Switching among antipsychotics--focus on side effects.
(26/198)
Depression is a disorder held responsible for high morbidity in the overall population. Causes of depression vary, but lifestyle and stress can greatly contribute to its morbidity. Consumption of antidepressants is showing a trend in the economically developed countries. Apart from antidepressants, the treatment of depression can consist of other psychopharmaca. Depending on the severity of a disorder, that is - of psychotic symptoms, antipsychotics can be introduced in the treatment. Among those atypical antipsychotics have an advantage. This paper will illustrate a course of treatment of a female patient, diagnosed with psychotic depression and treated with antipsychotics (i.e. olanzapine, ziprasidone), to which she developed side effects. To each of the antypsychotics the patient developed side effechts, causing in prolonged treatment and affected its course. (+info)
Hyperprolactinaemia with amisulpride.
(27/198)
Psychopharmaca are used in treatment of psychiatric illnesses and disorders, among other therapeutic possibilities. The choice of the psychopharmaca is determined by the specific psychopathology of the patient, within the diagnostic categories, according to the current classification of diseases and disorders. With the advances in pharmaco industry, the range of drugs used in the everyday clinical practice is occurring at a very rapid pace. Antipsychotic medications are used in treatment of mainly psychotic disorders. However, the new generation of antipsychotics, due to their specific receptor affinities, is sometimes used in treatment of affective disorders as well. We are reporting a case of a female patient who was hospitalized several times. Amisulpride was introduced in the treatment and due to a series of unfortunate events and changes that followed (i. e. frequent hospitalizations and changes of therapists, different mental institutions) dose of amisulpride was gradually increased to its antipsychotic doses, which did not help achieve therapeutic benefits, but serious side effects. (+info)
Treatment strategy in schizophrenia combined with eating disorder.
(28/198)
Like any other patient, a schizophrenic patient can get a physical illness, too. As such patients tend to ignore reality and neglect themselves and are stigmatized by society, due to which their physical symptomatology is often ignored, physical illness can remain undetected. If the schizophrenic patient is observed and adequate care is provided by the family, family doctor and a psychiatrist, it is possible to recognize the physical illness and intervene promptly. We are presenting a case of a female patient who has been treated for schizophrenia for a number of years. The treatment was mostly ambulatory (i.e. the patient was hospitalized twice) and consisted of first-generation antipsychotics. During the past two years, for reasons unknown, the patient stopped taking regular meals and as a result lost significant body weight, became apathetic and withdrawn, started avoiding social contacts and neglected personal hygiene. She reportedly took the psychopharmaca regularly, but rarely attended psychiatric follow-up consultations. Due to substantial weight loss and hypotonia, correction of antipsychotic was made and internist treatment administered. The choice of olanzapine was not an accidental one. We decided to take advantage of its side effect for the treatment of an anorectic syndrome. Interdisciplinary cooperation proved to be a justified decision. (+info)
According to current medical opinion chronic mental diseases such as schizophrenia require life-long treatment. The choice of antipsychotics is an important treatment factor, since their side-effects often influence patients' compliance with treatment. Severe side-effects may cause the patients to reject such treatment, the latter being their right. In case a psychiatrist does not agree with the patient's decision to interrupt his antipsychotic treatment regardless its serious side-effects, the former should be persistent in convincing the patient to replace such drug with a more appropriate therapy. (+info)
Weight gain induced with olanzapine in adolescent.
(30/198)
Children and adolescents are being treated with antipsychotics more often than before, although the risk of adverse events in this age group still remains unclear. Because of increased use of antipsychotics in children and adolescents, their endocrine and metabolic side-effects (weight gain, obesity, and related metabolic deviations) are of particular worrying, especially within pediatric and adolescent population that appears to be at greater risk comparing with adults for antipsychotic-induced metabolic adverse events. In this work we will present the course of treatment of an adolescent girl with psychotic symptoms, within the clinical diagnosis of Organic delusional disorder, who had a considerable weight gain after one year of olanzapine treatment. (+info)
Effect of transition from sitaxsentan to ambrisentan in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
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Hypereosinophilic syndrome with cardiac involvement in a pregnant patient with multiple sclerosis.
(32/198)
In hypereosinophilic syndrome, the sustained overproduction of eosinophils leads to the dysfunction of one or more organs. Symptoms vary in accordance with which organ is affected. Cardiac involvement leads to substantial morbidity and to most of the deaths that are associated with hypereosinophilic syndrome.Herein, we present the case of a 31-year-old woman, pregnant for 12 weeks and with a history of multiple sclerosis, who presented with transient vision loss and splinter hemorrhages in her fingernail beds. The diagnosis was hypereosinophilic syndrome with cardiac involvement. Echocardiography revealed 2 echodense structures: one that obliterated the left ventricular apex, and another in the basal lateral wall. The patient underwent therapy with prednisone and heparin but developed heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. This condition resolved when argatroban was substituted for heparin. Two weeks after the patient's release from the hospital, echocardiography revealed improvement in the echodense ventricular structures. The transient vision loss and the splinter hemorrhages were attributed to the hypereosinophilic syndrome.We believe that this is the 1st report of a pregnant patient with hypereosinophilic syndrome and cardiac involvement. (+info)