Posted by med_empowered on May 23, 2005, at 3:29:50
In reply to Re: Flupenthixol deconoate inject. questions - Ed UK » jasmineneroli, posted by Phillipa on May 22, 2005, at 21:44:40
hey! I'm not Ed but I hope I can help a little. In the US, this medicine is sold as Navane, and its in a subgroup of phenothiazenes (the same antipsychotic group that contains Thorazine and Mellaril). From what I understand, virtually **all** the antipsychotics, old and new, have been used at some point to treat non-psychotic illnesses, including depression, anxiety, and general "neurotic" behavior. The problem, obviously, is that anti-psychotics are pretty hardcore in terms of side-effects, especially the old ones. According to what I could find online, the doses of this medicine used for non-psychotic depression are pretty small. That said, your sister still runs the risk of movement disorders like Tardive Dyskinesia and reactions such as akathisia (restlessness accompanied by increased motor activity). One thing that concerns me is that she's getting the depot injection form--do you know why her doc is doing this? Depot injections seem to increase the risk of some side effects. I'd seriously recommend trying to get your sister another doctor. According to the American Psychiatric Association 1980 taskforce on Tardive Dyskinesia, about 20% of patients will develop TD after 5 years of exposure to a neuroleptic (this lumps all the old anti-psychotics together, including Navane). Other estimates run more along the lines of 30%, possibly higher; the per year incidence of TD with old drugs is estimated at 3-5%/per year. Women get it more often than men, and the very old and the very young develop it more often than others. In comparison, the newer antipsychotics have a TD risk of .5-1%/year. Ideally, anti-psychotics used for depression should be withdrawn as soon as possible. Good luck!
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