Posted by xbunny on December 16, 2006, at 20:40:15
In reply to Dopamine deprivation - starvation?, posted by ronaldo on December 16, 2006, at 12:44:15
> I suffer from the negative symptoms of schizophrenia namely:
> affective flattening, alogia, apathy, AVOLITION and social withdrawal. Am I right in saying that these symptoms are caused by a dopamine deficit in certain areas of the brain? "Reduced dopamine concentrations in the prefrontal cortex are thought to contribute to attention deficit disorder and negative schizophrenia." [Wikipedia] Am I also right in saying that Zyprexa is a dopamine antagonist? IOW is Zyprexa helping to maintain my negative schizophrenia symptoms by starving my brain of dopamine?I think its too easy to miss the qualifiers when it comes to psychiatric medications and statements about brain chemisty. Examine:
"Reduced dopamine concentrations in the prefrontal cortex are thought to contribute to attention deficit disorder and negative schizophrenia." [Wikipedia]
The qualifer is 'thought to contribute' - they dont know, its a guess.
"How Does ZYPREXA Work?
Illnesses that affect the brain, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are thought to be caused by certain chemicals in the brain being out of balance. Although it is not entirely clear how antipsychotic medications work in the body, it is believed that ZYPREXA works by adjusting the imbalance of chemicals in the brain that may cause psychotic symptoms."
[from http://www.zyprexa.com/patient/faqs.jsp]That is fairly clear that the action of zyprexa is unclear again the action is an informed guess.
To me even this is bunk. How is anyone to know whether what your problems are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia or depression or bipolar disorder or something else we dont know about yet?
Not yet can anyone say whether you have a dopamine imbalance or a serotonin sensitivity or some thing else entirely.My opinion is that if you think the medication is not helping you and you feel you have given it an adequate trial then drop it and move onto something else.
>
> My dx is bipolar disorder in remission but most pdocs thought I was question mark schizoaffective disorder. One doctor was unconvinced that I was bipolar and unconvinced that I was schizoaffective. I just wish I could clear my brain of the Zyprexa and make a new start.To me that sounds like a great idea. If I were you if zyprexa wasnt working and I had given it a fair trial then I wouldnt take it. Doubly so if I felt that it was infact being detrimental.
>
> I ask all you educated people, with tears in my eyes, please lend me your attention. I need to find out what is wrong with me. I only see the pdoc once in every three or four months and then only for fifteen minutes. I have to take control of my illness myself. I have only my gratitude and good will to offer in return.My advice would be to take control of the mental health services. If your not happy seeing the psychiatrist every 3-4 months try to get more frequent appointments, perhaps you can ask to be shortlisted for cancellation appointments or maybe just nagging will work. See if you can get other services; a psychiatric nurse, a therapist of some kind, group services, a support worker - anything is worth a try if you havent already tried it.
From a personal point of view I found that I was much more able to take a rational viewpoint of my illness when I stopped trying to work out what exactly it was or precisely why the things that 'should' work didnt do the expected things. It relates back to the qualifiers statement, if you miss the qualifiers you might well beleive that the science is rather more there than it actually is.
Bunny
poster:xbunny
thread:714230
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061212/msgs/714389.html