system
Scizoaffective disorder. On antipsychotics. Relief by dopaminergic antiparkinson?
human
my boyfriend is suffering from schizoaffective disorder and has quite a few anxieties, etc that his antipsychotics don't alleviate. He can't take benzos (he has a weakness for them), and is allergic to many antihistamines, so he can't take anticholinergics. I just read that dopaminergic antiparkinson meds may be an answer. What questions should he be asking his psychiatrist about this? He really needs some relief. He's pretty miserable :(
gpt
Hello and welcome to Healthcare Magic. Thanks for your query. I'm not sure what you mean by "a few anxieties" which he is having difficulty with. However, dopaminergic anti-parkinson's drugs are not advocated in the treatment of schizoaffective disorder since these can cause worsening of the psychotic symptoms. They also have no significant role in the treatment of anxiety symptoms. Schizoaffective disorder is a psychiatric disorder where a person has coexisting and prominent psychotic symptoms as well as mood symptoms. The treatment is usually with anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers. If your boyfriend is having any anxiety symptoms then there may be other options to tackle them, like non-benzodiazepine anti-anxiety meication or relaxation techniques / psychological therapies. So, please discuss regarding these options with his doctor. Wish you all the best. Regards, Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar Consultant Psychiatrist