Neuropsychobiology
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Past epidemiological and clinical research has identified depression as the most common psychiatric disorder associated with headache. The present study carried out in a neurology headache clinic showed that the major associations were with current anxiety disorders, especially panic and related conditions. ⋯ Past history of depression was mainly a characteristic of the tension headache group. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that migraine, especially that with aura, panic disorder and some forms of depressive illness are part of the same spectrum.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Isoflurane narcotherapy in depressive patients refractory to conventional antidepressant drug treatment. A double-blind comparison with electroconvulsive treatment.
This is the first report on a controlled study comparing the therapeutic and non-therapeutic (side) effects of electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) and isoflurane narcotherapy (ISONAR; deep anesthesias with the inhalation of anesthetic isoflurane) in drug-refractory, severely depressed women, who had been randomly allocated either to ECT (n = 10) or ISONAR (n = 10). Patients from each group were subjected to a total of six treatment sessions (two sessions per week) and maintained on a fixed antidepressant drug dose. The antidepressant efficacy of either treatment was evaluated for each treatment session (in search of a 'rapid antidepressant effect') and at weekly intervals. ⋯ ISONAR-treated patients improved in most psychometric variables, whereas patients on ECT deteriorated. Finally, the EEG patterns of the ISONAR-treated patients remained normal or augmented (dominant alpha power), whereas patients on ECT developed an increase in abnormalities in EEG patterns and theta/delta power. This indicates an organic brain syndrome in patients on ECT.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Do the B-vitamins exhibit antinociceptive efficacy in men? Results of a placebo-controlled repeated-measures double-blind study.
Additive analgesic effects of long-term application of a combination of the vitamins B1, B6, B12 (thiamine diphosphate 100 mg, pyridoxsine-HCl 200 mg, cyanocobalamin 20 micrograms, p.o.) on a single dose of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac (diclofenac-Na, 50 mg, p.o.) were investigated with a noninflammatory experimental pain model in 38 healthy volunteers. B-vitamins were given with 3 dosages/day for 1 week. Then experimental sessions of 3 h followed to test the analgesic efficacy of the NSAID. ⋯ No B-vitamin effects of the B-vitamins could be detected, either additive analgesic effects on diclofenac analgesia or on the concomitant variables describing unspecific sedative effects. Clearly the B-vitamin pretreatment for 1 week enlarged the plasma levels for vitamin B6 by 700%, for vitamin B1 by 70% and for vitamin B12 by 50%. All B-vitamin concentrations were independent of each other.