Gerson said, �This dibenzodiazapine antipsychotic is superior to traditional � treatment and causes fewer dopamine-related side effects fatal agranulocytosis. Patients receiving the drug must undergo weekly blood tests to monitor for agranulocytosis. Lab tests cost from $300 to $3000 a year, the drug itself costs more than $4000 a year, and the total is beyond the reach of most patients. In the United States, 70,000 patients have received clozapine, and 7 have died (204-205). Sadly, the homeless person who needs it most, can afford it the least. Even closapine, touted as the best representative of
the newcomers sadly falls short of meeting the needs of the diseased.
The Causes
About this physical disease, Carlson says that� �degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway results in Parkinson�s disease, the symptoms of which involve certain learning deficits as well as motor disorders�(440). There is a strong belief that the neurons in the body stop producing dopamine at optimum levels and leads to Parkinson�s.
The Behavior
The Parkinson host experiences uncontrollable shaking, slow motor response, increasing stiffness in the arms and legs, as well as poor equilibrium function and difficulty moving. Some people mainly have tremors while others are rigid and have slowed movements.
The Treatment
Surgical treatments include thalamotomy and Pallidotomy and are speculated to have some benefit toward relieving symptoms, but many people feel that tissue destruction such as this should be the last resort, if any.
According to Dr Friedman of Brown University in Rhode Island, �Low doses of an anti-schizophrenia drug can relieve psychotic symptoms in patients with Parkinson�s without worsening the tremors or other physical signs of the disease�. More than 1 million Americans have Parkinson�s (half the number of reported schizophrenics), a neurological disorder that causes progressive rigidity, tremors and progressive difficulty moving. A substance in the body used to synthesize dopamine called L-Dopa is employed in treatment. This is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and then synthesize true dopamine once inside.
Side Effects
Subnormal production of dopamine precipitates Parkinson's, and excessive levels of L-Dopa causes schizophrenia in those patients. According to an article written by ABC News and Published by the Associated Press, about 20% of them develop hallucinations, delusions and other psychotic symptoms from the drugs used to treat the disease. And �most anti-psychotic drugs just increase the Parkinson symptoms�. Sadly, most of the Parkinson�s patients that are pining away in rest homes are there because of drug-induced psychosis for the above reasons.
Schizophrenics have too much dopamine in their system. The body wants to be at rest, homeostasis, and regulate the proper amount. If this were done in a naturally occurring way, there would be no side effects. In the future, we may use neurotransmitters to teach the body how to regenerate new cells. This would come in handy for the child born with a shrunken schizophrenia brain or the addict to curb addiction drives which are enhanced by dopamine.
If the brain could be signaled to regulate dopamine on its own, then the malady would be history. Maybe we could find a substance (other than L-Dopa) that converts to dopamine when it crosses the blood-brain barrier.
