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hi all well, duhhh! (oops, is there an echo in here?) janet Endocrines R Us ps parkinson's disease = shortage of dopamine schizophrenia = surfeit of dopamine maybe we should trade some brain cells? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Schizophrenia impacts women differently than men BALTIMORE, Maryland, Apr 16 (Reuters Health) - Despite the fact that both men and women can get schizophrenia, women with this type of mental illness may experience different symptoms and have unique risks compared with their male counterparts, experts said here Monday at a conference. For one, newer antipsychotic medications are less likely to prevent pregnancies than older drugs, so women with schizophrenia may now be at greater risk of unintentional pregnancy than women who took older medications. What's more, schizophrenic women face a higher risk of sexual and physical abuse than women in the general population. "Gender differences in treatment [of schizophrenia] has been a very, very poorly researched area," said Dr. Carol Tamminga, deputy director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. Researchers from the University of Maryland and Veterans Affairs' Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) based in Baltimore hosted the conference. Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that alters a person's emotions, thought processes and perceptions of reality. Symptoms can include withdrawal from social interaction, blunted expression of emotions, hallucinations and delusions. Women typically have more hallucinations and delusions than men. However, women don't suffer as badly from social withdrawal and lack of motivation and energy as men do. And women seem to have a more benign course of the disease than do men. Often striking men between ages 18 and 25 and women in their late 20s or early 30s, schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population, but accounts for a heavy toll on health care resources and on families. For example, schizophrenia patients have substance abuse rates of 50% or higher and a 10% suicide rate. They also have more health problems and a greater likelihood of homelessness and early death compared to the general population. Newer anti-psychotic medications such as clozapine, risperidone and olanzapine don't serve as "potential contraceptives" as does the traditional anti-psychotic, haloperidol, commonly prescribed for people with schizophrenia, said Dr. Mary Seeman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. In fact, 50% of women with schizophrenia become pregnant unexpectedly, matching the rate for the general population. This rate for women with the disease has risen in recent years, largely because newer medications do not interfere with ovulation as haloperidol does, Seeman said. Maryland researchers are also discovering that many women with serious mental illnesses suffer high rates of post-traumatic stress resulting from physical and sexual abuse. Such women who abuse drugs are at particularly high risk for sexual and physical abuse and re-victimization, and women with schizophrenia are at potentially greater risk for being raped than women suffering from other serious mental illnesses. This research stresses the importance of developing effective psychosocial treatments for women with schizophrenia, Dr. Alan Bellack, director of the VA Capitol Health Care Network MIRECC, told Reuters Health. By Christopher Gearon Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2002/04/16/eline/links/20020416elin027. html janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky pd: 55/41/37 cd: 55/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] smail: 375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn