Hoodia is a cactus-type plant from Africa that has many uses, however the native populations of South Africa have used it for indigestion or infection. The plant Hoodia gordonii has been recognized as an appetite suppressant since the late 1970’s in Africa, but in the US there have been no definitive studies establishing it as […]
Electric Shocks When Stopping Medication
Medication discontinuation syndrome can happen when a person stops their medication abruptly. In general, medication should be tapered off slowly with medical supervision. But since we don’t know precisely how slow is slow enough for each individual, sometimes tapering off the medication can still result in some withdrawal symptoms. Usual withdrawal symptoms are things like […]
Depression Versus Unhappiness – Are We Over-Prescribing?
I saw a segment on The Today Show this morning about the millions of antidepressants prescribed. Questions arose as to whether or not this is an indication of Americans wanting a quick fix or are doctors over-prescribing the medications. This opens a pandora’s box of issues ranging from who should treat depression to the state […]
Are Generic Medicines Just as Good?
I’ve always been a firm believer that brand didn’t matter much and you should save your money by passing up the $6 Advil for the $2 Ibuprofen. When I was in medical school and residency, we learned generic names for drugs so as not to give too much credit to the drug manufacturer and recognize […]
How Long Until Antidepressants Work?
We in psychiatry have always said it took 3-4 weeks for an antidepressant to show a clinical effect. Those who showed improvement in the first 2 weeks were thought to be having a placebo effect. In the past 2 years, there have studies that have shown that patients can have a “real” response to antidpressants […]
Depression Treatment | How Long Do I Take Medication?
Of course, the short answer to this is it depends on your needs and your individual situation. But in general, according to epidemiological studies, once a person has one episode of depression, they have a 50-60% chance of having a second episode at some point in their life.. That second episode may be months to […]