Therese Borchard at Beliefnet’s Beyond Blue interviewed me in October 2007. She asked many insightful questions including, “how do you think you know when or if you can go off your meds?” and “What did you do when you relapsed?” I had no idea that my answers were interpreted as controversial based on the comments [...]
Medication and Therapy
Acomplia (rimonabant, manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis) is an anti-obesity drug that was supposed to be a big hit in the U.S. However, earlier this year, U.S. FDA decided not to approve the drug here in the states because the drug was found to increase suicidal thoughts and depression. Acomplia is, however, approved and available in Europe. [...]
Aside from sexual dysfunction, weight gain is another side effect that becomes problematic for patients who need long-term antidepressant therapy.
Dinah at Shrink Rap wrote an article about how she chooses antidepressants for patients who come and see her. The factors, which Dinah’s full article elaborates, include: Past history of response, Family history of response, Patient preference, Other Medical Issues, My Best Guess at What Will Help the Target Symptoms, My Best Guess at the [...]
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Risperdal (risperidone) for treating schizophrenia in teenagers ages 13 to 17 and for treating short-term mania or mixed episodes of bipolar disorder type I in children and teens. Currently there are no FDA approved medications for treating schizophrenia in children. Up until now, Lithium was the only [...]
Jane’s Note: Scott’s website is not accessible when I checked today [August 27th 2010]. I’m not sure whether it is a website problem or if Scott has taken his site offline. When Scott submitted his article series on therapy appointment to my mental health blog carnival, I excluded his entry from the carnival edition. I [...]
The FDA is warning consumers about unsafe drugs from internet “pharmacies”. The drugs listed from the FDA alert page includes psychiatric medications like Ambien, Xanax, Lexapro, and Ativan, which were not the drugs that the customer received, but were substances containing a powerful anti-psychotic called haloperidol. This has resulted in ER visits by consumer victims, [...]
