Schizophrenia

Since I lost the previous post, I will provide the abridged version:

Estradiol is good for reducing symptoms of schizophrenia in women. A study of 102 female patients in a RCT (not sure single or double blind) published in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed clinically significant reduction in PANSS measurements.

Read the rest of this entry »

Surfing the net; an interesting article on yet another theory on the aetiology of mental disorder.

This one suggests that the culprit may be nothing more than the common ‘flu’.

Doctors have known for many years that microbes such as syphilis and Streptococcus can, if left untreated, lead to serious psychiatric problems. Now a growing number of scientists are proposing that microbes are to blame for several mental illnesses once thought to have neurological or psychological defects at their roots. The strongest evidence pertains to schizophrenia, but autism, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder have also been linked to bacterial, viral or parasitic infections in utero, in childhood or in maturity. Some of these infections can directly affect the brain, whereas others might trigger immune reactions that interfere with brain development or perhaps even attack our own brain cells in an autoimmune mistake.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, if positive symptoms cause violence, why aren’t there as many violent incidents to reflect this linearly?

As pointed out by beakie, not all hallucinatory experiences are bad ones. But is it the bad ones that cause violence in mental illness?

Read the rest of this entry »

Following on from the myth of the antipsychotic and the research apparently showing that antidepressants don’t work either, here, comes this.

“New schizophrenia drugs no better, Dutch team find”

The research apparently shows that the new generation of atypical antipsychotic drugs are no more effective than the older first generation of antipsychotic medication. Seroquel, Zyprexia, Geodon (available in the US), and Solian were compared with Haloperidol. Although the newer drugs were not found to be any more effective in treating psychotic symptoms the compliance rate was significantly better.

Over the following 12 months, 63 patients on Halopreidol stopped treatment compared to 51 on Seroquel, 32 on Solian, 31 on Geodon and 30 on Zyprexia

(This is a post added by a reader seeking advice - Z.)

HI there. The dad of my baby has been ill of Schizophrenia for 6
years or so, and have been 8 times in hospital. He takes ABILIFY 25mg .

He only heard voices or see visions when he stops his
meds and has a relapse, but even taking meds, his behaviour is not
normal, or at least I dont think so. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, as some people may have noticed, Mr Ian has taken to spreading his learned wisdom to anyone who happens to click the wrong link…. link… link…. (and thanks Mental for the use of bandwidth lately!)

I’ve become somewhat (and perhaps momentarily) drawn into the world of ‘blogging’ and ‘posting’. Sat here at 4am, it’s possibly become something of an obsession (although I’m only awake cos some mozzie decided to take a banquet out of on my back) .

So in my ponderings, I began to wonder … what attracts me to this new-age techno forum?

Read the rest of this entry »

I noted from an ancient posting of Mental Nurse the suggestion of a posting something on “Insight”. I have not seen one yet within these pages and wasn’t sure in what direction Mental muight have been thinking of going but I thought I’d begin one anyhow (as I’ve had two recent dealings of suitable dispute to comment on).

Before you read on, I would note I tend to write in an academic style, not a ‘blog’ writing style. Sorry about that!

This opener looks at my own recent dealings into the “insight” of two distinctly different people.To clarify, my understanding of ‘insight’ isn’t “How well do they understand what I tell them about themselves and how to be better”; it’s more “How well do they know themselves and the effect they have on themselves.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Since we seem to have strayed onto the subject of God (and who says we don’t confront the big issues here on Mental Nurse, eh?) I’d just like to draw attention to a post by Seaneen (aka Pole to Polar) on the subject of David Shayler.

David Shayler, for those of you who don’t remember, was a former MI5 officer turned whistleblower on dirty tricks by MI6. He later became a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and has just taken an unexpected new direction by doing a David Icke and declaring himself to be the Messiah.

Seaneen comments:

I have been thinking about David Shayler and come to three conclusions:

1) He has a mental illness or a severe personality disorder

2) We have no idea what the MI5 and MI6 are capable of and they may have wrecked havoc on his mind

3) He might be, or truly believes he might be, the messiah

Madness is such a fragile concept. Throughout history, the innovators, the pioneers and the geniuses have been labelled mad at one point or another. Madness can come with an explosive, fearsome energy, an almost superhuman drive. And there is the crash into terrible depression that follows

This strikes me as being a new twist on the age-old debate as to where one draws a difference between the mystical visionary and the madman.

Read the rest of this entry »

Zarathustra: “How are you today?”

Patient: “Oh, brilliant! I’ve just seen the Virgin Mary! She’s sexy as fuck!”

Just how many blasphemies are in that statement, eh?

Happy Easter everybody.

Today I was working with a patient who regularly insists that he’s “the Messiah.”

I wasn’t sure whether or not to mention the fact that it’s Good Friday. Might be a touchy subject.

A shameless plug for another blog by site regular Mr Mans Wife:

You have no idea how much I am struggling to write this letter. I want to write to you about the issue of cut backs in mental health services in our area, but it’s very difficult to find the words to express how I feel. However, I feel compelled to at least try, after someone recently said to me: “You might only be one voice saying what needs to be said but there are lots of people in the community that share the same problems that may not be able to speak out.”

Read the rest here. Please leave comments expressing your great Love for Mr Mans Wife and keep your fingers crossed for a positive response.

My local psych unit has some teaching facilities attached - a library, some seminar rooms, and a computer room.

I was there not so long ago, waiting to attend a training seminar. As I waited for the trainer to arrive, I sat outside, chatting with some of the other students.

As we were chatting, a middle-aged gentleman strolled up to our group and starting talking to one of the other students. I couldn’t make out what he was saying to her, as he was a few feet away and talking rather indistinctly, but as he did so, he opened up a briefcase and began handing out some typewritten sheets of A4 paper.

Hmmm, I thought. Is this the trainer?

Read the rest of this entry »

On the Island of Sodom, the Community Mental Health Team are getting very excited, or at the very least The Fat Controller is. He organised a day long seminar for mental health practitioners’ across the misTrust. No expense was spared….on his suit, and some even suspected that he had trimmed his hair especially.

The food was marvellous, mostly high fat nibbles….and for the weight conscious, some fruit and little pots of couscous. Eli Lilly paid for the grub who are of course the proud manufacturers of Olanzapine.

The Fat Controller is doing research….well more of a pilot study really. Trying to find out how many people with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia also match the profile for developing Metabolic Syndrome – that is Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a big fat belly. His study, which took all bloody morning to go through, found that the mentally ill population of Sodom has the same incidence as the rest of the mentally ill population the UK and the conclusion was that SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE, and by jove, Sodom CMHT is leading the way in doing it!

Read the rest of this entry »

CHANGING YOUR MIND

POINT 1: The human brain weighs just over 2lbs. Yet it has the capacity to consume 15 – 20 % of our energy.

POINT 2: Dr. David Horrobin wrote an interesting book named “The Madness of Adam and Eve”. Among other things he focussed on our evolutionary history. Man moved out of the east African rift valley along rivers and coastlines. Our ancestors ate a lot of fish, game and foraged on nuts, berries and the like. Dr. H emphasised the importance of diet and the particular importance of Omega 3 fatty acids. He believed that if we don’t provide our brains with the nutrients that evolution suggests we require then our mental states become increasingly vulnerable to illness.

Read the rest of this entry »

This one is purely cathartic.

Mental has written about his experience of the death of a patient (I usually say service user – but need the distance for a minute), I want to get mine off my chest too, so this is the first of two posts on the subject.

Today is Sunday, at least, I’m writing this on a Sunday. It was on a Sunday not so very long ago when my mobile went off (it doesn’t just ring), after a very lovely roast dinner which I was about to finish off with some Sara Lee™ Apple Strudel and proper custard. All was good with my world.

The phone call was from the on-call manager who was sorry to disturb my weekend but she had some bad news for me. This was said in a voice that sounded neither sorry nor about to break bad news. The upshot was that Sue (name changed to protect my career) had been found dead this morning. Read the rest of this entry »