The most common antidepressants used for PHN are called tricyclic antidepressants. This category of antidepressants include the drugs amitriptyline (Elavil), nortriptyline (Pamelor), desipramine (Norpramin), and doxepin. A recent study showed that nortriptyline is as effective as amitriptyline and tends to have fewer side effects. All drugs have some side effects. The most common side effects of the tricyclic antidepressants used for PHN are dry mouth, constipation, and dizziness.

The short answer is "no". Some antidepressant medications have been associated with mild physical symptoms if they are suddenly stopped. These symptoms can be minimized or eliminated by decreasing the dose over a week or two. However, there is no craving, one of the classical symptoms of addiction. Neither laboratory animals nor humans will preferentially take these medications, for example.

There are side effects to all medications but the newer medications, the SSRI's, are very user-friendly and have very few side effects.

They can be used if they are administered with care by an informed child psychiatrist. That administration should always accompanied by effective child therapy (in a playroom with younger children.)

Clearly, the first step is to see whether a given treatment relieves the depression. If it does not, it should not be continued. In the case of antidepressants, it seems that when they are effective, they do not "cure" the illness, in the sense that penicillin cures pneumonia. Rather, they appear to compensate nicely, perhaps in the sense that insulin compensates for the pancreas' inability to produce insulin in a diabetic.

Atypical Antidepressants are sometimes used for adolescents, however they have not been approved for use in individuals under 18. They work by balancing chemicals in the brain to relieve depression. (Back to top)

The tricyclic antidepressants can provide relief for some neuropathic pain, particularly pain that the patient describes as burning, tingling, numb, painful to a light touch or like pins and needles. Amitriptyline (Elavil), desipramine (Norpramin), and nortriptyline (Pamelor) are the most commonly used. Start with 25mg per day. Typically, these medications are increased by 25mg every 3 days until the patient has pain relief or encounters unacceptable side effects.

Yes, there are four types of antidepressants. SSRIs, TCAs, and Atypical Antidepressants are the only ones used for adolescents and children. (Back to top)

To relieve the pain of PHN, doctors usually prescribe low doses of antidepressants. The doses are lower than the amounts used to treat depression, typically 1/10th the usual dose to treat depression. Tell your doctor if you are depressed, because you can get medicine to help your mood.

At present we do not have a full understanding of how anti-depressants work. We do know that most all anti-depressants seem to affect a certain group of chemicals in the body called "monaoamines." The monoamines affect how we think and feel. The most commonly known monoamine is serotonin. It is suspected that by changing the levels of monoamines in our brains, the antidepressants help alleviate depression.

No, none of the SSRI varieties: Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc., The older Tryicyclics such as Elavil are OK. You can not take these drugs if you are on a MAO inhibitor such as Eldepryl, Parnate, Marplan and Nardil.

Most preventive migraine medications were initially developed to treat other diseases, such as seizures, depression, or hypertension. Antidepressants are typically used to treat people with depression, although they may reduce migraine frequency by regulating chemical levels in the brain. Click here for more information.

A study of major depressive disorder in children and teens that showed that sertraline is slightly more effective than placebo. It also had more side effects. This really is an important study. Kids are already taking Zoloft, and we need to understand the implications of this. Some of the results are troubling, though. There are other disorders that can cause symptoms similar to depression. Here are some ways to tell what's what.

Venlafaxine seems to have the relative freedom from side-effects associated with the SSRIs [fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), and fluvoxamine (Luvox)] and the impact on both serotonin and norepinephrine associated with the tricyclic antidepressants [amitriptyline (Elavil), imipramine (Tofranil), etc.].

The answer is no. A person cannot become addicted although he/she takes anti-depressant medications for months or years. Persons who take insulin and high blood

One possibly important way in which nefazodone differs from other SSRIs is that while use of SSRIs is often associated with sexual dysfunction and sleep disturbances, these side-effects have been reported infrequently in people taking nefazodone.

The benzodiazepines used most often are: Alprazolam (Xanax); Chlordiazepoxide (Librium, Librax, Libritabs); Clonazepam (Klonopin); Diazepam (Valium, Valrelease); Estazolam (Prosom); Flurazepam (Dalmane); Lorazepam (Ativan); Oxazepam (Serax); Quazepam (Doral); Temazepam (Restoril); Triazolam (Halcion).

Alond the trail, almost everyone acquires a “trail name.” These names can come from a particular incident invloving the person, appearance, idiosycracy, or whatever. The best ones are ones that happen somewhat spontaneously. A good trail name is not carried over from the real world; a good trail name will find the hiker, much like the Native American finds his spirit guide.

Other names for NPS include: Iliac Horn Syndrome, Hereditary Onycho Osteo Dysplasia (HOOD), Fongs Disease, and Turner Kieser Syndrome.

There are many different types of anticonvulsant medication, all of which are thought to have different actions in the body. The anticonvulsant that is currently most often prescribed for PHN is gabapentin (Neurontin). Other antiseizure medications that have been used in the past for PHN include phenytoin (Dilantin) and carbamazepine (Tegretol).

My characters always get named accidentally. Their names just seem to stick on them, no matter how ridiculous they may seem. Gabriel is named after Gabriel Knight one of the (late) great characters of computer gaming. I highly recommend the first two GK games, if you can find them. Raven is named after a horse I rode during my 15 years of riding, but also after the trippy, schlocky poem The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe is named after the poet Edgar Allen Poe, naturally.

The GPS Stash Hunt, Global Positioning Stash hunt is interchangable. Geocaching has become the standard for the game, however. The word Geocaching broken out is GEO for geography, and CACHING for the process of hiding a cache. A cache in computer terms is information usually stored in memory to make it faster to retrieve, but the term is also used in hiking/camping as a hiding place for concealing and preserving provisions. It is deceptively easy.

We do not have funding and resources to improve/enhance the map server. There are some programming problems with font rotation and scaling which need to be solved. If you have any experience in this area, please send me some e-mail.