Posted by zeugma on November 5, 2005, at 6:45:44
In reply to Re: HEY check it out, posted by SLS on November 2, 2005, at 8:09:57
hi Scott.
Unfortunately, infections can also precipitate major depressive episodes.
They trigger all sorts of bad things for me too. I would experience severe depersonalization during episodes of fever as an adolescent. Flu makes me even more tired and my mood plummets.
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> Many speculate that a chronic inflammatory process is involved with depression as it might also be with heart disease.
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And fibromyalgia. narcolepsy is also conjectured to be triggered by an autoimmune process. OCD has been shown to occur in children after strep infections.> Linkadge's idea seems quite likely, though; that the suppression of REM sleep might have produced the antidepressant effect. That there was a REM rebound certainly supports this idea.
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> This is a very interesting phenomenon. Maybe one of the cytokines acts as an antidepressant for some people, but not for others. I wonder if their choice of endotoxin contributed to the effect.
Some of the TCA's act on the cytokines, particularly amitriptyline and nortriptyline. I don't know if SSRI's act as strongly on the cytokine system. I do know that some neuroleptics act in the similar way to AMI and NOR. It is pure conjecture to attribute an AD effect to these actions. But it has been known that TCA's are useful in controlling rheumatoid arthritis, and the cytokine effect plausibly explains this.>
> Personally, I have never noticed an improvement in depression as the result of having an infection, but then again, I don't think I've ever had a true flu.
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Flu makes me depressed. I was much more prone to infection before starting nortriptyline. Depression itself can have negative effects on the immune system, of course.-z
> Linkadge - you are a walking database of knowledge.
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> - Scott
poster:zeugma
thread:574184
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051031/msgs/575583.html