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Depression And Celiac Disease
It is quite common for people who have been diagnosed as having Coeliac Disease to find themselves feeling depressed and anxious. For many there is a link between food and a sense of control over their lives. Celiacs are faced with something over...
First thing you should do to get out of depression
Depression, in psychiatry, is a symptom of mood disorder characterized by intense feelings of loss, sadness, hopelessness, failure, and rejection. The two major types of mood disorder are unipolar disorder, also called major depression, and bipolar...
Recognizing and Treating the Symptoms of Depression
Nearly 20 million American adults fall ill from depression each year--that's almost one-tenth of the entire adult population. This devastating condition is not to be ignored: it influences nearly every part of a person's life, from sleeping patterns...
Stress, Anxiety and Depression - What is the difference?
Copyright 2005 Anne Wolski
Looking after your feelings and emotions is as important as taking care of your body. Most of us take care of our physical health far better than our feelings.
Stress is a normal reaction to what is happening in your...
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DEPRESSION
What does depression mean to you? Depression is a very serious
mood disorder that can affect anyone regardless of age, gender,
race, social status or ethnicity. Depression is an illness that
affects your body, mind, disposition, sleep and...
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Schreiber, Johansson Build A 'Bridge' To A Classic
Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson are starring in a widely praised revival of Arthur Miller's <em>A View From The Bridge</em>. They tell reporter Jeff Lunden that as in all great tragedies, this one's clashes and catastrophes have something of the inevitable about them.
Stargazing At The Opera
The Hayden Planetarium in New York takes opera to the moon with a new production of <em>Il Mondo Della Luna.</em> Diane Paulus and Philip Bussmann talk about merging cosmos footage with music, how science can enhance the arts and the future of technology and theater.
Obama 'The Musical' Opens In Germany
A new theater production <em>Hope: The Obama Musical Story</em> opened this week in Frankfurt, Germany. It tells the story, in song and dance, of America's first black president. It is likely to be a big success in a country where President Obama is still immensely popular.
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Accutane Side Effects: Should Depression Be A Concern?
Medical professionals and acne-pestered adolescents have no doubts about the effectiveness of the severe acne drug isotretinoin. It’s the looming possibility of side effects such as depression and fetal damage that makes people uneasy when considering using this medication.
Accutane (isotretinoin) is one of Hoffman-LaRoche’s most popular and controversial pharmaceuticals. This week, a study published in the Archives of Dermatology vindicated isotretinoin from causing depression. In this report, Christina Y. Chia, MD, from Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, St. Louis, and colleagues examined whether patients with moderate to severe acne treated with isotretinoin experienced an increase in depressive symptoms compared with patients treated with a topical antibiotic, topical retinoid, and an oral antibiotic.
Dr. Chia found that “The use of isotretinoin in the treatment of moderate-severe acne in adolescents did not increase depressive symptoms. On the contrary, our study shows that treatment of acne improves depressive symptoms”.
Five years earlier, in 2000, the isotretinoin-depression link still appeared misleading. That time, the Archives of Dermatology posted study, headed by Dr. Susan S. Jick, from the Boston University School of Medicine, which found no evidence that isotretinoin increases the risk for depression, suicide, or other psychiatric disorders.
Even though isotretinoin finds ample support among dermatologists and psychiatrists, a host of parents, politicians and medical professionals hail isotretinoin as a medical misfortune.
For instance, Dr. David J. Graham, the Associate Director for Science and Medicine in FDA’s Office of Drug Safety, recently warned that Accutane should be taken off the market. And while there are few studies with any negative observations about isotretinoin, Dr. Douglas Bremner’s research at of the Emory University School of Medicine has linked isotretinoin treatment with changes in brain function. At the conclusion of this study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Bremner concurred with Dr. Graham’s view that isotretinoin proves too dangerous for human use.
Dr. Bremner explains that to invoke depression, isotretinoin must influence the brain. During the
Does Offering Smaller Portions At Restaurants Help People Eat Less?
Asking for less food isn't something most people think about when ordering from a menu. A new study suggests that asking people if they want less food and, in turn, fewer calories, before they order is key.
Tips To Beating Depression
Everyone has days when they are down, worn out and just not feeling all that happy.
That's OK, you need to have days like this, otherwise how would you know when you are happy. You need to have something to contrast your happiness with. What is...
investigation, brain function of the subjects was measured using positron emission tomography (PET) before and after four months of treatment with isotretinoin. Isotretinoin treatment was associated with decreased brain metabolism in the orbitofrontal cortex- the area of the brain known to mediate symptoms of depression. Yet, there were no differences in severity of depressive symptoms between the isotretinoin and antibiotic treatment groups before or after treatment.
The pessimistic effects of isotretinoin also caught the attention of Diane K. Wysowski PhD. Dr. Wysowski noted that in June 2000, isotretinoin ranked among the top 10 drugs linked to depression and suicide attempts in the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System database. In 2001, Dr. Wysowski examined isotretinoin’s depression inducing potential and posted her findings in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Dr. Wysowski concluded that more studies of isotretinoin are needed.
She also advised patients and their parents to immediately report mood swings and symptoms that are suggestive of depression such as sadness, crying, loss of appetite, unusual fatigue, withdrawal, and inability to concentrate to their prescribing physician. These protective measures can avoid more serious side effects and permit appropriate treatment, including consideration of drug discontinuation and referral for psychiatric care.
While dissension among researchers still exists about whether or not isotretinoin causes depression, one idea most of them can agree on is that more research on the side effects of isotretinoin are desirable. If you are not in the mood for being an isotretinoin guinea pig, Geoffrey Redmond MD, author of The Good News about Women’s Hormones, suggests using hormone therapy and/or using Retin-A if isotretinoin seems too chancy for you.
About the Author
Health author and Stanford University graduate Naweko San-Joyz lovingly writes from her home in San Diego. Her works include “Acne Messages: Crack the code of your zits and say goodbye to acne” (ISBN: 0974912204) and the upcoming work “Skinny Fat Chicks, Why we’re still not getting this dieting thing” (ISBN: 0974912212) for release in June of 2005. For useful acne self-help articles visit http://www.Noixia.com
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