Posted by med_empowered on July 16, 2005, at 3:21:07
In reply to does 6mg of Zyprexa have a antipsychotic effect?, posted by rjlockhart98 on July 15, 2005, at 18:51:42
hey! Back in the day, antipsychotics were given at massive doses, with the belief that the more you gave to someone, the more potent the antipsychotic action. For a while, alot of the antipsychotics were also used in low-dose preparations (Triavil, Thora-Dex, that kind of thing) for the treatment of depression, anxiety, "neurosis", etc. Low-dose antipsychotic monotherapy was also used, for things like conduct disorder in kids and control of "senile agitation". Well, turns out that very low doses of the old drugs have profound antipsychotic effects. With the new ones, there's a lot of heterogeneity in terms of response. A lot of times, first-episode schizophrenics will respond quite well to 5mgs or so of Zyprexa, as will those with acute mania/psychotic depression and other mood-disorders with psychotic components. Other people, of course, need 10+mgs or need clozaril but...6mgs of Zyprexa has a definite neuroleptic effect. It seems that what determines the neuroleptic effect of a given drug isnt the dose per se so much as how much D2 blockage the given individual gets from a dose. Since people vary so widely in how they process meds, some people might need 10mgs of Zyprexa to get into the 70% blockade, which is where antipsychotic effects appear. I believe that 75% or over blockade leads to EPS symptoms and may contribute to "neuroleptic induced dysphoria," the emotional apathy and "psychic indifference" found so commonly among those medicated with the older drugs and sometimes also among those given the newer ones. Speaking from personal experience, 2.5mgs Zyprexa gave me pretty pronounced akathisia--a form of EPS in which one moves about constantly and feels an inner-sense of restlessness and unease. It was hellish. If you don't like Zyprexa, or the idea of taking neuroleptics in general, why bother? Speaking from personal experience, they're really not that great. I mean, if you're floridly psychotic, they might be worth it, but otherwise...they seem to drain all meaning and spark out of life, at least for me. Even without EPS, the mental effects are so profoundly disturbing--I felt utterly alienated from myself, my soul--that I just decided to reject all neuroleptics, no matter how new or "advanced".
poster:med_empowered
thread:528245
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050713/msgs/528441.html