Weight loss and Weight Chat Blog

Last week’s FDA approval of Lexapro to treat depression in adolescents 12-17 years old got me to thinking both about bureaucratic nonsense and corporate shenanigans. That’s because, in a classic case of bureaucratitis, the FDA approval came just weeks after Justice Department prosecutors, following a 5-year investigation, accused Forest Laboratories of illegally marketing Lexapro for use in these very same children. Of course, such actions are not mutually exclusive because, in fact, it would have been illegal for Forest to promote the use of Lexapro in kids prior to such an FDA approval, but, really, when one arm of the government says it’s now fully convinced of Lexapro’s efficacy in children doesn’t it seem a bit odd that another arm would be spending so much time and effort prosecuting the company for promoting such use? Shouldn’t they be going after companies promoting things that don’t actually work? Maybe yes, maybe […]

Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com

Everyone expects the postpartum period to be a joyful happy time welcoming the newborn home and into the family. Unfortunately, however, many women will experience either short or long-term mood disturbances in the year after giving birth. In fact, at least 40-80 percent of women experience postpartum blues, which is a short-term, transient condition characterized by mild, but often rapid, mood swings from elation to sadness, accompanied by tearfulness, crying spells, irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and insomnia. Symptoms typically peak on the fifth postpartum day, and fortunately usually resolve within two weeks without treatment other than support and reassurance. It is important for women experiencing the blues to get adequate rest and sleep, which may require additional help from friends and family.
Postpartum depression is a more serious condition that is being increasingly recognized and that may occur in as many as 22 percent of women in the 12 months after […]

Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com

Tis the season to be jolly, but not everyone feels that way. For some, the onset of winter, with its short days, brings on symptoms of depression. In fact, however, by the time winter officially begins on December 21 the days have already been getting progressively shorter and shorter for months culminating in the solstice, the shortest day of the year. So although it’s often referred to as winter blues, seasonal depression actually has a fall onset that coincides with the beginning of the inexorable loss of daylight that occurs in northern latitudes between November and February.
For some people, symptoms of depression predictably recur every year when the days grow short in fall and winter and the definition of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is just that; namely, recurring depression with a seasonal onset and remission. While it has this unique pattern of occurrence, SAD is […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

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