antidepressants

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id welcome feedback off anyone who is/has been on them and how long the side effects take to dissipate and how do they affect the bike?presumably a brighter outlook anyway will aid performance once the body has adjusted to the new chemicals,am talking prozac here!ta

Tried a couple of different types of antidepressants: sertraline and paroxeteine. Found sertraline to be OK - quite good at regulating mood I think but didn't really notice much of a change. Paroxeteine was awful - made me feel sick - needless to say, it doesn't go well with exercise.

Don't know about prozac.

Good luck anyway.

if you're cycling regularly, you wonlt need them. regualar exercise is as effective as anti-depressants for depression, but without the side effects. if you need something else til the anti-depressant effect kicks (the full effect takes 17 weeks) then there lots of natural alternatives (EPA, rhodiola rosea, combinatoon of 5-HTP and L-tyrosine, etc) also note, that anti-depressants often have the side effect of sedation and weight gain- neither conjusive for riding.


alex.

cycling over 15 hrs a week,in theory i agree but there is a sharp difference between "i feel depressed" and "i am so low i cant face anyone,talk to anyone,weighted by blackness,helplessness and desperation."



am fighting!its a disease that can be beaten.

cycling over 15 hrs a week,in theory i agree but there is a sharp difference between "i feel depressed" and "i am so low i cant face anyone,talk to anyone,weighted by blackness,helplessness and desperation."



am fighting!its a disease that can be beaten.
Careful here.

Overtraining syndrom shares a lot of symptoms with depression. In fact, I don't even make a distinction (as a coach). I don't know you, but if you're training 15hr/week, and are looking for an antidepressant molecule to help you getting rid of symptoms in order to allow you to continue training 15hrs/week, well there's a danger. Because if training is one of the causes for your desperation state, you won't improve it much no matter the molecule you choose.

As for you original question, if it relates to performances, well part of it is dependant on the central nervous system. After all, I'd expect this system to be the one who sends the electric signals to muscles (that's an example). I believe most molecules are trying to inhibit some of aspects of CNS. Therefore I'd expect certain areas of performances to be affected by some of these molecules.

Jesus Menzanzo listed Prozac as one of the substances used in his doping regime. The best antidepressant for riding is going to be one that increases motivation...i.e. one that is dopaminergic. Look at selegiline perhaps...

SolarEnergy - interesting what you say here. You are in effect saying it's all in the mind, right?

A big part of depression can be CNS fatigue and, yes, every emotion we feel is a product of neurochemistry. Learn about it to perform better. Ratboy better learn a bit more about his antidepressants before handing out medical advice...some ADs work in as little as 1-2 weeks. Ever heard of a condition called Atypical depression. Rhid. Rhod, Excercise, 5-HTP and Tyrosine ain't going to fix this no matter what...

Careful with the SSRIs...check out the MAOIs perhaps...

SolarEnergy - interesting what you say here. You are in effect saying it's all in the mind, right? No unfortunatelly. I wish it was the case but I think that the overtraining state, or syndrom has real biochemical implications, or at the very least some implications at the nervous system level. This is what I think based on the fact that I have the chance to have coached a brilliant student in sport science, master degree, that did his final work on Overtraining syndrom.

Here's an example (not very significant as it's been done with only one subject) of how Overtraining and depression can share some commun symptoms and causes... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=14986200&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum

I wouldn't be fair though If I wasn't quoting this one here, that found the opposite... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16586330&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum

A big part of depression can be CNS fatigue and, yes, every emotion we feel is a product of neurochemistry. Learn about it to perform better. Ratboy better learn a bit more about his antidepressants before handing out medical advice...some ADs work in as little as 1-2 weeks. Ever heard of a condition called Atypical depression. Rhid. Rhod, Excercise, 5-HTP and Tyrosine ain't going to fix this no matter what...

Careful with the SSRIs...check out the MAOIs perhaps...i'm little confused borg. you state that every emotion is a product of neurochemistry and then state at the end that the MAOIs help with atypical depression. granted. from my knowledge of anti-depressants, i know that the MAOIs work by inhibiting the enzyme that breaks down the monoamines (serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline). this leads to increased levels of these neurtransmitters in the brain and thus the positive impact on mood. i mentioned those natural alternatives as they also help to raise those three monoamines in the brain through the theory of precursor therapy- 5HTP is the precursor to serotonin, and L-tyrosine is the precursor to dopamine and noradrenaline. so if these have the same net benefit as MAOIs then would they be ineffective for Atypical depression?
oh and by the way, borg better learn a bit more about how to read other people's posts properly before handing out criticism on medical advise: the 17 week period comment was a continuation from my assertion that EXERCISE is effective against depression, rather than anti-depressants.

alex.