How is it Used?

Clinicians usually only prescribe tricyclic antidepressants after other drugs have failed to relieve depression. Tricyclic antidepressants help keep more serotonin and norepinephrine available to your brain. These chemicals are made naturally by your body and are thought to affect your mood. By keeping more of them available to your brain, tricyclic antidepressants help elevate your mood.

Some tricyclic antidepressants are also used to treat other conditions, mostly in off-label uses. These conditions include obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic bedwetting. In lower doses, cyclic antidepressants are used to prevent migraines and to treat chronic pain. They are also sometimes used to help people with panic disorder.

What are the Effects?

Tricyclic antidepressants treat depression, but they have other effects on your body as well. They can affect automatic muscle movement for certain functions of the body, including secretions and digestion. They also block the effects of histamine, a chemical found throughout your body. Blocking histamine can cause effects such as drowsiness, blurred vision, dry mouth, constipation, and glaucoma. These may help explain some of the more troublesome side effects associated with these drugs. Tricyclic antidepressants are more likely to cause constipation, weight gain, and sedation then other antidepressants. However, different drugs have different effects. 

Common Symptoms

• • dry mouth
  • dry eyes
  • blurred vision
  • dizziness
  • fatigue
  • headache
  • disorientation
  • seizure
  • drowsiness
  • constipation
  • urinary retention
  • sexual dysfunction
  • low blood pressure
  • weight gain
  • nausea

How is it Used?

PPX has been prescribed, usually in pill form, to treat mild to moderate pain. Since 2009 products containing PPX have been removed from US markets because of the it’s in effectiveness as a pain reliever and the harmful, and sometimes, fatal side effects, along with the high chance of abuse and misuse.

What are the Effects?

PPX can produce similar euphoric effects much like opioids which has led to the misuse and abuse of the drug. It is ineffective and treating and relieving pain leading to a high-risk for dependency and addiction. It can have adverse effects such and heart complications such as arrhythmia as well as drowsiness, shallow breathing, and altered behavior, especially in patients with history of depression and substance abuse. The effects of PPX can be heightened when mixed with other medications.

Common Symptoms

• shallow breathing

• slow heartbeat

• feeling light-headed

• fainting

• confusion

• hallucinations

• unusual thoughts or behavior

• seizure (convulsions) 

• jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes).

• feeling dizzy or drowsy

• nausea

• vomiting

• stomach pain

• constipation

• headache

• muscle pain

• blurred vision

• mild skin rash.