Overuse Of Codeine, Oxycodone And Barbiturates Increases Risk Of Chronic Migraine
People who overuse barbiturates and opioids, such as codeine, butalbital, and oxycodone, to treat migraine are at an increased risk of developing chronic migraine, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12 - 19, 2008.People with chronic migraine have headaches on 15 or more days a month.Their risk of chronic migraine was then calculated based on the types of medications they used in 2005. Among those with episodic migraine in 2005, 209 people had developed chronic migraine in 2006.The study found people who took drugs containing barbiturates or opioids for only eight days a month were twice as likely to develop chronic migraine a year later as those who didn’t take such drugs.
“People who use drugs that contain barbiturates and opioids, if only for a total of seven to eight days a month, appear to significantly increase their risk of migraine progression,” said study author Marcelo Bigal, MD, PhD, with Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. “Strict limits for these types of drugs should be enforced among people with migraine as a way of preventing their migraines from becoming more frequent and more painful.”
The study found no evidence that the risk of developing chronic migraine increased among people who frequently used triptans, which are commonly prescribed drugs to treat migraine, or non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen.
The study was supported by the National Headache Foundation.
For further helpful information visit the Helping with Headaches and Migraines website
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Brains of People with Depression Different
People who suffer from depression may have far fewer of the receptors in the brain that regulate our happiness when compared to non-depressed people. The new study also suggests that the fewer receptors a person has, the more severe their depression.
Scans show untreated depressed people have fewer serotonin and opioid receptors, and that variation is linked to symptoms and treatment response. But the research also showed the numbers of these receptors can vary greatly from person to person.
The lead University of Michigan researcher, Jon-Kar Zubieta, M.D., Ph.D., says these new results bolster what other researchers have been finding in recent years.
“There’s a substantial amount of biological difference even among people who have major depression, which is just as important as the biological differences between people with depression and people without,” he says.
“The more we can understand about these differences, the better we can address treatment to the individual and have the greatest effect on symptoms.”
Zubieta presented data from positron emission tomography, or PET, scans of the brains of patients who met the criteria for major depression but had not yet received treatment for it.
Those scans were compared with scans of the brains of non-depressed comparison volunteers.
In one group of depressed and non-depressed volunteers, the scans were made using a tracer that can reveal the location and concentration of a particular type of receptor. Called the 5HT1a receptor, it allows brain cells to receive signals from serotonin, a chemical neurotransmitter produced by the brain.
Serotonin levels in the brain are linked to depression, but the importance of 5HT1a receptor concentrations in the brains of depressed people has been cloudy. That’s why Zubieta’s team chose to scan only people who had not yet received antidepressant medications, since some such medications may actually encourage the brain’s cells to make more serotonin receptors — and masking the actual level of receptors that the person has naturally.
In the study, 5HT1a receptor concentrations were markedly lower in depressed people compared with non-depressed people, in both the left and right hippocampus region of the brain.
But even among depressed people, the lower a person’s the 5HT1 receptor levels were, the worse he or she scored on assessments of their ability to function day-to-day. They were also less likely to get relief from symptoms when the researchers prescribed a common antidepressant.
This finding of individual variation may help explain why some patients find great relief from a medication that doesn’t help other equally depressed patients, says Zubieta.
The other group of depressed and non-depressed volunteers received PET scans with a tracer that allowed the researchers to see the mu-opioid receptors (which bind endorphins) in their brains. These receptors are the gateway for signals sent by chemicals which are involved in stress response including response to pain.
In this group of depressed and non-depressed volunteers, the researchers studied the distribution of the mu-opioid receptors and looked at how active the receptors were when the volunteers were asked to summon a sad memory or scenario to mind.
Depressed volunteers had lower concentrations of mu-opioid receptors to begin with. But when they underwent the “sadness challenge”, those receptors were much more active than the receptors in non-depressed people. And, just as with the serotonin 5HT1a receptors, the fewer mu-opioid receptors a person had, the less well they responded to an antidepressant medication.
Zubieta and his colleagues are now working to submit these new data for publication. At the same time, they are continuing to recruit depressed volunteers who are not taking medication for more brain imaging studies.
The preliminary findings were presented Tuesday at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Source: University of Michigan Depression Center
For further information visit the Helping with Bipolar Disorder website
Adopted Children at Risk for ADHD, Other Mental Disorders
American teens who were adopted as babies are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral problems than those who were not adopted, according to new research.
The researchers are quick to note that most adoptees in the study were psychologically healthy and doing well, but that adoption doubles the risk in children for two mental disorders — attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder.
Approximately 120,000 American children are adopted each year and there are about 1.5 million adoptees under age 18 in total, according to the study.
As domestic adoptions have decreased, the number of international adoptions has increased.
“Worldwide, approximately 40,000 children per year are moved between more than 100 countries through adoption. Despite the popularity of adoption, there is a persistent concern that adopted children may be at heightened risk for mental health or adjustment problems.”
Margaret A. Keyes, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and colleagues assessed 540 non-adopted adolescents, 514 internationally adopted adolescents and 178 domestically adopted adolescents (ages 11 to 21) to determine if adopted adolescents were at a higher risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Assessments were based on child and parent reports of attention-deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiant, conduct, major depressive and separation anxiety disorders, teacher reports of psychological health and contact with mental health professionals.
Adoptees scored moderately higher on continuous measures of behavioral and emotional problems.
“Nevertheless, being adopted approximately doubled the odds of having contact with a mental health professional and of having a disruptive behavior disorder [attention-deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiant, or conduct disorder]. Relative to international adoptees, domestic adoptees had higher odds of having [a disruptive] disorder,” the authors write.
“Focusing on internalizing problems, teachers reported that international adoptees were significantly more anxious than non-adopted adolescents and their parents reported significantly more symptoms of internalizing disorders, specifically major depressive disorders and separation anxiety disorders.”
“Although most adopted adolescents are psychologically healthy, they may be at elevated risk for some externalizing disorders, especially among those domestically placed,” the authors conclude.
The study appears in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Source: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
For further information visit the Helping with Bipolar Disorder website
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Know about Cholesterol Ratio
Now, in majority of the cases, cholesterol ratio is defined as the value retrieved from the total cholesterol level divided by the HDL level. Additionally, few researchers and doctors also consider cholesterol ratio as per dividing LDL by HDL. American Heart Association (AHA) considers 3.5:1 as the optimum ratio for total blood cholesterol to HDL and always recommends keeping this ratio lower than 5:1. For LDL to HDL the ratio should be lower than 3:1.
Calculation of Cholesterol Ratio
Cholesterol ratio is also referred to as cardiac risk ratio. If it is greater than 7:1, it is assumed as a warning. Now we look at it in more details. Say, your total cholesterol level and HDL level are 200mg/dL and 50mg/dL respectively. Then your cholesterol ratio is 4:1. You can get this ratio by simply dividing the former value by the later one. Ideally, your cholesterol ratio may be within 3:1, however, below 5:1 ratio is good for maintaining a healthy balance.
Higher ratio difference implies higher risk for developing heart problem, whereas lower difference ensures lower risk for the same. Quite obviously, high level of total cholesterol and low level of HDL heightens the ratio, which is absolutely undesirable. On the other hand, higher HDL and lower total cholesterol lower the ratio value, which is truly desirable.
Blood Cholesterol Ratio and Cardiovascular Risk
The HDL to LDL ratio and total cholesterol to HDL ratio are more relevant compared to total blood cholesterol level in terms of diagnosing the potential risk for coronary heart disease, heart attack, arteriosclerosis, and other cardiovascular disorder. For example, if someone has LDL to HDL ratio less than 2.5, that implies he is in safe condition. But if the ratio becomes higher than 3, it may turn out to be an indicator for possible complications.
On the other hand, total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio is beneficial in analyzing probable risk for atherosclerosis. The best defined ratio is lower than 4:1. In fact, some health practitioners recommend using total cholesterol to HDL ratio instead of total cholesterol level. The LDL to HDL ratio is considered as a pure ratio and perfect. This LDL to HDL cholesterol ratio is thought to be a better marker for cardiovascular complications.
For further information on Cholesterol visit the helpful Lowering Choelsterol website
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Omega-3s Uncertain for Bipolar
A new review of existing studies finds that there is still not enough evidence to say whether omega-3s are useful treatments for people with bipolar disorder. The summary comes despite intriguing findings that omega-3 fatty acid supplements could alleviate depression symptoms.
Nevertheless, omega-3s deserve further study, since they seem to have no serious side effects and most experts recommend the supplements for people with heart disease and some immune disorders, said authors Paul Montgomery, Ph.D., and Alex Richardson, Ph.D., of the University of Oxford.
Montgomery and Richardson found five studies on the effects of omega-3 supplements for bipolar disorder, but only one study of 75 patients provided enough data on the therapy’s outcomes for the researchers to analyze. Patients in the study had less severe depression symptoms while taking the supplements, but omega-3s did not affect their mania symptoms. Patients with bipolar disorder can cycle between periods of mania — elevated mood and energy — and depression.
The review of studies appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews like this one draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
Montgomery said the review makes it clear that there is not enough evidence yet to determine how omega-3s affect bipolar disorder, “and what evidence is currently available is of such a varied and oftentimes questionable nature that no reliable conclusions may be drawn.”
Bipolar disorder is among the top 30 causes of disability worldwide. Clinicians prescribe a variety of mood-stabilizing drugs to treat the complex psychiatric disorder, but the medications rarely cause symptoms to disappear completely and they can have serious side effects.
Recently, a growing handful of studies have suggested that omega-3s can be beneficial for other mood disturbance disorders such as clinical depression, personality disorders and schizophrenia.
Different versions of the fatty acids are in vegetable oils such as flax seed oil and in fish oils. Researchers are still not clear how omega-3s work in the body, but they might “play key roles in brain structure and function,” Montgomery said.
For the moment, the few studies available suggest that patients should use omega-3s along with prescribed mood stabilizers, Montgomery said.
Joseph Hibbeln, M.D., who heads the nutritional neurochemistry division of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said he and his colleagues “strongly recommend” that patients with psychiatric disorders not take omega-3 supplements “in lieu of established psychiatric treatment options.”
Companies that manufacture the supplements, along with government and charity funding, supported some of the studies considered for the review. Montgomery and Richardson have worked as consultants to several fatty acid supplement companies, the review disclosed.
Source: Health Behavior News Service