Good Reader Comment

Earlier this week, in response to a post about diabetes medications potentially helping in weight management for children taking atypical antipsychotics, The Last Psychiatrist chimed in with the following comment, which I reproduce in full below:

“NEJM study this week showing Glucophage and Avandia were both better than glyburide; Avandia worked slightly longer than Glucophage (about a year) but Avandia came with much more weight gain (15lbs vs a loss of 6 lbs for Glucophage) and edema.

And Glucophage has already been studied as a weight loss agent in non-diabetic, non-antipsychotic using obese teens and middle aged adults-- but the weight loss, again, is about 5-6 lbs.

So it isn't surprising that Glucophage caused weight loss, and I do not think it's effect has any relation to inhibiting the weight gain of antipsychotics, per se.

The real question, of course, is why anyone would ever do this maneuver. when there are so many other, simpler maneuvers you could do.

P.S. if you take Glucophage, be careful of lactic acidosis (dehydration, NSAIDs, kdiney problems, etc)”

His comments have always been of the highest quality and have often added a great deal of educational value to the site. You should be checking out his site regularly.