How do my neurotransmitter levels change from receiving treatment?
Neurotransmitters, an essential part of nervous system functioning, are chemicals that allow nerves to send signals amongst themselves. These chemicals flow across the gap between adjacent nerves as well as circulating through the cerebrospinal fluid, allowing distant nerves to communicate with one another, similar to a modem of a computer. Drugs used to treat depression, like Prozac and Elavil, work by changing the amount of a neurotransmitter, serotonin, throughout the nervous system. Researchers find that increased levels of serotonin decrease feelings of depression. The problems with antidepressant drugs are the side effects on most people, including decrease in sex drive, increase in anxiety and other symptoms that were previously not found in the patient. My clinical observation is that these patients had poor distribution of the neurotransmitter rather than deficiencies (lack of secretion) of serotonin. If the distribution problems in the nervous system were solved, the depressi
