Antidepressant Medications - Celexa®, Prozac®, Paxil®, Zoloft®, Wellbutrin®

Chronic pain is known to cause depression, and depression makes it more difficult to deal with pain. Therefore, it is often important for pain and depression to be treated simultaneously for the treatment to be successful.

The first generation antidepressant medications (e.g. tricyclics, monoamine oxidase inhibitors) had significant side effects and are no longer used to treat depression. However, the tricyclics (Amytriptiline, Nortriptiline, and Imipramine) are prescribed in lower doses as sedatives to help patients with difficulty sleeping. They are not addictive and do not change a patient’s sleep cycles, and therefore may be taken on a long-term basis. Initially, most patients feel groggy the morning after taking a tricyclic, but this "hangover" effect typically goes away quickly. Tricyclic medications also seem to diminish pain if taken on a regular basis, although the mechanism for this pain relieving effect is not known.

A new class of drugs is now used to treat depression: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s). Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that affects mood. Examples of SSRI’s include Celexa, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and Wellbutrin. The active ingredient in Welbutrin is also sold under the brand name 'Zyban'. Zyban is prescribed to people who want to quit smoking.

These medications have relatively few side effects. However, it is important to note that they have a potentially fatal drug interaction with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (e.g. Nardil, Parnate, Marplan) and should not be taken together.

Many foreign pharmacies are selling antidepressant medications without prescriptions on the internet at low foreign prices. Antidepressants can also be legally obtained by consulting a U.S. licensed physician over the phone.