Posted by Elizabeth on August 13, 2001, at 8:31:38
In reply to Are Tricylic side effects really worse than SSRI's, posted by Jackster on August 12, 2001, at 5:59:05
> I've only ever taken SSRI's with the usual side effects - the weight gain, sexual disfunction etc. When I read about the side effects of tricyclics - they sound pretty much the same - yet everyone goes on about how much safer the SSRI's are. Are tricyclics really that much worse than SSRI's?
There are many different tricyclics (10 that are clinically available in the U.S.), so it's hard to generalise about them. In general they tend to cause constipation and dry mouth (desipramine and nortriptyline are probably the least offensive in this regard). Most of them are sedating (imipramine, clomipramine, amitriptyline, doxepin, etc.), but a couple are usually not too sedating (desipramine, nortriptyline). Some cause sexual dysfunction, others do not. Some (clomipramine, maprotiline) have an increased risk of causing seizures. All of them have some risk of cardiac side effects; protriptyline may be worse than the others in this sense.
SSRIs are *safer* in the sense that the odds of killing yourself by taking an overdose of SSRIs are practically zero. SSRIs lack the cardiotoxicity of TCAs.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:74742
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010809/msgs/74880.html