.

These drugs work faster to help treat panic attacks.  Some brands you may have heard of include Xanax, Ativan, and Klonopin.

Beta blockers may also be used to help decrease some of the physical feelings of anxiety.  For example, if you have trouble with your heart racing, sweating, or trembling you might be prescribed this for a short period of time.

Beyond Medications

Treatment for depression and anxiety can also be treated with counseling.  In fact, most professionals agree the best course of action is often the combination of medications with therapy to make necessary changes.

I personally, prefer natural anxiety supplements, however I know many people can’t, that’s why I have listed all these medications often prescribed.

So Can Medications Help?

Sometime during the 1960s, medical researchers discovered that anti-depressants provided anxiety relief. However, the researchers also made another discovery — that the same medications can also trigger the onset of anxiety and depression!

Their initial reaction was one of incredulity. How can a drug meant to cure depression cause depression instead? It’s really hard to fathom but no matter how many experiments and studies they did, the conclusion was always the same. The reason for this is because people simply have different genetic dispositions so a remedy that may work perfectly for one person may deliver the opposite results for someone else.

Another good method for explaining this phenomenon is used by medical school professors…and it goes something like this…

• If you are driving a car and you press the gas pedal, you would expect to move forward, right? It’s the common assumption but what if the gear was in reverse? You would get the opposite result and the car would move backward instead. It’s the same with depression and anxiety medications. People who take them expect to get relief from the symptoms but if their brain is wired differently from someone else, there is really no way of predicting what kind of results the medications would produce.

• In another driving analogy, you can tell exactly what kind of results you can get if you know not only the settings of the car but also the conditions of the road that you are driving on. In the same way, you can only predict the outcome of taking depression and anxiety medications if you know exactly what the person’s past experiences are, what he is feeling, and so on.

If you have been taking depression and anxiety medications yet the symptoms just seem to be getting worse, then the phenomenon just explained may be what’s happening to you. In this case, you can switch to a different medication or find natural anxiety and depression supplements to relieve your symptoms, which are “naturally” safer and proven to be effective.

You may also like to try natural remedies for depression.

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