HealthyPlace.com

About Us
Site Map
Help
Advertisers
Tools
Contact Us

Information

Diseases and Conditions
Psychiatric Medications
Online Psychological Tests
HealthyPlace.com Films
Mental Health Videos
Bookstore
Resource Phone Numbers

Community & Events

Bulletin Boards
Chat Rooms
Diaries - Journals
HealthyPlace.com Radio
Online Support Groups

send this page to a friend

advertisement

HealthyPlace.com Newsletter

This Week - May 19, 2003

We have a special favor to ask this week. If you, a family member or friend have a thought disorder like schizophrenia, or if you are a caregiver to someone with a thought disorder, could you please take a very short survey from one of our sponsors? Go here, and at the top of the page you'll see a blue banner. Click on it to take the survey. As a reward, 1 in every 100 people completing the survey gets $100. Thank you. (P.S. A separate window opens, so you'll be able to come back here and read the newsletter.)

There's plenty of news coming out of the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. This week's newsletter focuses on that.

1. SSRIs safe while nursing
2. Zyprexa may reduce bipolar relapse rates
3. Abilify study: antipsychotic helps with acute bipolar mania
4. Schizophrenics may be prone to diabetes vs. antipsychotics causing diabetes
5. Abilify users lose weight while Zyprexa users gain
6. In Abusive Relationship But Feel Stuck
7. Thought for today

SSRIs Safe While Nursing

Findings on 23 nursing women and their babies indicate taking SSRIs while breastfeeding is okay

Tests of five different selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) show they do not enter a mother's milk, so nursing women can safely take these medications to treat postpartum depression.

Find out more here.

Sponsor Message:

Olanzapine (Zyprexa) May Delay and Reduce Rates of Manic and Depressive Relapse in Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Relapse Can Be Devastating to People with Bipolar Disorder

A landmark, placebo-controlled study presented today at the American Psychiatric Association's 156th annual meeting in San Francisco, suggests that olanzapine may be useful in delaying relapse of both manic and depressive episodes of bipolar disorder. Olanzapine is the only agent other than lithium to demonstrate that it may delay relapse to both poles of bipolar disorder in a placebo-controlled, double-blind study.

"The major challenge in the management of bipolar disorder is how to maintain mood stability over the long haul, once the manic or depressive episode is resolved," said Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, Director, Center on Neuroscience, Medical Progress, and Society, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC. "These results with olanzapine are encouraging, especially in light of another recent study in which olanzapine demonstrated lower rates of relapse into mania than lithium, the gold standard mood stabilizer."

Olanzapine is currently indicated for the short-term treatment of acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder, and is under review by the FDA for long-term maintenance of response in the treatment of bipolar disorder.

In the double-blind study, 361 patients with bipolar disorder were randomly selected to receive either olanzapine (n=225) or placebo (n=136) for 52 weeks after achieving remission during a six to 12-week period of open-label treatment with olanzapine.

• Time to relapse of either mania or depression was significantly longer for olanzapine patients than placebo-treated patients (median times: 174 days versus 22 days).
• Compared with the placebo group, olanzapine-treated patients had a significantly lower rate of either a mania (16.4 percent, olanzapine vs. 41.2 percent, placebo) or depression relapse (34.7 percent vs. 47.8 percent).
• Olanzapine also delayed relapse in the subgroup of "rapid-cycling patients." Rapid-cycling patients (patients with four or more episodes of either mania or depression per year) taking olanzapine had a bipolar relapse rate of 49 percent, compared to 87 percent in those on placebo. Stability is particularly elusive for rapid-cycling patients, providing significant challenges to clinicians treating these patients.

"Relapse into mania or depression can be devastating to a person with bipolar disorder, shattering the confidence that the patient has in himself as well as the relationship he has with his physician," said Mauricio Tohen, MD, Dr. PH, Lilly Clinical Research Fellow, Lilly Research Laboratories. "Furthermore, more than half of the patients in this study were rapid-cycling patients - a particularly difficult-to-treat group. Olanzapine is the first treatment to delay relapse in patients with a rapid cycling course in a placebo-controlled double-blind study, making these results even more important," he added.

Common and significant adverse events for the olanzapine group were weight gain, fatigue and inner and outer restlessness (akathisia).

Results From New Clinical Studies: Aripiprazole Significantly Improved Symptoms of Acute Bipolar Mania

Patients with bipolar disorder experiencing an acute manic episode who received treatment with aripiprazole showed significant improvement in their symptoms and significantly higher response rates compared to either haloperidol or placebo.
Continued

Sponsor Message:

But Do Zyprexa and Other Antipsychotics Increase Risk of Diabetes in Schizophrenic Patients?

Not according to a new study from Eli Lilly and Company, manufacturers of Zyprexa.

Zyprexa has been at the center of controversy recently with several prominent publications questioning whether Zyprexa causes diabetes in Schizophrenic patients who take it. The results of the study are here. You'll also find stories on the Zyprexa-diabetes controversy linked from that page.

Abilify (Aripiprazole) Demonstrates Better Weight Change Profile Than Olanzapine (Zyprexa)

A new study showed that a significantly greater number of patients with schizophrenia who were treated with olanzapine (Zyprexa) experienced clinically significant weight gain compared to aripiprazole (Abilify). Patients completing the study who were treated with aripiprazole showed a mean weight decrease of 1.37 kg (-3.01 lbs), while patients treated with olanzapine gained an average of 4.23 kg (+9.3 lbs). Differences favoring aripiprazole were observed in the incidence rates for elevated total cholesterol, LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and triglyceride levels. Details here

Sponsor Message:

Bulletin Board:
In Abusive Relationship But Feel Stuck

missc123:

"I live with my boyfriend. I have no promise of security anywhere. I am unhappy here, but I am afraid to move on. He is manipulative and possesive. What can I do?"

Can you help missc123? Respond here .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here's something to think about...

Howard Roark laughed. He stood naked at the edge of a cliff... {opening line from 'The Fountainhead'} - Ayn Rand

From all of us here at HealthyPlace.com, we hope you have a good week.

Previous Newsletters

• May 12, 2003
• April 28, 2003
• April 14, 2003
• March 31, 2003
• March 24, 2003
• March 12, 2003

top ~ send this page to a friend

HealthyPlace.com Homepage
Chat ~ Forums ~ Communities
HealthyPlace.com Films ~ HealthyPlace.com Radio ~ News
Site Map ~ Web Tour ~ Advertise ~ Email Us
send this page to a friend

© 2000-2008 HealthyPlace.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use Privacy Policy Disclaimer Advertising Policy