Medication as Treatment to Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic brain disorder. It is also a mood and anxiety disorder. In order to treat schizophrenia, the required medication should include antipsychotic, anti-anxiety, and antidepressant drugs.
The greatest obstacle to an effective medical treatment of schizophrenia is that the people find it hard to continue medication for the disorder. Usually, they quit medications after only one year of taking them, for various reasons. Either they don’t work, or usually the side effects are just too much for these patients to take. In a study conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, three-fourths of all patients discontinue their medications because of the side effects involved, or because the drugs simply don’t make them feel better. Usually, these patients take Clozapine, one of the more effective as well as more affordable antipsychotic medications available.

Antipsychotic medicines are taken so that the biochemical imbalances that cause schizophrenia can be normalized. They also lessen the probability of a person falling into relapses. Two major kinds of antipsychotic medications are used, the traditional as well as the new antipsychotics.

These traditional antipsychotic can help control the delusions, confusion and hallucinations brought about by Schizophrenia. Drugs like haloperidol, fluphenazine, and chlorpromazine have been on the market since the 1950’s. The dopamine receptors are blocked by these drugs, resulting in the treatment of the “positive” symptoms of schizophrenia.

Usually, it is the harsh side effects of these antipsychotics that will make the patient quit the medication. But before one does so, he/she must consult their doctor so that the benefits and side effects can be weighed. Many side effects can still be controlled, so one needs to bear with them for a while. Some of the mild side effects include:

• Blurred vision
• Dry mouth
• Constipation
• Drowsiness
• Dizziness

Usually a few weeks after starting medication, these mild side effects disappear. The more serious side effects include the following:

• Muscle spasms and cramps on the head and neck
• Difficulty in muscle control
• Pacing or fidgeting
• Tremors
• Shuffling of feet

If the medication of these traditional antipsychotics continues for an extended period of time, the patient will likely experience these side effects:

• Panting
• Grimacing
• Facial ticks
• Thrusting and rolling of the tongue
• Lip Licking

New antipsychotic medicines that have been developed and released recently. Medicines such as Zyprexa, Seroquel, Clozaril, and Risperdal have been made available in the 1990’s. These new antipsychotic medicines treat both the “positive” and “negative” symptoms of schizophronia. They do this by both treating the dopamine as well as the serotonin receptors of the brain.

Atypical Antipsychotics, the other type of these new antipsychotics, affect the dopamine receptors in a different way. The newer medicines for schizophrenia are more effective in treating the different the symptoms of schizophrenia, and they also have fewer side effects when compared to the traditional antipsychotic medications available. Your brain and body may react differently to each medicine, so it good to seek the advice of your doctor first before taking any medication.
URL sources:

http://www.patienthealthinternational.com/article/501557.aspx

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia/complete-publication.shtml

http://www.psychologyinfo.com/schizophrenia/medication-treatment.html