Breast cancer and antidepressants

Some

SSRIs contain fluoride. Fluoride inhibits iodine and iodine deficiency is implicated in breast cancer and tumor formation. This is all pretty speculative I think

I have never once in my extensive years-long research ever seen any credibly-supported evidence that anti-depressants cause breast cancer. If you've been rx'd an anti-depressant by a reputable physician, then take it. Please.

The only contraindication I've seen is combining certain antidepressants with tamoxifen as they can make the tamoxifen less effective. If you aren't taking tamoxifen I don't understand what you're talking about. I never saw anything that indicates antidepressants are a breast cancer risk.

People with depression tend to worry more than others (I resemble that remark!). As such, we tend to be more anxious about our health and notice andfollow up on perceived symptoms more than does the general population. We tend to be more conscientious about recommended tests (e.g. mammograms) and take more seriously the advice to seek medical attention if we feel something is amiss. Therefore, I think there is a correlation between depression and breast cancer diagnosis, but not a causational relationship. Plug in the fact that people with depression are often prescribed antidepressants--the most common these days being SSRIs--and it is easy to arrive at the fallacious assumption that women on SSRIs more often get breast cancer, and then to make the logically faulty leap and conclude SSRIs cause it. Actually, it's likelier that the converse is true: the shock and stress of a cancer diagnosis can trigger major depression in those of us already predisposed to depression. In that case, antidepressants can be as lifesaving for breast cancer patients as hormone therapies and anti-osteoporosis drugs: because untreated depression can lead to suicide.

Some antidepressants can interfere with the enzyme pathways by which tamoxifen works--but that's not the case with aromatase inhibitors. If you are on tamoxifen, Effexor (or its newer mirror-image molecule desvenlafaxine) is an effective antidepressant that doesn't counteract tamoxifen.

BTW, Lyrica and Neurontin (gabapentin) are NOT "anti-shingles drugs." They were originally developed as anti-seizure meds, but doctors found they also block neurogenic (originating from, not just transmitted by the nerves) pain signals, and are effective in treating the pain of shingles, which is a viral nerve inflammation. (They also work on pain resulting from nerves getting cut or growing back together, such as post-surgical pain). They do NOT have any effect on the shingles virus and thus don't treat the disease, just the symptoms. Doctors have also found that tricyclics and trazodone (Desyrel) helped lessen physical pain in patients taking them for depression, and now they are being used to treat some types of pain in non-depressed patients who can't take opioids, NSAIDs or too much acetaminophen.

So take your antidepressants as prescribed. Suicide can kill you much faster than can cancer