Atypical psych meds, SSRIs and cognition/lethargy/anxiety/sleep

Medications
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I’ve been taking Hydroxyzine for anxiety now for about a week. After a couple of days of taking it the sleepiness wore off and I realized that I was no longer lethargic, wasn’t sleeping as much, lowered my paranoia/anxiety, and my cognition improved(much better at competitive video games/memory.)

After doing extensive research on Hydroxyzine, I found out that it is an ssri, which means that it increases the amount of seratonin in the brain(seratonin reuptake inhibitor). Atypical antipsychotics block the seratonin receptor called 5HT2, and dopamine receptor d2.

I think what is going on with atypical antipsychotics is that, by blocking the 5HT2 receptor(which is used in the brain for cognitive function), this opens up a host of different issues found with atypical antipsychotics. An ssri increases the amount of seratonin in the brain. A few of things that seratonin regulates is mood, emotion and sleep. The seratonin increase from the ssri(Hydroxyzine) and the blocking of the 5HT2 receptor must be linked.

I’m no doctor but i plan on sharing this theory with my psychiatrist when I see him next. You might want to ask your doctor about Hydroxyzine as it has helped me tremendously.

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I thought Hydroxyzine was a antihistamine?

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It is it’s also an ssri

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Glad you found something that helps regardless of how it works.

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It works like an SSRI, but is not one. It is an antihistamine as its class.

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Yeah lots of atypical antipsychotics work on different serotonin receptors. Blocking 5HT2a is also one of the main effect of the antipsychotics as 5HT2a agonism is responsible for a lot of the properties of psychedelics.

The off target effects on serotonin receptors are responsible for the improved cognition and reduced negative symptoms.

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