Posted by sk85 on December 6, 2010, at 8:23:45
In reply to Re: Seroquel for unipolar depression » sk85, posted by ace on December 6, 2010, at 6:06:14
> It's not good at all that you suffered that. Have you reported it? I really urge you too if you not.
I'm not the first case of dystonia after Prozac. I've found papers reporting this in other people too. Some people get akathisia, others dyskinesia. But its all related to dopamine.
> But they also act on dopmaine, which I suspect could be behind your EPS.
> Their was a MD, forgot his name- have to look it up- he pointed out that SSRI's reduce brain dopamine in the substantia nigra....he mentioned at a certain age we already have such a reduced level, ex SSRI users could be dealing with Parkinson's etcI agree it's certainly dopamine. When this EPS horror hit me I researched months to find out why this happened. SSRIs apparently reduce dopamine in the brain's motor related areas (whereas the older APs block its effect). I understood that once the motor symptoms (spasms, involuntary movements) start the damage is done, because by reducing dopamine in those areas the very delicate receptor balance (dopamine D1 and D2) is messed up.
>But that is going to hit serotonin, and Seroquel is already messing with your DA levels.
> Are you using anything to treat the dystonia?Actually contrary to widespread beliefs that Seroquel is relatively antidopaminergic like all the other APs, in lower doses it pretty much hasn't got an effect on DA. It was even shown that its antipsychotic activity is not related to its DA activity and remains unknown. And what's more compared to drugs like olanzapine, risperidone Seroquel does not alter dopamine receptor balance in the brain's motor areas.
I'm getting botox injections for the afflicted muscles, but because so many different muscles are involved, it's having only the slightest effect. Also tried CoQ10 which helped but it's effects waned.
And this brings me back to Seroquel again as once I found there were reports that Seroquel has been found to be helpful in cases of tardive dystonia (i.e the drug induced form) I asked my psychiatrist to try this option. And so far I can report that it has made it somewhat better (I'd say 30%). Supposedly it antagonizes serotonin's dopamine reducing effect and thus protects against possible motor complications brought on by serotonin.
poster:sk85
thread:972589
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101203/msgs/972673.html