Posted by Else on July 18, 2001, at 18:56:26
In reply to Re: Thorazine and brain damage » Else, posted by Elizabeth on July 18, 2001, at 17:53:50
Wouldn't dopamine blockade cause further sedation? I figured since drugs like amphetamines promote alertness by stimulating dopamine and noradrenaline release, then blocking these receptors would do the opposite (make you drowsy) regardless of antihistamine effect. Of course I know very little about anti-psychotics so I'm only guessing. I just saw my brother look like a vegetable on Risperdal and assumed it was sedation since he wasn't psychotic, just hysterical (in the vaguest sense of the word, he threw little tantrums and my parents wanted to make him more manageable). Anyway.
> > I took a phenothiazine called Histantil once as a sleeping aid, I don't know if that's the US name. It is chemically related to Thorazine although it is marketed as an anti-emetic. The generic product is called promethazine I think.
>
> Phenergan is the common brand name in the US. Promethazine is a phenothiazine but isn't much of a dopamine antagonist like Thorazine is, which is why it's not used as an antipsychotic. It's just a very strong antihistamine.
>
> > Anyway. It knocked me out cold for 18 hours and I was depressed for 3 or for days after that.
>
> Sounds like you should avoid centrally-acting ("drowsy") antihistamines, then.
>
> > I hate these drugs. And I only took 1 pill of the smallest dose possible (25 mg). I can only nimagine what Thorazine must be like.
>
> Thorazine would probably be different (in a not-necessarily-pleasant way) since it's a dopamine antagonist (that's what makes it an antipsychotic) as well as an antihistamines. Some phenothiazines are more sedating than others (Thorazine is one of the more sedating ones); the sedation is due to various pharmacologic actions.
>
> -elizabeth
poster:Else
thread:69927
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010714/msgs/70717.html