Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The dentist was drilling one of my teeth down to get it ready for a crown the other day. Two and a half hours – not all the time spent drilling, of course, but long enough. By the end, I was ready to fight my way out of the chair, if necessary. I’m a big [...]
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Does your antidepressant “kind of” work? If you feel better, but not good or normal, after starting a new antidepressant, you’re probably experiencing what’s known as a “partial response.” This can be very frustrating, and unfortunately many people assume that a partial response is the best they’re going to get, especially if their doctor hasn’t [...]
HealthDay News — Taken in combination, two commonly prescribed drugs, the antidepressant Paxil and the cholesterol-lowering medication Pravachol, appear to significantly raise blood sugar levels, a new study finds.The increase is most apparent — and concerning — among diabetics, whose blood sugar is already too high, the researchers noted.”This interaction may affect as many as [...]
Chalk one up for the little guy. Consumer Reports’ latest drugstore study (available to subscribers) affirms that the top-rated walk-in stores are neighborhood independents, not giant chains such as Walgreens and CVS. Ninety-four percent of readers who shopped at independent drugstores were highly satisfied with their experiences. Included in this group are The Medicine Shoppe [...]
(Reuters Health) – A new report from the drug company GlaxoSmithKline concludes that its antidepressant Paxil might make adults with major depression more likely to become suicidal. But the rate of suicide attempts was low, at 0.34 percent for people on Paxil and 0.05 percent for people who got sham treatment with a placebo pill [...]
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
We have an uncomfortable relationship with any medication that alters our brain chemistry. Not only are we wary of anything that alters this chemistry (even if it’s out of whack) because we see our brain as the center of our personhood, but we also seem to think that we should be able to somehow fix [...]
Finding the effective antidepressant for the depressive is at this point far from an exact science, although the outlook is improving as we discover more about depression. Doctors for the most part take their best guess based on their experience and the prevailing wisdom. They consider the type of depression the patient suffers from, other [...]
If you or someone you know is beginning treatment for depression, you probably have done some research. Of course, you’re being treated by a doctor who will advise you and do the prescribing, but like any smart patient, you want to be informed. Chances are that one thing stands out: the choice of drugs for [...]
Part 3 of 5 =========== **Medication** (cont.) – If an antidepressant has produced a partial response, but has not fully eliminated depression, what can be done about it? **Electroconvulsive Therapy** – What is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and when is it used? – Exactly what happens when someone gets ECT? – How do individuals who have [...]
I’ve written in the past about problems that can arise from the hit and miss effectiveness of generic medications. No, I’m not a shill for the big pill companies. I and a family member have both experienced problems using generics. I think generics can be great, especially in this economy, but not if your health [...]
