Drug Alternatives to Avoid Unpleasant Side Effects, Depression

Medication mishaps can occur and if you are unsure about the medications that you are taking ask your doctor to review all of your medicines. The fact is even drugs that are thought to be safe may turn out to cause some serious side effects. For example, Rofecoxib is an analgesic that has been confirmed to double a patient's risk of heart attack.

It may be useful to consult with a naturopathic physician and discuss safer drug alternatives. An example here would be Policosanal. Policosanal is used to lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and seems to have milder side effects than some prescription statins.

Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is an ideal substitute for some NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as Celebrex and the over the counter pain reliever Aleve. Research has shown that these meds may increase the risk of stroke or heart attack. MSM is a natural compound in green veggies and does not damage the stomach or heart.

A typical dose of MSM would be 2,000mg twice a day.

Consult your physician if you take a blood thinner.

Some prescription drugs can cause depression, make depression worse or interfere with its treatment. Just about all drugs can cause unpleasant side effects such as an upset stomach, headaches or muscle pain but there are many that can alter the mood. They do this by interfering with the brain chemicals that regulate the brain activity.

Below is a list of some of the drugs that can cause depression:

Anti-biotics - We have all at some time or other had cause to take a course of anti-biotics and have no doubt suffered some of the side- effects but few of us are aware that anti-biotics can affect your mood leading to anxiety and depression.

The reason for the mood being altered is the mere fact that these drugs disrupt the functioning of neurotransmitters such acetylcholine, dopamine and serotonin.

Should you begin to feel depressed ask your doctor about switching to an anti-biotic from the tetracycline family such as tetracycline or doxyclycline.

Blood pressure drugs - Because these drugs play a role in depressing the central nervous system they too can lower the mood. The most common culprits here are clonidine, methyldopa and beta-blockers such as atenolol and propranolol.

If when taking these medications you start to feel depressed talk to your doctor about changing to an ACE inhibitor such as enalapril or ramipril. These do not affect CNS and are far less likely to affect the mood.

Heart failure drugs - Lanoxin (digoxin) is widely used to treat heart failure but it also affects the CNS and therefore can worsen or cause depression.

Should you find that depression is setting in whilst on this drug talk to your doctor about taking the lowed possible dose of digoxin (typically 0.125mg) or alternatices such as nitroglycerine or hydralazine.

Hormones - Corticosteroids are powerful drugs that are used to treat conditions such as arthritis, asthma and serious skin conditions but when taken orally can decrease the responsiveness of the CNS, which can then lead to depression or unnatural excitement.

In this instance you can ask your doctor to lower the dose or to shorten the length of time that you take it. You can also talk with him about finding an alternative such as a topical form of the antihistamine diphenhydramine(Benadryl) or the OTC Claritin.

Sleep aids - These sap energy and slow you down. Benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium are often prescribed as a sleep aid but can leave you with a 'hang-over' feeling the next day.

Talk to your doctor about taking a sleep aid that leaves the body more quickly such as Sonata or Ambien.

Which now brings us on to OTC (over the counter) drugs. Because we can buy these over the counter it is widely believed that there shouldn't be any problems with taking these medications. But, although these drugs are generally safe, they can still be the cause of depression.

Take Benadryl that is taken to relieve cold and allergy symptoms. This medication can be really sedating and lower the mood. It may be better to choose a non-sedating medication such as Claritin.

For those that suffer from heartburn and take histamine H2 receptor blockers such as Zantac and Pepcid may find that they too have a mood disorder simply because these medications also affect the brain chemicals.

The solution in this instance is to replace the H2 blocker with a proton pump inhibitor that shuts down the stomach acid but does not affect the mood. A good replacement would be the OTC drug Prilosec.