Weight loss and Weight Chat Blog

St. John’s wort, an herb long thought to be effective for the treatment of depression, is used widely in many countries for this purpose and is available over-the-counter in the United States (but not approved by the FDA as an antidepressant). But clinical studies have sometimes yielded conflicting results, in part because of variations in study designs (such as the exact definition of depression) as well as variations in the preparation of the herbal extract and the dosages used. But a new meta-analysis has reviewed 29 separate studies involving nearly 5500 patients and found that, overall, St. John’s wort was more effective than placebo and similar in efficacy to both older antidepressants (such as those called tricyclics of which amitriptyline is typical) and newer ones (such as those called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, of which Prozac and Celexa are typical). Most of the patients studied […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

The antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine), marketed by Lilly, has received FDA approval for the treatment of fibromyalgia. While certain antidepressants are considered first-line therapy for fibromyalgia, most notably the tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline, none had been approved by the FDA for this use until now. Cymbalta belongs to a newer class of antidepressants known collectively as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), which are somewhat similar to the serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), of which Prozac, also marketed by Lilly, is the most widely known. Cymbalta is already marketed for the treatment of depression, anxiety and for pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. It was first approved for U.S. marketing in 2004.
Cymbalta is now the second drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Almost exactly one year ago the FDA approved Pfizer’s Lyrica (pregabalin) and I alerted readers to that approval in a posting; at […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

[Weight Loss and Isagenix Blog]
Secret Hide Out: What your weight may be saying for you.
Remember your Secret Hide Out when you were kid?  Remember how you felt there?  Most likely it was place you could just be you.  You were safe to do the things you wanted to do without judgment.  You shared it only […]

Original post by gabby and weightlossopinions.com

If you take one of the “triptan” medications for migraine headaches, you could be at risk for developing serotonin syndrome, which is a potentially life-threatening neurologic condition. And your risk of serotonin syndrome increases if you also take one of the SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) or SSNRI (selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) antidepressants (see below for the names of all these drugs). The symptoms of serotonin syndrome are often described as a triad of clinical manifestations:
• Mental status changes: confusion, agitation, mania, hallucinations, headache, coma
• Autonomic effects: nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, diarrhea, racing heartbeat, fever
• Neuromuscular effects: tremor, muscle twitching, shivering, overactive reflexes
There are eight triptan medications currently approved for the treatment of migraine:
• Amerge [naratriptan]
• Axert [almotriptan]
• Frova [frovatriptan]
• Imitrex [sumatriptan]
• Maxalt [rizatriptan]
• Relpex [eletriptan]
• Treximet [sumatriptan and naproxen combination]
• Zomig [zolmitriptan]
Triptans all work in […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

If you take one of the “triptan” medications for migraine headaches, you could be at risk for developing serotonin syndrome, which is a potentially life-threatening neurologic condition. And your risk of serotonin syndrome increases if you also take one of the SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) or SNRI (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) anti-depressants (see below for the names of all these drugs). The symptoms of serotonin syndrome are often described as a triad of clinical manifestations:
• Mental status changes: confusion, agitation, mania, hallucinations, headache, coma
• Autonomic effects: nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, diarrhea, racing heartbeat, fever
• Neuromuscular effects: tremor, muscle twitching, shivering, overactive reflexes
There are eight triptan medications currently approved for the treatment of migraine:
• Amerge [naratriptan]
• Axert [almotriptan]
• Frova [frovatriptan]
• Imitrex [sumatriptan]
• Maxalt [rizatriptan]
• Relpex [eletriptan]
• Treximet [sumatriptan and naproxen combination]
• Zomig [zolmitriptan]
Triptans all work in the […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

May is mental health awareness month and there’s an important new PBS documentary on depression premiering on May 21 (9pm ET), which is entitled “DEPRESSION: Out of the Shadows.” The film is 90 minutes long and is followed by a 30 minute panel discussion hosted by Jane Pauley, who was herself diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2001, which is titled “ONE STEP: Caring for Depression, with Jane Pauley.” The documentary and panel discussion are part of a multi-dimensional PBS project that includes a Web site and an educational outreach campaign that is being produced by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the YMCA of the USA.
With nearly 19 million Americans suffering from some form of depressive illness (according to the National Institute of Mental Health), depression, a serious and complex disorder with many presentations, cuts across all ages, races, genders, and socioeconomic groups. It is this […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

On May 11, in the midst of Mental Health Awareness Month, The New York Times ran a provocative article entitled ‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma, which reported on the burgeoning movement to destigmatize mental illness through proud, if not downright aggressive, acceptance rather than shame-based avoidance. Taking their cue from other previously marginalized groups such as gay-rights activists, some advocates are going public with their mental health stories, using books and online blog and video posts. There are websites such as the Icarus Project and MindFreedom International, with the latter recently forming the International Association for Creative Maladjustment (based on an idea by Martin Luther King!) whose first president, appropriately enough, is Patch Adams, MD, the physician/clown famously portrayed by Robin Williams in the eponymous 1998 movie.
According to MindFreedom International, the Mad Pride movement “…celebrates the right to be nonviolently different, odd, crazy, nuts, strange, weird, or whatever […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

Here’s an alarming statistic: on average, every day in the United States at least one doctor dies by suicide. Every year approximately 300 - 400 doctors take their own lives – roughly one a day, and more physicians commit suicide than do members of any other profession. Moreover, suicide among women physicians is especially high with a rate between 250 and 400 percent higher than females in other professions (the rate in male physicians is 70 percent higher than in other professions). And while men in the general population successfully complete suicide four times more frequently than do women, among physicians, the completion rates for the two sexes are equal. Thus, physician suicide is all too common and women are disproportionately affected.
To help address this problem, a new one hour high-definition documentary entitled Struggling in Silence: Physician Depression and Suicide is airing this month on many public […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

[Weight Loss and Isagenix Blog]
Weight Loss Tip 86: Being Fat Sucks!
Being overweight does suck.  Not only are you at risk for an ever growing list of illness and diseases, but often being overweight can keep you from doing the things you want to do and can lead to depression.  Overeating, eating the wrong kinds […]

Original post by gabby and weightlossopinions.com

[Weight Loss and Isagenix Blog]
Why Eat?
Why Do We Eat?
Laugh and then think about it?  Do you eat because you are hungry or because you’re board?  Maybe you eat out of habit, peer pressure or depression.  What’s your why?  Chances are you get more of your calories come from these sources than all Natural hunger pangs.
You […]

Original post by gabby and weightlossopinions.com