Posted by Psychquackery on August 8, 2003, at 21:22:43
In reply to neuro question, posted by den2 on August 8, 2003, at 10:00:19
> too much dopamine causes psychosis like in schizophrenia. Can parkinson's disease also cause psychosis?
Yes, psychosis is fairly frequent in parkinsons. Particularly in later stage parkinsons. As dopamine levels go down in the brain, many parkinsons patients become somewhat demented. Dementia and parkinsons oftentimes go hand in hand. The dementia can lead to psychosis. Also, most of the medications used for parkinsons can cause psychosis.
The atypical anti-psychotic clozapine is used sometimes in parkinsons patients due to its effectiveness for psychosis, but lack of severe EPS side effects. Also, ECT is used in parkinsons when psychosis is present. Actually, ECT can be quite effective for parkinsons.
Igor
poster:Psychquackery
thread:249279
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030807/msgs/249434.html