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Medicinal
treatment
If
you suffer from depression, the amount
of signalling substances (neuro transmitters)
is reduced in your brain. The most
important signalling substances are
- serotonin
- noradrenaline
- dopamine
When
we treat depression with antidepressants,
the amount of signalling substances
in the brain is increased and that
makes your mood normal.
During
the last 40 years there has been a
rapid development in the medicinal
treatment of depression. Many types
of antidepressants have been developed,
which are all effective. If you take
this medicine correctly, you can nearly
always improve your condition within
a relatively short time.
Most
people are treated by their GP
The
treatment of depression was previously
often a task for the specialist. Today
most people with depression are given
medicinal treatment by their own GP
because we now have different types
of newer antidepressants. Common to
all of them is that they
- are effective
against depression
- are effective
after a relatively short time
- often have few
or short-term adverse effects
- are not addictive
- are not poisonous
even if an overdose is taken
- don't require
that you go for regular checkups
with blood tests etc.
The
treatment with antidepressants should
always be combined with regular talks
with your doctor. During these talks
the doctor will give you detailed
information about the disease and
about the advantages and disadvantages
(adverse affects) that the treatment
might have.
Follow
the doctor's advice
The
goal of the treatment of depression
is to remove your symptoms, in
the same way that insulin removes
the symptoms of diabetes. The most
important thing for an antidepressant
treatment to work is that you take
your medicine as prescribed by your
doctor. It is a very bad idea to reduce
the amount of medicine you take or
not to take your medicine every day.
There are actually quite a lot of
people who take less medicine that
they should.
We
would like to counteract this trend.
We do that by informing you of the
purpose of the treatment, its effect
and about the adverse effects that
can occur. When you are well informed,
you will know how important it is
to take the medicine in the way that
your doctor or psychiatrist prescribed
it.
Checkups
Everyone
who receives medicinal treatment has
to go to their doctor for checkups.
It is important to monitor accurately
how that treatment is working and
when you feel well again. In most
cases, there are no problems connected
with the treatment. You will become
well again on the medicine that your
doctor recommends. Two to three weeks
will pass before you begin to notice
the effect of the medicine. It is
therefore very common not to feel
well until after four to six weeks
of treatment.
In
rare cases the medicine and the dose
that your doctor has prescribed doesn't
work effectively. Luckily, your doctor
or psychiatrist have many possibilities
of improving your treatment by choosing
to
- point out how
important it is to remember taking
your medicine correctly
- continue your
treatment for a while longer without
making any changes to it
- give a larger
dose of the same medicine
- change to another
antidepressant
- combine antidepressants
with other forms of medicine
- combine antidepressants
and psychotherapy
- combine antidepressants
and ECT
Blood
tests
If you are taking one of the newer
antidepressants ( SSRI ), it is not
necessary to monitor the treatment
with blood tests. But if you are taking
a TCA (tricyclic antidepressants)
the amount of TCA in the blood has
to be measured. This is done by taking
a blood test eight days after you
have started your treatment. The blood
test must be taken 12 hours after
you took your last dose, and the dose
will then be adjusted according to
the results of the blood test. The
amount of TCA in the blood should
be checked regularly during your treatment.
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