Report - Psychiatric drugs such as haloperidol can slow down progression of dementia

[CraigC]

http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=532297&articleID=

Well I've never been more confused.
Looking forward to the alzheimer's soceity comment on this one.

I know they are talking about mild doses but haloperidol can a be a very destructive drug. I've seen it in action.

Dr John Kwok, and colleagues from Sydney-based Neuroscience Research Australia, have discovered a gene which causes abnormal proteins to build up in the brains of those suffering frontotemporal dementia, which hits in a person's 50s and 60s.

In a rare piece of fortune, Dr Kwok said there were already several drugs approved for human use that were known to act on this same SIGMAR1 gene.

'Common psychiatric drugs, such as haloperidol, used to treat schizophrenia, are known to act on this gene,' Dr Kwok said on Friday.

'Our hope is that these drugs will slow the progression of the disease.'

 

[CraigC]

And for anyone interested, here is the source of the media release.

http://www.neura.edu.au/news-events/news/common-psychiatric-drugs-could-slow-dementia

Kind Regards
Craig

 

[Canadian Joanne]

I've seen haloperidol in action also and it was grim.

However, they are referring to frontotemporal dementia so perhaps that makes the difference.

 

[Browndr]

Haloperidol and FTD

While Dr. John Kwok in Australia reports that haloperidol can be used to treat patients with frontotemporal dementia, numerous studies say it's contraindicated. The University of California at San Francisco, one of the leading FTD research institutions, recommends against it, as does the renown Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If Kwok wants to swim upstream he should address how his research differs from prior work.

 

[CraigC]

While Dr. John Kwok in Australia reports that haloperidol can be used to treat patients with frontotemporal dementia, numerous studies say it's contraindicated. The University of California at San Francisco, one of the leading FTD research institutions, recommends against it, as does the renown Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If Kwok wants to swim upstream he should address how his research differs from prior work.

Hi Browndr,

this is quite and old thread but still an interesting topic. As I said before my experience of haloperidol/dementia are very negative.

I've just found a recent thead on the LBD Association forum warning about contradictions:

http://community.lbda.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3467

Kind Regards
Craig

 

[Carabosse]

There needs to be a larger clinical trial on the effects of the drug on Dementia (all types not just frontotemporal lobe) and the body in general from long term use, rather than the small amount that was used for this research, its actually a wonder the publication published it on such numbers and yes the Dr needs to explain in more detail how and why his results differ from previous research.