Side Effects

Side effects are effects a medication has in addition to the desired effect. Some side effects are unwanted but often side effects can be an additional benefit of a medication. For example if a depressed person is having trouble sleeping, an antidepressant that has drowsiness as a side effect may be helpful if given at bedtime. If depression is causing increased tiredness, an antidepressant that causes wakefulness may be the best choice, if taken in the morning.

The list of side effects for most antidepressants is very similar. Medications primarily differ in how severe the side effects are and how likely they are to occur. For example drowsiness may be listed as a side effect of two medications. In one medication it may occur in 80 % of patients and be severe and with another medication it may occur in 2 % of patients and be very mild. Therefore one cannot compare medications by looking at their list of side effects.

Unwanted side effects can often be minimized by starting the antidepressant at a low dose and increasing the dose slowly until the best dose is reached. Many side effects disappear after the person has been on a medication for a period of time.