Anxiety and the neurotransmitter Serotonin

By any chance, do the following have a familiar ring: Lexapro, Cymbalta, and Paxil? Odds are you’ve heard of at least one, and perhaps are using one or know a person who does. They are compounds for curing anxiety, and are all among the top 100 selling pharmaceuticals in the world. Medication for anxiety forms a large fraction of the portfolios of the major pharmaceutical firms. Countless patients have discovered that these drugs mitigate the debilitating symptoms of anxiety disorders, as well as those of depression in others. A high number of these drugs are found in a class of molecules referred to “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs), which operate by reducing the reabsorption of the neurochemical serotonin. Serotonin, when careening between neural junctions, seem to mediate processes that result in anxiety and depression. Learning about how SSRIs work, their off-label uses and what sort of side effects they exert is vital, as these compounds form the most popular class of pharmaceutical products ever prescribed.

Basic and applied research in clinical depression led to a large number of SSRIs utilized for reducing anxiety. In depression, peple also exhibit reduction in levels of interneural serotonin. Administration of SSRI increases these amounts and brings down the symptoms of depression. Interestingly, SSRIs have also found usage in treatment of symptoms as diverse as fibromyalgia and diabetic neuropathy. The neurotransmitter serotonin seems to govern a number of biological functions not restricted simply to psychiatric processes.  Thus it is not unexpected that SSRIs, despite their wide usage, also impose a disperse range of side effects. More commonly, patients who take SSRIs may feel nausea, sleep-walking or dizziness. Less usual, side effects may also describe problems such as tiredness during the period of treatment, blurry vision, or a strange condition known as “depersonalization.” The side effect that has gained much scrutiny recently, especially in the matter of a Lilly Co. drug, is the increased risk for suicide. A retrospective study by the FDA (done by pooling data from many studies ) led it to raise the likelihood that in youths 25 or under, the medication can increase the rate of suicide. However, the benefits of SSRIs in alleviating otherwise threatening symptoms of anxiety and depression is what leads most to take them anyhow.

A more common but ultimately strange side effect is the one known as “depersonalization”. In depersonalization, the person seems to become removed from daily life and people. The sense of clarity in these subjects also weaks, a fact which is the source for the name of the condition.  Life situations seem dream-like and hazy.  Ending of medication reduces depersonalization, but at the disadvantage of speedy reacquisition of feelings of anxiety and depression.

These adverse reactions are tolerated by patients due to the great benefit conferred by SSRIs.  Because SSRIs are broadly used, their mixing with other drugs has also been well documented. One prominent example is the natural supplement St John’s wort. In a strange turn, the supplement has frequently been claimed as a natural cure for depression or anxiety. But unfortunately, it turns out that intake of St. John’s wort inactivates a function of the liver, in charge of catabolizing SSRIs in the body and eliminating them from the body. Because St John’s wort compromises liver activity, the SSRIs stay in the body for longer and at greater dosage, leading to worsened side effects.

SSRI drugs have assisted a countless number of people who experience anxiety. The informed patient benefits from recognizing the subtleties and complexities of these drugs, their side effects, and how these drugs potentially can have deleterious consequences when taken simultaneously with other substances.

About the Author

David Cambria has been doing basic science in a related field to biochemistry of neurotransmitters, and often writes about stress relief from anxiety. He also presents information on natural relief from anxiety.

Child and Teen Social Anxiety Disorder

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