Posted by med_empowered on July 24, 2005, at 1:57:04
In reply to Re: Zyprexa, anxiety and depression » blueberry, posted by 4WD on July 23, 2005, at 23:04:17
hey! Zyprexa is a tricky drug, and using antipsychotics for mood-disorders is tricky business itself. Here's my experience: low-dose APs (my fave is Abilify) will help, for a while. BUT, if you bump up too far, you lose all the antidepressant effect, and instead get a numbing, dulling effect. At higher-end doses you also start running into EPS...akathisia, tremors, that kinda thing. Also, keep in mind that although the risk of tardive dyskinesia with atypical antipsychotics is decidedly lower than with traditional antipsychotics (I think the best research I've seen pointed to a 1% chance per year on atypicals for people with schizophrenia, compared to about 3% a year for those with schizophrenia on traditional doses of traditional antipsychotics), it certainly isnt zero. If you don't have bipolar, lithium seems to me to be too much of a pain to use, unless nothing else works. Soo...maybe you could talk to your doc about ditching the lithium and going for anti-psychotic augmentation instead? I think Abilify may prove to be the best AP on the market for mood-disorders...it tends to be kinda activating, and you don't get the "numbing" effect until you hit higher doses (think 20mgs+). Plus, its a mood-stabilizer, it can reduce anxiety (some people get worsened anxiety though, keep this in mind) and, MOST IMPORTANTLY--it has a significantly lower risk of causing diabetes, weight gain, or other metabolic weirdness compared to the other atypicals on the market. Even if you dont have any risk factors for diabetes, keep in mind that the other atypical APs--paricularly Zyprexa--have a tendency to cause problems.
poster:med_empowered
thread:532019
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050723/msgs/532550.html