Posted by bleauberry on August 30, 2008, at 21:33:52
In reply to Same old meds, same old results, posted by Nurse Hot Flash on August 30, 2008, at 13:13:00
> Does anyone ever feel like they are taking the same old meds, and getting the same old results, year after year? My son, who has schizophrenia, seems to be in that trap. His positive symptoms are under control, but the negative symptoms are always there. His doctor says that stabilization is improvement for him, but I can't seem to buy that argument.
I tend to agree with you. On one hand stabilization is important and is an improvement. On the other hand, it seems to me kind of a cop-out to not be aggressive and creative at greater improvement. That usually involves off-label uses of meds, or using meds of different classes that are not labeled by the pscyh book leaders as schizophrenia meds. I don't know what meds have been in your son's history, but there are lots of others. Doctors need to be more creative. Negative symptoms are for all practical purposes mirror images of depression as I see it. That widens the scope of possible meds by a longshot. I've even heard of benzos improving negative symptoms on a couple occasions, which makes no sense at all. But who cares. If it works it works. I mean, the point is, the doctor needs not be afraid to try stuff, even if it doesn't make sense. Actually, especially if it doesn't make sense. All the stuff that makes sense has been mediocre, right? Otherwise, you never know what you might have missed out on.
These meds are not predictable. Put some pressure on the doctor to try adding new stuff without changing the current meds.
For ideas, go to pubmed.com. Type in the search box "negative symptoms". Haven't tried that myself, but I bet you'll get a ton of hits. Take a few hours to look at them all. Most will be about various antipsychotics. But a few will show hidden surprises such as particular unsuspected ADs or benzos or whatever that worked in some trial or some case reports. Print that stuff out and bring it into the office. If it worked for someone else, it will work again for yet someone else.
poster:bleauberry
thread:849242
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080822/msgs/849344.html