Posted by yxibow on May 24, 2008, at 14:55:42
In reply to Zyprexa?, posted by Bob on May 23, 2008, at 22:16:52
> Is Zyprexa widely used on a continual basis by many people here? For some reason I get the feeling that it is more commonly used on an intermittent as needed basis these days due to the diabetes, sedation, and weight issues.
>
> If there are people here using it continually, are there any measures one can take to fight these drawbacks? Also, what exactly does this med do for people? I know it's an AAP, but it seems to be for other things like as an augmentation for AP's etc.
atypicals, or any neuroleptic, with the exception of Reglan (Metoclopramide) for anti-emesis are usually -NOT- taken on an as-is basis unless one is already taking an established dose and needs to adjust occasionally. For acute mania episodes, sometimes its only taken for a period of months. But abruptly starting and stopping and starting APs can cause multiple WDs, withdrawal dyskinesias and multiple IDs, initial dyskinesias.
Yes, some more simple health systems still rely on the old "Vitamin H" (haldol) or similar agents in hospitals, or depot injections, mostly for clients who are at a risk to themselves and others (a fraction of people) and are not taking their medication. But that is a time release.Fighting the drawbacks of APs are a hard thing to do, I know. I used to do a lot of exercise but with a lot of things going and shifting in my life I haven't. I should just go around the block though or jog a little. Low impact things too -- bicycling and swimming are activities.
Ultimately if there is a large weight gain and a diabetes fasting glucose test shows some activity, another one has to be substituted if it is necessary. Some people have no problems with Zyprexa, some none with Seroquel, as for the diabetes issue.
It can be a non starter. But using intermittently will still produce gain anyhow, just a lot of other problems. Sedation is always there with a lot of the atypicals. Non medical interventions can be taken to minimize this as much as one can do as I said.
One thing that is important if exercise is not done regularly, is to see how much one is actually eating in the day. I've tried to do that --- as a vegetarian my problem is that a lot of things have carbohydrates so I have to keep that in check and ratio. Also, just sheer calories will change things.Its unclear as a chicken and egg thing but the weight gain can be due for both reasons, lipid changes and simply being much more hungry, very slowly, without attempting to pull back from the table. Its not one's fault. And this can be said with Remeron and similar agents too.
Basically you would approximate how many calories required to keep an average sedate person from staying their same weight, remove a few hundred, and compensate a little more for the medicine and then see how much you're eating in the day and try to stay in that area.
hope that helps
poster:yxibow
thread:830814
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080519/msgs/830904.html