SSRI and Stimulants: Frying the Brain

[Guest guest]

" the dangers of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

(SSRIÌs), such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, and stimulants like Ritalin and

Provigil. "

 

 

SSRI and Stimulants: Frying the Brain

http://www.dfwcfids.org/medical/ssri.html

 

Written by Carol Sieverling, this information is based on tapes of her

October 2000 visit to Dr. Cheney. He gave permission to share this information,

but

has not reviewed or edited it.

 

Dr. Cheney recently came across some information regarding the dangers of

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIÌs), such as Prozac, Zoloft and

Paxil, and stimulants like Ritalin and Provigil. During office visits, Dr.

Cheney

shows patients the book 

 

Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Other

Antidepressants 

by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.,

a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School. It includes endorsements from other

Ivy League psychiatrists. Cheney calls the implications of this book

" staggering " .

 

When talking with patients, Cheney usually opens the book to a picture of a

monkey's brain before and after it received a very potent SSRI. The " before "

photo shows a dark background filled with fine white lines and white blobs,

healthy neurons. The " after " photo is very dark, only a few white lines and

blobs

remain. Most of the brain cells had been " fried " .

 

SSRIs and stimulants work by increasing the firing of neurons. While this

often has great benefits in the short term, doctors are now realizing that long

term use " fries " brain cells. The body views any neuron that fires excessively

over time as damaged, and destroys it.

 

SSRIs and stimulants, taken over a period of 10 years or so, can lead to a

loss of brain cells, causing neurodegenerative disorders. Many doctors have

recently seen a sudden increase in patients with neurological symptoms, and most

have been on Prozac, or a similar drug, for about 10 years. Cheney is seeing

this in his own practice.

 

During office visits, Cheney also shows patients a copy of the May 22, 2000

issue of Newsweek with Michael J. Fox on the cover. It has an excellent article

on Parkinson's Disease, a condition that involves a loss of neurons in the

area associated with motor control. Parkinson's drugs stimulate the remaining

neurons to " perform heroically " , firing excessively. However, the article notes

that while benefits are seen initially, neurological symptoms get much worse

at the three to five-year point. Patients experience wild involuntary

movements, etc. These drugs, though helpful in the short term, actually speed up

the

degenerative process.

 

What mechanisms are at work causing neurons to be " fried " ?

SSRIs are often prescribed for depression, which involves a lack of

serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger. One neuron

releases a

burst of it into the intersynaptic cleft, (the gap between neurons). The

serotonin is then taken up by special receptors in the adjacent neuron. Thus a

message is sent from one neuron to another, with serotonin carrying the message

across the gap. Excess serotonin is cleared away before a new message is sent.

A " reuptake channel " in one neuron vacuums up the left over serotonin.

 

SSRIs are designed to address a lack of serotonin by blocking the reuptake

channel from vacuuming up excess serotonin. While this allows more serotonin to

connect with the receptors, often too much is left floating in the

intersynaptic cleft. The only way the body can get rid of this excess serotonin

is to

oxidize it. Unfortunately, this turns it into a toxic compound that, over time,

kills both the sending and receiving neurons. Cheney stated, " What starts out

as an attempt to increase serotonin and reduce symptoms ends up with the

destruction of the serotonergic system itself. It takes about a decade, more in

some, less in others.

 

Now when the serotonergic nerves are dead, you start getting these motor

neuron problems, which is what we're seeing. " Cheney commented, " You know what a

lot of doctors (who do not understand CFIDS) are doing? They're saying 'Well,

let's just give them an antidepressant'. And they are frying their (patients')

brains and they don't even know it. In fact, a CFIDS patient on one of these

drugs fries their brain even faster than a non-CFIDS person. " (See the article

on Klonopin for an explanation.)

 

Cheney went on to say, " The other way some people with CFIDS are going is

stimulating the brain, using drugs like Ritalin or Provigil. They do the same

thing - they fry the brain. They cause neurons to fire at lower stimulus by

lowering the firing threshold. All stimulants are dangerous, especially over the

long haul. I'm not saying that you might not find them useful in the short-term.

But over the long term, the physiology demands that neurons that fire

excessively be killed. "

 

Cheney strongly urges anyone taking antidepressants or stimulants to read

Glenmullen's book. It lists safe alternatives to SSRIs.