Posted by danf on July 8, 2000, at 11:03:25
In reply to Re: tremors, lithium, mechanisms » danf, posted by SLS on July 8, 2000, at 8:28:05
scott,
Thank you for your kind words.
You posed some provocative questions for sure.
I do not know if Li & zyprexa tremors are different or mediated in a different way.
some thoughts. Li produces fine tremors usually. zyprexa, I don't know ? since Kerry had been on the same dose of Li for sometime & had not noticed tremor before, probably related to the zyp. The tremor induction may be additive with the 2 ?
anxiety induced tremor is adrenergic mediated & of the intention type. In my personal observation, focusing on a task where tremor was a hinderance made the tremor worse. at the same time BP & HR increased. BP & HR are good objective markers for adrenergic effects. Beta blockers counteract this effect very well.
No some thoughts about Li.
What we do know is that changes in lytes & lytes ratios affects different nerves in different ways. exactly which ones & where they are is unknown for Li.
The brain works as a giant complex electrical circuit. There are feed back loops. loops that stabilize, loops that sensitize. some drugs energize some nerves, some depress some.
Li at therapeutic levels affects some of the controls & appears to have a stabilizing overall effect. whether this releases some circuits that are depressed or depresses some circuits that are overactive is unknown.
It obviously affects multiple circuits as several different neurotransmitters have changes in concentration.
Whether the enzyme effects are direct ( & personally I doubt they are ) or indirect is unknown. Enzymes tend to be regulated by chemicals & not ions. ions usually have a work /no work function. Most of the ion effects are in general from trace elements, like cobalt, Mg, Iron, Chrome, Mn, Copper, etc.
So I expect that the enzyme /Li effects are due to chemicals released or not released by brain nerve endings. These chemicals may be neurotransmitters or proteins or other chemicals in the brain tissue.
It is quite a complex subject & very difficult to study. The amounts of chemicals can be quite small & low concentrations. One has to have a good guess ( theory ) as to what to look for before starting experiments or the right tests won't be done. Even the right tests may not be sensitive enough.
Isloated tissue studies may not give accurate results as interactions of different nerve types ( receptor types ) are involved in the overall result. There are probably other receptor types that are as yet unknown, along with other transmitters that may play a role.
A long winded, I don't know either.
Or better yet. I did know & forgot to write it down in my notebook. Then I got depressed & my memory went bad & I forgot it all ! LOL
Best wishes Scott, hope you find the right combo.
remember, eat a fish & help clean up the enviornment ! You know what those fish do in the water !
poster:danf
thread:39399
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000708/msgs/39792.html