Putting schizophrenia to bed

Putting schizophrenia to bed

Monday, Mar. 21, 2016, 10:00 AM

by Marilyn Holt

Sleep abnormalities are commonly reported in schizophrenia patients, and growing evidence suggests that correcting these abnormalities may lead to improvements in other schizophrenia symptoms.

While some currently available antipsychotic drugs alleviate these sleep disruptions, they also cause sedation, which may limit positive effects on cognitive functions.

To develop more effective therapies, Carrie K. Jones, Ph.D. and colleagues have selectively targeted the M4 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype, which modulates mood, cognition, and sleep architecture, by using positive allosteric modulators (PAMs).

Jones and colleagues found that the M4PAM, VU0467154, increased sleep duration in rats without disrupting sleep quality or causing drowsiness during waking periods. VU0467154 also normalized cortical electroencephalography (EEG) disruptions in an animal model of schizophrenia.

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So, what’s the pill called or, I guess it hasn’t been developed yet.

I used to have insomnia where I couldn’t fall asleep. Now I can’t stay asleep, but I prefer this one over the other, by far. At least when I wake up too soon, I can just immediately go back to sleep.

I have difficulty getting to sleep, and then I have difficulty waking up. It’s like I’m stuck with one or the other.

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I sleep twelve hours !!
I recently read that Japanese resesarchers manipulated some genes in mice and managed to shorten or lengthen the duration of their sleep. It’s got something to do with calcium ions in the brain, but I didn’t grasp the technical details.

When I wasn’t on meds, my sleep would cycle from being awake all night and sleeping during the day to the opposite. Now it’s normal.

I like being awake. I need very little sleep. Fours hours at most does me. I tried sedating myself with AP’s. I still slept only four hours. I like waking up with a clear mind. I can then meditate and take my AP’s in the morning instead of at bedtime. Then I sleep taht off in the morning, losing those three or four hours to the AP’s .What a drag!I can’t think of anything worse than losing consciousness. Also, I’ve stopped dreaming.

Seroquel is useful. Start at 50 mg, can build up to 500 mg dosage at once. Cut into pieces for quiet release. Works better if you do not each much before bed, just snack.