Treating Your Depression Can Prevent a Stroke

Even after an episode of despair or doldrums passes, you may be susceptible to a stroke. One way to prevent a stroke is to get treatment for your depression.

Middle-aged people and seniors with depression have a high risk of stroke even after an episode of depression passes.

These results came from a study of data from more than 16,000 participants aged 50 and older. Every two years between 1998 and 2010, participants reported on their mental state and health habits. Both men and women who suffer from depression have a higher risk of stroke, other research shows, though the link may be stronger for men. But it wasn’t clear how long the effect lasted.

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In this study, some people reported depression at one interview but not two years later. Researchers were surprised to find that even when that happened, the stroke risk in this group was 66 percent higher than if they’d never been depressed.

Chronic inflammation, sometimes after an infection, may play a role in both depression and stroke. Once people are depressed, they may smoke more, forget their medications, and skip exercise. Depression — or a shared cause — leads to other body changes. For example, depression is linked to high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, which increases stroke risk, too.

Treatment for depression

If you’re debating taking an SSRI or continuing with your current prescription and are concerned about stroke for other reasons, talk to your doctors. The case for antidepressants is mixed; they work better for major, rather than mild, depression.

There’s also been some concern that SSRI antidepressants could trigger strokes, especially after a medication change. A nine-year study of more than a thousand people with major depression at the beginning of the research found no link, however. Half of the people who had strokes were unmedicated for depression at the time, and nearly all of the rest had not changed medications. A history of depression that was hard to treat with antidepressants didn’t predict more strokes, but more severe cases of depression did.

Depression tends to make you assume the worst outcome. Remember that a stroke isn’t inevitable, and your concern can give you a push and extra discipline to take especially good care of yourself, which can also improve your mood.

Other risk factors for stroke

Other major risk factors for stroke are alcoholism and old age. Research shows how you can reduce your stroke risk:

• Do everything your doctors recommend to reduce high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
  
• Quit smoking.
• Drink less alcohol.
• Don’t let yourself become obese. If that happens, lose weight.
• Increase physical activity.

You may also want to cut back on red meat.

You may feel reluctant to report depression to your primary care doctor, especially if you’re feeling cheerier and back to your usual activities. Even if you’re seeing a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, however, your primary care doctor needs to know your history of emotional health in order to judge how to treat other health problems.

After a stroke, the risk of depression goes up as well, especially among women and younger patients. That depression could contribute to unhealthy habits, another stroke — or suicide.

It’s essential to get help and not try to tough it out without a confidante.

Don’t underestimate the power of exercise to boost mood: Studies with rats show that Prozac works much like exercise, although exercise was slightly better.

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