My Super Fun Depression
This week, I celebrated twenty amazing years married to my best friend. I have two terrific kids, whose lives I wish I had. I have an excellent job on a global hit sitcom that regularly puts me within touching distance of John Stamos' hair. I have tons of friends, even more Facebook friends, nearly 20,000 Twitter followers and I blog on The Huffington Post. By any available metric, I have a good life.
And not a day goes by that I don't struggle with depression.
You're probably thinking, "Wait, I've seen you crack wise at work or breakdance at a bar mitzvah." Or crack wise at a bar mitzvah or breakdance at work. Those a...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - June 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Lexapro side effects: Is breast tenderness common?
(Source: MayoClinic.com - Ask a Specialist)
Source: MayoClinic.com - Ask a Specialist - May 26, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Antidepressants and pregnancy: More research needed
Follow me at @Drmoniquetello
For many women, pregnancy and the arrival of a new baby is a joyous time — but not for every woman. Recently, postpartum depression — extreme feelings of sadness and anxiety following the birth of a child — has come out from the shadows. But what about depression during pregnancy?
It’s more common than you think: as many as 14% to 23% of pregnant women will experience symptoms of depression. It’s of sufficient public health concern that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening all pregnant women and new moms for depression. However, treating depression during preg...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - May 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Anxiety and Depression Behavioral Health Drugs and Supplements Family Planning and Pregnancy Source Type: news
More than sad: Depression affects your ability to think
When you think of clinical depression, you probably think of feeling sad and down for long periods of time; losing your energy and your interest in things you used to enjoy; sleeping too much or too little, or eating too much or too little. But besides these, depression can actually change your ability to think. It can impair your attention and memory, as well as your information processing and decision-making skills. It can also lower your cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt your goals and strategies to changing situations) and executive functioning (the ability to take all the steps to get something done).
For pe...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - May 6, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: James Cartreine, PhD Tags: Anxiety and Depression Behavioral Health Brain and cognitive health Mental Health Source Type: news
escitalopram, Lexapro
Title: escitalopram, LexaproCategory: MedicationsCreated: 3/16/2003 12:00:00 AMLast Editorial Review: 3/28/2016 12:00:00 AM (Source: MedicineNet Depression General)
Source: MedicineNet Depression General - March 28, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: news
Escitalopram reversed the traumatic stress-induced depressed and anxiety-like symptoms but not the deficits of fear memory - Lin CC, Tung CS, Liu YP.
RATIONALE: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma-induced mental disorder characterised by fear extinction dysfunction in which fear circuit monoamines are possibly associated. PTSD often coexists with depressive/anxiety symptoms, and selective s... (Source: SafetyLit)
Source: SafetyLit - January 13, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Alcohol and Other Drugs Source Type: news
Take Antidepressants? You May Be Staving Off Dementia
When you take an SSRI or mood stabilizer, you encounter plenty of people who say they, too, think they could benefit from something like that but they never would because we don't yet know what the end results could be. What if, in old age, they ended up growing a third arm because of their decades of Prozac? (Okay, no one's ever said that to me, but there are so many ignorant people running around telling those who take such medications they are not sober that I wouldn't put it past them. Ahem. Different topic.) Point being: As someone who's taken various medications of this ilk over the years, I've wrestled with the noti...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Antidepressant may help prevent memory loss, dementia
Stephen FellerMAYWOOD, Ill., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Researchers found treating depression patients with Lexapro caused the levels of two neurotoxic compounds connected to dementia to drop significantly. (Source: Health News - UPI.com)
Source: Health News - UPI.com - December 1, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Vasomotor Symptoms Relieved by Escitalopram, E2, VenlafaxineVasomotor Symptoms Relieved by Escitalopram, E2, Venlafaxine
Menopausal women with moderate vasomotor symptoms may find relief from escitalopram, low-dose dose oral 17-beta-estradiol, or venlafaxine, according to a pooled analysis. Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape ObGyn and Womens Health Headlines)
Source: Medscape ObGyn and Womens Health Headlines - July 15, 2015 Category: OBGYN Tags: Ob/Gyn & Women ' s Health News Source Type: news
New Study Sheds Light On The Link Between Antidepressants And Birth Defects
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that pregnant women who take certain drugs that are part of a class of antidepressants known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are at slightly increased risk for having a baby with birth defects. While this sounds frightening, the absolute risk for birth defects is still very low, cautioned study authors. For instance, women who took Paxil (paroxetine) would increase their risk for giving birth to a baby with anencephaly (a serious and often fatal brain and skull defect) from two per 10,000 to seven per 10,000. For a certain heart ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - July 10, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Study links Prozac, Paxil use with birth defects
(Reuters) - A sweeping government study of thousands of women has found links between the older antidepressants Prozac and Paxil and birth defects, but has cleared other popular treatments in the class, including Celexa, Lexapro and Pfizer's Zoloft, which is the subject of a major lawsuit over birth defect claims. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - July 10, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: healthNews Source Type: news
Does escitalopram reduce neurotoxicity in major depression? - Halaris A, Myint AM, Savant V, Meresh E, Lim E, Guillemin G, Hoppensteadt D, Fareed J, Sinacore J.
This study examined whether treatment with the SSRI, escitalopram (ESC), could suppress inflammation and favorably shift metabolites of th... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))
Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) - July 4, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Program and Other Evaluations, Effectiveness Studies Source Type: news
Is It Bedtime for Benzos?
“Bernard also laughed; after two grams of soma the joke seemed, for some reason, good. Laughed and then, almost immediately, dropped off to sleep.” — Aldous Huxley, Brave New World It’s been a tough few years for benzodiazepines, the pharmaceutical industry’s top-selling family of prescription drugs. Tough in every way, that is, except sales: Xanax remains the world’s most popular pill, and U.S. prescriptions for it and other benzos grow by 12 percent every year. It’s their reputation, long enjoyed, as harmless and effective medicines that’s taking a flurry of hits — some glancing, others on the nose. Fo...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - June 25, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
ED sedation with droperidol is relatively safe and effective
This study has shown that droperidol is relatively safe and effective for the management of violent and aggressive patients in the ED and that there was no increased risk of QT prolongation and torsades de points according to a large cohort of cases.”
The “Editor’s Capsule Summary” that accompanies the article is even more emphatic*:
How this is relevant to clinical practice
Droperidol is safe even with the high doses used in this study.
The authors note that the study does not rule out that droperidol may be associated with rare cases of torsades. But the agitated, delirious ED patient may be a dan...
Source: The Poison Review - May 20, 2015 Category: Toxicology Authors: Leon Tags: Best of TPR Medical black box warning droperidol FDA food and drug administration QT prolongation torsades de pointes Source Type: news
Escitalopram in the Prevention of PTSDEscitalopram in the Prevention of PTSD
SSRIs are effective first-line pharmacotherapy for acute and chronic PTSD. Might they also be useful for PTSD prevention? BMC Psychiatry (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)
Source: Medscape Today Headlines - April 30, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Psychiatry Journal Article Source Type: news
