Benzodiazepines, or benzos, are a class of medications that act as central nervous system depressants. They’re used for a variety of different purposes, but in the context of psychiatric treatment, they sometimes end up being used in managing mental illnesses that they aren’t actually indicated for. In some cases, over-reliance on benzos can mean that …
The Role of Benzodiazepines in Managing Mental Illness Read More »
Managing medications can be a basic part of mental illness/chronic illness life. But doing it without a system may only work for so long, especially when brain fog gets in the way. At that point, it might be time for a pill dosette, which is a bigger step than just picking up a hunk of …
Managing Psych Medications: Getting a Pill Dosette Read More »
A fellow blogger asked this question recently, and it’s taken me a while to pull this post together because there just isn’t a simple answer as to why psych medications stop working out of the blue sometimes. There are various possibilities, but there’s also a hefty dose of science just doesn’t know yet. How the …
Why Do Psych Medications Stop Working Sometimes? Read More »
If you take meds, or even if you haven’t, you may have heard of medication half-life. But what does it actually mean? As a former pharmacist, that question is right up my alley. Pharmacokinetics Half-life has to do with pharmacokinetics, which refers to the way a drug moves through the body. There are four aspects …
Medication Half-Life: What it Means and Why it Matters Read More »
Anyone can have nightmares, but up to 80% of people with PTSD experience nightmares as a symptom of their PTSD. The idea for this came from an article that SkinnyHobbit shared about the treatment of nightmares, which is based on recommendations from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in 2018. What can worsen nightmares Some …
Medications That Can Help with Nightmares in PTSD Read More »
Weight gain can be a difficult side effect for people taking antipsychotic medications. Not all drugs are equally likely to cause weight gain, and this post looks at the findings from a study published in 2020 in The Lancet Psychiatry that compared the potential for weight gain with different antipsychotics. The link between antipsychotics and …
Antipsychotics and the Likelihood of Weight Gain Read More »
There’s a lot of stigma around taking psych meds to treat mental illness. Meds certainly aren’t right for every person or every condition, but they’re a good tool to have available as part of the mental illness toolbox. For all the social kerfuffle over meds, they are just a tool. Getting well (or getting by) …
Taking Psych Meds: I’ll Tell You Mine if You Tell Me Yours Read More »
You can find all kinds of stories online of people reporting negative experiences with different forms of psychiatric medication. However, there’s inherent bias in that kind of reporting of side effects, so you really can’t use that information to effectively generalize how safe or effective a treatment is. In this post, we’ll look at where …
Bias in What You Read Online About Psych Med Side Effects Read More »
For anyone who needs to take medications for a chronic condition like mental illness, dealing with side effects may end up being part of the reality of taking meds. The pros should always be outweighing the cons, but the right balance can be hard to find. No side effects is possible All medications have potential …
Naltrexone (brand names include Vivitrol and ReVia) blocks opioid receptors just like Narcan (naloxone), which is used to treat opioid overdoses. Both drugs prevent any opioids in the vicinity From being able to latch onto opioid receptors and do their opioid thing. While Narcan and fast- and short-acting, naltrexone works more slowly and is longer-acting. It’s available …
