Posted by med_empowered on August 29, 2005, at 18:03:53
In reply to Re: Does anyone else find this with Zyprexa? » denise190466, posted by ed_uk on August 29, 2005, at 12:42:33
hi! Antipsychotics are kind of tricky, especially for mood disorders (this is my experience with them; I cant speak to the experience of using them for schizophrenia). I personally found that low-doses, very short-term, gave me a lift, but long-term, higher (normal therapeutic) doses negated this antidepressant effect and eventually made the depression *worse*. Zyprexa is sometimes used on an as-needed basis; I think its most common with those with bipolar disorder (the idea being I guess that an antipsychotic now and then will "mellow out" a potentially destabilizing mood disorder), but it certainly could work for depression...or at least, I would think so. You could try as-needed, rather than daily, dosing of zyprexa...you could also try lower doses of zyprexa, as-needed or daily, or try a different atypical, again using it as-needed or daily to suit your needs. My own preference would be for abilify since it causes less metabolic weirdness and does a combo antagonist/agonist job at both serotonin and dopamine receptors, but I'm sure zyprexa could be helpful too. Another option might be to explore non-neuroleptic drug therapies that have similar action at serotonin receptors. Theoretically, drugs like Remeron, Trazadone, and Buspar would help some.
poster:med_empowered
thread:548116
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