Medications That Can Cause Depression
There is nothing more frustrating than when the cure is part of the problem. Because depression is prevalent in patients with physical disorders like cancer, stroke, and heart disease, medications often interact with each other, complicating treatment. To appropriately manage depression, you and your physician need to evaluate all medications involved and make sure they aren’t cancelling each other out.
A review in the journal Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience a while back highlighted certain medications that can cause depression. The following are medications to watch out for.
Medications to Treat Seizures and Parkinso...
Source: World of Psychology - March 31, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: Depression Medications Drug Interactions Mood Disorder Source Type: blogs
Tropical Travel Trouble 002 Rabies
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
aka Tropical Travel Trouble 002
A 19 year old gap year student has returned from India to your emergency department reporting she was bitten by a monkey at a temple. A selfie gone wrong but it scored 1000+ likes on Facebook…
She is concerned because one of the Facebook comments suggested she may have rabies! A quick Google search suggested 60,000 people a year DIE from rabies.
Should she be worried? Should you be worried?
Questions
Q1. What other questions should yo...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - February 27, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine rabies Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 68-year-old man with Parkinson disease
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 68-year-old man is seen for follow-up evaluation of Parkinson disease, which was diagnosed 10 years ago. Although his symptoms initially were well controlled with medications, he has experienced increasing fluctuations in motor symptoms, specifically tremor at rest and slowness, within the past 3 years. Medications are carbidopa-levodopa, entacapone, and amantadine. He notes marked symptom improvement after taking these medications, but the benefit lasts only for 2 hours. Increased dosing of carbidopa-levodopa...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 23, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Neurology Source Type: blogs
The Rigid Patient
A 24-year-old man with a history of schizophrenia presented with altered mental status. His mother said he had become more catatonic and rigid over the previous two days. She reported that he was prescribed Abilify 5 mg by mouth daily for three years, but a long-acting depot of Abilify 400 mg had been administered two days before by court order. His vital signs include a heart rate of 120 bpm, blood pressure 140/90 mm Hg, temperature 38.5°C, respiratory rate is 14 bpm, and SPO2 is 98% on room air. The patient is alert and diaphoretic. Pupils are 3 mm. Cogwheeling, rigidity, and two beats of ankle clonus are also o...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 2, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Longing for the QT
A 58-year-old man presented to the ED with a reported overdose of an unknown medication. The patient was agitated, combative, and altered. Initial vital signs included a heart rate of 115 beats/min, blood pressure of 154/93 mm Hg, respirations of 22/min, and temperature of 99.5°F. The patient was difficult to evaluate because he was agitated, and he was given 5 mg of haloperidol IV and 2 mg of lorazepam IV. The patient continued to be agitated, and was given another 10 mg of haloperidol IV, followed by a repeat dose of 10 mg IV 15 minutes later. The patient then became unresponsive, and his cardiac monitor demonstrated th...
Source: The Tox Cave - March 1, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 58-year-old woman with Parkinson disease
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 58-year-old woman is seen for a follow-up evaluation of Parkinson disease, which she has had for 12 years. She was initially treated with ropinirole to which levodopa-carbidopa was added as the disease progressed. After 5 years of good control on medication, she began to experience involuntary generalized twisting and writhing movements after taking each dose of levodopa-carbidopa and noticed that the medication’s effect waned after several hours.
Over the past 2 years, she has tried to manage her diseas...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 14, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: mksap Tags: Conditions Neurology Source Type: blogs
Despite Critics Dismissal - Off Label Prescribing May Benefit Patients
Over the past several years, the federal government and law enforcement agencies have increasingly investigated and prosecuted large pharmaceutical and medical device companies for off-label marketing. Various media outlets have covered these settlements and cases and others have even conducted their own investigations (e.g., ProPublica.
Consequently, a recent article from the Pacific Standard, written by Ford Vox, a rehabilitation physician at Shepherd Center, addressed an investigation conducted by The Washington Post that looked into off-label prescribing. Vox, who treats survivors of acquired brain injury and sp...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 9, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Avian influenza H7N9 viruses isolated from humans: What do the gene sequences mean?
There have been over 60 human infections with avian influenza virus H7N9 in China, and cases have been detected outside of Shanghai, including Beijing, Zhejiang, Henan, and Anhui Provinces. Information on the first three cases has now been published, allowing a more detailed consideration of the properties of the viral isolates.
The first genome sequences reported were from the initial three H7N9 isolates: A/Shanghai/1/2013, A/Shanghai/2/2013, and A/Anhui/1/2013. These were followed by genome sequences from A/Hongzhou/1/2013 (from a male patient), A/pigeon/Shanghai/S1069/2013), A/chicken/Shanghai/S1053/2013), and A/en...
Source: virology blog - April 17, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information China H5N1 h7n9 H9N2 influenza pandemic poultry viral virus zoonosis zoonotic Source Type: blogs
Parkinson’s Disease
Pathophysiology of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease marked by:
1) progressive slowing of all voluntary movements
2) muscular “cogwheel” rigidity
3) tremors at rest
4) mask-like facies
5) emotional lability
Signs and Symptoms
1) tremors disappear with voluntary movement
2) drooling
3) dementia (15%)
4) depression
5) micrographia
6) “pill rolling”
7) hesitancy when rising from chair
8) short shuffling gait
9) decreased blink rate
10) diminished arm swing
11) stooped posture
12) loss of postural righting reflexes
13) autonomic problems (constipation, i...
Source: Inside Surgery - March 16, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Neurology cogwheel rigidity dopaminergic neurons Lewy bodies mask like face pill rolling shuffling gate substantia nigra tremor tremors at rest Source Type: blogs
Five Ways to Fight the Swine Flu
View the Swine Flu video here.
Winter in North America brings with it yearly uninvited guests- flu bugs- multiple strains of illness causing viruses just waiting for new bodies to infect. The most common recommendation has been to protect yourself with a flu vaccine. But with virtually all the US flu suddenly resistant to the leading antiviral Tamiflu, health officials are worried about where this could lead. Here are some key guidelines you MUST know if you want to survive this year’s flu season.
How can you distinguish a cold from the flu? First understand that colds are minor infections of the nose and t...
Source: Dr. Donna, MedicineWoman - January 25, 2009 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Dr. Donna Tags: breaking news Personal Health public health flu influenza pandemic prevention swine flu tamiflu treatment Source Type: blogs
