While multi-tasking in my kitchen earlier I switched from the Top Chef finales to the CNBC Mad Money with Jim Cramer.
The reason I am posting this is that I only caught the last ten minutes of his show but wanted to share what was on those minutes. It seems the general topic was pharmaceuticals. So near the end he talked about drugs used for schizophrenia and AD. If I caught it right he said that improvement was currently a focus of the company ALKS; their specific focus is developing long term alternatives to meds already used.
The ALKS CEU guest also mentioned zyprexia. He said that it is a very effective med but it has a common side effect of pronounced weight gain and his company has apparently released a med that is still effective but has cut out the weight gain.
Apparently it is in its final trial phase. Just thought I would pass this on.
abby*--Steve is on Zyprexa and was previously on another anti psychotic (Seroquel) for 4 years. And yes, he did gain weight at first on the Seroquel. But I have never understood why this is a concern for an AD patient. (1) AD itself is terminal and (2) All that weight and much more usually comes off before the patient dies. Steve lost the weight he had gained and about 40 lbs more--he eats like a horse, but does a lot of pacing. Also, he's advanced in the disease process and his body may no longer be processing the nutrition from the food. I've never heard of an AD patient dying due to weight loss--maybe it's just a marketing angle?
my DH was also on zyprexa for only 4mos and developed a milder form of diebetes from it which in my opinion is far worse than weight gain. its also listed as a possible 'side effect' which indeed happened only after 4mos on it. but it was a life saver at the time, it kept DH compliant and able to remain home during a strong aggitated 4mos. and like marilyn suggests a weight gain while is problematic in most, in our AD spouses sometimes having a store of potential added weight may be helpful as they lose so much later on in lbs and body mass. just my opinion. it would be nice to have new meds out there without all the side effects. divvi
Tom has been on Zyprexa for almost 2 months for his aggression and anger. It really helped with that. He lost 5 pounds in the last month but eats everything that I give him. Even though he is in the late stage of FTD he is mobile and is very busy pacing all night long.
Mine is was recently prescribed serquel....he's gained quite a bit of weight, but then again to due the disease FTD/AD he's very sedendary. I am not concerned with the weight gain because I feel he will need it as his disease progresses. He's worried about it though...go figure..the man only showers once a week (part of his FTD) and his hygene is terrible, but worried being overweight!