By Byron J. Richards, CCN
May 27, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

When you see a headline like this in the news, “Anti-inflammatory Drugs Reduce the Effectiveness of SSRI Antidepressants,” what does it make you think? The impression given is that if you are taking an SSRI then you shouldn’t take any pain pills if you want the antidepressants to work – which is the clear message of the press release that accompanied the study. If you are developing “health brains” on your shoulders then you would realize that SSRI antidepressants must be “working” by some type of inflammatory method. It is now common knowledge that low-grade excess inflammation is behind virtually every disease of aging. The obvious contradictions don’t add up to health. Pulling strings further, as I explain in this article, leads to an understanding as to why antidepressants are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, brain damage over time, and a significantly increased risk of early mortality – information the pill pushers at Big Pharma would prefer you never understood.

The study showed that the use of anti-inflammatory pain medications, such as ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen, reduced the “effectiveness” of the most widely used type of antidepressants. A combination of an animal study and a large scale human data evaluation led researchers to conclude that the typical response rate to SSRIs of 54% dropped to 40%.

“The mechanism underlying these effects is not yet clear. Nevertheless, our results may have profound implications for patients, given the very high treatment resistance rates for depressed individuals taking SSRIs,” notes Dr. Jennifer Warner-Schmidt. “Many elderly individuals suffering from depression also have arthritic or related diseases and as a consequence are taking both antidepressant and anti-inflammatory medications. Our results suggest that physicians should carefully balance the advantages and disadvantages of continuing anti-inflammatory therapy in patients being treated with antidepressant medications.”

I guess she is trying to say that if you want to try to help your brain pain you may need to live with your physical pain – a testament to the ineptitude of Western Medicine’s drug-based therapies. The real story is what isn’t being said or explained – as almost nobody would ever take an SSRI antidepressant for any length of time if they understood what was actually just discovered.

These researchers noted that SSRIs provoked a release of pro-inflammatory signals in the brain, TNFa and IFNy, which were blocked by the anti-inflammatory drugs. TNFa (tumor necrosis factor alpha) is an inflammatory cytokine produced by immune cells and by glial cells in the brain – in response to a problem. For example, overweight people make far too much TNFa in their inflamed white adipose tissue, which can travel up to the brain, cross the blood brain barrier, and induce brain-inflammation resulting in the cognitive decline and depression that is so closely linked to obesity. IFNy (interferon gamma) is a potent activator of an immune-related response – typically to viral infection or a tumor. It specifically boosts up the production of highly inflammatory nitric oxide (iNOS), a compound that is essential for an immune system battle and highly inflammatory to healthy nerve cells and to the cardiovascular system.

So how on earth could taking these brain-inflammatory SSRI antidepressant drugs help a person feel better mentally?

Read more here:  http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron207.htm