1.Dextromethorphan is believed to have rapid acting antidepressant properties at high dosage because it’s similar to glutamate NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine, which has shown rapid (within hours after administration) antidepressant effects. However, ketamine has adverse effects and a high potential to be abused [16].
2.C. Previous Studies and case reports of with Dextromethorphan/Rationale of Study
Currently, numerous studies are examining the use of Dextromethorphan in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders because of its’ profile and diverse pharmacokinetic and pharmacologic actions in the central nervous system. Several preclinical, open-label and blinded clinical trials have shown the clinical and beneficial
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A case report showed Dextromethorphan was effective in a middle-aged man with Major Depressive Disorder. A 51-year–old Caucasian male with DSM-V Major Depressive Disorder, recurrent, severe, non-psychotic and Generalized Anxiety Disorder was treated with 600 mg/day of CYP2D6 inhibitor bupropion XL (a common antidepressant drug) and a 60 mg BID oral dose of Dextromethorphan. The patient showed improvement in major depressive disorder without side effects. This case study was the first to show the fast acting effect of Dextromethorphan in major depressive disorder in humans. This adds to the building literature on the antidepressant effects observed in Dextromethorphan. The report suggested the administration of other common antidepressants with Dextromethorphan, such as lithium might prolong the duration of the rapid-antidepressant effect [19].
Although this case report illustrates that Dextromethorphan has rapid antidepressant effects in humans, there are very few clinical trial on the effect of Dextromethorphan on major depressive disorder. This clinical trial will be one of very few controlled evaluating the safety and efficacy of Dextromethorphan in patients with major depressive disorder. Therefore, various assumptions will be required to estimate sample size. This trial will focus on patient who have
“13th”, directed by Ava DuVernay, is a film that showcases the history and evolution of race relations in the United States. Using the 13th Amendment and the Law and Order objectives put forth by many different Presidential Administrations, the documentary questions the concept of slavery in the United States. The film begins with the fact that the United States incarcerates twenty five percent of the world’s incarcerated people. This number is astounding due to fact that the United States only contains about five percent of the world's population. The documentary stems further by not only charting America’s escalating incarceration rate, but by showing the history behind the growing rate during each escalation. The main purpose of“13th” is
Individuals and their discoveries are not enough on their own to bring medical progress. Explain how far this statement applies to Jenner and his work.
Help! The emergency 911 call goes “My child is having one of his psychotic episodes and I don’t know what to do!” A mother’s plea for help as she watches her teenage son’s manic episodes unfold; what is a mother to do? Since then, the teenager has been prescribed several antipsychotic drugs such as Aripiprazole (Abilify), thereafter, Risperidone (Risperdal) and a sleuth of others, but none curtails or controls his mood disorder until he is prescribed Depakote. Confused and perplexed, Depakote is an anti-seizure and an anti-psychotic drug that works by increasing the amount of a special neurotransmitter in the brain (drugwatch.com, nd).
Individuals all over the world suffer with clinical depression, which affect their quality of life. Depression usually affects a person’s emotions, thoughts, behaviors and overall physical health. Symptoms include sadness, guilt, moodiness, loss of interest, with drawling from people, changes in sleep, decrease in sex drive, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide. The common antidepressants take at least a two-week period to take effect; that two-week period is a critical time where a patient can increase their symptoms and experience suicidal depression. The party drug, known as ketamine has recently made a big impression for neuroscientists trying to formulate a medication to help those who suffer from clinical depression in a rapid time frame. A key element in the advancement for faster medications is realizing how and why, ketamine works so quickly, in comparison to the other generic drugs that are prescribed. According to Newport, a dose of the nonselective N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine can produce a constant antidepressant effect within hours. With the amount of experiments being conducted to expand the knowledge of ketamine, the objective is to find a solution that can be used to relieve the patients who experience serious symptoms in the fastest time possible.
Multiple studies have linked the long-term use of antidepressant drugs with a significant term, “emotional blunting” in both men and women. Basically what emotional blunting does to the average individual, is it can make patients have a new sense of
In 1995, Depakote was approved by the FDA for the treatment of bipolar disorder and is slowing becoming the most widely prescribed drug for the use on mania. Depakote hasn't totally replaced lithium; however, it is being used on patients that were not previously treatable with lithium. Compared with lithium, Depakote doesn't have all the bad side effects when properly administered. Patients taking Depakote find their thinking is clearer and don't seems to have the kidney and thyroid problems (Burns 104-106). The antipsychotic drug Clozaril also has been used to stabilize the moods of bipolar disorders, especially those that have not responded to lithium and the anticonvulsants. One major side effect of Clozaril is that is suppresses the production of white blood cells on about 1% of patients (Harvard Mental Health Letter, June 1997). Because of this side effect, doctors have to be extremely careful when prescribing.
Most people benefit from taking antidepressants to some degree, but research suggests that antidepressants may not be as effective as previously thought in cases of mild depression.
Lastly, what effects to antidepressants have on mood, behavior, and suicidal tendencies? In her article, ‘The Hidden Harm of Antidepressants’, Diana Kwon, a science writer with a Master’s degree for McGill University in neuroscience, she reviews several studies about the use of antidepressants, and had found the safety data on some of these drugs have been withheld from the public. She mentions research done in Copenhagen by some researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Center, and how they discovered that “pharmaceutical companies were not presenting the full extent of serious harm in clinical study reports…” (Kwon para 2). These clinical study reports are then used by people at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve or deny new
Chronic intake, the delayed onset of action, drug resistance and numerous side effects force the researchers to look for the new, safe antidepressant strategies (1, 2) with rapid onset and longer time of action.
All antidepressants work in a similar way, though there are various types of antidepressants—often called “families”—that each work a bit differently. They all, however, increase the brain’s concentration of various neurotransmitters. Antidepressants are psychiatric medications given to patients with depressive disorders to alleviate symptoms. They correct chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters in the brain which probably cause changes in mood and behavior. Antidepressants may be used for a wide range of psychiatric conditions, including social anxiety disorder, anxiety disorders. Antidepressants were initially developed in the 1950s. Their use has become progressively more common over the last twenty years. Generally speaking, antipsychotic
In 2005 the Center of Disease Control and Prevention 's (CDC’s) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) tracked Americans using antidepressants for three years. The study concluded in 2008 that more than 1 in 10 Americans ages 12 and older have used an antidepressant drug. This study comes in the wake of a heated debate in the media about the effectiveness of antidepressants treating depression. Last year, antidepressants were the second most commonly prescribed medication, right behind drugs directed to lower cholesterol. With so many people in the United States relying on these drugs, it is easy to question if they are just expensive, overused placebos.
Some of the most common antidepressants include Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft, Paxil, Remeron and Effexor, these come capsules or tablets, studies show that the effects of these drugs can include: Nervousness and anxiety, Insomnia, Irritability, Violent thoughts and actions, Agitation, Hostility, Suicidal thoughts or suicide, Tremors, Irregular heartbeat, Aggression, Confusion and incoherent thoughts, Paranoia, Hallucinations, Psychosis,
The first step to treating many of these new cases of depression is the prescription and use of antidepressant medication, however this has cause a mass flooding of our society with unnecessary prescription drugs. Due to the ease of treatment, primarily with prescription drugs, and the large range of severity in depression is often over diagnosed, adding to the problem.
The transcendent demand for equal cultural representation in America can no longer remain unrecognized. Citizens are infuriated with public school systems, demanding more diversity in the curriculum. Unfortunately, any attempt to expand public knowledge of multiculturalism in the past has always ended with a cry from white privileged cis males falsely claiming multiculturally focused curriculum disparages American literacy. In 1987, with the (somewhat) arrival of cultural representation in education, an English professor by the name of E.D Hirsch Jr. published a list of common cultural vocabulary that he argued every American should recognize. The volume severely lacked diversity, causing Hirsch to receive an overwhelming amount of condemnation for his definition of fundamental American culture. In 2015, a journalist by the name of Eric Liu provided a second attempt to defining common cultural literacy in an article titled What Every American Should Know. Liu suggested expanding Hirsch’s pre-existing common cultural vocabulary with a compilation of influential, multicultural people, places, and events. Once the list has evolved into a canon of diversity, America must then ingrain the vocabulary throughout the educational networkings, developing a true definition of American literacy. Creating such a vast, multifarious list to teach America’s youth is undeniably challenging, however it is most definitely accomplishable and will extremely benefit our nation. Passionately