I interviewed five patients and the Type 1 diabetics' data from today has definitely proved to be some of the most interesting I've encountered thus far in this study.
Both Type 1 diabetics from today, Patients 40 and 41, are on the medication fluoxetine hydrochloride. Now, fluoxetine hydrochloride may mean nothing to you, as was the case with me about twenty minutes ago. Indeed, I felt foolish to find that fluoxetine hydrochloride is the chemical name for none other than Prozac®, perhaps the most well-known antidepressant.
I think what's interesting to note is that just because a patient is prescribed an antidepressant, it doesn't mean the patient is treated for their depression. Everyone responds differently to medications and it's common for side effects to outweigh the benefits of any given drug. For this reason, it's important to see whether the patient's depression has actually improved since the date the antidepressant was prescribed. Given that Prozac® is used to treat major depressive disorder (approximate PHQ-9 score of 14 or higher), I can presume that both patients' PHQ-9 score decreased since the start of their treatment for depression.
Patient 40's HbA1c level was 8.1% when the patient was first prescribed for Prozac® on October 21, 2011 and is now 7.6%. Patient 41's HbA1c level was 9.4% when the patient was first prescribed for Prozac® on January 16, 2012 and is now 8.8%. Even though Patient 40 has been on Prozac® for longer, it's clear that the drug hasn't worked as well for Patient 40 as it has for Patient 41 — Patient 41 scored a zero on PHQ-9, indicative of no depressive symptoms present, while Patient 40 scored an 8, indicative of some depressive symptoms still present. As a result, it seems that their respective drops in HbA1c levels correlate with how well their depression treatment has gone, regardless of how long they've been on Prozac® — proportionally, Patient 41's HbA1c has dropped more since January than Patient 40's HbA1c has since October.
Again, I think there is an important distinction to be made that these two patients' data bring up: diabetes has been shown to improve if the depression improves; not merely if the patient is being treated (since certain treatments are not always optimally effective, as with Patient 40).
Lalani.
Both Type 1 diabetics from today, Patients 40 and 41, are on the medication fluoxetine hydrochloride. Now, fluoxetine hydrochloride may mean nothing to you, as was the case with me about twenty minutes ago. Indeed, I felt foolish to find that fluoxetine hydrochloride is the chemical name for none other than Prozac®, perhaps the most well-known antidepressant.
I think what's interesting to note is that just because a patient is prescribed an antidepressant, it doesn't mean the patient is treated for their depression. Everyone responds differently to medications and it's common for side effects to outweigh the benefits of any given drug. For this reason, it's important to see whether the patient's depression has actually improved since the date the antidepressant was prescribed. Given that Prozac® is used to treat major depressive disorder (approximate PHQ-9 score of 14 or higher), I can presume that both patients' PHQ-9 score decreased since the start of their treatment for depression.
Patient 40's HbA1c level was 8.1% when the patient was first prescribed for Prozac® on October 21, 2011 and is now 7.6%. Patient 41's HbA1c level was 9.4% when the patient was first prescribed for Prozac® on January 16, 2012 and is now 8.8%. Even though Patient 40 has been on Prozac® for longer, it's clear that the drug hasn't worked as well for Patient 40 as it has for Patient 41 — Patient 41 scored a zero on PHQ-9, indicative of no depressive symptoms present, while Patient 40 scored an 8, indicative of some depressive symptoms still present. As a result, it seems that their respective drops in HbA1c levels correlate with how well their depression treatment has gone, regardless of how long they've been on Prozac® — proportionally, Patient 41's HbA1c has dropped more since January than Patient 40's HbA1c has since October.
Again, I think there is an important distinction to be made that these two patients' data bring up: diabetes has been shown to improve if the depression improves; not merely if the patient is being treated (since certain treatments are not always optimally effective, as with Patient 40).
Lalani.
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