Cardiovascular Effects of Antidepressants

It is not the purpose of this paper to dismiss the possibility that tricyclics may somehow cause cardiac function to deteriorate, with resulting congestive heart failure. Any patient with heart disease should receive intense clinical scrutiny for the development of cardiac symptoms--dyspnea on exertion, ankle edema, orthopnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, rales, and the presence of an S3 are never taken lightly. These parameters should be monitored because the patient has cardiac disease, not because he or she is on a tricyclic antidepressant.