Health - Do anti-psychotics have any long-term effects on the structure of your brain?

[seeingred]

Do anti-psychotics have any long-term effects on the structure of your brain? Do they cause any possible damage? Drug Companies don't seem to list the risks. Swim wonders if long-term use of anti-psychotics might lead to brain-damage or dementia.

[OccularFantasm]

The administration of anti-pyschotic drugs can lead to many imbalences in the brain. As far as permanent damage goes, I am not sure. It may be possible from extensive long term use, but swim realy doesn't know. The antagonist effects at the dopamine receptor sites can have hazerdous effects however. For instance, dopamine is needed for numerous other functions that regulating human psychosis. Since the dopamine levels in the brain would be lessened, the production of both noradrenaline and adrenaline would be hampered. The bodies response to such an imbalence would be to create more dopamine. To do this the body synthesizes together phenylalanine and tyrosine. (The body doesn't understand there is constant administratin of dopamine anatagonists). From here the levels of tyrosine and phenylalanine start to become depleted. If levels get too low of adrenaline and noradrenaline, the body will adapt by going in and out of the fight or flight response. Excess of this type of abuse by the body can have phsyical symptoms similar to that of heavy amphetamine use, mainly a damaged central nervous system. Also, as far as the brain is concerned, antipsychotics will fuck with your perceptions and conciousness more than any other drug could ever do. The scary part, is the length of time for the symptoms to subside. There are more imbalences caused, but swim is too lazy to organize the rest and would have to look stuff up again.
Also, if you look at the printout sheet that comes with any antipsychotic, the list of adverse reactions and side effects is astoundingly long. If i recall, most are two full pages with TINY print. Basically the drug companies don't know what damage their product is going to cause, so they list everything in an effort to cover their ass.
Another side effect f such drugs would be indifference. It may not sound like much, but you will lose your ability to experiance pleasure. You will lose compassion for all humans and animals, everything. Probably not immediately, but it will fester its way to the surface. All the symptoms of HPPD are also possible from antipsychotic drugs. You also can get effects on your joints called cogwheeling. Often there is an adjunct medication given in such a scenaio,w hich carries its own list of harmful side effects. Also, with the fight or flight response, is a verry common impetus or anxiety attacks, especially where the individual is tired out from the medicine (after all they are tranquillizers), which makes it more difficult for the body to transcend into the fight stage. Also with the lack of ability to experiance pleasure, depression is fairly common. In fact, there is no study anywhere which proves anti-psychotics work any better than doing nothing. Odd, the pharmacuetical companies never advertise those things. All in all they are bad, and you should stay away from them. Oh, and dementia I have heard of, but not permanent, and not in all cases. Be prepared for psychosis however. Lots and lots of scary ass psychosis.

Oh yeah. Many of the antipsychotic medications, most actually, are neurotoxic. This means they do cause some sort of brain damage, however I am not the expert who can explain how the damage occurs or what site stuff happens at. I leave that to someone more organized and better versed on the topic

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Nice informative post.
	thank you. I haven't had antipsychs, but was curious on their action. your post was helpful
	Wow I'm totally glad to have stopped taking mines. Good post.
	this is sound advice for some people, but there is definite proof that they help alot for others

[seeingred]

Swim has been on seroquel for around seven months. The doctor didn't seem to understand that it was neither lessening the symptoms nor helping with depression. Instead it was causing depression. The doctor seemed to think it was a cure all thing and Swim discovered that the withdrawel from seroquel caused strange hallucinations such as words sliding around, painful skin prickling, and voices. Swim only was able to discontinue seroquel by starting abilify which got rid of the hallucinations seroquel initially had caused in the first place. The abilify helped correct some problems but swim realized after awhile that it was still causing sedation and lack of concentration. Swim took concerta for the concentration difficulties and then learned from someone else that it is not good for psychosis and can worsen it if you have what swim had been diagnosed as. Swim had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic.

The medications are necessary but swim has no idea if the schizophrenia is chronic/swim has always resisted meds because of being diagnosed at fifteen and forced onto psychiatric meds. In this case, swim knows there is a need for them but hates to take them, of course the psychiatrist never mentions any even possibility of an alternative. Swim has had a lot of the symptoms of being detached, but on abilify there's no psychosis at all...a lot of people have different views on mental illness. Schizophrenia is the most confusing diagnosis. When swim has ever wanted to stop taking them swim has been met with violence from all sides. Swim would have rather been crazy than been helped.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Realistic portrayl of pschiatric medication

[JarvyJarvison]

Originally Posted by seeingred

Do anti-psychotics have any long-term effects on the structure of your brain? Do they cause any possible damage? Drug Companies don't seem to list the risks. Swim wonders if long-term use of anti-psychotics might lead to brain-damage or dementia.

My friend read this and told me the following. He'd like me to forward it to you.

This isn't very scientific but I can tell you from personal experience that the answer to both of these questions is an emphatic YES! I was a normal college student before it all happened. I got straight A's in school, had lots of friends, and lots of hobbies and interests. One day I decided to quit smoking pot and drinking coffe (both of which I did to a rediculous extent). This resulted in me not being able to sleep for over a week and a subsequent nervous breakdown complete with delusions and possibly hallucinations. I ended up trying to kill myself.

I was hospitalized under the Baker Act, a Florida law which allows the state to incarcerate you in a mental facility for up to three days if you constitute a risk to yourself and others. They were very quick to diagnose me with Bipolar Type II without even talking to me and very minimal observation.

They prescribed me Abilify (ariprizole) which I took religiously. This drug decreased the psychotic symptoms but gave me severe akathesia and made it impossible to sleep. After staying awake 24/7 for almost a month even the effects of the aripirizole couldn't keep me sane. I ended up being forced into the hospital by my parents where I signed a contract which allowed them to keep me until the doctor said I was fit for release. This was the biggest mistake I've made in my entire life.

The hospital took me of the Abilify and put me an injection of Geodon (ziprazidone) and gave me Seroquel (quetiapine) at night which did allow me to sleep. I awoke the next day groggy as Hell and barely able to move. This is the first time I remember feeling like a zombie. I barely read or compose a thought and someone had to help me order my breakfast and dinner for the next day.

For whatever reason they switched me from Geodon (unknown dosage) to Depakote (divalproex) 500mg, Risperdal (risperidon) 3mg, and cogentin (benztropine), twice daily. At night they added Restoril (temazepam) to the mix to knock me out. These medications were supplimented with various medications that were given to me at different times for seemingly no reason and also a few unkown injections.

I spent 23 days in the hospital on this toxic cocktail. It was a living Hell. I was barely able to function on even the most basic level. I couldn't talk, think, do anything. I shuffled around the hospital all day speaking in one word sentences. The simplest tasks such as taking a shower or putting on my clothes became overwhelming chores. I was a complete zombie. I spoke in monotone, had absolutely no emotions, and the cognition of a lesser species. I remember once trying to learn how to play Hearts with some guys in the activity room. This was an exercise in complete futility. Despite all of this, my delusions (which I'm still not comfortable enough to go into) persisted and actually worsened. I still have a piece of paper where I tried to write down a list of tasks to get me through the most basic task: waking up in the morning. It read something like this:

1. Wake up
2. Put on socks
3. Get out of bed
4. Put on shirt
5. Get in shower

My brother said once I when I came to visit I was shuffling around and my pants fell down and I didnt even notice.

The hospital was the most terrible experience of my life. Everything was dictated by threats. "Take this medicine or we're gonna shoot it up your ass." "Eat your food or we're gonna strap you down to a table and shove a tube down your throat." "Take your medicine or we're going to mark you as non-compliant and put you in an institution."

Anyway, I finally got out of the hospital. God knows what criteria upon which they based their decision. I was much worse off leaving than I was entering the hospital. They had taken a normal kid with a severe case of sleep deprivation and turned him into a fucking zombie.

I continued my regimen of anti-psychotics under the supervison of my psychiatrist and my zombie-like state and delusions persisted for months afterward. When it became apparent that I was not getting any better from my medications the psychiatrist switched took me off of the Depakote and put me on Zyprexa (olanzapine) which I took with the Respridal and cogentin. Eventually he took me off of everything and put me on the Zyprexa alone. I started to regain a little bit of my previous cognitive ability but for all intents and purposes I was still a zombie.

It wasn't until I unilaterally took myself off of everything that I started to feel better. I did this despite the fact that my mother threatened me with putting me back into the hospital if I stopped. Well after a while I began to regain my animation and become something that resembled a human again. And, whadayaknow, my delusions started to go away too.

I took myself off of my medication somewhere in August or September. My state has improved to the point that I now percieve reality in the same way I always did before the psychotic episode and I have regained a lot of my cognitive ability. That being said, I have not regained my emotions. I am emotionally less complex than my dog. I can no longer feel love, compassion, happiness, satisfaction, enjoyment, comfort, elation, warmth, empathy. sympathy, fear, anxiety, rage, emotional attachment, or anything like that. I have trouble even telling my own mother I love her because I just don't feel it anymore. I can laugh occassionally but its usually no more than a "heh" and most of the time its more of a conditioned response than anything else. I've lost my sense of humor. I don't go out, I don't talk to my friends anymore, I don't watch televison, and music has no appeal to me anymore whatsoever. I have lost my completely lost my sex drive. I don't feel like I'll ever be able to excel in school again as I seem to have experienced a significant dulling of the intellect. I have a constant headache and ringing in my ears every waking moment. I sleep 12+ hours a night (or day depending on my sleep pattern of the week) and I still wake up feeling like shit.

The only emotions I realy feel anmymore are bitterness, hatred, and sadness. I feel bitter when I see normal people being laughing, being happy, and socializing. I feel hatred towards the hospital staff psychiatrist that ruined my life, and I feel sadness when I am reminded of my previous life and everything that I've lost.

In conclusion these are horrible drugs which took a smart, funny, vibrant young man and completely ruined his life. God only knows how many people are pacing around mental hospitals as a result of this garbage. The people who push this shit should be thrown in jail for murder. They took something from me more valuable than anything else on earth: my soul. I might as well be dead.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Thanks to you and your friend for sharing his story. Pretty insane.
	shows the arrogant and clinical nature of the mental health system. Still, I wonder what would have happened if he was m...
	Thank you for sharing that story, it affected me deeply and I hope he's doing alright. This was a really insightful stor...

[Ilsa]

Originally Posted by JarvyJarvison

My friend read this and told me the following. He'd like me to forward it to you.

yeah no shit. swim was in and out of those type hospitals when she was 14/15 years old. she won't bother listing the multitude of anti's they had her on at some point or another. then swim's parents decided to send her to a fundamentalist religious school. it was quite understaffed: 200 girls and 30 or so boys with maybe 15-20 staff, so they doped us all with thorazine to maintain control. swim knows this sounds crazy and probably paranoid, but one of he boys actually did manage to run away to his lawyer's house, got piss-tested and came up positive for thorazine on the tox screen. he won a lawsuit against the school for it a couple of years ago. all those meds, but esp thorazine, permanently and severely alter neurochemistry and even the architecture of the brain. swim can definitely pinpoint that time as a turning point in her overall mental health, and the staff at that school should all have been prosecuted for child abuse (the school itself moved five times, bc they had to leave mississippi, louisiana, missouri, florida and finally tennessee). many of the other girls swim is still intouch with have all (swim included) been diagnosed with chronic depression or bipolar, ptsd, and anxiety disorders.

neurochemistry is exquisitely delicately balanced and administering heavy-duty drugs like those should be done only if absolutely necessary. swim would go on, but it would be a long, gory narrative about consequences, lol.

[seeingred]

Hey, Swim knows what you've been through. Swim was constantly threatened in the hospitals swim was in. Swim's last stay was the least confrontational...as in confronted by people...but they really drove swim nuts. They questioned swim's sanity non-stop. The drugs caused swim to feel hopeless. Swim's been in institions when swim was fifteen, and it was a horrible experience. Swim had been in a boarding school and had a nervous breakdown so they hospitalized swimn....I don't know... swim still take anti-psychotics but honestly its because swim feel siem has no other choice.

[Ilsa]

Originally Posted by seeingred

Hey, Swim knows what you've been through. Swim was constantly threatened in the hospitals swim was in. Swim's last stay was the least confrontational...as in confronted by people...but they really drove swim nuts. They questioned swim's sanity non-stop. The drugs caused swim to feel hopeless. Swim's been in institions when swim was fifteen, and it was a horrible experience. Swim had been in a boarding school and had a nervous breakdown so they hospitalized swimn....I don't know... swim still take anti-psychotics but honestly its because swim feel siem has no other choice.

swim will try to avoid the soapbox and keep this succinct: don't ever give anyone the power to make you feel like you have no choice about your meds/treatment. don't outright question them--doctors hate that, esp the ones that presume to know more thab swiy about swiy does--but do swiyour own researchh and trust swiyour judgement about which, if any, ofthe meds are helping or not swim can so sympathize with ppl trying to question what she knows is best for herself and dicouraging her from making and trusting her own judgements. what have doc's said that makes swy feel swiy has no other options? swim knows that's personal so don't feel obliged to answer

[seeingred]

Originally Posted by ilsa

swim will try to avoid the soapbox and keep this succinct: don't ever give anyone the power to make you feel like you have no choice about your meds/treatment. don't outright question them--doctors hate that, esp the ones that presume to know more thab swiy about swiy does--but do swiyour own researchh and trust swiyour judgement about which, if any, ofthe meds are helping or not swim can so sympathize with ppl trying to question what she knows is best for herself and dicouraging her from making and trusting her own judgements. what have doc's said that makes swy feel swiy has no other options? swim knows that's personal so don't feel obliged to answer

Well, it was like a mind trip- Swim was told she was doing things that weren't true. Swim was told she was not remembering things and has an amazing memory since childhood. Swim quietly refused meds, and her father signed a release for to administer forced injections if she didn't comply with taking the geodon. the geodon made her a total zombie, was on 120 mgs, and could barely talk or breath. This scared swim, plus the things like being restrained in an emergency room at a standard hospital for trying to leavem all these things- just wont go away no matter how hard swim tries to make them go away, they just can[t or wont. Swim began hearing voices after being hospitalized, no help- no one will listen...wish there was some hope, other then drugs, xanaxx, meds, and anything to erase the memories and kill the pain.....swim was told she could refure the medications, then they just drugged her anyways.

Reputation Comments on this post:

keep your head up

[Ilsa]

Originally Posted by seeingred

Well, it was like a mind trip- Swim was told she was doing things that weren't true. Swim was told she was not remembering things and has an amazing memory since childhood. Swim quietly refused meds, and her father signed a release for to administer forced injections if she didn't comply with taking the geodon. the geodon made her a total zombie, was on 120 mgs, and could barely talk or breath. This scared swim, plus the things like being restrained in an emergency room at a standard hospital for trying to leavem all these things- just wont go away no matter how hard swim tries to make them go away, they just can[t or wont. Swim began hearing voices after being hospitalized, no help- no one will listen...wish there was some hope, other then drugs, xanaxx, meds, and anything to erase the memories and kill the pain.....swim was told she could refure the medications, then they just drugged her anyways.


seeingred added 5 Minutes and 46 Seconds later...

Oh wow! Yes I know how this feels, of course not to your experience. All are different. Thankyou for sharing something that I can relate to. I know how you feel, it was the same for me. But it wa smore than that- I was isolated in a room for over two days, called 'the quiet room' for singing, or things. I was molested, and I was also forced to drink thorazine. They forced me thorazine too much, and would leave me laying in a cold dark room called the quiet room, whenI was, get this, CATATONIC.

yeah, antipsychotics are particularly a bitch in an abusive situation. impaired memory function renders recollection of details fuzzy at best. so there's just this nasty vague feeling of dread and fear, knowing that in addition to being in a threatening environment against one's will, one's mental capacity is diminished as well, intensifying feelings of helplessness.

certain situations warrant the use of thorazine, thioridazine, etc. look at the side effects though: neuromuscular problems such as spasming and other forms of dystonia, movement disorders like pseudo-parkinsonism, seizures and even endocrine dysregulation. i have experienced some of these side effects as a result of being dosed illegally by staff at (get this!) the staff at a fundamental baptist boarding school. for the full list of side effects, google thorazine side effects.

[cybergenesis]

As far as I am aware long term use of anti psychotics has been associated with irreversible movement disorders, dementia and cognitive decline. Its also been associate with significant weight gain.

[doggy_hat]

Anti-psychotics are horrible drugs, I'd never recommend anyone to take them under any circumstances. They don't treat psychosis, all they do is destroy your ability to mentally function properly. The doctors can't legally kill you so they just pump you full of so many antipsychotics that you're mentally dead.

[oggy]

SWIM's been off the anti psychotics for about 3 months now and he still feels mentally dead. He had plenty energy before and he was going to the gym and cycling everywhere and it felt easy, the gym and cycling isn't as fun now and I have to drag myself out of bed in the mornings.

[cybergenesis]

They can also cause obesity. Not all of them, but the vast majority. Swim has literally seen people who were thin go onto antipsychotics and within 3-4 months become quite fat. In some people they cause an almost uncontrolable hunger, and because they also sedate people they tend to do a lot less exercise.

I always laugh when people think drugs like opiates should be illegal- opiates are a lot less nasty than most of the antipsychotics. At least the newer (atypical) antipsychotics are somewhat better.

Swim takes 100mg solian per day cause it acts as a mood stabaliser for Swim. This is probably the only antipsychotic swim has ever been on without side effects, though when he has tried larger doses it DOES have side effects and makes Swim feel like a zombie (towards 500-600mg). Some studies have shown low dose Solian 50-100mg useful for treating dysthymia (chronic long term but low grade depression) which Swim has been diagnosed with

[Matt The Funk]

SWIM won't say how much seroquel has fucked with his brain in the few years he has been on and off it (always put on it in psych wards, but once he's out and on it for a while he realizes why he took himself off it!) it has caused weird body movements for him and makes his body feel restless 24/7, he use to think it was anxiety, which is partially to blame, but even when not anxious it happens. Also when he takes it, it fucks with his blood sugar and makes him agitated and crave sweets, and it keeps him from experience almost ANY PLEASURE WHATSOEVER. Thats all he has to say about it for now though, but he could go ON AND ON AND ON about the horrible weird side-effects this drug has. And he keeps seeing it get pushed on more and more people, even kids! It's honestly disgusting. He doesn't even want to think about the horrible long-term side effects seroquel specifically, but all anti-psychotics have. He has been on all the atypical ones and can't say ANYTHING good about ANY of them, they can be helpful for a while though, if you have psychosis problems, but even then the side-effects end up being too harsh for SWIM.

[oggy]

Ok so they make you fat, extremely lethargic, even more depressed and do nothing for psychosis and they have some kind of permanent effect even after stopping them. What are these drugs really doing to the brain? Orlanzapine costs £5 per pill, that's £140 per 28 day box and £1825 per year for nothing but what sounds like brain damage and destroy your consciousness. They probably mess up your DNA and shrink the pineal gland.

[Matt The Funk]

Originally Posted by oggy

Ok so they make you fat, extremely lethargic, even more depressed and do nothing for psychosis and they have some kind of permanent effect even after stopping them. What are these drugs really doing to the brain? Orlanzapine costs £5 per pill, that's £140 per 28 day box and £1825 per year for nothing but what sounds like brain damage and destroy your consciousness. They probably mess up your DNA and shrink the pineal gland.

Long-term they don't do much for psychosis (as SWIM has seen many other patients who are on wayyy too many MG than should be allowed) who still have psychotic symptoms, but in short-term they help SWIM control the psychosis acompanied either with his severe depression, or when his mania gets too bad.

[seeingred]

Originally Posted by Matt The Funk

Long-term they don't do much for psychosis (as SWIM has seen many other patients who are on wayyy too many MG than should be allowed) who still have psychotic symptoms, but in short-term they help SWIM control the psychosis acompanied either with his severe depression, or when his mania gets too bad.

Swim has been trying to get off the anti-psychotics for awhile. Apparently the one SWIM has taken levels out swim's brain chemistry as a partial agonist and antagonist for certain receptors. It's all really a lot of mumbo jumbo that psychiatrists don't seem to want to explain, as if it's not what their job is. Swim doesn't have psychotic symptoms when swim has taken it, so it must be working. Swim will relate that swim's experience is of being super duper sensitive, spacy, and shy. Swim tried to ask the doctor about going off it with her help, and she said that it was against her professional advice, but for concentration she would talk about Ritalin in the next session. Aside from being treated like a child and taken advantage of there is nothing that can take back years and years of dependance on a psychotropic drug, not only physical, emotional, but also a mental and psychological need for the medication.

[SmokeRings]

SWIM was diagnosed with depression when she was 12. She has been in and out of talk therapy for about 20 years. A little more than a year ago, SWIM kinda flipped out really bad one weekend on a few friends and decided it was time to seek help once again. SWIM would go to talk therapy for a few months, never more than a year, feel better, and cease treatment.

She found a talk therapist and a pharmacologist. She wasn't too keen on taking anit-depressants or any other type drug, she had always felt she had a pretty good grip on the depression and going to talk therapy when time always seemed to work.
Well, this time, she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. She stupidly took their word as gospel, as her freak out was pretty bad, at least to her, so she was willing to do and try anything.

The pharmacologist quite honestly, she thinks, was seriously pocketing mad, mad cash from the pharm's, as she at one point was on:
1200mg Gabapentin
600mg Wellbutrin
300mg Lamictal
300mg Zoloft
20mg Lexapro
1mg Xanax
5mg Valium
IN A DAY! Yes folks, SWIM is not fibbing here, she religiously took these medications for about 6 months before she started complaining of various side effects. She had never felt WORSE! From diahrreah to night sweats to ringing in ears, to no sexual desires, no emotions, etc. It was ridiculous. The pharmacologist would ask HER which of the drugs she thought was causing the side effects. Yes, really. SWIMs doc would also have to be reminded each and every visit (at this point, once a week) what dose of what drug she was taking and what time of day/night was she taking said meds. Yes, asked this from the person who PRESCRIBED them!

SWIM finally lost it one day, did her research and asked that she be taken off everything and be put on Lithium only. Her doc obliged, although not totally willingly. SWIM basically told her it was either that, or she was going to ween herself and knew how dangerous that could/would be considering the amount of shit she was on.

Lithium didn't do shit either. None of it did. SWIM doesn't think she's bipolar at all anymore, well, to a certain extent. SWIM definitely has a lot of the characteristics, but she also does to a miriad of other "disorders and diseases" who friggin doesn't, right?

About 2 months ago SWIM went in and fired the pharmacologist as well as the talk therapist. While she loved her talk therapist, he wasn't really paying attention to her meds (which is also alarming, especially since it was same practice, he had access to the files!) and it was awesome. She literally freaked OUT on the pharmacologist, told her to go back to Russia and screw up some of her "own" (SWIM is not racist, she was just REALLY fed up) that maybe she should take the same amount of meds and tell SWIM if she didnt' feel like shit, have major side effects, etc. Surprisingly, the doc actually tried to get SWIM to try something DIFFERENT! Yes, no shit, while SWIM is freaking out, basically telling her off, the doc is STILL trying to medicate her! Seroquel and Prystique to be exact!

SWIM thinks her depression took a MAJOR turn for the worse, was in a bad relationship and she just lost it and took it out on friends, it just all happened one weekend. SWIM really doesn't have any mania, except when she uses meth! hahaha In all seriousness, SWIM really does believe that the medical profession is quick to label anyone with all kinds of shit, prescribe drugs that they really know little to nothing about, pile drug on top of drug, and have no qualms about what they are doing and how they could quite possibly screw one up their patients worse. SWIM hopes that they aren't all getting pay offs from the pharm. reps, but SWIM is a pessimist. SWIM has little faith in humanity, as we are all capable of corruption. Sad but true.

SWIM would like to say in closing to the kid who is not feeling emotions, you said yourself you feel bitter and angry, those are emotions, so all is not lost! You are going through major withdrawl and are depressed over your experience. It's NORMAL to not feel anything other than those negative emotions after something like you went through. Don't let one experience control the rest of your life. You can feel again, you just have to allow yourself to. It's very, very scary, SWIM relates, but if these drugs truly did screw you up for life, you wouldn't feel ANY emotions at all. Positive or negative! Keep your chin up. Trust is earned, not given out, no one should feel they have to trust anyone, not even family. SWIM has faith that you will regain your life back, it just might take some time!

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good advice!

[Alfa]

The OP asked the question: "Do anti-psychotics have any long-term effects on the structure of your brain?", which is the topic of this thread. Where did you address that question?

I doubt it is addressed to you alone. This thread has seriously gone off topic and I doubt it can be repaired.

[oggy]

Originally Posted by Alfa

The OP asked the question: "Do anti-psychotics have any long-term effects on the structure of your brain?", which is the topic of this thread. Where did you address that question?

Originally Posted by Jatelka

This is a thread about "The Effects of antipsychotics on the brain", and it HAS gone seriously off topic.

Ahh the confusion!

Well long term, it took SWIM about 3 months after stopping the anti psychotics to feel normal again but I don't have a clue what it done to the structure of SWIM's brain. Maybe it shrunk his pineal gland. Who really knows unless someone volunteers to have a brain autopsy after long term usage. But SWIM feels happy and back to normal again, which is still a bit freaky sometimes but its not bad nor is it good, its SWIM's new philosophy, what does the vinegar taste like? The Buddha would say it tastes bad, SWIM says it tastes like vinegar.

[Princess]

SWIM was put on Risperdal for off label use at age 14. SWIM had generalized anxiety disorder and when SWIM was put on stimulants for ADD, the stimulants made SWIM very hyperactive and changed SWIM's personality. SWIM was put on Risperdal, a dangerous antipsychotic to get rid of the hyperactive behavior induced by the ADD drugs that SWIM didn't have before. It affected sWIM's brain a lot. SWIM changed a lot from the Risperdal and wasn't able to go back to the person SWIM was before. SWIM thinks that Risperdal has caused some type of cognitive damage, but SWIM isn't sure. SWIM definetely changed after being on Risperdal. SWIM doesn't know what changed, but SWIM is very upset that SWIM was put on Risperdal at age 14 for off label use. SWIM was on three antipsychotics as a teenager, Risperdal, Abilify and Seroquel. SWIM wants toknow exactly what the Risperdal didbut wasn't sure. SWIM definetely was "dumber" after the antipsychotics than before, but SWIM doesn't know what or how. SWIM is really upset about how these doctors prescribed antipsychotics to SWIM at ayoung age so quickly.

[Ilsa]

^^ although my cat is not familiar with risperdal per se, she is EMPHATICALLY against administering such strong and potentially development-stunting drugs as these. as someone who was illegally and forcefully administered thorazine as a 15 yo, she can identify with swiy's situation--no one who is so young should be administered anti's of most sorts, as the brain is not finished developing and this sort of chemical intervention can cause aberrant/stunted neurological develpment. it will come back (the cognitive function), she promises, as she went on to complete college and is on grad school now. it WILL get better.

disclaimer: obviously if a younger person is dangerously out of control use of these sorts of drugs are appropriate, simply for lack of a better alternative.

[Princess]

Oh, SWIM thinks SWIM made a misunderstanding in the post. SWIM does not have a cognitive function problem now, SWIM thinks fine and hasn't had any brain damage that SWIM knows about, SWIM just thinks that it might have affected SWIM's brain seven years ago, but SWIM doesn't know for sure. SWIM luckily wasn't affected emotionally, SWIM is a very emotional person and has a wide range of emotions, no antipsychotics could change that. SWIM also thinks right and doesn't have brain damage or any knwon cognitive impairment. However, SWIM did notice that some things have changed since Risperdal. It's been seven years, but SWIM remembers after Risperdal, SWIM just felt a bit different. SWIM just noticed some personality changes. SWIM isn't sure what they were. Risperdal did a lot of things to SWIM physically, but SWIM isn't sure what it did mentally. SWIM is still normal and emotional, but it's more like SWIM's personality was different before and after the Risperdal. SWIM isn't sure what, though. SWIM had a lot of bad side effects from Risperdal, but SWIM doesn't know what it did mentally long term. SWIM was on medication for so long that SWIM doesn't know if Risperdal changed SWIM's personality or if it was do to all the different medications. SWIM's personality would change from shy to outgoing to shy and SWIM's personality was influence by what presciption drugs SWIM was on. SWIM will go into more detail later. SWIM just felt less confident and secure after Risperdal. SWIM has to go but will explain more.

[ormagus]

Psychological Medicine Cambridge University Press

Do antipsychotic drugs affect brain structure? A systematic and critical review of MRI findings
S. Navaria and P. Dazzana
Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Section of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Biotechnology, University of Pisa, Italy

Abstract

Background The potential effects of antipsychotic drugs on brain structure represent a key factor in understanding neuroanatomical changes in psychosis. This review addresses two issues: (1) do antipsychotic medications induce changes in total or regional human brain volumes and (2) do such effects depend on antipsychotic type?

Method A systematic review of studies reporting structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures: (1) directly in association with antipsychotic use; and (2) in patients receiving lifetime treatment with antipsychotics in comparison with drug-naive patients or healthy controls. We searched Medline and EMBASE databases using the medical subject heading terms: ‘antipsychotics’ AND ‘brain’ AND (MRI NOT functional). The search included studies published up to 31 January 2007. Wherever possible, we reported the effect size of the difference observed.

Results Thirty-three studies met our inclusion criteria. The results suggest that antipsychotics act regionally rather than globally on the brain. These volumetric changes are of a greater magnitude in association with typical than with atypical antipsychotic use. Indeed, there is evidence of a specific effect of antipsychotic type on the basal ganglia, with typicals specifically increasing the volume of these structures. Differential effects of antipsychotic type may also be present on the thalamus and the cortex, but data on these and other brain areas are more equivocal.

Conclusions Antipsychotic treatment potentially contributes to the brain structural changes observed in psychosis. Future research should take into account these potential effects, and use adequate sample sizes, to allow improved interpretation of neuroimaging findings in these disorders.



Also see Chapters 2 and 5 in Peter Breggin's book "Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry"


You can read Chapters 2 and 5 for free through Google Books.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Excellent find, please upload the paper to the file archive.

[ormagus]

Am J Psychiatry 156:1200-1204, August 1999
© 1999

[top]Regular Article

[top] Change in Basal Ganglia Volume Over 2 Years in Patients With Schizophrenia: Typical Versus Atypical Neuroleptics

Patricia Westmoreland Corson, M.D., Peg Nopoulos, M.D., Del D. Miller, Pharm.D., M.D., Stephan Arndt, Ph.D., and Nancy C. Andreasen, M.D., Ph.D


OBJECTIVE: For many years, it has been assumed that medications affect brain chemistry and physiology but not structure. Recent reports suggest that neuroleptic medication changes basal ganglia volume. To explore this possibility, the authors assessed for basal ganglia volume change in individuals who had their basal ganglia structures delineated and measured on magnetic resonance scans at the beginning and end of a 2-year period and who received neuroleptic medication during this time. METHOD: The basal ganglia volumes of 23 male patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were measured from manual traces delineating the caudate and lenticular nucleus on magnetic resonance images at admission and 2 years later. Patients' neuroleptic exposure was calculated over the 2 years by using a dose-year formula. RESULTS: During the 2-year period, mean basal ganglia volume of patients receiving predominantly typical neuroleptics increased, while the opposite was observed for patients receiving mostly atypical neuroleptics. Correlation analysis for the entire group showed a positive relationship between the 2-year exposure to typical neuroleptic medication and change in basal ganglia volume and the reverse for exposure to atypical neuroleptics. CONCLUSIONS: In this group, basal ganglia volume increased following exposure to typical neuroleptics and decreased following exposure to atypical neuroleptics.