Buoy for Perinatal Blues & Beyond: PBS Airing Depression: Out of the Shadows

PBS will be running a series on depression and related issues starting on May 21: Buoy for Perinatal Blues & Beyond: PBS Airing Depression: Out of the Shadows. Folks in the Boston area can watch the show on WGBH. Check your local listings for time and channel.

Antidepressant Overload in 'Comfortably Numb' : NPR

Article by and interview with Charles Barber, author of the new book Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation. Another in the wave of critical assessments of current treatments for mental illness. Particularly, he raises the caution flag at the overprescription of antidepressants for mild-to-moderate depression: Antidepressant Overload in 'Comfortably Numb' : NPR

A couple of points:

• Again, Barber makes the distinction between mild and severe depression, that meds can save the lives of people who are severely depressed.
• He's critical of the practice of having primary care physicians prescribe meds. He's right, in the sense that just prescribing meds is often lazy medicine that makes big pharma rich.
  I should note that my primary care physician was the first to prescribe antidepressants for me when I was 16, back in the 60s. In that case, it was revolutionary that a general practice doctor would be able to diagnose and treat depression in a teenager.
  

About blog depression

This nonist public service pamphlet brings a smile and, then, upon closer reading, a strong urge to walk away from the keyboard and go stack firewood or sumptin'.

(About the other depression, well, most of the time I can accept the fact that not getting better doesn't equate to getting worse. The past few days, however, it's been easy to get discouraged. I keep doing what I believe I need to do, including the aforementioned walking away from the keyboard.)

Antidepressants enhance neuronal plasticity in the visual system

When I was a kid, I had a lazy eye. Eventually, it was corrected with surgery. During my younger years, I had to wear a patch over my good eye to strengthen the lazy one. Most often, I'd wear the patch while watching television, giving me a good excuse to sit in front of the tube for a long time. ("I'm strengthening my eye.")

New research shows that fluoxetine (Prozac) augments the eye-patch regimen. "Gimme my pills and patch, Ma. I gotta fix my eye."

Prescriptions in the Twilight Zone

Two-and-a-half weeks ago, I brought a prescription to our local *cough* Rite-Aid *cough* pharmacy. They told me that the insurance company was requiring prior authorization before they'd approve the prescription. The pharmacy contacted my doctor and arranged for the authorization, which was approved last Thursday. I stopped by the pharmacy today and learned that they had no record of the prescription.

None. Nothing.

The pharmacist asked if I was sure that I had brought the prescription to this pharmacy. I assured her that I had and that I had talked with her last Friday about it.

They're gonna call my doctor and request a new prescription. Why am I getting the feeling that we might have to go through the prior authorization rock-climb again?

A day at a time works best when you know what day it is.

About 3:30 this morning, I figured out why I wasn't able to sleep. On Saturday evening, I took Sunday night's pills by mistake. As a result, at bedtime on Sunday, I looked in the pill container, saw that Sunday's slot was empty, and figured that I'd taken my pills but forgotten that I'd done so.

And so, though tired, I went to bed at 9PM and, except for a few snoozes here and there, couldn't sleep. I got up at 2:30, read some of the newspaper, had an early breakfast, and then realized what had happened.

So now, as my mother used to say after one of her sleepless nights, we'll pretend that we're traveling today. I have an appointment with my psychologist this afternoon and several other errands to tend to. It's supposed to be a nice day, so Marley and I will go for a walk.

We used to tease my father because he'd put an X on the calendar to cross off each day. We're finding that a lot of his quirky ideas made sense.

Which sounds worse: major depression or leaky gut?

The results demonstrate that intestinal mucosal dysfunction marked by an elevated translocation of gram-negative bacteria (leaky gut) plays a role in the inflammatory pathophysiology of depression. Researchers are suggesting that IgM and IgA panels be used to screen people who suffer from depression for leaky gut.

Progression with Depression « balancefromwithin

Oh, snap - Early history of depression linked to Alzheimer’s later in life

“History of depression, and particularly an early onset, but not presence of depressive symptoms increased the risk for Alzheimer disease. This risk was not mediated by smaller hippocampal or amygdalar volumes.”: iTWire - Early history of depression linked to Alzheimer’s later in life

In other words, there's a correlation, but they don't know the cause yet.

Moving forward, sideways

I've been quiet here because, for the most part, things are going pretty well and I've been busy doing other stuff. This morning, however, I had an appointment with my GP to talk about my elevated CK levels (over 800 in the last round) along with pain in a lot of different muscles. We're suspecting that the Seroquel may be causing it. My level has been elevated since August of 2006. I don't remember when I started Seroquel, but it could have been around that time. I will talk with my psychiatrist to find out if he's encountered any correlation. If so, then we're not in any better position, because the Seroquel has been an important part of my medication regimen. If not, then my GP will have to dig deeper, perhaps literally, with a muscle biopsy. Ick.

Prior Authorization redux

I met with my psychiatrist last week. I reported that the Sonata wasn't helping much and that I'd probably do just as well on the Lunesta. So, he wrote a new prescription for Lunesta which I dropped off at the local pharmacy.

When I returned to the pharmacy, the pharmacist told me that the medication required prior authorization. This is a medication that, except for one month, I've taken for about a year and half. The pharmacist faxed the necessary form to the doctor's office.

Today, I called the pharmacy and learned that the prescription hadn't been approved. I called the insurance company and learned that the medication required two prior authorization - one for the medication itself and one for the quantity. The insurance company had approved the request for the med, but hadn't done anything about the quantity. If I hadn't called, no one at the insurance company would have told us that we needed this second approval. The kicker is that I'd had a prior prior authorization on the quantity, but that authorization expired in February. So, the person on the phone took down all of the information and said that she would contact the doctor. Why do I have a feeling that I've been to this movie before?

BTW, it's not only patients who struggle with the mishegas that is the prior authorization process. Doctors get frustrated as well, as indicated in this article, Prior Authorization: The Bane of Doctors - World of Psychology.