Mifepristone and Psychotic Depression Information
What is Mifepristone?:
Mifepristone is too known as RU-486, this drug is ussualy used for abortion; on the other hand, Mifepristone is use too as anticancer drug. Last researches have discovered that Mifepristone is used by people with pshychotic depression as well- there are people that suffer a deep mental disorder, often the main symptoms are; pain, paranoia and hallucations, thus psychotic depression involves body, mood, and thoughts - because, antidepressant medications usually are ineffective for those patients, and combining antidepressants with antipsychotic drugs improve symptoms but for only about 60 percent of them.
How Mifepristone works?:
High levels of the steroidal hormone cortisol cause the extreme symptoms of psychotic depression. The excess hormone results from an overactive group of glands called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, thus psychiatrists believe electroconvulsive therapy works by resetting this axis, returning it to a normal state. Mifepristone blocks one of the cortisol receptors and also may reset the axis, since improvements persisted for patients.
The bottom line, according to last researches, mifepristone appeared to lower levels of cortisol - a stress hormone that has been linked to psychotic depression - . Psychiatrists had checked in their patients - in weeks with mifepristone treatment - , it helps them to overcome the danger - of psychotic depression - therefore, they can return to normal medication, and it might save many people lifes, because people with psychotic depression have higher level risks for suicide than people with other depressive diseases.
Do not forget that usually psychiatrists recommend tmifepristone must not to be used as a treatment for chronic manic depression, because mifepristone might bring them side effects; in these cases it is advisable on the role of cortisol in depressive behaviour.