Common adverse drug effects/harms from antidepressants | Right Decisions

Right Decisions
Antidepressants: Quality prescribing - a guide for improvement
Back
Recommendations for healthcare professionals
Common adverse drug effects/harms from antidepressants

Please update your RDS mobile app to version 4.7.1

We are pleased to advise that deep linking capability, enabling users to directly download individual mobile toolkits, has now been released on the RDS mobile app. When you install the update, you will see that each toolkit has a small QR code icon the header area beside the search icon – see screenshot below. Clicking on this icon will open up a window with a full-size QR code and the alternative of a short URL for sharing with users. Instructions are provided.

You may need to actively install the update to install RDS app version 4.7.1 to see this improvement. Installing this update is also strongly recommended to get the full benefits of the new contingency arrangements – specifically, that if the RDS website should fail, you will still be able to download new mobile app toolkits.

To check your current RDS version, click on the three dots bottom right of the RDS app screen. This takes you to a “More” page where you will see the version number. To install latest updates:

On iPhones – go to the Apple store, click on your profile icon top right, scroll down to see the apps waiting to be updated and update the RDS app.

On Android phones – these can vary, but try going to the Google Play store, click on your profile icon top right, click on “Manage apps and device”, select and update the RDS app.

Please get in touch with ann.wales3@nhs.scot with any questions.

Antidepressants are associated with a variety of adverse drug effects.

Short Term

Short-term effects can include symptoms such as nausea, with long-term effects including weight gain, weight loss or cognitive effects.

Short to Long Term

Other short- or long-term drug effects include sexual dysfunction, insomnia, sedation, anxiety, falls, fatigue, gastric bleeding, hyponatraemia and QTc prolongation.⁸²

Weight Changes

People may experience weight changes during antidepressant treatment. Weight gain may be associated with depression recovery and improved appetite on one hand and undesirable antidepressant effects on the other;⁸³ however, many placebo controlled studies report no weight data making it difficult to accurately estimate weight changes.⁸² SSRIs have been seen as weight neutral, or in some cases associated with weight loss in the short-term (≤8wk studies) and weight gain in the long-term.^83,49,84,85