I’ll wear a long-sleeve shirt with cuffs
for protection–never restrain
an escalated girl alone–since the night
the Haldol wore so thin
she sputtered saliva and flung her weight
against each lock on the ward
I’d bolted, tight as the door of seclusion,
which only opens out
so she can’t kick it shut and trap us in.
That night her teeth chewed the skin up
and down my arms,…
SAN Francisco - Quetiapine monotherapy for bipolar I mania is as effective as lithium or haloperidol–and with markedly fewer side effects, Martin W Jones, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.
He reported on a pooled analysis of two double-blind phase III clinical trials involving 604 pati…
Patients taking the antipsychotic drug haloperidol may be at increased risk for heart rhythm abnormalities, according to a Food and Drug Administration alert.
Revised labeling on the drug, marketed as Haldol, Haldol decanoate, and Haldol lactate, includes a cardiovascular subsection explaining the…
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and their ability to function. It is an illness that affects thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behavior and is distinguished from Major Depressive Disorder by the presence of manic or hypomanic episodes. It can cause dramatic mood swings from overly “high” and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of…
Background: First-generation antipsychotics have been the treatment of choice for acute mania with or without psychosis. However, because these agents may cause severe side effects and may worsen depressive symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder, they have limited use in these patients. Second-generation antipsychotics developed over the past few years ha…
Sept. 19, 2005 — Mental health experts say it wasn’t a horse race. That explains why there’s no clear winner from a major government study pitting a new generation of schizophrenia drugs against one another.
Zyprexa was the most effective of the drugs. But its greater number of side effects dims its first-place finish.
Meanwhile, a come-from-behind, second-place finish by Tri…
The renowned autism expert Tony Atwood is fond of putting it this way: “Autism is anxiety looking for a target.” Autism and anxiety go hand-in-hand. Autism affects a person’s ability to communicate with others or to understand the world around him, and that’s bound to cause anxiety and panic sometimes.
Anxiety becomes even worse when there is a change in the autistic child’s routine. Even positive and “f…
