Antipsychotics combined with SAM-E

I'm forced to take antipsychotics and haven't yet been able to get myself off of them. And I've also been taking this supplement called SAM-E which does seem to be helping. However, I came across this entry about combining these two things:

Although the mechanisms of action of the antipsychotic medications and SAM-e are different, it is possible that SAM-e may increase the levels of certain neurochemicals that could theoretically alter, or compromise, the effects of antipsychotics drugs. At the very least, the effects of using of SAM-e together with antipsychotic medications would be unpredictable. In that regard, SAM-e should never be combined with antipsychotic, or any other psychoactive drugs, without first consulting your doctor or other health care professional.

Alan Agins, Ph.D.

I'm not really sure what to make of this because on the one hand the idea of the SAM-E "compromising" the effects of the antipsychotics is of course a plus for me because I think they're awful but on the other hand it sort of makes me worry that there could be some kind of adverse reaction to taking it. It doesn't clearly state that though and what I take away from it is just that it negates the effects of it. But I don't really know much about this sort of thing so I was hoping that somebody could tell me if they think there could be any bad effects from it.

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Hey Andrew Lang,

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. It does sound quite awful to be forced to take antipsychotic medication. I was also forced while in hospital to take copious amounts Risperidone which was pretty awful especially because it's not even an evidence based treatment for Bipolar Disorder.

In regards to your question about SAM-E, I'm not familiar with this dietary supplement and by doing a cursory glance of the research literature (http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=Aden ... _sdt=0%2C5) it does seem that it has a therapeutic effect for persons with depression. However, the research literature is sparse and the effect sizes aren't that fantastic. See http://www.ajcn.org/content/76/5/1158S.full and http://altcancerweb.com/bipolar/alterna ... jpsych.pdf. (Keep in mind, 70% of people with depression recover after no-treatment so 80% improvement is not that good. Also, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy consistently boasts effect sizes of over 1.00 Making it the treatment researchers should be comparing the efficacy of their medications to)

So I really don't know what the benefit is supposed to be. Maybe I'm missing something. Also, I don't know about the possible interaction between anti-psychotics and your SAM-E supplement.

Hope you feel better soon Andrew. Take care.

BTW - Can you explain a little bit more about your situation. Why are you being forced to take anti-psychotics? Are you an inpatient right now?

Yeah I've just read that the SAM-E has ijmproved people's mood according to personal stories that i've read so I thought I would give it a try. But I was wondering what do you think of that entry that I posted about antipsychotics and SAM-E? Do you think I should be concerned because like I said it doesn't really seem to imply anything other than the fact that the SAM-E would counteract the antipsychotic. I don't think I should be worried.

And the reason I'm forced to take this medication is because they believe I had psychosis even though I don't think it really was that. And I'm not in the hospital anymore.

And I actually don't have depression but those stories that I mentioned included people that also don't have it but still said that they noticed positive results.

Hey Andrew,

andrewlang16 wrote:Yeah I've just read that the SAM-E has ijmproved people's mood according to personal stories that i've read so I thought I would give it a try. But I was wondering what do you think of that entry that I posted about antipsychotics and SAM-E? Do you think I should be concerned because like I said it doesn't really seem to imply anything other than the fact that the SAM-E would counteract the antipsychotic. I don't think I should be worried.

That's a very technical question so I think you should really talk to someone who has an education in psychopharmacology like a doctor or a pharmacist. They will be able to answer questions about possible drug interactions.

andrewlang16 wrote:And I actually don't have depression but those stories that I mentioned included people that also don't have it but still said that they noticed positive results.

That's good. If it's cheap and there are no serious drug interaction problems it certainly sounds like it's worth a try. Maybe you could keep a mood diary to evaluate how well it works.

andrewlang16 wrote:And the reason I'm forced to take this medication is because they believe I had psychosis even though I don't think it really was that. And I'm not in the hospital anymore.

That's good to hear that you're not in hospital anymore. Hopefully you're feeling better.

Take care.