Depression
Show 1315: Are We Medicating Normal Emotions?
This week on our nationally syndicated radio show, we examine the consequences of prescriptions for anxiety or grief. All of us, at some point in our lives, will experience some of these emotions. If …
Stopping Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Suddenly Flipped …
Antidepressants like desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), duloxetine (Cymbalta), sertraline (Zoloft) and venlafaxine (Effexor) have become extremely popular. Millions take such drugs regularly. We have even seen…
Show 1271: New Approaches to Managing Depression…
For many months now, people have been dealing with the pandemic, Which has brought both grief for the lives lost and anxiety about the threat of infection. At the same time, fires and floods have made…
Will High Drug Prices Soon Destroy Healthcare?
Have you ever heard of a house of cards? It is a structure that will eventually collapse when it can no longer sustain itself. We fear that high drug prices could soon cause the collapse of our entire…
Surprising Ketamine Side Effects and Anti-Suicid…
There is tremendous confusion and controversy surrounding a very old drug called ketamine (Ketalar). The FDA first approved Ketalar in 1970 as an injectable anesthetic. It has advantages over existing…
Can You Fight Depression by Eating the Mediterra…
Depression is challenging to treat during the best of times. During the pandemic it has been especially difficult, because therapists have been overwhelmed with cases. Zoom therapy is not always an id…
Generic Sertraline (Zoloft) Problems Lead To Anx…
The FDA insists that all generic drugs sold in the U.S. are "identical" to their brand name counterparts. Visitors to this website disagree. Over the last several years we have heard from many visitor…
Generic Prozac Didn’t Do the Job | Fluoxet…
Prozac (fluoxetine) was the first of the new generation antidepressants. It got the green light from the FDA in 1987 and was first marketed in 1998. It remains one of the most prescribed antidepressan…
Prozac Poop Out and Other Drug Drop Offs
Why do drugs stop working? That is a question that has plagued doctors for decades. When antidepressant medications like fluoxetine no longer control depression, we call it Prozac Poop Out. If a once …
SAD Solved With Light and Bupropion
Are you suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD)? Many people feel down when the weather gets bad, the days become short and they can no longer get as much sunshine on their face. Now add the …
Problems with Generic Wellbutrin (Bupropion)? No…
Fifteen years ago we received a message from J. in Danville, New York about her antidepressant--generic Wellbutrin (bupropion). She said: "I have been taking Budeprion XL 300 mg for three months inste…
Show 1287: Managing Stress and Anxiety During CO…
The COVID-19 pandemic has been dragging on for longer than most people imagined possible. With each new variant, cases surge and people need to make complex risk calculations about school, work and so…
Can You Deal with Depression and Manage Anxiety?
For more than two years now, all of us have had to deal with major disruptions in our lives. Coronavirus changed the way we live almost overnight. What's more, every time we've thought it might be com…
How To Stop Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Without Withdr…
Based on what we hear from readers of our syndicated newspaper column and visitors to this website, most patients are not warned about how to stop duloxetine (Cymbalta). Perhaps the prescriber assumes…
Diet with Mushrooms May Protect You from Depress…
Mushroom lovers, rejoice! A diet with mushrooms appears to offer you a lower risk of developing depression and other mental illness. Advantages of a Diet with Mushrooms: Penn State scientists evaluate…
Are You Suffering Senility or Vitamin B12 Defici…
Whether they admit it or not, a lot of middle-aged and older people worry about senility. By this, they mean cognitive difficulties or even dementia, perhaps coupled with physical frailty. However, ge…
Eating Fruits and Veggies Boosts Children’…
A study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health analyzed the impact of nutritional factors on mental wellbeing in kids (BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, Sept. 27, 2021). The researc…
Do Lonely Older People Take More and Riskier Dru…
Doctors write a lot of prescriptions for anti-anxiety agents, pain medicine, sleeping pills and antidepressants. The last time we checked, 22 million Americans were filling more than 100 million presc…
Show 1260: The Pros and Cons of Online Therapy D…
Last year, just when more people than ever needed the help of a therapist, stay-at-home restrictions made it difficult or impossible to get face-to-face counseling. Moreover, most therapists were comp…
High Cost of Spravato (Esketamine) For Depressio…
The first really new antidepressant in decades won FDA approval for treatment-resistant depression in March, 2019. Esketamine nasal spray is sold under the brand name Spravato. Physicians and patients…
Show 1248: How to Keep Moving and Feel Better Du…
COVID-19 restrictions have interfered with the way many of us exercise. Yet the benefits of moving, for both our physical and mental health, are more important than ever. How can we keep moving to fee…
Lithium Damages Kidneys While Helping Bipolar Di…
I worked in the Neuropharmacology Laboratory at the New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute between 1967 and 1969. The head of our lab was Carl Pfeiffer, MD, PhD. He was considered the father of orthomo…
Bad Mix? Diphenhydramine – Benadryl and SSRI A…
There are two kinds of drugs that are taken by tens of millions of people. One is an antihistamine called diphenhydramine (Benadryl). It is highly sedating, which is why many people don’t like to ta…
Show 1238: How Is COVID-19 Affecting Mental Heal…
These are stressful times. Many people are grieving the death of a loved one, while others are struggling with working or studying from home. Being separated from loved ones can be emotionally drainin…
Show 1237: Improving Your Mood With Food
Working from home during the pandemic has wrought havoc with a lot of healthy eating habits. It’s harder to shop safely, and minimizing time in the grocery store may mean people have stocked up on s…
How Your Home Address Affects Your Health
Where people live can have a profound impact on their risk of developing certain chronic health conditions. Scientists have been able to map the differences in health conditions across the United Stat…
COVID-19 Is Making People Anxious and Depressed
Not surprisingly, the pandemic that has many people trapped in their homes and others putting their lives on the line as they do essential work has affected mental health as well as physical health. C…
Show 1204: How Brain Function Affects Mental Ill…
Mental health problems cause widespread disability in today’s world. Large numbers of people suffer with depression or severe anxiety. While these ailments are real, we may not be considering their …
Wellbutrin XL Antidepressant Is Affordable in Ca…
Several years ago we shook up the Food and Drug Administration when we complained about a generic form of the Wellbutrin XL antidepressant. We had received hundreds of complaints about a branded gener…
Do Psychological Benefits from Psilocybin Last?
Several years ago, scientists at New York University Langone Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University reported on an extraordinary pilot study. Both research groups reported that cancer patients co…
Is Your Doctor Stressed? Depressed Doctors Are D…
Most patients have no way of assessing the mental state of their physician, but it could have a significant impact on safety. A systematic review published in JAMA Network Open (Nov. 27, 2019) analyze…
Losartan and Suicide: Is This a Real Side Effect…
Depression can occur for many reasons. Losing a job can create anxiety and sometimes depression. Divorce or the death of a loved one can also send you into a tailspin. A surprisingly large number of m…
Show 1188: The Healing Potential of Psychedelic …
Many indigenous peoples around the world have developed traditional uses for psychedelic compounds. In Western medicine, these were mostly unknown until Albert Hoffmann synthesized LSD (lysergic acid …
Is Therapy Better Than Drugs for Depression?
Americans are depressed. According to our calculations, roughly 40 million people are taking antidepressant medications. The CDC concludes that’s 12.7% of people over 12 years of age (NCHS Data Brie…
What Other Drugs Boost Antidepressants’ Ef…
For years, psychiatrists have been wondering how to improve antidepressants' effectiveness. People with depression are usually treated with medications such as desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), escitalopram (…
Stop-Smoking Drug Chantix Triggers Violence
Most Americans find it hard to believe that a medication could change someone's personality. The idea that a person could actually harm another human as a result of a drug side effect seems prepostero…
Show 1182: How You Can Use Exercise as Medicine
Does medicine mean “drugs and surgery” to you? That is certainly how a lot of people see it. However, physical activity–exercise–has powerful abilities to help us heal. How can we use exercise…
Show 1180: How to Eat to Nourish Your Brain
You know your body needs food to fuel it. You’ve probably thought about whether you should be eating more fat or less, how much protein you might need and if you are getting enough vegetables and fr…
Is Depression Linked to Metformin for Diabetes?
Doctors and patients both may have a hard time determining when a new health concern is actually a side effect. That's especially difficult when you don't find the problem on any official list of drug…
Can You Overcome Trouble with Generic Antidepres…
Have you ever had trouble with generic antidepressants? We have heard from many readers who report difficulties in switching from brand-name to generic or between different generic medications. I…