Archive for the ‘Antipsychotics’ tag
Conflicted….but trying to avoid more drama
My AD, age 32, lives with us after we helped her escape from an abusive situation, so she could begin to rebuild her life. She has mental health issues, probably from PTSD, and is taking antipsychotics and is in counseling, although between her work schedule and counselor's rescheduling, she's not seen him much yet.
I am *sure* she's using, probably heroin. Her ex BF used to inject her with dilaudid to help the voices go away -- she says he hit her if she tried to resist. She's working and gives me some of her checks to keep for her. She's trying to find an apartment, although she doesn't make much. But she became friends with a guy who supposedly also moved here to start over, and I'm positive he uses.
She's quite personable sometimes -- like the woman she used to be before the traumas hit her -- but her pupils are tiny when she's like that. She also has been diagnosed with HepC (thanks to the ex) and explains her lack of interest in learning much about the disease as "denial" -- my thinking is "I'll say!"
We talk all around drugs. She walked out angrily once when I asked her to take a drug test, and came back three days later, a wreck from not taking meds. She hasn't been here long enough to really have made many friends. She's been told she can't use and live here. But there is not a smoking gun,...yet.
I believe it will take a big drama -- OD, getting picked up, or denial of treatment for HepC (and I'll bet she'll find some way to explain that) to get her to admit to using.
I'm working the program for me, trying very hard to focus on ME and my husband, instead of letting her problems rule my world. But I HATE that she's using here, which I'm nearly certain she is, although she is not keeping anything in her room, at least that is evident -- more likely in her car. I just would like to avoid a complete drama scene and let it play out as it will -- for I'm certain it eventually will --
So am I just stupid for not forcing the issue?
I am *sure* she's using, probably heroin. Her ex BF used to inject her with dilaudid to help the voices go away -- she says he hit her if she tried to resist. She's working and gives me some of her checks to keep for her. She's trying to find an apartment, although she doesn't make much. But she became friends with a guy who supposedly also moved here to start over, and I'm positive he uses.
She's quite personable sometimes -- like the woman she used to be before the traumas hit her -- but her pupils are tiny when she's like that. She also has been diagnosed with HepC (thanks to the ex) and explains her lack of interest in learning much about the disease as "denial" -- my thinking is "I'll say!"
We talk all around drugs. She walked out angrily once when I asked her to take a drug test, and came back three days later, a wreck from not taking meds. She hasn't been here long enough to really have made many friends. She's been told she can't use and live here. But there is not a smoking gun,...yet.
I believe it will take a big drama -- OD, getting picked up, or denial of treatment for HepC (and I'll bet she'll find some way to explain that) to get her to admit to using.
I'm working the program for me, trying very hard to focus on ME and my husband, instead of letting her problems rule my world. But I HATE that she's using here, which I'm nearly certain she is, although she is not keeping anything in her room, at least that is evident -- more likely in her car. I just would like to avoid a complete drama scene and let it play out as it will -- for I'm certain it eventually will --
So am I just stupid for not forcing the issue?
What Causes Weight Gain From Mood Medications?
I found this interesting article on psycheducation.com and thought many would be interested in reading it. Weight gain, and its complications are a common problem for many of us. Here is some hope! :yup:
Hopkins Scientists Uncover Cause Of Antipsychotic Drug Weight Gain
ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2007) ?
Johns Hopkins brain scientists have hit on how and why some powerful drugs used for treating mental illnesses cause patients to gain so much weight that they often develop life-threatening complications such as diabetes and heart disease.
"We've now connected a whole class of antipsychotics to natural brain chemicals that trigger appetite," says Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "Our identification of the molecular players that link such drugs to increased food intake means there's now hope for finding a newer generation of drugs without the weight-gain side effects."
The discovery will be published online next week at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Previous research already had fingered increased levels and actions of one particular enzyme, AMPK, in brain cells as a control lever for appetite in mice and presumably humans.
Suspecting that antipsychotic drugs might spike AMPK in the brain to overact, the Johns Hopkins team injected mice with clozapine (Clozaril), which, with olanzapine (Zyprexa) and risperidone (Risperdal), is commonly prescribed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in people who do poorly on conventional drugs.
Mice given clozapine showed quadrupled AMPK activity compared to activity measured pre-drug.
The researchers then gave the mice leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and as suspected, saw lowered AMPK levels.
Drilling down further into what controls AMPK and its boost of hunger, Sangwon Kim, Ph.D., a research associate and lead author of the study, "rounded up the usual suspects, brain proteins known to relay communication from cell to cell."
Systematically manipulating these cell-signaling proteins, Snyder's team found that blocking one in particular, a receptor site for histamine, a well-known player in triggering classic allergy symptoms, activates AMPK to the same extent as clozapine. To confirm that the histamine receptor connects the drug, AMPK activity and appetite, the team gave clozapine to mice genetically engineered without a histamine receptor.
Results? Peace. No heightened AMPK activity.
"Histamine also has a long history as a suspect in weight control, but no one ever could put a finger on the exact link," says Snyder. "The connection we've made between its receptor and appetite control is incredibly intriguing and opens new avenues for research on weight control, possibly including drugs that suppress appetite safely."
The research was funded by the U.S. Public Health Service, Canadian Institute of Health Research, National Institutes of Health and National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Authors on the paper are Kim, Alex Huang, Adele Snowman and Snyder of Hopkins, and Cory Teuscher of the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
Adapted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
Shalom!
Hopkins Scientists Uncover Cause Of Antipsychotic Drug Weight Gain
ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2007) ?
Johns Hopkins brain scientists have hit on how and why some powerful drugs used for treating mental illnesses cause patients to gain so much weight that they often develop life-threatening complications such as diabetes and heart disease.
"We've now connected a whole class of antipsychotics to natural brain chemicals that trigger appetite," says Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "Our identification of the molecular players that link such drugs to increased food intake means there's now hope for finding a newer generation of drugs without the weight-gain side effects."
The discovery will be published online next week at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Previous research already had fingered increased levels and actions of one particular enzyme, AMPK, in brain cells as a control lever for appetite in mice and presumably humans.
Suspecting that antipsychotic drugs might spike AMPK in the brain to overact, the Johns Hopkins team injected mice with clozapine (Clozaril), which, with olanzapine (Zyprexa) and risperidone (Risperdal), is commonly prescribed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in people who do poorly on conventional drugs.
Mice given clozapine showed quadrupled AMPK activity compared to activity measured pre-drug.
The researchers then gave the mice leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and as suspected, saw lowered AMPK levels.
Drilling down further into what controls AMPK and its boost of hunger, Sangwon Kim, Ph.D., a research associate and lead author of the study, "rounded up the usual suspects, brain proteins known to relay communication from cell to cell."
Systematically manipulating these cell-signaling proteins, Snyder's team found that blocking one in particular, a receptor site for histamine, a well-known player in triggering classic allergy symptoms, activates AMPK to the same extent as clozapine. To confirm that the histamine receptor connects the drug, AMPK activity and appetite, the team gave clozapine to mice genetically engineered without a histamine receptor.
Results? Peace. No heightened AMPK activity.
"Histamine also has a long history as a suspect in weight control, but no one ever could put a finger on the exact link," says Snyder. "The connection we've made between its receptor and appetite control is incredibly intriguing and opens new avenues for research on weight control, possibly including drugs that suppress appetite safely."
The research was funded by the U.S. Public Health Service, Canadian Institute of Health Research, National Institutes of Health and National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Authors on the paper are Kim, Alex Huang, Adele Snowman and Snyder of Hopkins, and Cory Teuscher of the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
Adapted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
Shalom!
