Saturday, August 13, 2011

What are the benefits/or not, of these following medications?

I've concluded that most psychotropic medications exert their biochemical on the brain immediately, but there is evidence to suggest that theutic benefits may occurs after a few days, even weeks, as one's central nervous system adapts itself. Effexor, venlafaxine, has a different biochemical profile that way effect different hormones in her body, namely, norepinephrine. So she may feel an increase in anxiety. I'm not really sure whether it's the norepinephrine mechanism or just Effexor's potent effects on the serotonergic system, but it's very stimulating. My anxiety goes through the roof on effexor and cymbalta, but that's just me. It seems that most people denote it's "stimulating" effect. Stimulating can be good if your not suffering from an anxiety disorder. One person may say, "Oh, I feel like I'm amped, and I've got energy" and another may say "my heart races, I sweat, and I can't sleep." If the change is really a problem, perhaps going back to citalopram should be your first step. It's the anti-psychotic causing the weight gain. Zyprexa, olanzapine has the worst side effect profile of all. Eli Lilly is in a huge lawsuit because thousands of people got diabetes after beginning the medication. Truthfully, all the anti-psychotics, even seroquel, quetapine, will cause weight gain, but zyprexa the worst. Abilify is the only one that seems promising. It's relatively non-histaminergic, which is the cause of the weight gain. But, it's lacks the regular dopamine mechanism used to treat bipolar, schizophrenia, and sometimes depression, and some people think it's ineffective. It most be somewhat effective, if it ped clinical trials. Zyprexa has the widest biochemical profile of the newer anti-psychotics available, which is why she was doing good with it. I've read that seroquel is often under prescribed and needs to be pushed up to at least 500 mg. And, that's just a moderate dose. That's definitely something to discuss with her prescribing doctor. Alternatively, she could try geodon or risperdal. After a while you'd think that the weight gain was contributing to her self-image issues, creating a vicious cycle. Abilify may do her some good.

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