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There is no quick-fix for Schizophrenia. Upon diagnosis, there is usually a trial and error period while the individual experiments with various antipsychotics until the best medication for Schizophrenia is established. The goal is to find the right dosage of the right drug, which manages symptoms and relapses, yet manifests the smallest number of side-effects.
If you or someone you care about is determined to beat Schizophrenia, it hinges on compliance in taking the best medication for Schizophrenia. Anti-schizophrenia drugs involve a lifetime commitment. Also, everybody responds to each antipsychotic med in a different way, so that a little patience is necessary in the beginning.
What is the Best Medication for Schizophrenia?
The short answer is the antipsychotic medication that works best for you or your loved one!
Since the 1950s, antipsychotic drugs have been prescribed to treat schizophrenia symptoms. While the older or typical antipsychotics were effective in treating symptoms, such as paranoia or hallucinations, they carried neurological side-effects or extrapyramidal effects, such as tardive dyskinesia, dystonia and Parkinson-like symptoms.
Here are some typical antipsychotics:
• Thioridazine (Mellaril®)
• Haloperidol (Haldol®)
• Trifluoperazine (Stelazine®)
• Molondine (Moban®)
• Trifluoperazine (Stelazine®)
• Perphenazine (Trilafon®)
• Chlorpromazine (Thorazine®)
• Fluphenazine (Prolixin®)
• Loxapine (Loxitane®)
In the 1990s, newer generation anti-schizophrenia drugs were developed. Fortunately, these medicines do not have the neurological side-effects of the older generation of schizophrenia drugs. The following are newer or atypical antipsychotics.
• Aripiprazole (Abilify®)
• Clozapine (Clozaril®)
• Palip...
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...ot the drug was solely responsible for the deaths, since they died from various causes, such as pulmonary embolism or cardiac infarction.
Japanese doctors were advised to watch for side-effects and avoid combining Xeplion with other antipsychotics.
In America, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating Olanzapine pamoate following the demise of two persons following an injection of the drug.
At present, the FDA has not elected to discontinue injectable treatment for Schizophrenia. This method of delivering anti-schizophrenic drugs could virtually eliminate non-compliance in people who aren't taking prescribed medicines.
Best Medication for Schizophrenia is dependent upon availability. Right now, antipsychotic drugs are what we have. But, ongoing research promises a brighter tomorrow. We just never know when a Schizophrenia breakthrough will occur!
...apine, quetiapine, aripiprazole, risperidone, and may include ziprasidone) to treat psychotic symptoms, and mood stabilizers such as lithium or valproate to control manic episodes.
Saks wrote this book to promote awareness about the reality of schizophrenia.... ... middle of paper ... ... Several studies reported that, although symptom remission could be obtained for 27% of patients within 4 weeks and 45% within 5 years following treatment initiation, 20– 30% of patients reached a treatment-resistant status on the other side.
Clozapine and the Treatment of Schizophrenia Clozapine, marketed by the trade name of "Clozaril," is a member of the dibenzodiazepine class of antipsychotic medication, and is one of many types of neuroleptic drugs. Clozapine is an atypical medication because it differs from the older conventional drugs such as Halodol or Lithium. The difference between atypical and the older drugs is because there less neuroleptic activity as a result of more specific receptors utilized. The atypical drugs work effectively to treat psychotic illnesses and tend to have fewer side effects than their predecessors. Clozapine has been found to be the most effective antipsychotic drug for treatment resistant schizophrenia.
Charles is a 21 year-old Caucasian single male currently residing with his mother and stepfather whom also is Charles’s uncle. Charles graduated high school and due to his illness he receives social security benefits. During a two year period Charles had nine visits to the emergency room resulting in admission to the psychiatric unit. On two admissions Charles left against medical advice, five admissions required a higher level of care resulting in admission to the state psychiatric hospital and two Charles was transferred to the adult crisis unit. Charles also has a misdemeanor history mainly public nuisance due to substance abuse mainly marijuana and cocaine. Charles was evicted after a psychotic episode and destroying his apartment.
-Lieberman JA, Stroup TS, McEvoy JP, Swartz MS, Rosenheck RA, Perkins DO, Keefe RS, Davis SM, Davis CE, Lebowitz BD, Severe J, Hsiao JK. Effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs in patients with chronic schizophrenia. N Engl J Med. 2005. Web.
Credibility material: Its intake results in adverse medical conditions that are further exalted by its addiction properties that ensure a continued intake of the substance. The drug can be abused through multiple means and is medically recorded to produce short-term joy, energy , and other effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. This ultimately results in numerous psychiatric and social problems; factors that played a major role in its illegalization after multiple and widespread cases of its effects were reported in the country during the 1900s. In addition to this, the drug results in immediate euphoric effect, a property which the National Institute of Drug Abuse (2010) attributes to be the root cause for its increased po...
Having a foundation for treatment for those who suffer from schizophrenia is very important to recovery. Depending on what type of treatment and how it is used will determine an individual's progress. E. Fuller Torrey makes the argument that antipsychotic drugs are the most useful and effective way for recovery. Against this belief is Robert Whitaker who believes that society reacts too quickly by just giving medication. Alternative solutions, such as moral therapy, should be used in order to fully recover. So, are antipsychotic medications the treatment of choice for people with psychosis?
In conclusion, schizophrenia is a disease that is not well under stood. As more is learned about the disease and how it affects the brain of those who suffer from it better treatments will be discovered. Even with the best treatment, support from family and friends are crucial in maintaining normality to the life of those with schizophrenia.
According to Gamble and Brennan (2000), the effectiveness of medication for schizophrenia to relieve patients from psychotic symptoms is limited. Although patients have adequate medication, some received little or no benefit from it and almost half of them still experience psychotic symptoms. They are also more likely to suffer relapse (Gamble and Brennan, 2000). Furthermore, Valmaggia, et al. (2005) found that 50% of patients who fully adhere to anti-psychotic medication regimes still have ongoing positi...
There are several people every year that are diagnosed with a mental disorder. In the world’s entire population, more than one percent of people have been diagnosed with schizophrenia (Brain and Behavior Research Foundation). When thinking of the billions of people in the world, it might not seem like that many people but once the number of those diagnosed is calculated it seems much larger. Currently there are more than seventy million people in the world that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, only diagnosed. There are probably several more people who have this disorder and have not been diagnosed or are unable to obtain the resources to be diagnosed.
Schizophrenia is a devastating and costly mental disorder that affects 1% of population worldwide. Patients manifest clusters of positive, negative and cognitive symptoms in early twenties and are often left with life-long severe mental disability and social stigma. Cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia are considered core symptoms of this disorder, and can manifest at the initial stage (Elvevåg and Goldberg, 2000). Atypical antipsychotics ameliorate positive symptoms but may only modestly improve cognitive symptoms (Richelson, 2010). In addition to this, some of the typical antipsychotics are even have deteriorative effects on cognitive symptoms (Heaton and Crowley 1981). To find the appropriate treatments for cognitive deficits of schizophrenia, it is important to know the underlying pathophysiology.
...ients that suffer severe symptoms. The most common treatment is a combination of medicine and therapy. Where the patient engages in individual psychotherapy with a therapist, rehabilitation, family education, or self help groups. These therapies usually help people cope with schizophrenia and its effects. At this time there is no cure for schizophrenia, there are very effective treatments and medications. Research is being conducted to help scientists understand the disorder better and is being used to try to treat schizophrenia permanently. The only way this is possible is with the use of new treatments, such as new experimental drugs and electrotherapy. No treatments today are preventative nor do they permanently “cure” schizophrenia, but we can look to the bright future for the development of a new treatment option that could potentially fully cure schizophrenia.
Fatal complications occur from regular use, for example, liver damage, seizures, elevated blood pressure causing stroke, heart failure, or heart attack. Another growing fad in the United States is the abuse of prescription drugs. The abuse is being done by not only adults, but by teens. The most current trend today is the misuse of cough syrups and prescription medications to produce a “high.” Other medications abused today are stimulants (Ritalin), and benzodiazepines (Xanax).
...ected over another because it has less chance of damaging a diseased liver, worsening a heart condition, or affecting a patient’s high blood pressure. For all the benefits that anti-psychotic drugs provide, clearly they are far from ideal. Some patients will show marked improvement with drugs, while others might be helped only a little, if at all. Ideally, drugs soon will be developed to treat successfully the whole range os schizophrenia symptoms. Roughly one third of schizophrenic patients make a complete recovery and have no further recurrence, one third have recurrent episodes of the illness, and one third deteriorate into chronic schizophrenia with severe disability (Kass, 206).
Schizophrenia requires a lifetime of treatment through either medications and therapy, in many cases both is needed. Psychiatrist’s help patients survive through the disease. Another form to treat schizophrenia is through antipsychotic medications which are most commonly prescribed drugs to treat schizophrenia.