By: Kennedy Shelley
The Journal of the American Medical Association has called out 200 prescription and over-the-counter medications that can cause you to be depressed.
You expect pain killers to be on the list, but some of these are surprising.
It’s probably even worse than just this list of drugs, because very few drugs are tested to see how they interact with one another.
Nearly 15% of Americans are taking five or more prescription medications every day. That is a large number of drug interactions, and that doesn’t include supplements and the many people who don’t check to see if their diet may affect the effectiveness of the medications.
The doctors at JAMA noted that the number of people with depression has skyrocketed from 2009 with 5%, to 24% just a few years later.
It has many doctors wondering, just how many of our so-called cures are creating worse disease?
Here is the list of over 200 drugs related to suicide and depression according to JAMA:
Prescription Ibuprofen is right up there with Fentanyl as far as depressive symptoms.
In other words, we need to seriously rethink our desire to get some sort of immediate relief of some symptoms and talk to our doctor about the dangers of some of these drugs.
And we can’t forget, most of these drugs do not cure anything. Ibuprofen does not cure arthritis; it reduces inflammation temporarily and gives some relief from a symptom but does not cure the underlying condition.
Another example is treating Hepatitis C with interferon. You have a 45 to 60% chance of developing mild to moderate depression if you take this drug. The chances are up to 40% that you might get major depression.
Statistically you have a greater chance of developing depression from the drug than the drug actually curing your Hepatitis.
That does not mean that we are stuck with Hepatitis C, there are many antiviral cures out there, but unless you take the time to study the potential risks and side effects, you might get worse results than the disease itself.
I have experienced this myself. I didn’t know that the beta blockers in the eye drops my doctor gave me were going to mess with my mind.
I went to my annual eye appointment and had an elevation in the pressure in my eye. The doctor immediately feared glaucoma and prescribed the eye drops with beta blockers. After using them for a month, I found myself in a state of constant confusion. It took weeks after discontinuing its use before I felt normal again.
It turned out that my eye pressure was normal on the next visit and has remained that way ever since. I did not know I was that sensitive to beta blockers before I got that drug. Thankfully I saved the package insert and saw that it was a potential side effect before I went to see another doctor about my mental confusion and would have gotten more drugs.
Even drugs you would not suspect of causing any changes in the brain can lead to a greater likelihood of depression.
The Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) which are heartburn medications such as Nexium or Prilosec, were associated with double the rate of depression than those who did not take it.
Because this drug reduces the acid levels of the stomach, it is theorized in other studies that it blocks absorption of key minerals and deeply affects the gut microbiome which then affects how food is used by the body.
In summary, there is no free lunch. When we want to eliminate a symptom without looking at finding a long-term cure, we are opening ourselves up for other problems, some of which are worse than what we think we are curing.
Too often we think of our doctors as pill dispensers that will cure our problems, but ask:
- Is this drug a cure, or just a treatment of a symptom?
- What are the side effects and are they worse than the symptom?
- Is this drug on the list of medications linked to depression and is that worth the risk?
We at Freedom Health News are not suggesting you quit taking your medications, but instead suggest you have more real conversations with your doctor.
