Posted by SLS on November 17, 2000, at 22:49:23
In reply to Re: No, but it should not be ignored., posted by Noa on November 16, 2000, at 16:01:56
Hi.
> That's what I have--insulin resistance. It is apparently a vicious cycle---insulin resistance leads to weight gain leads to more resistance, etc. Also, then, insulin resistance leads to hormone changes leads to more depression, menstrual irregularities, acne, infertility, etc. I have to start taking glucophage to break the cycle, although I know that increasing exercise has also been known to help a lot. But I guess my endo is worried about the diabetes developing.Diabetes is also a disease displaying a positive-feedback loop. High concentrations of blood glucose kills the insulin-producing cells of the pancrease known as the beta Islets of Langerhans.
fewer islets - > less insulin - > higher blood-sugar - > fewer islets - > less insulin - > higher blood-sugar - > fewer islets...
The higher and more chronic the elevation of blood glucose, the faster the insulin-producing cells of the pancrease die. I do not believe that these cells divide. There is but a limited number of beta-cells that you will depend on for the rest of your life. Therefore, controlling glucose can be a matter of life and death. I lost a cousin to diabetes, but not before she lost both legs.
Just thought I would mention it.
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I hope I got at least a C on my homework assignment.The research took me 3-4 hours. I don't mean to be facetious, but I don't remember coming across a single abstract on Medline devoted to reviewing *all* the diverse mechanisms that account for the weight-gain associated with the major classes of psychotropics. I am often amazed at how little attention is often paid to the most obvious and relevant of issues and phenomena.
It was somehow a let-down to see my 4 hours of research reduced to a few sentences. I tried to make the post as organized and concise as possible, as I thought it would be more informative and understandable that way. (Who am I trying to convince, anyway)?
The real reason for this post is to pose a question for others to follow-up on. It occurred to me that there might be an association between the atypical paradoxical weight gain produced by the SSRIs and treatment-resistance and/or specific symptomatic presentations. I can't help to consider the population of Psycho-Babblers to be skewed in the direction of treatment-resistance. In addition, atypical depression may be overrepresented. Perhaps SSRI-induced weight gain is a marker of treatment-resistance and possibly a criterion to use when choosing therapies.
Any thoughts?
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:48867
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001115/msgs/49001.html