Side-effects :: Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (2024)

All medicines are designed and prescribed in order to help patients overcome the symptoms of illness, or to prevent symptoms coming back. They are intended to help. It is true, however, that medicines can also cause unwanted effects, which we also call “side-effects”.

No-one can promise, or be promised, that a treatment will not cause side-effects. This is not realistic or honest. A great deal can be done to share information about how small or large a problemor side-effect might be, whether it will lessen over time and what else can be done to reduce a particular side-effect. Do remember that information about side-effects is based on averages. Even a common side-effect doesn’t affect everyone who takes the medicine.

Understanding which side-effects a medicine might cause can make them feel more manageable and less worrying. This is clearly very important for patients. It is also important for healthcare professionals. Having honest and open conversations about side-effects helps patients to get the best out of medicines. Ignoring the issue can often result in someone not taking their medicines and becoming unwell again.

Sometimes the symptoms of your illness and the side-effects of medication might be difficult to tell apart. Don’t worry about this, but do explain to your healthcare professional what is worrying you so there can be a productive discussion about how things can be improved.

Here we will suggest sources of information that might be of help in understanding medicines used to help in mental health conditions. All of the websites we mention will show you useful, unbiased information to help when making decisions. None is better or worse than the others, but each has its own style that you might find more or less helpful.

Choice and Medication

Choice and Medication is a website created by specialist mental health pharmacists that also provides a range of information on mental health conditions and the medicines used to help people to recover and stay well.Leaflets about individual medicines will tell you about the side-effects that each one can cause, how common they are and how they can be managed. The “Handy Charts” which compare several medicines for a single condition will also compare side-effect likelihood.

MIND

The mental health charity MIND also provides helpful advice about side-effects. The website provides written information as well as some videos where people discuss what it is actually like to take some of these medicines. The website also helpfully explains some of the medical jargon used to describe side-effects, so that they are easier to understand on your own terms.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists

The Royal College of Psychiatrists produces a range of easy-to-read information about different mental health conditions and the available support and treatments. Information is written by doctors in collaboration with patients and carers. Some of the information talks about the side-effects that some people experience when they take medicines for their mental health.

The NHS website

The NHS website itself offers advice on mental and physical health conditions and some information about the medicines we use to help people. The website includes detailed information about some medicines for mental health, including side-effects, but doesn’t currently include all mental health medicines.

Yellow Card

There might be times when your medicine has been defective, or has caused a side-effect that was not expected. You should let your healthcare professional know about this and they or you can report the problem to the Medicines and Healthcare products Authority using their “Yellow Card” website.