Medicine for mental illness treatment.

Anti-anxiety, antidepressants, anti-psychotic, and stimulant medications are used in treatment of different mental illnesses.


Depression treatment
Here is the list of medications that's usually recommended to treat depression:

- Selective serotonin & norepinephrine inhibitors (SNRIs), such as Remeron, Cymbalta, Pristiq, and Effexor.

- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, and Paxil.

- Dopaminergic drugs such as Trazadone and Wellbutrin.

- Tricyclic antidepressants, such as Pamelor, Elavil, Imiparmin, and Senequan.

- Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), such as Parnate, Nardil, and Emsam.


You need to take medication for a month or so, only then treatment can show it's results. Your doctor will help you to find which drug is best for you. Sometimes a combination of several medications can give better results. Anti-anxiety medicine also can be helpful in depression treatment.



During treatment period side effects of some drugs can be present. Usually these effects decrease after some time, when your body is used to that type of medication.

When your treatment period is almost over don't stop taking your antidepressant medication in one day, because that can make depression symptoms to come back. You should keep taking your antidepressants, but in reduced doses.

Anxiety disorders treatment

Medications for anxiety disorders treatment include the benzodiazepines, like Xanax, Ativan, and Valium. But you should not take them for a long period of time, because they may cause addiction. They also have several side effects, such as poor concentration and drowsiness.

The other type of medication is antidepressants. They also may help in case of anxiety disorders, especially Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs).

Psychotic disorders treatment

In case of psychotic disorders a special type of drugs is used, which called antipsychotics. Talk to your doctor which type of medications is best for you, because they have different side effects. Your doctor will help to find the type of drugs that have minimal side effects for your body. In some cases changing of dosage may decrease side effects. Usually they decrease after several days of treatment. Most common side effects are: rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, decreased sexual interest, higher sensitivity of skin to the sun, restlessness and pacing, muscle spasms, increased weight, menstrual periods problems.

But, there are also serious side effects of antipsychotic drugs. They can be present particularly when antipsychotic medications are used for long period. Here is the list of antipsychotic drugs serious side effects:

- Agranulocytosis: decreased quantity of white cells in blood. White cells are responsible for fighting with infection in body and in case of agranulocytosis the person becomes vulnerable to infection. This side effect meets only when Clozaril is taken. So when this medication is used for treatment often blood tests are recommended.

- Tardive dyskinesia: a person with this symptom has uncontrolled movements of some parts of the body. Sometimes it gets difficult to control the face muscles and tongue.

- Neuroleptic malignant syndrome: this disorder is very dangerous and can be fatal. Symptoms include high blood pressure, sweating, fever, strong muscle rigidity.

Changing of dosage or medication can help if you have serious side effects. Also, there are medicines that treat some side effects. The new types of anti-psychotic drugs have less side effects.

ADHD treatment

There is a group of medications that used for treatment of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). These drugs called stimulants and include Dexedrine, Ritalin, and Adderal.

Medications that used for mental illnesses help to treat symptoms, but they don't treat illness itself. When symptoms are reduced a person with mental illness can return to normal conditions.

Anxiety disorders.

Sometimes we feel nervous or anxious when we have to make important decision or solve some problems. There's nothing wrong when we have those feelings. But anxiety disorders are totally different. They can be a reason of such distress that a person will not be able to have a normal life.

There are different types of anxiety disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and phobias.

People with this illness are in constant fear and worry. An anxiety disorder is considered as a serious mental illness.


Here is the list of anxiety disorder types:

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
People with this illness inclined to perform certain actions or rituals as a result of constant fears or thoughts. These thoughts are called obsessions and the rituals - compulsions. For instance, some people try to wash their hands all the time because of fear of germs, without any reason.

Panic disorder
A person with panic disorder have feelings of terror that strike suddenly without warning. Some symptoms like chest pain, sweating and fear of choking, that cause feeling of heart attack.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is a result of traumatic incident, for instance physical or sexual assault, or a natural disaster. A person can remember tragic details of such event for long time and may become emotionally numb.

Social anxiety disorder
This disorder, also called social phobia, includes exaggerated worries about regular social life. A person have fears that he/she can do something wrong, so the others may laugh at him/her.

Specific phobias
Includes fear of some situations or objects, for instance fear of heights or flying or fear of spiders.


The causes of anxiety disorders.

Although scientists continue their studies of anxiety disorders, they still can't say what causes these mentall illnesses. What is known is that anxiety disorders don't depend on person's character or weakness, but rather on combination of different factors, such as changes in the brain and environmental stress.

One of the reasons can be some changes in chemical balance of the body. If a person is under stress for the long period of time then the chemical balance of the brain can change. People with certain anxiety disorders can have changes in brain areas that responsible for mood or memory. Also, studies show that these mental illnesses may be inherited from parents and some serious traumas can activate anxiety disorders.

How to diagnose anxiety disorders.

Symptoms of anxiety disorders can not be diagnosed using special tests in laboratory. The doctor can try to find physical illness that might cause anxiety disorder. He will evaluate your overall medical condition. If physical illness is not present, you'll be examined by psychologist or psychiatrist, specialists that can diagnose mental illness. They will talk to you and then use some tests to define the presence of anxiety disorder.


Anxiety disorders treatment.

Modern medicine has many effective ways to treat anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses. Here is the list of some therapies that help in case of anxiety disorders:

Psychotherapy
Mental health specialists talk to patients and try to understand the causes of the illness and find strategies that include emotional reaction to anxiety disorder.

Medication
Anxiety-reducing drugs and anti-depressants are used to ease or reduce the symptoms of anxiety disorders.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy
People that have mental illnesses have certain way of thinking that may develop and increase symptoms of anxiety disorders. This therapy helps patient to find thought patterns that will not allow these symptoms to develop.

Changes in lifestyle and diet.

Flu antiviral medicines.

If you want to shorten the duration of flu or prevent flu then you may use antiviral medicine. You can find here some recommendations.

Antiviral medicine prevent flu viruses to reproduce. These drugs can help to treat flu symptoms or prevent flu. When you feel flu symptoms take the medicine as soon as possible, so the illness duration will be 1-2 days less.

If the members of your family or people you are in contact have flu symptoms then you may take antiviral drugs to prevent flu. Especially if you have chronic illness. But the most effective prevention is flu shot.

Antiviral drugs for prevention and treatment of flu.
Effective antiviral drugs are Tamiflu and Relenza. Relenza is inhalation medicine and helps to treat and prevent flu in people 5 years and older. Tamiflu is a pill, it has the same effect and used for people of 1 year and older. These antiviral drugs work best if taken right after your flu symptoms start.
Their side effects: if you have lung disease, like asthma, then you shouldn't take Relenza; side effects of Tamiflu are diarrhea and vomiting.

Remember that antiviral medicines are most effective within the first 48 hours when you get flu symptoms. You have to contact your doctor immediately.

Here are some recommendations that may help to ease flu symptoms: drink a lot of water, try to stay in bed or have a lot of rest, children shouldn't take aspirin, since it may cause Reye's syndrome, take acetaminophen to ease fever, children may take Tylenol or ibuprofen.

Flu treatment.

Taking flu medicine will not cure the desease, but it can relieve or shorten the time of some flu symptoms, such as congestion, fever, aches.

If you have itchy eyes, postnasal drip or runny nose - antihistamine can help to relieve these symptoms. Antihistamines treat such symptoms as nasal discharge, congestion and sneezing.

If you have sinus or nasal congestion then you need decongestant. It comes in form of tablets, pills or syrups. Decongestants help to open the mucous membranes in your nose and make them drain. They should not be used for more than 3-4 days.
Decongestant nasal spray, like phenylephrine (Neo-Synephrine) or oxymetazoline (Afrin) help if you need immediate effect for congested nasal passages.

Some decongestants may keep you awake and antihistamines can make feel drowsy. Before you take other medicine with decongestants or antihistamines you need to talk to your doctor, because flu medicine can interact other drugs.

What if you have high blood pressure?
Some decongestants may increase heart rate and blood pressure, so there's higher risk of stroke or heart attack. If your blood pressure is regulated with medicines, then decongestants usually don't cause troubles. But it depends on type of blood pressure drugs. You should check with your doctor in that case.

What medicine you should take for your cough?
You can find a lot of different cough medicines in drug store. They come in combinations with antihistamines, decongestants, cough suppressants and analgesics/antipyretics. Since occasional cough helps to clear respiratory tract of pollutants, persistent cough need to be treated with medicines. Talk to yuor pharmacist what drugs can help.

What medicine you should take if you have fever?
Actually, fever is not a bad thing. It means that your immune system fights infection and it's better to let your body to do it's job. But if you don't feel very good then you may take medications. If you are under 20 - don't take aspirin. Medicines like ibuprofen (Advil) or acetaminophen (like Tylenol) will help.

What to do in case of sore throat?
All you need is a cup of warm salted water - use it to gargle. Also, drink a lot of water. Medications, like Tylenol, may help to ease pain in sore throat.

Remember that antibiotics don't treat flu symptoms, because the reason of flu is a virus and antibiotics help only in case of bacterial infection. Antibiotics can be taken if you have bacterial infection as a result of the flu virus.

Here is the list of over-the-counter drugs that may help to treat flu symptoms:

Decongestants
Sudafed - recommended in case of pressure in nose, head and congestion. Side effects: nervousness, wakefulness, lightheadedness, increased heart rate and blood pressure.

Antihistamines
Tavist, claritin, dimetane, zyrtec, allegra, benadryl, chlor-trimeton - treat runny nose and eyes, itchy throat, sneezing. Side effects: impaired coordination, dry mouth, upset stomach, drowsiness, oss of appetite, urinary retention.

Antihistamine/decongestant
Claritin D, drixoral, Tavist D, dimetapp, actifed, Allegra D, Chlor-Trimeton D - for symptoms like sneezing, congestion itchy, runny nose and eyes.

Decongestant nose spray
Neo-Synephrine, sinex, afrin, dristan nasal spray - in case of nasal stuffiness. Don't use for more that 3 days.

Saline nose sprays
Ayr Saline Ocean - if you have nasal stuffiness. It has no side effects.

Swine flu.

Before we talk about swine flu, please read my previous post Flu overview. Swine flu is a respiratory illness and has similar symptoms with seasonal influenza. Usually it occurs in swines or pigs. Swine flu spreads the same way as human flu does. You can't be infected with swine flu if you eat pork, since it's spread through the air or body contact. In 2009 swine flu developed a new strain that has spread all over the world. This strain is called H1N1 2009. Although swine flu has similar simptoms, some people can have serious complications as respiratory failure or pneumonia. Diarrhea or vomiting are some of the symptoms of swine flu.

The flu vaccine can't prevent swine flu. You can use Tamiflu (oseltamivir) or Relenza (zanamivir) to prevent swine flu and treat desease. Don't forget to wash your hands more often, don't visit public places and avoid touching your nose and mouth.

Flu overview.

The more you know about flu, the more effective measures you can take to prevent the disease and avoid flu or swine flu complications.

Flu, shortened from influenza, is highly contagious respiratory disease caused by influenza A or B viruses. Flu spreads through the respiratory tract.
The common cold and flu simptoms are basically the same, but flu is much worse. Sneezing, coughing, headache, sore throat, congestion - these are symptoms of both cold and flu. But when you caught flu you can have high fever and feel tired and exhausted. As a result of flu the illness can develop to pneumonia - very dangerous disease, whereas after common cold you don't have serious complications.

You may think that it's a good idea to take antibiotics. But the answer is no. Antibiotics help in case of bacterial infections and both cold and flu have viral origin. Antibiotics are helpful in treating bacterial infections as a result of cold or flu.
There are no specific medicine to treat cold, but some antiviral medications can defeat flu.

The flu virus is spread between people in close contact through inhaling the air with flu virus or through contact of surfaces with respiratory secretions. If you make hand contact with infected person the flu virus is spread when you touch your nose, mouth or eyes. Remember, the more often you wash your hands, the less is risk to catch flu.
Modern medicine is quite effective in flu prevention, but still more than 30 thousand people die in the United States every year because of flu.

To prevent some strains of flu, nasal spray (like FluMist) or a flu shot can be used. Nasal vaccine FluMist contains weak flu virus and may cause light flu simptoms. The flu shot contains inactivated virus and cannot cause the flu. After taking one of these vaccines your immune system starts to develop antibodies that protect you from the influenza virus.

There are three types of flu viruse - A, B and C. Each type can mutate or develop new strains, that's why your immune system has to produce new antibodies for each flu strain. Type A mutates more often and causes epidemics once in 1-2 years. Type B causes epidemics every 3-5 years. Type C usually has no influenza symptoms.

Antihistamines and decongestants for common cold treatment.

Decongestants and antihistamines medicines can be sold over-the-counter in combination with other cold relief medicines or separately. They treat such cold symptoms as sneezing, congestion and runny nose.

Here is the list of over-the-counter decongestant and antihistamines that help treat cold symptoms.

Decongestants.
Sudafed - helps to treat pressure in nose, ears and head and relief congestion. Side effects - increased blood pressure and heart rate, restlessness, nervousness, wakefulness.

Antihistamines.
Benadryl, chlor-trimeton, dimetane, tavist - help to relief sneezing, itchy throat, runny nose. Side effects - coordination problems, dry mouth, drowsiness, upset stomach, loss of appetite.

Antihistamine/decongestant.
Advil Cold and Sinus, Chlor-Trimeton D, Comtrex, Dimetapp, Drixoral, Tavist D, Tylenol - sneezing, congestion, headache, itchy, runny nose. Side effects - antihistamine and decongestant side effects.

Antihistamine eye drops.
Visine-A - eye redness, itchy, watery eyes. Side effects - blurred vision, eye redness when overdosed.

Cold treatment.

Taking cold medicines you can ease cold symptoms, although there's no one universal medicine for common cold. You may use decongestants and antihistamines to relief cold symptoms. They are produced in different forms.

Decongestants relief swelling in your nose and help to increase airflow through nasal passages. When your immune system attacks cold viruses your nose starts to produce mucus. You feel pressure in the nose and head. It leads to congestion in your nose and it becomes hard to breath. Decongestants help to reduce these symptoms and ease breathing. It's produced in forms of spray or pills. Don't use sprays for more than 3 days.

Another type of cold medicine are antihistamines. When you have a cold virus, certain cells in your sinuses and nasal passage produce chemical - histamine. Your nose starts to itch and swell. Antihistamine medicine prevents histamine from interacting with tissue in your nose and relief cold symptoms. Effective antihistamines are chlorpheniramine and brompheniramine. But they have one negative side effect - they make you want to sleep. So it's better to take them for the night. Allegra and claritin are relatively new types of antihistamines.

Make sure you use recently manufactured types of decongestants, since its older versions contain PPA (phenylpropanolamine) that may increase risk of stroke.

Common cold symptoms.

If you are constantly sneezing an coughing can you tell is it symptoms of a common cold or flu? Or may be it's allergy symptoms?

If you know the difference between common cold and flu symptoms you can take proper actions and have better results in fighting the illness. So what's the common cold symptoms?

More often common cold starts with a sore throat and your nose drips with watery nasal secretions. You feel tired and start sneezing and coughing. In a few days nasal secretions become thicker and darker. You can have mild cough for a week or two without any changes. If you have lung problems, a cold can increase their influence. If you have dark mucus when you cough it can be results of bacterial infection and you need to consult with your doctor. And if you have fever symptoms then you probably have the flu, not a cold.

Common cold symptoms may last for two days to a week. If it lasts for more than two weeks you should see your doctor to check if you have an allergy.
Allergies are the results of overactive immune system activity. Your body overreacts to some substances , e.g. pollen. It produces chemicals such as histamine. As a result you start sneezing, coughing and have a runny nose.

Now, what if you have the flu, not a cold? Simply, take your temperature. When you have a cold your temperature usually won't be above 101 degrees F. Remember, that some of common cold symptoms are similar to flu symptoms. Flu caused by different influenza viruses. It's an acute respiratory infection. To prevent spreading viruses you have to wash your hands more often. As a result of flu you can have headache, muscle aches and fever.

Cold overview.

Today we'll talk about common cold. The common cold caused by a large number of viruses. As a result we feel different symptoms in the upper respiratory tract. The main virus is usually the rhinovirus. It is the reason of about one third of colds. The other major virus is coronaviruses. These two viruses cause half of all colds. The virus enters your body through your mouth or nose. When someone touches common objects the rhinovirus is easily spread.

So what causes a common cold? There are some factors that make you more vulnerable to cold virus. It's not enough to just get wet to catch cold. Probability to catch a common cold is higher when you are under emotional stress, very exhausted or have some type of allergie.

Now, that's how common cold starts. The virus is passed from infected person to you. It happens when you breathe in the air after someone has sneezed or you touch the same surface and then touch your nose. Your body starts to send white blood cells to fight cold germs. If your immune system has never met this type of virus it starts another attack. It requires a lot of energy, you feel very tired and your nose produces a lot of moisture.

In the United States, cold happens more often during the winter and fall, especially in the northern areas.