This is why a third of antidepressants are prescribed for something else

It was when he became a father that Michael Briggs resolved to somehow bring his ulcerative colitis under control. He was determined to avoid what many people with the disease end up needing – having part or all of their large intestine removed. A trained scientist, manager of a physics lab at the University of New Hampshire, he began reading medical research papers, looking for anything that might help him.

He knew there wouldn’t be just one single cure, just as he knew there was not one single cause behind this inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which causes gut pain, bleeding and diarrhoea. He had already been on a drug called Remicade (infliximab) for more than five years. This blocks the action of an inflammatory protein called tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) in order to stop the immune system from attacking the colon wall. The problem is that drugs like this can have significant side-effects, such as leaving patients more prone to infections and, in rare cases, cancer. Another problem, Briggs tells me, is that the drugs stop working as people’s immune systems develop antibodies against them.

Briggs knew he couldn’t stay on infliximab for ever and he was tired of dealing with the cycle of flare-up and remission with his disease. Seeking a way to heal following a nasty flare-up during the summer of 2013, he sifted through more than 150 papers on anti-inflammatory supplements, diet and TNF blockers.

Eventually, he stumbled upon research suggesting that an antidepressant called bupropion has an effect on Crohn’s disease, another type of IBD where the immune system attacks the lining of the gut. Studies on mice had shown that instead of blocking the action of inflammatory proteins, bupropion appears to lower the production of those proteins in the first place.

Briggs decided to give it a try.