Before becoming ill with me/cfs I wasn't depressed, but since finding out this is what I have, I did start to get quite depressed, not surprisingly.
Being depressed because you can't do most of the activities of living others can do is no surprise at all
Ironic how ME/CFS patients are strongly against any psychogenic explanations for ME/CFS (and rightly so), but when it comes to the depression symptom that is often comorbid with ME/CFS, then they are happy to assume a psychogenic etiology!
Admittedly though, it is possible that the depression some ME/CFS patients suffer from may have some psychogenic aspects, due to the limitation of life activities that ME/CFS imposes; but remember that depression manifests in many neurological diseases (eg: MS and Parkinson's), and the depression in these diseases is likely neurologically-caused: ie, primarily a result of organic dysfunction in the brain, rather than psychogenic factors. I think the same is likely true in ME/CFS: any depression is probably neurologically-caused.
Most psychiatric drugs also damage mitochondria,
Some psychiatric drugs may
potentially cause some mitochondrial damage — see
this post for a list of such drugs. But this is just a fairly small list, and it is not even certain that they do damage mitochondria.
Other psychiatric drugs can be beneficial and protective of mitochondria, eg the antidepressant deprenyl (selegiline) protects mitochondria — see
this study. The antidepressant nortriptyline also protects mitochondria.
@Jessie 107, if the citalopram SSRI is actually helping to improve your mood, to that extent, you can consider yourself quite lucky, as sometimes it can be hard to find any drug that helps with depression.
In my case I have found very difficult to find any drugs or supplements that improve my depression symptoms. I think my depression would be classed as treatment-resistant. Thankfully it is not always present, it comes and goes from one week to the next (independently of any life events or psychogenic factors, I should add).
I do however get some antidepressant benefits from the
very low dose amisulpride protocol, which can be classed as a
dopamine system stabilizer protocol.
I appreciate that weight gain is not desirable. It is possible that trying a different class of antidepressant drug might help avoid this weight gain.
Classes of antidepressant include:
SSRI — like Prozac, Lexapro, citalopram
SNRI — like venlafaxine (Effexor), duloxetine (Cymbalta)
NRI —like bupropion (Wellbutrin)
Tricyclic antidepressants — like amitriptyline (Elavil)
Selective MAO-A inhibitors — like moclobemide
Selective MAO-B inhibitors — like deprenyl / selegiline
Neuroleptics — like very low dose amisulpride (I use this, and it works for me)
For more classes, see:
List of antidepressants - Wikipedia
There are also some supplements that have useful antidepressant effects, like high dose inositol, the 5-HTP already mentioned above (but be aware of its heart valve side effects), and saffron, which many studies have shown is as effective as antidepressant drugs. I find these all have some benefits for treating my depression.
