Posted by djmmm on March 20, 2002, at 15:56:44
In reply to Re: dopamine depletion and Zyprexa - djmm, posted by Denise528 on March 19, 2002, at 12:44:49
Dopamine depletion is just a *theory* nothing is proven...just as excess serotonin is a theory...I'm sure there are others. The theory of excess serotonin is not as well known I guess, but I does make sense. Too much serotonin results in a variety of "symptoms" just as too little serotonin does...this is an established fact.
The theory is, medications that agonize/antagonize specific serotonin receptors decrease the stimulation of serotonin into the synapse..meds that have a high affinity for these receptors are always given for "poop-out"
I found this today... I copied it here because I thought that the bit on "reducing medication" supports this theory..
Psychology Today
March, 1999Another unknown is what's behind poop-out--whether it is true pharmacologic failure or a worsening of the disease, a relapse that overrides medication. Other factors that can dent a medication's apparent effectiveness are aging (which tends to worsen or change depressive symptoms), substance abuse, a coexisting medical illness and noncompliance, a big problem.
Rajinder Judge, M.D., clinical research physician for Prozac at Eli Lilly, estimates that just 50% of patients actually take antidepressants properly. "They miss doses or just stop on their own," she says. It is not uncommon for patients to drop their medications after four months, although prevention of relapse is believed to warrant longer treatment. Some find the side effects too pesky. Others become overconfident because they feel so much better. "Once you recover," Judge explains, "you don't want to be reminded of those dark days and the only thing reminding you is this little pill."
Whatever the cause of poop-out, it can almost always be remedied by upping (or sometimes even reducing) the dose, or changing or adding medications. Whereas older medications--so-called tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors--can be dangerous at high doses, amounts of the SSRIs can be doubled and then doubled again without harm, according to Peter Kramer. "Sometimes the patient ends up on a more complicated regimen to get the same effect," he says. "Or sometimes it's a matter of taking a person off one drug and reintroducing it later. One way or another, it is mostly possible to get people back to where they were."
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1175/2_32/53985476/print.jhtml
poster:djmmm
thread:97638
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020318/msgs/99055.html