Antidepressants for depression

Antidepressants are used to treat depression as more. Some antidepressants are used to help sleep; others treat anxiety; and some can be used to relieve some types of pain. Antidepressants are theorized act on neurotransmitters in the brain - chemicals to transmit the nerve impulses between neurons (brain cells). In most cases the drug either the amount of neurotransmitter in the synapse act to increase (the gap between neurons) or those chemicals to keep this.

The first antidepressant, iproniazid, was originally developed for the treatment of tuberculosis. Generally, it is prescribed in the 1950s to treat depression. Iproniazid belongs to a class of drugs called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). This type of drug has revolutionized the treatment of depression, but patients should follow a strict diet to avoid dangerous side effects.

MAO inhibitors have been followed by tricyclic antidepressants. The first of these drugs, imipramine (Tofranil), was originally developed as a potential treatment for schizophrenia. He failed as a treatment for schizophrenia, but he managed as an antidepressant. Like most tricyclic antidepressants, imipramine elevates mood and increases energy in many depressed patients.

In addition to the treatment of depression, most of these drugs have various applications. Tricyclic antidepressants tend also to be sedating; if triclycics amitriptyline (Elavil) and trazodone (Desyrel) are sometimes (and still is used to help treat chronic pain) as a soporific. Buspirone (Buspar) is a tricyclic that is actually used to treat anxiety instead of depression, while clomipramine (Anafranil) is a closely related heterocyclic antidepressant for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) approved.

Almost 30 years have passed (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors by) before the first first SSRI, fluoxetine was adopted (Prozac) in 1987. SSRIs are thought to work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the synapse (although competing theories to explain emerged its antidepressant effect). How tricyclic antidepressants, SSRIs are used for several diseases to depression. Fluoxetine is to be marketed as Sarafem for women with premenstrual syndrome. This is one of the few times that a pharmaceutical company has ordered two names for the same drug. Wellbutrin and Zyban are the same chemicals - bupropion. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant marketed as Zyban and marketed as an aid to quit smoking.

In addition to treating depression, antidepressants are probably the most commonly used to treat anxiety. Paroxitine antidepressant (Paxil) was approved by the FDA to treat generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia. Other antidepressants are also ongoing studies that anxiety treatments, even if they have not yet been approved by the FDA. Forrest Laboratories, manufacturer citrilopram antidepressants (Celexa) are in the last stages of research escitalopram oxalate (a close relative of citrilopram), marketed as Lexapro. The results of the research were proposed at the beginning of the 2002 annual meeting of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America presented that the new SSRI is effective in the treatment of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder. Will be approved this year to treat depression, but the company hopes that doctors prescribe for anxiety also.

The Internet has served as compensation for health. Patients regularly go online to look for drugs that are looking prescribed for them; and sometimes panic when they read that a certain medicine is an antidepressant. "But I'm not depressed," they say, do not realize that there are other uses for this medication. If you do not know why someone writes medication for you - ask.