Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Great video on why we need omega-3 fats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIgNpsbvcVM

I'll let Susan take credit for today's lesson. :)

Monday, June 23, 2008

When you play with antipsychotics, you play with fire.

Antipsychotic medications have worked wonders to enhance the lives of many people. However, in recent years, antipsychotics have also been used for an increasing number of off-label uses and in progressively younger populations than they ever were before. Before handing these medications out like they are candy, it's important to evaluate the risks associated with using these medications. A recent study suggested that we should be much more careful about choosing our treatment populations than we have been to date.

Before I get to the meat of the study, I'd like to preface this post with an explanation of the study design. The authors of this study are concerned about safety risks in young children and pregnant women when they are given antipsychotic medications. However, they had to develop a research model that did not place young children and pregnant women at risk in the process of looking into this issue. So...rather than give antipsychotics to these two populations, they chose to administer a battery of antipsychotics to a group of roundworms. Roundworms were chosen because they are an accepted research model for investigating matters related to brain and nervous system development. That is definitely a limitation of the study, as most people I know would not say they have much in common with this guy...but that's one of the tough things about studying medications and their risks...how to investigate those risks without causing more damage.

Anyway...when the roundworms were given three of these medications, clozapine (Clozaril), fluphenazine (Prolixin), and haloperidol (Haldol), there was less development of neurons in general and axons (a specific anatomical feature of a neuron) in neurons devoted to mechanosensory function (that's touching and registering what you're touching). Neurons that were produced also tended to not migrate to the location where they would be expected to migrate, meaning there might have been neurons there, but they were, so to speak, all dressed up with no place to go.

In some neurons, axons grew past their functional anatomical size. And some had abnormal anatomical features.

Other antipsychotics produced similar results, although not to as significant a degree. The drugs mentioned included: risperidone (Risperdal), aripiprazole (Abilify), quetiapine (Seroquel), trifluoperazine (Stelazine) and olanzapine (Zyprexa).

I'm not going to pontificate about the ethical dilemma encountered when treating a pregnant woman with schizophrenia. The choices made in those situations involve complex risk/benefit considerations that are the responsibility of the patient and her physician.

However, I will say that responsible use of these medications in women of childbearing age is imperative. Forty-nine percent of all pregnancies ending in childbirth in 1994 were unintended, and 48% of all women aged 15-44 in 1994 had had at least one unintended pregnancy at some point in their life. It happens, and it happens a lot.

So if you're a physician and you're handing out prescriptions for antipsychotics for off-label uses to women of childbearing age...no matter how much judgment, education, evaluation, etc. you think you're providing, you really are playing with fire.




Donohoe DR, Weeks K, Aamodt EJ, Dwyer DS. Antipsychotic drugs alter neuronal development including ALM neuroblast migration and PLM axonal outgrowth in Caenorhabditis elegans. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2008 May-Jun;26(3-4):371-80.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3002498.html

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Who is the real addict?


Friday I participated in a meeting at a chemical dependency treatment center. This is a place where people have been medicating their problems with stimulants and who are learning to use communication, conflict resolution, and coping skills to ride through life's challenges so that life does not defeat them. One of the biggest problems in this population is stimulant use, in the form of methamphetamine.

The message this and other treatment centers are working hard to encourage...is that when you listen to your body, it will tell you if you need to sleep, eat, address a conflict, or participate in a relaxing activity to help ride through situations that cannot be immediately addressed. When you push through feelings and ignore what they're telling you, you can push yourself to a point so low that it becomes tempting to use chemicals to pull out of the situation.

Today, I was reviewing research and ran across an abstract that completely contradicts this point of view. This article discusses the "potential" for treating CFS with neurostimulants, such as bupropion (Wellbutrin), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), and methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta).

No wonder treatment centers abound. The drug industry is advocating throwing stimulants at problems that very well may best respond to intensive self-care. I'm not trying to say that chronic fatigue is not a genuine problem. I just wonder where the logic is in trying to blast a person out of a fatigued state that may be telling us something very important about the person's overall health, their lifestyle choices, and the way they deal with stress.

It's no wonder our many public service attempts at reducing illicit drug use fall on deaf ears. The message seems to be that if you can figure out a way to present your problem to the doctor in a way that fits with an "official" medical problem, you can legally buy a way out of your problem. If you're less savvy, or don't have access to a doctor who is open to such creative thinking, you can still get the job done. It just might land you in jail at some point down the road.

An addict is an addict, whether legally managed or scoring treatment off the street.

Valdizán Usón JR, Idiazábal Alecha MA. Diagnostic and treatment challenges of chronic fatigue syndrome: role of immediate-release methylphenidate. Expert Rev Neurother. 2008 Jun;8(6):917-27.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

For women with epilepsy--get the facts straight before you worry

Here's an interesting abstract. I post it partly for the important medical information it provides but also to comment on the interesting editorial twist that may affect how readers interpret the information.

The subjects: women with epilepsy and the children they bore.
The question: whether epilepsy affects the development of those children. (As quoted by the authors of the study, "We aimed to ascertain the prevalence of cardiac malformation (CM) and its association with antenatal exposure to an antiepileptic drug (AED) in infants of mothers with epilepsy.")

At 3 months of age, 462 babies born to mothers with epilepsy were examined by a cardiologist to see if they had at least one of several heart defects: atrial septal defect, tetrology of Fallot, patent ductus arteriosus, pulmonic stenosis, ventricular septal defect, tricuspid regurgitation, and transposition of great arteries. Possible correlations between the existence of these defects and any of the following were evaluated: mother's epilepsy history, use of antiepileptic medications in the first trimester of pregnancy, mother's age, seizure frequency during pregnancy, and folate supplementation.

There were a few significant relationships. Prematurely born children were more likely to have heart defects. Use of more than one medication was also a significant contributing factor. And there was a trend, though not significant, for children whose mothers who had used valproic acid (Depakote) to have heart defects. No relationships to mother's age, epilepsy history, seizure frequency, or folate usage were noted.

So even though there were only three identified contributing factors, two of which involved antiepileptic medications, the authors were allowed to title their publication in a way that somewhat masked this relationship. It also, for someone skimming research abstracts, could lead to an impression that epilepsy itself, and not the way in which epilepsy is treated, is the problem.

I am a diligent scientist and try to get the facts straight before I put anything on this blog, or in anything I write. But anyone reading this blog knows that all you have to do is turn on the evening news and see how vague headlines become top news stories and "facts" are generated without any meat behind them.

It's simply not fair to generalize to all mothers with epilepsy. There were an awful lot of babies in this study who did not have heart defects, 426 to be exact. That's a lot of unnecessary fear to be putting out there for women with epilepsy. Of course, the take home message is that women of childbearing age may not be the most appropriate candidates for valproic acid, but somehow that got lost in the analysis.

Thomas SV, Ajaykumar B, Sindhu K, Francis E, Namboodiri N, Sivasankaran S, Tharakan JA, Sarma PS. Cardiac malformations are increased in infants of mothers with epilepsy. Pediatr Cardiol. 2008 May;29(3):604-8.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Momma was right--fish is brain food


Just a simple straightforward study that validates every mother in history who got out the cod liver oil and told her kids it was good for the brain. Eighty-five fourth graders receiving 400 mg per day of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were compared to 90 fourth graders who didn't, with regard to a battery of cognitive tests. There was a positive relationship between blood DHA levels and scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, a test of listening comprehension and vocabulary acquisition.

Can't stand the thought of getting fish oil into your kids? Here are some nice options.

1. Coromega makes a pudding-type emulsion that tastes just like a Creamsicle. www.coromega.com.

2. Saturday I tasted tested a new product at a local health food store clearly made with kids in mind--Barlean's Omega Swirl lemon zest flavored fish oil emulsion. You'd never know it was fish, and 2 teaspoons contains 365 mg EACH of DHA and EPA. http://www.barleans.com/omega_swirl.asp

3. For kids who are way too assertive to trust anything that remotely resembles a supplement or a fish...Omega 3 Brain Booster Powder is a tasteless, odorless, water-soluble, heat stable, gluten-free fish oil powder blended into a rice protein base. You can bake with it, cook with it, stir it into your favorite juice. I've done some work for this company and we've tested it on boatloads of kids. They'll take it in anything...the caveat being you don't prompt them to decide they don't like what you're serving by telling them it has fish oil in it. Healthy spaghetti sauce...here we come! You can get 10% off your first online purchase of this particular product by going to www.omega3powder.com. A little note: The owner of the company recently chose to take a major hit on his revenues in order to maintain integrity and customer safety. The rice shortage had reduced his sourcing options for rice protein to imports from China and Denmark. Even though the Chinese option would have allowed him to continue production without disruption, he opted to let his supply run out and run into back order status, and wait for the Danish rice protein. That's one reason why I love working for this man, he'll never make money in a way that compromises the safety of anyone he truly wants to help with his work.

Ryan AS, Nelson EB. Assessing the effect of docosahexaenoic acid on cognitive functions in healthy, preschool children: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2008 May;47(4):355-62.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Keeping your brains right where they belong

A few years ago I was working with a client with polycystic ovary syndrome. In the course of giving her medical history, she'd also disclosed that she had hyperprolactinemia, a condition in which milk production and let down occurs, even in men, and even in women who are not nursing, if their blood levels of prolactin are too high. She told me that she continued to produce and release milk for four years after delivering her last child, and not a single physician she'd asked about it here in Arizona or over in California seemed to think it was a situation worthy of medical intervention. So she lived with it, until it eventually went away.

As we progressed through our consultation, I explained to her why omega-3 fatty acids are so important--as they are an integral part of the brain's structure and functioning. I then explained to her that breast milk is high in omega-3 fatty acids, and that babies who are nursed are more likely to get these crucial fatty acids than babies on formula.

I looked up from my notepad to see my client red-faced. If steam could have come out of her ears, it would have.



Thinking I'd said something hurtful or offensive, I asked her if something was wrong.

She looked at me and asked, "So you mean to tell me...for four whole years...my brains were leaking out of my boobs and no one seemed to think that was a problem?"

I was the professional in that situation and so it fell on me to keep a completely straight face and answer a serious "yes, yes that's true."

Hyperprolactinemia really is a condition that needs to be taken seriously. As my client correctly deduced, it can drain the body of some of its most essential compounds, which can promote inflammation and potentially disrupt healthy brain function. Some psychiatric medications can increase the risk of hyperprolactinemia. One that has this reputation is risperidone (Risperdal).

A group of Chinese researchers recently tested an herbal remedy for hyperprolactinemia, peony-glycyrrhiza decoction, against a more traditional treatment, a medication called bromocryptine. Their subjects were women whose hyperprolactinemia was a direct result of risperidone use. For the purposes of this study, the women were also experiencing irregular periods (oligomenorrhea) or absence of periods (amenorrhea). Each group was exposed to both the herbal and the pharmaceutical treatment, with one group starting on herbs and switching to medication. The second group received the treatments in the reverse order. Psychotic symptoms, negative side effects, and levels of the hormones prolactin, estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone were all measured at the beginning and end of the study.

Not only did the herbal preparation produce a decrease in prolactin similar to the medication, other hormones were not affected, and psychosis was not worsened. And, more often in the herbal than the pharmaceutical remedy, there were improvements in negative side effects of hyperprolactinemia.

Whether or not you are on a medication, if you're producing breast milk and you are not nursing a baby, it is a medical problem and it does need to be addressed.

And now that you've read this post, you won't need to wait four years until a nutritionist mentions in passing that you should insist that your problem be taken seriously.

Yuan HN, Wang CY, Sze CW, Tong Y, Tan QR, Feng XJ, Liu RM, Zhang JZ, Zhang YB, Zhang ZJ. A randomized, crossover comparison of herbal medicine and bromocriptine against risperidone-induced hyperprolactinemia in patients with schizophrenia. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2008 Jun;28(3):264-370.

Bowden CR, Voina SJ, Woestenborghs R, Do costerR, Heykants J. Stimulation by risperidone of rat prolactin secretion in vivo and in cultured pituitary cells in vitro. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1992 Aug;262(2): 699-706.

Kinon BJ, Stauffer VL, McGuire HC, Kaiser CJ, Dickson RA, Kennedy JS. The effects of antipsychotic drug treatment on prolactin concentrations in elderly patients. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2003 Jul-Aug; 4(4): 189-94.

Lee BH, Kim YK. The relationship between prolactin response and clinical efficacy of risperidone in acute psychotic inpatients. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2006 Jun;30(4):658-62.

Holzer L, Eap CB. Risperidone-induced symptomatic hyperprolactinaemia in adolescents. J Clin Psychopharmacol 2006 Apr;26(2):167-71.

Foley KF, Kast RE. Review of evidence that posttransplantation psychiatric treatment commonly affects prolactin levels and thereby influences graft fate. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2006 May-Jun;28(3):230-3.

Anderson GM, Scahill L, McCracken JT, McDougle CJ, Aman MG, Tierney E, Arnold LE, Martin A, Katsovich L, Posey DJ, Shah B, Vitiello B. Effects of short- and long-term risperidone treatment on prolactin levels in children with autism. Biol Psychiatry 2007 Feb 15;61(4):545-50.

Staller J. The effect of long-term antipsychotic treatment on prolactin. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 2006 Jun;16(3):317-26.

Madhusoodanan S, Moise D. Risperidone-induced hyperprolactinemia in adolescents: A case series. J Clin Psychiatry 2006 Jul;67(7):1110-3.

Meldersson KI. Prolactin elevation of the antipsychotic risperidone is predominantly related to its 9-hydroxy metabolite. Hum Psychopharmacol 2006 Dec;21(8):529-32.

Kopecek M, Bares M, Horacik J, Mohr P. Low-dose risperidone augmentation of antidepressants or anxiolytics is associated with hyperprolactinemia. Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2006 Dec;27(6):803-6.

Troost PW, Althaus M, Lahuis BE, Buitelaar JK, Minderaa RB, Hoekstra PJ. Neuropsychological effects of risperidone in children with pervasive developmental disorders: a blinded discontinuation study. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 2006 Oct;16(5):561-73.

Eberhard J, Lindstrom E, Holstad M, Levander S. Prolactin level during 5 years of risperidone treatment in patients with psychotic disorders. Acta Psychiatry Scand 2007 Apr;115(4):268-76.

Bushe C, Shaw M. Prevalence of hyperprolactinaemia in a naturalistic cohort of schizophrenia and bipolar outpatients during treatment with typical and atypical antipsychotics. J Psychopharmacol 2007 Sep;21(7):768-73.

Duval F. Guillon MS, Mokrani MC, Crocq MA, Garcia Duarte F. Relationship between prolactin secretion, and plasma risperidone and 9-hydroxyrisperidone concentrations in adolescents with schizophreniform disorder. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2007 Nov 27.

Synek O, Svestka J, Tomanova J, Rodakova I, Cejpkova A. Differences in the effect of second-generation antipsychotics on prolactinaemia: Six weeks open-label trial in female in-patients. Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2007 Dec 6;28(6).

Togo T, Iseki E, Shoji M, Oyama I, Kase A, Uchikado H, Katsuse O, Kosaka K. Prolactin levels in schizophrenic patients receiving perospirone in comparison to risperidone. Neurology 2003 Apr 8;60(7): 1130-5.

Brunelleschi S, Zeppegno P, Risso F, Cattaneo CI, Torre E. Risperidone-associated hyperprolactinemia: evaluation in twenty psychiatry outpatients. Pharmacol Res 2003 Oct;48(4): 405-9.

Volavka J, Czobor P, Cooper TB, Sheitman B, Lindenmayer JP, Citrome L, McEvoy JP, Lieberman JA. Prolactin levels in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder patients treated with clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, or haloperidol. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Jan;65(1):57-61.

Blogroll

OK, OK, I succumbed to the blogroll. I wasn't going to contribute to anyone's blog addiction and sore neck and shoulders, but some of my friends and supporters are writing great stuff I don't want you to miss if it should help you! So I've got a few options to get you started.

Only when it's 3 am and you're still sitting in front of your computer, it's your own lack of impulse control and not my reckless lack of editing discretion that your boss needs to hear about when you're caught napping at your desk the next day. :)

Between traveling/speaking 3 times in two cities in 5 days and reviewing the last month's worth of research abstracts, time for writing has been short. I should be back to getting you all some good abstracts starting Monday.

Happy Father's Day everyone!