Fighting depression with n3 fatty acids David Horrobin of Stirling, Scotland found that people undergoing treatment for depression may benefit from 1 gram per day of ethyl-eicosapentaenoate, a N3 fatty acid. Dr. Horrobin and his colleagues tested 70 patients with refractory depression and found that those who received the N3 fatty acid demonstrated significantly greater improvement as compared to those who did not. Dr. Horrobin partly concludes, “…the take home message is that, in at least some depressed patients, and in particular in those who have failed to respond to standard drugs, depression may be caused by a specific and correctable biochemical abnormality.” Archives of General Psychiatry 2002; 59: 913-919
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New SNRI anti-depressant effective in one week At the recent 15th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress meeting, it was reported that a new serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, duloxetine (Cymbalta) begins its effects in one week — faster than the two to four week time of onset of other antidepressants. The investigating team led by Dr. Stephen Brannan of Eli Lilly conducted a double-blind randomized study of 512 patients who met the diagnosis of major depressive disorder and found that those who were given a once a day dosage of 60mg of duloxetine, had a significantly greater improvement in mood and anxiety measures than did patients treated with placebo, and in one week’s time, had significant improvement on item 1 of the Hamilton Depressed Rating Scale.
U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health 15th Annual Congress. October 28-31, 2002
Colonoscopy patients control their own analgesia Danny W. Lee, MBChB from the North District Hosptial and Prince Whales Hospital of Hong Kong reports that patient-controlled sedation during colonscopy is effective and safer than intravenous sedation controlled by the endoscopist. In a prospective randomized trial of 100 patients 65 years and older, Lee found that patient controlled sedation (involving 4.8 mg of propofol and 12 ug of alfentanil) during colonoscopy „appears safer than intravenous sedation, with comparable effectiveness and acceptance, in elderly patients undergoing elective outpatient colonoscoopy.
Cancer patients receiving head/neck radiation helped by a “morphine mouthwash It is suggested that using a morphine mouthwash is preferable to using the commonly prescribed “magic mouthwash,” (containing: lidocaine, diphenhydramine and magnesium aluminum hydroxide), due to its topical effect better reducing the intensity and duration of pain. Dr. Leandro Cerchietti of the Universityof Buenos Aires found that out of 26 patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy for head and neck carcinoma, the 14 randomly assigned to receive the morphine mouthwash had a shorter duration of pain, lower intensity of oral pain, and shorter duration of functional impairment. Dr. Cerchietti concludes, “for patients with head and neck carcinomas receiving concomitant chemoradiotherapy, morphine mouthwash is a simple and effective treatment to decrease the severity and duration of pain and the duration of functional impairment.”
Looking forward to fun releases endorphins and counteracts stress Lee Berk, an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of California at Irvine reports that after having 16 men view a funny video, half of whom were told in advance that they’d be watching the tape, he found that cortisol stress hormone levels dropped by 39%, epinephrine/adrenaline dropped by 70% and endorphins rose by 27%, as did growth hormone levels (which helps immune functioning) by 87%. Those men who were told in advance that they were going to watch the video demonstrated these biochemical and hormonal changes right away. This is the first study to show that anticipating having fun can have similar effects as to experiencing the fun itself. Berk concludes by saying, “anticipation is half, or two-thirds, the fun.”
Acupuncture and hypnosis effective for facial, head and neck pain D.P. Lu and colleagues found that among 25 patients with various head and neck pain that were studied, those who received either acupuncture, hypnosis or both, experienced effective reduction of their pain by an average of 4.2 units on a 10 point pain scale. Those patients who underwent hypnosis experienced a pain reduction of 4.8 units and those who underwent acupuncture experienced a pain reduction of 3.7 units. Acute pain was best relieved by acupuncture whereas psychogenic pain was best relieved by hypnosis.
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 2001 Oct; 44(2): 141-8
Dr. Larry Lachman is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with Psychooncology Associates where he conducts therapy with cancer patients and their families as well as hosting the bi-monthly cable television show, “Living Options: Coping With Cancer on the Central Coast,” in Monterey, California.
Dr. Lachman leads a weekly cancer patient therapy group, two bereavement therapy groups and is working on two cancer related books: The Path of Courage and Under The Hammer of Fate. His psycho-social cancer related web resource center is located at: http://www.thepathofcouragecentral.com/
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