What about Side Effects of Taking Antidepressants
- Author:
rainier - August 26, 2008
- Category: mental health
Roughly 20% to 30% of people experience side effects serious enough to make them stop taking the medication. Minor side effects such as headache, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, sweating, tremor, and dry mouth usually ease or go away within a few days or weeks.
More serious or annoying side effects include nervousness and agitation, panic, insomnia, daytime drowsiness, loss of libido or other sexual problems, and weight gain. In very rare cases patients may experience an increase in suicidal thoughts.
Sometimes such side effects can be serious enough that you should ask your doctor to adjust or switch your medication.
“I ask my patients to come in for a visit within one to two weeks after I prescribe an antidepressant, to make adjustments, if necessary,” says Dr. Papakostas. Sometimes lowering the dosage can eliminate side effects.
Psychiatrists usually recommend avoiding alcohol if you are depressed and/or taking an antidepressant because alcohol is itself a depressant.
And since most of the drugs are equally effective, if you dislike the side effects of the one you’re taking, you can usually switch. “I took Lexapro, but I got so jumpy that I stopped taking it,” says Meyers.
Zoloft provided her with the calm and relief she was looking for: “I felt like I was coming to peace with myself, and I was better able to use humor to diffuse bad feelings.”
Later, when she felt a need to go back on the drugs, she tried Effexor XR, which worked just as well. “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it,” she says. “When they work, the drugs function so that you’re not fighting yourself.”
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How to Slash Your Heart Disease Risk by 83%
Your genes don’t ordain heart disease. Researchers are learning more about the lifestyle factors that predict heart health, and these are in your hands. A Harvard study of nearly 85,000 women identified these five healthy habits.
1. Don’t smoke.
2. Drink at least half a glass of wine, or equivalent alcohol consumption, each day (but not more than a full glass, experts say).
3. Get at least 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity daily.
4. Maintain a healthy weight.
5. Eat a healthy diet. It should be low in trans fats but high in fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and folate; it should also have a lower glycemic load and a higher polyunsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio.
When three of the five healthy lifestyle factors above were present, risk for coronary heart disease over 14 years was reduced by 57%; when four were present, risk was reduced by 66%; and when all five factors were present, risk was reduced by 83%, the study found.
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Stress as a Key Factor To Lower Heart Disease
Other ways you can lower your risk for heart disease include keeping blood pressure at 120/80 or below and minimizing stress. “I think we greatly underappreciate the interplay between stress, our emotions, and our risk for heart disease,” says Laurence S. Sperling, MD, director of preventive cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He says stress constricts the arteries and increases the stickiness of blood platelets, setting the stage for a blood clot. Watch a video of Dr. Sperling explaining why he thinks stress is an even more significant risk factor than the current research suggests.
“Many lives could be saved and much misery could be avoided if people and doctors alike got more aggressive about heart disease prevention,” says Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the NYU Women’s Heart Program.
“Ninety percent of women who die suddenly of heart disease had at least one risk factor that could have been prevented or treated,” she says.
“People don’t think it’s a problem until you reach a certain age,” says Jeffrey Frame, PhD, a professor of dietetics at Murray State University. But studies show that even children and teens can have streaks of plaque in their arteries, especially if they smoke or eat a lot of fatty foods.
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How could Women Protect Themselves from Cervical Cancers?
Research suggests that women may lessen their chances of being exposed to HPV by using condoms. Regardless of a woman’s sex life, her best defence against cervical cancer is regular Pap tests. Cervical cancer takes an average of 10 years to develop. In its early stages, it can be cured 100% of the time, often with simple office procedures.
Don’t chance your life satisfying men look after your and think of the children you are likely to leave behind when the cervical cancer actually get grip of your body.
A man is most likely to find the next available woman ready to take him on. So why do we worry!
Be more economical with your bodies, nurture it and think of your own health needs ladies.
Have one partner at a time please. Otherwise you will die early when you chase easy money with rich men who call the shots.
This message is for students who just want easy way in life. Easy comes easy go money actually makes you very miserable in the long term. Those who struggle with little money enjoy the fruits of their by aiming for higher educational achievements through scholarship which one could find by googling for scholarships for Africa students on the internet.
It is better to climb the economic ladder gracefully to achieve and take ownership of that achievement rather than piggyback on someone else’s.
Women never sell your bodies cheap treasure it to any one. Articulate the terms and conditions of that body of yours if possible through marriage.
Walk with dignity and pride and never be a bit on the side for anyone. A lady ideally must be aim to be the “Mrs” of a home and not a second best a bit on the side some where in secret.
Your children need you most. If you want quality children and quality grandchildren and great grandchildren then stay with one partner at a time to make that mark.
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Why does It Hurt When I Have Intercourse?
Painful intercourse can have a wide range of physical or psychological causes, from bacterial infection to anxiety to hormonal changes due to menopause. If sex hurts, see your gynecologist and discuss the pain in as much detail as you can. Jot down basics such as:
• When the pain began
• Where you feel it (at the opening of your vagina? deep inside?)
• The nature of the pain (is it sharp? dull?)
• Whether the pain starts and stops with penetration
• If you’ve noticed any unusual vaginal discharge
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