Diabetes Link to Anti-Psychotic Drug Zyprexa

[Guest guest]

http://www.mercola.com/2002/oct/26/zyprexa.htm Diabetes Link to Anti-Psychotic Drug Zyprexa Since the late 1980s new antipsychotic agents with different mechanisms of action from conventional antipsychotics have been developed and widely adopted in the treatment of schizophrenia. The main advantage of these newer antipsychotics is a reduction of extrapyramidal side effects. Extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) are the various movement disorders.Common EPS are akathisia (restlessness), dystonia (muscular spasms of neck (torticollis), eyes (oculogyric crisis), tongue, or jaw), Drug-Induced Parkinsonian Syndrome (muscle stiffness, shuffling gait, drooling, tremour), and tardive dyskinesia (involuntary, irregular muscle movements, usually in the face).However, they are associated with a different spectrum of side effects, including: a.. Weight gain, b.. Diabetes, c.. High cholesterol, d.. Myocarditis, and e.. Cardiomyopathy. These metabolic effects may pose a burden as serious as the extrapyramidal effects.As Prozac sales dive in the face of competition Zyprexa, one of the newer schizophrenia treatments without the EPS side effects, has become the most important drug for its maker, Lilly. Zyprexa worries were fanned by the recent medical reports of diabetes incidence among Zyprexa patients. Researchers say that blood-sugar problems also accompany other schizophrenia drugs.What evidence shows that Zyprexa increases diabetes?Evidence to date convinces leading psychiatry researchers that Zyprexa does pose a greater risk of diabetes than other widely prescribed -- and equally effective -- schizophrenia drugs. For the large number of psychiatric patients who have pre-existing risk factors for diabetes or heart disease, informed psychiatrists have started to prescribe the rival drugs. Blaming any psychiatric drug for diabetes is complicated by other risk factors. Apart from any drugs, the two million Americans with schizophrenia suffer more diabetes and heart disease than does the general population. Lifestyle accounts for some of the increased frequency of heart disease and diabetes among schizophrenics. Such folks typically smoke more, eat unhealthy foods and get less exercise. Patients receiving strong psychiatric drugs usually are obese at an above-average rate. British Medical Journal August 3, 2002;325(7358):243 (Full Text Article)