6 ms·
From my own experience I can very much believe an SSRI could have an effect on the immune system and/or the respiratory system. I was a heavy cigarette smoker
by _ywdj 5y ago
From my own experience I can very much believe an SSRI could have an effect on the immune system and/or the respiratory system.
I was a heavy cigarette smoker in my 20s, and over those years, I experienced worsening asthma and also worsening anxiety and depression.
Eventually I was prescribed an SSRI (Zoloft), and found that not only did my mood change, my asthma completely abated, even though I was still smoking just as much.
After a few months I decided I didn't like all that the SSRI was doing to my psyche, so when the prescription finished I tapered off it, and sure enough the asthma returned a few months later.
I've never enquired much as to what what was going on - I didn't speak to doctors or other people about it. But the correlation between SSRI intake and asthma abatement was very clear.
(And yes I know it was very stupid to be smoking as an asthmatic - I quit completely the following year and have stayed off them for coming-on 15 years. I've also been mostly asthma-free in that time, though it returned for a few months about 7 years ago, after a period of intense career-related stress, but then cleared up after I undertook some healing work that included both immune-system support and emotional healing.)
- ttul 5y agoAren’t many SSRIs antihistaminergic?
- jinder 5y agoMany antidepressants are (e.g. Mirtazapine), but not Sertraline (Zoloft).
- johnisgood 5y agoAnd some old antihistamines were SSRIs.
- podgaj 5y agoNo SSRI's are antihistaminergic. It is right in the name. SSRI only inhibit serotonin reuptake. Many antipsychotics have histamine receptor inhibition, but there are no antidepressants that block the histamine receptors.
- DantesKite 5y agoIf you continue having issues, consider taking NAC. It's very commonly used to treat bronchitis and my asthmatic mother has had tremendous success with it.
- m0zg 5y agoFDA banned OTC NAC sales after it found out it might help with COVID [1]. Can't have that. And yeah, I know you're suggesting it for something else, but it's hard to get now. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649937/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649937/
- johnisgood 5y agoAre you serious? The FDA banned NAC? This is absurd.
- m0zg 5y agoI think they re-classified it and it's no longer available over the counter. As far as I'm aware it was not banned entirely. I wouldn't know, I stocked up considerably right after the ban, before it disappeared from online stores (but after it already disappeared from Amazon). I figure they wouldn't ban it if it didn't work, like most supplements.
- johnisgood 5y agoNAC is amazing! We have it available here OTC. I wanted to get in higher quantities from the US but I might not be able to do that, then. Check this random factoid out: "After about two weeks of 2,400mg NAC supplementation, cigarette usage appears to be reduced voluntarily by around 25%." I personally take it for my liver. It does wonders to it, similarly to silybilin.
- IAmGraydon 5y agoHow are you measuring the “wonders” that it does to your liver?
- adminscoffee 5y agoi actually have the opposite problem certain ssri's have made my asthma really bad so that's interesting to hear how different people respond to different medications
- bencollier49 5y agoInteresting - probably spurious but has there been any research into a link between depression and asthma?
- jb1991 5y agohttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4349604/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4349604/
- jb1991 5y agoThere are other known links between emotion and asthma. For example, children are more likely to develop asthma if they grow up with a parent who is depressed or high-stress.
- eru 5y agoThough just keep in mind that all kinds of health problems are comorbid.
- fnord77 5y agomy AD/immune system anecdote: I have an autoimmune disease. Some ADs make the disease flare up. Some (particularly tricyclics) improve the disease's symptoms.
- philjohn 5y agoCitralopam is also a mild antihistamine - so not beyond the realms of possibility.