Shown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by temoigneur on December 19, 2005, at 1:26:54
Is Aripirazole truly effective in regulating dopamine dysfunction in schizophrenia/affective, for some? I would think it was a wonder drug, but I haven't personally read any phenominal testimonies. Does it do what this article says for anyone?
http://www2.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100005085.html
"Aripiprazole works by acting on various receptors in the brain, particularly dopamine receptors. Dopamine is a natural compound called a neurotransmitter, and is involved in transmitting messages between brain cells. Psychotic illness is considered to be caused by disturbances in the activity of dopamine in the brain. Aripiprazole works mainly by stabilising the dopamine activity in the brain.Schizophrenic patients may experience 'positive symptoms' (such as hallucinations, delusions and hostility) and/or 'negative symptoms' (such as lack of emotion and social isolation).
The positive symptoms are thought to be due to overactivity of dopamine in certain areas of the brain. Aripiprazole blocks the dopamine receptors in these areas and so prevents the overactivity. This helps control the positive symptoms of the disease.
The negative symptoms, as well as cognitive symptoms such as memory loss and poor attention, are considered to be due to underactivity of dopamine in other areas of the brain. In these areas, aripiprazole stimulates the dopamine receptors. This mimics the activity of dopamine in these areas of the brain and so improves their activity. This helps relieve the negative and cognitive symptoms.
Aripiprazole may be less likely to cause the usual side effects of antipsychotic medicines, such as Parkinson-like symptoms and raised levels of the hormone prolactin. These side effects happen because the older antipsychotics decrease dopamine activity throughout the brain. However, aripiprazole blocks dopamine activity in areas where it is too high, but increases it in areas where it is too low, and so may avoid these problems."
Posted by med_empowered on December 19, 2005, at 3:27:37
In reply to Abilify; does it do this?, posted by temoigneur on December 19, 2005, at 1:26:54
hi! Yes, Abilify does **seem** to "modify" dopamine levels (moving them up and down), whereas other antipsychotics seem to pretty much reduce dopamine levels. Abilify also **seems** to have a similar action on serotonin...its worth noting that no one really knows how exactly Abilify works, and all the observations are based on lab animals and lab studies.
Abilify seems to have lower EPS than other antipsychotics (atypical and traditional), especially at lower doses. The TD risk with Abilify is **probably** relatively low, as with the other atypicals..however, its a new drug, so it will be several years before the TD rate is actually known.
Posted by Phillipa on December 19, 2005, at 19:54:10
In reply to Re: Abilify; does it do this?, posted by med_empowered on December 19, 2005, at 3:27:37
How is hallucinations, delusions considered a posititive effect? Very confusing. Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by med_empowered on December 20, 2005, at 6:10:45
In reply to Re: Abilify; does it do this?, posted by Phillipa on December 19, 2005, at 19:54:10
I think the idea is that "positive symptoms" are those obvious, blatantly psychotic signs of schizophrenia. The "negative symptoms" tend to be more nuanced and less psychotic than crippling (extreme isolation, poverty of thought). Some researchers are expanding this into analyzing bipolar psychosis and bipolar disorder in general, since docs now think the two disorders (shizophrenia and bipolar) have significant overlap (which would explain schizoaffective disorder).
Posted by xbunny on December 20, 2005, at 6:27:19
In reply to Re: Abilify; does it do this?, posted by Phillipa on December 19, 2005, at 19:54:10
> How is hallucinations, delusions considered a posititive effect? Very confusing. Fondly, Phillipa
They are called 'positive symptoms' because they add to the experience of the sufferer. Coversely 'negative symptoms' such as blunted effect are called thus because they subtract from the experience of the sufferer. Buns
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD, bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.