Posted by PsychoSage on February 29, 2004, at 10:06:48
In reply to OL' Grape vine......, posted by AntiTrust on February 28, 2004, at 15:21:15
> I was told thru that good ol family GRAPE VINE that someone in the family is bipolar and is on prozac or paxil (cant remember which for it) I posted awhile back asking about bipolar and this med and got alot of feedback that is not the drug to be on . so I am wondering if this isnt what she was really DX with. blabbing here....
not necessarily. Many people claim prozac can send them into mania. However, it is not a universal rule. Many bipolars take drugs that affect serotonin, but they just have to be cautious because the drug may only work for a limited time or quickly swing the person's mood which is the common belief. SSRIs are not the only drugs that can do this. Lots of CNS drugs can switch a patient into mania. Stimulants can definitely do it. Some dopamine agonists can do it as well. SSRIs are so widely prescribed that I just think people are going to swing if you give them any kind of strong drug. A certain % has to be wary of this and a certain % has to be wary of that. But the numbers are too small otherwise there would be a strict warning. That is not the case yet.I personally stay away from SSRIs, but I don't only for the potential for mania.
SSRIs can switch a person into psychosis which supports the less well known serotonin hypothesis for it. It's is just going to happen though if you give one of the small % a shot at an SSRI.Useful brain scans and brain measures have not been developed enough to really prevent these things.
I
poster:PsychoSage
thread:318562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040228/msgs/318741.html