Posted by SLS on March 25, 2006, at 19:35:50
In reply to hormones and depression, posted by med_empowered on March 25, 2006, at 17:05:39
> also there's cortisol--there's that new cortisol-lowering drug (I think its just RU-486 in different packagint) that apparently does wonders for psychotic depression. I imagine it will probably be used for other disorders, too.
RU-486 is now called mifepristone (Mifeprex).
The NIMH has an ongoing study of mifepristone to treat bipolar disorder. The drug is a cortisol receptor blocker. I tried it for bipolar depression. I thought there might have been a trend towards imrovement after the first 3 days, but it did not persist.
The current protocol calls for the patient to take 600mg of mifepristone a day for 8 consecutive days. The drug is then discontinued. Ideally, one begins to respond by the end of the treatment period. The antidepressant effect is supposed to persist beyond active treatment; the idea being that the the drug has forced the body to reset the HPA axis and normalize cortisol dynamics.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:624196
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060322/msgs/624610.html