Join Our Community!
Share
Mental Health > Depression Forum > Brain Power, Depression, And Medication
Do you know how doctors define clinical depression? Learn more about this brain disorder and types of depression that doctors diagnose here....
Can depression run in families? Can hormones really make you depressed? Yes! Learn more about causes and conditions of clinical depression here....
People with depressive illnesses do not all experience the same symptoms. Do you know the signs and symptoms of depression? Read on to learn more....
Avatar
Q: Brain Power, Depression, And Medication
asked by: htes on January 15th, 2004
New User
Hi everyone,

i'm new here and would like to learn a few things and maybe give and receive support. I am a 27 yr. Old male that has just been diagnosed and prescribed paxil cr for depression. I am worried about how the meds are affecting my cognitive ability. Let me preface the following with an appeal to not perceive me as being cocky, this simply the truth. I have a high iq (achieved by about 1 in every 600 to 700 people in the population), have went to school free on full scholarships, and am very creative in a scientific, problem-solving sense. I have been depressed for a few years now but it became severe last spring while working on a major project that was extremely stressful. My concentration/short-term memory decreased to a point where I have considered quiting school (doctoral program). I instead began taking paxil and seeing a therapist. The medication is lifting my mood and improving my concentration/short-term memory, but I feel it may be affecting my cognitive ability. I'm not sure of this as it may only be my perception. Prior to becoming depressed over even after onset during periods of good feeling, I would understand things on a deep, intuitive level, often complex things I had no exposure to and didn't even think about "figuring it out", I just did it. This was very nice and helped me in life. As I said before, the paxil helps the concentration/memory. I think it maybe taking away this creative "spark" thing I just described, but I can't be sure. Does anyone have experience with this type of thing? Does paxil or other ssri's affect cognitive ability? Sorry to write so much but I had to fully describe the problem.

Htes
Did you find this post useful?
|
Replies(1)
Avatar
purple333
replied on January 15th, 2004
Extremely eHealthy
Ok first I know you're not being cocky, my daughter who is 15 is in a similar "boat", she's about to start university(college) but has just had a horrendous 12 months medically/psychologically. It turns out that she has always felt everything negative was her fault & that she lacks friends (which she doesn't). 15 months ago she was put on the pill for 4 months & this caused her to lose weight dramatically & (as we finally found out in december after the medical profession almost sent her insane - she's still recovering) this changed the chemical processes in her body/brain such that tryptophan wasn't converted to 5htp so stress levels went through the roof (made worse by initial incorrect diagnosis).

I got her to a dr (psychiatrist as it happens) who treats people as total beings not as a single symptom or problem area, so he did various tests & has her on 50mg at night of 5htp (so it gets direct to the brain since due to stress her body won't convert the tryptophan which occurs in numerous foods to it) to balance the serotonin levels. Also a gentle 30 to 60 minute walk around sunrise which is when the suns rays (even if overcast) help the chemicals in the brain to de-stress you. You can check this out on the web. He also suggested yoga (or pilates) as a further way of relaxing - he does not put people on to "drugs" unless absolutely essential. He does & "reads" his own eeg's on his patients, talks about their medical history, their family medical history & then sees what is going on & what they need.

One man in hospital (when my daughter was) under this same dr had been prescibed an anti-depressant by another dr & it had caused him to develop a previously in-active bi-polar condition.

So I personally would suggest that you try 5htp (she's only 38kgs about 82lbs) at night with food & the morning walk, a healthy diet plus some relaxation "therapy" like yoga or meditation or similar. There's alot of great work (according to this dr) being done in & around phoenix so go on-line & see if you can find anything. If not pm me & i'll ask him for some drs/researchers that you might be able to contact there & then perhaps find something closer to home.

Good luck & don't give up. Oh my daughter has also found affirmations to be a good way of changing her negative thought patterns which is probably where your initial problems began. If you haven't heard of affirmations (they may be called something else there!!) pm me & i'll explain.
Did you find this post useful?
|
Quick Reply
Search