AntidepressantsFacts: Long-Term Side Effects Surface With SSRIs

All Truth passes through Three Stages: First,
it is Ridiculed. Second, it is Violently Opposed... Third, it is Accepted as being Self-Evident.
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1778-1860)

By Charly Groenendijk Back to Side-Effects
The Netherlands
2000 - 2009

Long-Term Side Effects Surface With SSRIs

"Who does Not Know the Truth, is simply a Fool...
Yet who Knows the Truth and Calls it a Lie, is a Criminal."
- In "Galileo Galilei" by Berthold Brecht (1898-1956)

Take notice that also non SSRI antidepressants (and even Ritalin) may interact (primary or secondary) with the serotonergic (or serotoninergic) system in the brain. Every medication -especially SSRI antidepressants- boosting serotonin activity in the brain, has potential to induce the very dangerous and potentially fatal hyperserotonergic state of the Serotonin Syndrome.

SSRI Antidepressants general side-effects, neurological damage
Selective Serotonin / Nor-Epinehrine Re-Uptake Inhibitors

Go to Introduction Antidepressants Negative personality, perception & physical changes
Go to Antidepressant Casualties in the Media Aggression, Homicide, Suicide & Self-Harm
Go to Recent Media Articles (SSRI) Antidepressants Pharmaceutical & FDA Fraud in 2004

Insomnia, weight gain, sexual dysfunction emerge as problems affecting compliance
Physicians are seeing long-term side effects with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors far in excess of what was expected from clinical trial data. Experience has shown that some side effects are more common and problematic than initially expected, said Dr. Norman Sussman, director of the psychopharmacology research and consultation service at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. Adverse effects that persist as long as the patient takes the medication are sexual dysfunction and sleep disturbances. Also particularly troubling are those, like weight gain, that don't even develop until late in treatment. "These are the ones that are not in the insert, which is based on short-term studies," Dr. Sussman said. Significant insomnia affects 15%-20% of patients taking SSRIs, twice the rate with placebo. Polysomnography has consistently found that these drugs cause activation during the night resulting in vivid dreams and nightmares. With ongoing treatment, increasing numbers of patients report lethargy and fatigue, he said. Sexual dysfunctions from SSRI side effects such as decreased libido and delayed or absent orgasm are the best known. Perhaps the most unexpected SSRI-related problem to emerge has been weight gain, which often begins only after several months of therapy. This side effect has been reported to occur in 18%-50% of patients in some open-label studies. These observations do contrast with what the clinical trials submitted to the Food and Drug Administration by pharmaceutical companies show, Dr. Sussman said. It would be nice if these long-term side effects were studied in clinical trials comparing different antidepressants.
Clinical Psychiatry News 26(5):1, 1998. © 1998 International Medical News Group.

Tardive Dyskinesia/Dystonia, Parkinsonism & Akathisia
SSRI antidepressants induced side-effects (Iatrogenic Extrapyramidal Symptoms) are
recognized to be similar to Neuroleptic (anti-psychotic) induced side-effects. These side-effects are known as Tardive Dyskinesia/Dystonia (severe body movement disorder, mostly permanent), Parkinsonism (a sign of future Parkinson's disease) and Akathisia (a Neurological driven severe mania/agitation that can lead to suicidality, suicide attempts, self-harm & suicide). It is well documented in the medical literature that these neuroleptic induced side-effects refer to damage at dopaminergic neurons in the "motor system" of the
"Basal Ganglia", a structure deep in the "Limbic System" of the brain. 1, 2, 3, 4, http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic338.htm (scroll down)

Serotonin Syndrome
The Serotonin Syndrome is a potentially lethal condition caused by excessive serotonergic activity. It is a very dangerous and a potentially fatal side effect of the serotonergic enhancing drugs such as SSRI antidepressants and is diagnosed by the presence of at least 3 of 10 symptoms: mental status changes (confusion, hypomania), agitation, myoclonus, hyperreflexia, diaphoresis, shivering, tremor, diarrhea, incoordination, and fever. This "hyperserotonergic" toxic condition requires heightened clinical awareness in order to prevent, recognize, and treat the condition promptly. Promptness is vital because, as we just mentioned, the serotonin syndrome can be fatal and death from this side effect can come very rapidly. The Serotonin syndrome is brought on by excessive levels of serotonin and is difficult to distinguish from the "Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome" because the symptoms are so similar. The "Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome" is a serious condition brought on by the use of neuroleptic drugs (anti-psychotics).
Source: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? by Dr Ann Blake Tracy http://members.aol.com/atracyphd/syndrome.htm
Source: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

Antidepressant induced neurological and/or physical toxicity (body and/or brain damage) either as a result of prolonged inhibition of P450-2D6 liver-enzymes, or as a result of impairing serotonin metabolism, can take on many forms as described below. A few examples are: Hyperserotonemia, such as the lifethreatening condition the Serotonin Syndrome, Epileptiform Discharges, Epileptic Seizures and/or Epilepsy, Hypoglycaemia/Hyperglycemia (Low/Elevated Blood Sugar Imbalance), Stroke/Hemorrhagic Syndromes, Frontal Lobe Syndrome, Tardive Dyskinesia/Dystonia, Parkinsonism, Akathisia, Mania, etc...