What is Depression?

Depression is a mental health condition that begins most frequently in early adulthood. It is more recurrent in women. Nonetheless, anyone at any age can have depression and antidepressant medicine is a solution to treat any sort of depression or anxiety.

About Antidepressants Medicine

Depression can attack your brain, so medicines that work in the brain may prove beneficial. Most commonly used antidepressant medications may help soothe depression symptoms, but many other options exist.

Every medicine used to manage depression acts by stabilizing particular chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. These medicines work in a bit different ways to soothe your depression symptoms.

The most common medicines for depression fall into the following drug classes trusted Source:

  • Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
  • Tetracyclic antidepressants
  • Dopamine reuptake blockers
  • Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
  • 5-HT1A receptor antagonists
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
  • 5-HT2 receptor antagonists
  • Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
  • 5-HT3 receptor antagonists
  • Noradrenergic antagonists

Major depressive disorder — commonly mentioned to as depression — is distinguished by symptoms, such as

  •   Low energy
  •   Hopelessness 
  •   Loss of interest
  •   Feelings of guilt or

If they have been present for more than 2 weeks. It is frequently managed with antidepressants, with or without counselling.

How To Select Antidepressants?

If depression is affecting you or your loved ones, you may have thought about taking medicines. But when there are so many antidepressants available in the market, it’s difficult to choose which ones are the most effective.  We’ll discuss the different types of antidepressants available and how you and your doctor can choose which one is the most effective one for you.

The Best Antidepressants

The best antidepressant medicine is the one that gives you the most assistance with the lowest side effects. Everyone’s experience in finding the best depression therapy is distinctive.

Now, here is a list of some effective antidepressants and their classification.

SNRIs

 These medicines include:

  • duloxetine (Cymbalta)
  • venlafaxine (Effexor)
  • levomilnacipran (Fetzima)
  • desvenlafaxine (Pristiq, Khedezla)

It helps improve serotonin and norepinephrine levels in the brain. It can decrease depression symptoms. In addition to dealing with depression, duloxetine may also reduce pain. It is important because constant pain can lead to depression or make it even worse. In other cases, people with depression become more sensitive to aches and pains medicine that treats both depression and pain, like duloxetine, can be more effective for these people.

Tetracyclic antidepressants

Maprotiline (Ludiomil), are used to deal with depression and anxiety. They also work by stabilising neurotransmitters to soothe symptoms of depression.

Dopamine reuptake blockers

Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Forfivo, Aplenzin), are mild dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake blockers. They are effective for depression and seasonal affective disorder. They are known to be effective in quitting smoking as well.

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)

TCAs are time and again suggested when SSRIs or other antidepressants are not working. It is still not completely understood how these medicines work to deal with depression.

TCAs include:

  • amitriptyline (Elavil)
  • clomipramine (Anafranil)
  • amoxapine (Asendin)
  • desipramine (Norpramin)
  • doxepin (Silenor)
  • protriptyline (Vivactil)
  • imipramine (Tofranil)
  • trimipramine (Surmontil)
  • nortriptyline (Pamelor)

5-HT1A Receptor Antagonists

It binds serotonin, also known as 5-HT, a neurotransmitter. 5-HT1A is expressed in the brain, spleen, and neonatal kidney. It is a G protein-coupled receptor, joined to the Gi protein, and its activation in the brain moderates hyperpolarisation and decreases the replacement of the postsynaptic neuron. In humans, the serotonin 1A receptor is encoded by the HTR1A gene.

SSRIs

 FDA as approved SSRIs to deal with depression are:

  • Paroxetine (Paxil)
  • Escitalopram (Lexapro)
  • Sertraline (Zoloft)
  • Fluoxetine (Prozac)
  • Citalopram (Celexa)
  • Fluvoxamine (Luvox)

SSRIs are observed as the first-choice medicines for depression therapy. These medicines are trusted to work by increasing the amount of serotonin — a hormone that helps control mood — in the brain. It is considered to be most competent for depression therapy, usually, it takes about 2 weeks to contribute to dealing with depression and 4 to 8 weeks to experience its full benefits

5-HT2 Receptor Antagonists

It is used to treat insomnia or schizophrenia.

MAOIs

MAOIs are the older medicines that are used to deal with depression. They act by stopping the breakdown of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin.

These medicines are not as effective for most people to take as the other antidepressants because they interact with suggested medicines, over-the-counter medicines, and some foods. It is also not possible to combine with other antidepressants.

MAOIs include

  • isocarboxazid (Marplan)
  • selegiline (Emsam), which comes as a transdermal patch
  • phenelzine (Nardil)
  • tranylcypromine (Parnate)

Mirtazapine (Remeron) is used first for depression. It changes particular chemicals in the brain to soothe depression symptoms.

5-HT3 receptor antagonist

Vortioxetine (Brintellix) manages depression by affecting the working of the brain chemicals.

How do Doctors Choose Antidepressants For Their  Patients?

There are a lot of things that help a doctor decide which antidepressant can be best for the patients. These include things like favourable outcomes with an antidepressant in the past, other health conditions of a patient, and side effects that are concerning for patients.

If somebody has successfully taken an antidepressant previously, it is always a good place, to begin with. They are more favourable to get the benefits of medicine which have worked before. On the other hand, if somebody has never taken medicines for depression in the past, the doctors time and again find such medicines that have less tendency of giving side effects.

Antidepressants, like SSRIs and SNRIs, cultivate better tolerance than older ones. The patient also prefers SNRIs over SSRIs if they have an incurable pain condition. It is because SNRIs can help with symptoms of that condition.

Sexual problems, such as erectile dysfunction, show a preference for  SSRIs and SNRIs over other antidepressants. If sexual side effects happen, then bupropion (Wellbutrin) can help you better. These side effects are very unusual with this medicine. Bupropion can also be suggested by doctors as a medicine regimen if the current antidepressant is working well for depression.

If a patient has both depression and insomnia, then trazodone can be a possible choice, too. This medicine will cause a lot of drowsiness, so the doctor can guide the patient to sleep better.

Conclusion

Doctors usually prescribed  SSRIs class of antidepressant medicine. It is because they are more effective and accepted antidepressants with few side effects. These medicines are easily available at Super Meds online at affordable prices.