Medicine and Health
Antidepressants: Talking about experience with side-effects – What it feels like
As I was diagnosed with severe depression about 2 years ago, I have passed through different types of treatments with different types of antidepressants. The first thing you’ll learn from having a mental disorder is that the first step of treatment is to actually accept you have a problem and go see a psychiatrist. Even I have waited until my symptoms became worse and worse before going to a doctor and that just made it even harder to find a suitable medication for myself.
That being said I’ve actually only tried two lines of treatments because as you will learn treating depression is a long journey. Even if you cannot entirely cure depression, medication can make things better but not without side-effects. The first line of treatment my doctor prescribed included a combination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRi), which are a class of antidepressants with benzodiazepines, which are sedatives that were prescribed specifically to me because of anxiety issues.
As you can easily learn their side-effects from Google, I’d like to talk about how they can make you feel. Keep in mind that people don’t react the same to these meds, but I’m hoping you can learn from my experience what to expect from SSRi’s if your doctor prescribed them to you too and you were scared about what you’ve found on the internet.
First things first, once you start the treatment with SSRi’s don’t forget to take them or don’t decide to stop taking them all at once because this type of medication affects neurotransmitters in your brain which always need to be properly regulated. That means the correct way of finishing a treatment with SSRi’s is by slowly reducing their dose.
My first reaction to SSRi’s was that my head started to feel warm for no particular reason, I did not have a fever. I have also started to simply stop caring and felt numb, but these reactions probably came from Benzodiazepines. The following weeks what bothered me the most was that my hands started shaking a lot and I really did not have control in my movements. Also, I was sweating a lot, mostly in my sleep and my sweat had an unpleasant vinegar smell which overtime stopped happening.
Besides the weird state that SSRi’s make me feel and constant tinglings in my hands and legs they did manage to help me. Unfortunately, after my doctor told me to start reducing the doses of SSRi’s I have simply stopped taking them which resulted in a near-death experience meaning that for the next 2 days I was feeling like I could die any seconds which made me anxious and also had some weird effects on my body. Basically, I was feeling very sick with no actual reason.
As I was saying, in the beginning, depression is not something you can cure but you can keep its symptoms under control with medication. Although I can’t say I am feeling as bad as I did back then, some problems are still blocking my short term memory and concentration which can be frustrating and often leads to headaches. Because of that, the doctor has prescribed me a combination of tricyclic antidepressants with painkillers.
The doctor chose this class of antidepressants because my new treatment won’t be a long-term one, the main cause being the desire of treating my migraines. As I’ve been told SSRi’s have a weaker effect on depression symptoms which make them better suited for long term treatments that are preferred when treating mental disorders. Tricyclic antidepressants are stronger, but their effect lasts a shorter period of time.
As for what I actually feel after taking the tricyclic antidepressant is a tricky question because it doesn’t give me any reaction I had with SSRi’s it actually does the opposite and the effects pass by morning. After I take these new drugs I stop ‘feeling’ my head and I start feeling like my hands are not under my control. I became very intrigued about how my hands felt because while they don’t feel like my own I can say I have more control in my movements. Because ‘fortunately’ I have hypertension the drugs seem to mess with my blood pressure because I started to have nosebleeds in my sleep.
Tricyclic antidepressants have to be taken at night because they produce mydriasis which is an enlargement of the eye pupil that makes my eyes more sensible to light and also makes me incredibly sleepy.
All in all, antidepressants do help reduce depressive symptoms, but sometimes they feel like they make them worse. Unfortunately, the medication developed for mental disorders usually comes with a large list of side-effects which you can’t avoid feeling. Even if you just think you are depressed you should not consider taking any drugs without talking to a psychiatrist first. If you are diagnosed with depression don’t get scared of the side effects because on the long term you might just feel a little bit better.
Medicine and Health
A recently identified strain of deadly fungus poses a significant risk to public health
Researchers have recently discovered a new group of Candida auris, a potentially dangerous pathogen. The finding increases the total number of identified clades of the fungus, which is a newly emerging superbug resistant to multiple drugs, to six.
Candida auris is a strain of yeast that has the potential to cause serious illness and is frequently impervious to antifungal drugs. While individuals who are in good health generally do not fall ill, the transmission of the disease is highly prevalent within medical institutions and poses a significant risk to individuals with compromised immune systems. The yeast can induce a variety of conditions ranging from superficial infections of the skin to more severe and life-threatening illnesses, such as bloodstream infections. Due to its high level of resistance to multiple drugs, treating it can be challenging, and in some cases, even impossible.
The authors state that the pathogen is a significant global public health threat due to its widespread distribution, resistance to multiple drugs, high ability to spread, tendency to cause outbreaks, and high mortality rate. Although infections are still relatively uncommon, there has been a significant increase in cases in recent years.
Previously, the fungus had been categorized into five distinct clades, each located in different geographic regions: South Asia, East Asia, Africa, South America, and Iran.
In April 2023, doctors from the Singapore General Hospital identified a patient carrying a unique strain of C. auris as part of a routine screening program, adding it as the most recent clade to be discovered. Typically, these cases arise from individuals who have recently traveled, but this particular patient had not traveled outside the country for a period of two years, which raised some concerns.
Upon conducting a genetic analysis of the strain, the researchers determined that it did not align with any of the five known clades of the fungus. Therefore, it can be concluded that the strain belongs to a previously unidentified, sixth clade. Subsequently, they conducted tests on strains obtained from previous patients and identified two additional isolates of this particular group of C. auris in Singapore, as well as another isolate in Bangladesh.
The extent of the new clade’s prevalence and its potential to cause invasive infections and outbreaks remains uncertain at present. However, the researchers emphasize the importance of promptly identifying and controlling it in order to safeguard patient well-being.
“The ramifications of this breakthrough transcend the confines of the laboratory.” “Given the recent discovery of the sixth Candida auris clade, it is imperative to enhance surveillance capability or create new methods to strengthen existing surveillance strategies. This will enable health care facilities to closely monitor its emergence and effectively control its spread,” stated Dr. Karrie Ko, co-first author of the study.
Fortunately, the cases described in the study remained vulnerable to all antifungals that were tested. This should alleviate concerns about a pandemic similar to the one depicted in The Last Of Us. However, it is evident that the threat of C. auris is persistent. Therefore, additional efforts are required to identify new strains, monitor their spread, and control any negative clinical consequences.
The research is published in The Lancet Microbe journal.
Medicine and Health
What makes your chest hurt when something makes you jump?
Have you ever been scared so badly that you grabbed your chest? You feel like someone or something just zapped you behind the sternum. As you rest, you lean against the wall and think about why your friend is such a jerk and why you can feel it in your chest whenever you get scared.
People often use words like “heart-stopping” when they write fiction about fear, but the science of fear tells us that this isn’t what’s happening because it wouldn’t make sense. Our bodies are getting ready to deal with an impending threat when we’re scared, and going into cardiac arrest wouldn’t help us get very far if a lion was after us.
What do we do when we’re scared?
The sympathetic nervous system is what gets you excited when something makes you jump. It’s a tool inside our bodies that releases hormones and changes the way our bodies work to get us ready for the fight-or-flight response.
One important part is adrenaline, which is also known as epinephrine. The adrenal glands squeeze it out into the blood. The heart starts beating faster, sending more blood to your muscles and organs right away. Because they need all the oxygen they can get if they want to get away from a dangerous animal.
How do you feel when you go for a run?
Anyone who has ever used an EpiPen knows how bad it is to feel a sudden rush of adrenaline. It’s a stress hormone that makes you feel nervous and anxious, like you would before doing a bungee jump. Getting a rush when you think about a traumatic event from the past can be a sign of PTSD.
A medicine called adrenaline is used because it can help people who are having a medical emergency. If you have anaphylaxis from an allergen like peanuts, this can help because it can open your airway. Because it changes the strength and speed of heartbeats, it is also sometimes used to help people who are having a cardiac arrest.
When your adrenaline level goes up quickly, you may feel shaky, your heart beat quickly, and your chest get tight. When you add in the fact that you’re more alert, you become very aware of the changes in your body. This is especially clear when you’re not in danger, like when your partner surprised you at home when you thought you were alone.
When you’re scared, your sympathetic nervous system usually kicks in, which is normal. But, some heart conditions can get worse when you’re scared. Should anyone be having chest pain or ongoing discomfort, they should see a doctor. In the end, it is possible to be so scared that you die.
This article is not meant to be a replacement for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from a trained professional. If you have questions about a medical condition, you should always talk to a qualified health professional.
Medicine and Health
The Lacks family is suing again over her “stolen” cells
The family of Henrietta Lacks has filed a new lawsuit against two sizable drug companies for using her genetic material without her consent.
In the US District Court for the District of Maryland, Lacks’ living relatives are suing Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novartis Gene Therapies, Inc., Viatris, Inc., and its subsidiary, Mylan Pharmaceuticals. They say the companies have used the “stolen” HeLa cell line to make hundreds of patents and have made a lot of money from it.
The suit wants the money made from using these cells to be “rightfully transferred” to Henrietta Lacks’s estate.
Novartis and Viatris chose to sell Henrietta Lacks’ living genetic material. Lacks was a black grandmother, community leader, and woman whose doctors took her tissue without her knowledge or permission, according to Chris Ayers, an attorney at Seeger Weiss LLP who is representing the Lacks family.
Ayers added, “We will keep looking for justice for Mrs. Lacks and her family.”
Henrietta Lacks died on October 4, 1951, from cervical cancer. She was 31 years old. Some of her cells are still alive today. A doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital took a sample of her cervical cells without her knowledge just before she died. They were doing a cancer check. It was seen that her cells kept multiplying quickly, even after most of the cells in other samples would have died without their host.
Because scientists saw the potential, they found that these cells could be a cheap and easy way to help researchers do more research. The “HeLa immortal cell line” is what scientists call these cells, and they are very useful for biomedical research.
Over 75,000 scientific studies around the world have used these cells, which amount to about 55 million tons. They have been very important in making progress in areas like polio vaccines, cancer treatments, HIV/AIDS treatments, and much more.
All of this was done, though, without Lacks’ knowledge or permission. For many years, her family also didn’t know that the cells were being used for business.
Selling HeLa cells for money brings up important issues in medical ethics and genetics. As a black woman living in America in the 1950s, Lacks’ case shows how medical racism still affects minorities who aren’t getting enough help.
Even though a lot of people know about these problems, HeLa cells are still used in medical research for profit, which makes some companies a lot of money.
“Now that everyone knows Henrietta Lacks’ story, it’s shocking, but not surprising, that drug companies like Novartis and Viatris are still making money off of the deeply unethical origins of HeLa cells and the disturbing history of medical racism,” said Chris Seeger, another lawyer for the family.
A historic deal was made by Lacks’ family in 2023 after they sued Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., another biotech company, in the US District Court for the District of Baltimore. During that time, the lawyers said that the settlement was only the beginning and that there could be many more lawsuits about the use of HeLa cells.
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