Posted by OldSchool on March 27, 2002, at 21:25:09
In reply to Zyprexa really seems to help me., posted by Denise528 on March 26, 2002, at 12:05:23
> Hello,
>
> I am currently trying lithium and Prozac, neither of which seem to be helping me this time round, I keep hitting rock bottom, the lithium just makes me feel sick and listless. When I take a Zyprexa this seems to lift me out of the slump and gives me the energy to on for a few more days. I really think that the Zyprexa is helping me and I am so grateful for it but am torn between taking it and not taking. I've read some of the horror stories I've read on this board concerning Tardive Dyskinesia. Sometimes I think I'd rather be not depressed and twitch a bit than be depressed without the twitches but then I think maybe I should explore every other avenue (even ECT) before succombing totally to Zyprexa. Has anyone any opinions which is better for me Zyprexa or ECT?
>
> Denise
Here is my opinion. First of all, whats your basic diagnosis? Is there any serious psychosis in your dx? Schizophrenia? Schizoaffective? Classic manic depression? If so, neuroleptic usage is going to be automatic for you. Particularly for schizophrenia.However, if your illness is more of a mood disorder with psychotic features or "rumination" as the hip twenty dollar psychiatry word is thrown around a lot, ECT might be the better way to go. Those little twitches are probably some form of EPS. Tell your Pdoc about them...they dont like to hear about that stuff, makes them nervous. These newer atypical anti-psychotics arent supposed to cause tha sort of thing as bad, but the reality is they do cause twitches and movement problems.
For mood disorders with psychotic features, bilateral ECT works the best. No danger of movement disorders, just memory loss. For me, I will take memory loss. If you have schizophrenia, forget about it your life is neuroleptics. Another advantage of ECT vs neuroleptics is that the ECT is "cleaner" it doesnt raise your blood sugar like Zyprexa or Clozapine do. Thus no danger of inducing diabetes with ECT as with atypical anti-psychotics.
There is also clozapine, but thats a whole other story. Clozapine is in a class by itself and is a very serious undertaking, yet the claim is clozapine produces basically no EPS or TD.
Old School
poster:OldSchool
thread:100291
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020327/msgs/100627.html