Cacstromethorphan Case Studies

Help! The emergency 911 call goes “My child is having one of his psychotic episodes and I don’t know what to do!” A mother’s plea for help as she watches her teenage son’s manic episodes unfold; what is a mother to do? Since then, the teenager has been prescribed several antipsychotic drugs such as Aripiprazole (Abilify), thereafter, Risperidone (Risperdal) and a sleuth of others, but none curtails or controls his mood disorder until he is prescribed Depakote. Confused and perplexed, Depakote is an anti-seizure and an anti-psychotic drug that works by increasing the amount of a special neurotransmitter in the brain (drugwatch.com, nd).

All antidepressants work in a similar way, though there are various types of antidepressants—often called “families”—that each work a bit differently. They all, however, increase the brain’s concentration of various neurotransmitters. Antidepressants are psychiatric medications given to patients with depressive disorders to alleviate symptoms. They correct chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters in the brain which probably cause changes in mood and behavior. Antidepressants may be used for a wide range of psychiatric conditions, including social anxiety disorder, anxiety disorders. Antidepressants were initially developed in the 1950s. Their use has become progressively more common over the last twenty years. Generally speaking, anti­psychotic

Results obtained in the recent years give some hope that ketamine which is a global NMDAR antagonist could be the fast and long- acting novel antidepressant. Antidepressant–like activity of ketamine was shown in many preclinical studies (1–7). The single non-anesthetic dose of ketamine reversed symptoms of major depression (MDD) in clinical conditions (8). These antidepressant effects of ketamine also occurred in patients who suffered from resistant depression or suicidal ideations (9–12). Despite a successful

Individuals all over the world suffer with clinical depression, which affect their quality of life. Depression usually affects a person’s emotions, thoughts, behaviors and overall physical health. Symptoms include sadness, guilt, moodiness, loss of interest, with drawling from people, changes in sleep, decrease in sex drive, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide. The common antidepressants take at least a two-week period to take effect; that two-week period is a critical time where a patient can increase their symptoms and experience suicidal depression. The party drug, known as ketamine has recently made a big impression for neuroscientists trying to formulate a medication to help those who suffer from clinical depression in a rapid time frame. A key element in the advancement for faster medications is realizing how and why, ketamine works so quickly, in comparison to the other generic drugs that are prescribed. According to Newport, a dose of the nonselective N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine can produce a constant antidepressant effect within hours. With the amount of experiments being conducted to expand the knowledge of ketamine, the objective is to find a solution that can be used to relieve the patients who experience serious symptoms in the fastest time possible.

The belief is that antidepressants work by increasing levels of a group of chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. Certain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and noradrenaline, can improve mood and emotion, although we do not yet fully understand this process

Lastly, what effects to antidepressants have on mood, behavior, and suicidal tendencies? In her article, ‘The Hidden Harm of Antidepressants’, Diana Kwon, a science writer with a Master’s degree for McGill University in neuroscience, she reviews several studies about the use of antidepressants, and had found the safety data on some of these drugs have been withheld from the public. She mentions research done in Copenhagen by some researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Center, and how they discovered that “pharmaceutical companies were not presenting the full extent of serious harm in clinical study reports…” (Kwon para 2). These clinical study reports are then used by people at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve or deny new

In 2005 the Center of Disease Control and Prevention 's (CDC’s) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) tracked Americans using antidepressants for three years. The study concluded in 2008 that more than 1 in 10 Americans ages 12 and older have used an antidepressant drug. This study comes in the wake of a heated debate in the media about the effectiveness of antidepressants treating depression. Last year, antidepressants were the second most commonly prescribed medication, right behind drugs directed to lower cholesterol. With so many people in the United States relying on these drugs, it is easy to question if they are just expensive, overused placebos.

Some of the most common antidepressants include Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft, Paxil, Remeron and Effexor, these come capsules or tablets, studies show that the effects of these drugs can include: Nervousness and anxiety, Insomnia, Irritability, Violent thoughts and actions, Agitation, Hostility, Suicidal thoughts or suicide, Tremors, Irregular heartbeat, Aggression, Confusion and incoherent thoughts, Paranoia, Hallucinations, Psychosis,

Multiple studies have linked the long-term use of antidepressant drugs with a significant term, “emotional blunting” in both men and women. Basically what emotional blunting does to the average individual, is it can make patients have a new sense of

Pharmaceuticals are a very popular method of curing depression. Although they are popular these drugs show little to no progress in curing depression. In the article, "Taking Anti-Depressant Medication: A Qualitative Examination of Internet Postings,” proves this. The article gives accounts of multiple patients who have taken the medication and recorded their results. One patient states, “It seems like I’m about five times as anxious/depressed as I was pre-Paroxetine”. (353). Research proves that pharmaceuticals do not help individuals with their depression, but in fact cause it to worsen. The studies shows that many individuals receive a

In 1995, Depakote was approved by the FDA for the treatment of bipolar disorder and is slowing becoming the most widely prescribed drug for the use on mania. Depakote hasn't totally replaced lithium; however, it is being used on patients that were not previously treatable with lithium. Compared with lithium, Depakote doesn't have all the bad side effects when properly administered. Patients taking Depakote find their thinking is clearer and don't seems to have the kidney and thyroid problems (Burns 104-106). The antipsychotic drug Clozaril also has been used to stabilize the moods of bipolar disorders, especially those that have not responded to lithium and the anticonvulsants. One major side effect of Clozaril is that is suppresses the production of white blood cells on about 1% of patients (Harvard Mental Health Letter, June 1997). Because of this side effect, doctors have to be extremely careful when prescribing.

Antidepressants are used when the symptoms of a sufferer of anxiety or depression are persistent and severe. Anxiety is the general term used to describe an array of disorders that cause intense fear, apprehension, and distress (Cassiday, 2016). A depressive disorder is a disorder that causes persistent sadness and loss of hope and interest in life (Malhi et al., 2015). As antidepressants tend to have side effects whereas many other treatments do not, a sufferer of anxiety will commonly be initially treated with cognitive-behavioural therapy or other forms of talking therapy, meditation, exercise, and healthy eating if these treatments are not effective a patient will be considered to be prescribed medication (Cassiday, 2016). However patients that are prescribed antidepressants additionally are typically treated with other therapies, as the combination of different remedies is almost always far more effective than only one (Sethi, 2012).

When one has  a major depressive disorder they can exhibit several behaviors such as depressed mood, feel guilt or shame, suicidal thoughts or self-neglect, low self-esteem, loneliness, negative outlook on everything. They can also show fatigue, sleeping problems, appetite increase or decrease, loss of sex drive and mental and physical slowing down or agitated. There are a few treatments for this disorder such as psychotherapy, antidepressant medications, electroconvulsive treatment (ECT), and other somatic therapies. One of the most recognized drugs used to treat MDD is Cymbalta. Cymbalta is used to help regain chemical balance in the brain that is thought to cause MDD. This medication is taken orally and

The first step to treating many of these new cases of depression is the prescription and use of antidepressant medication, however this has cause a mass flooding of our society with unnecessary prescription drugs. Due to the ease of treatment, primarily with prescription drugs, and the large range of severity in depression is often over diagnosed, adding to the problem.