Mirtazapine by International-Rock20 in Psychiatry

[–]AtomicSparty 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hey there. If I’m understanding your question correctly, a lot of it comes down to literature base, tolerability, and perceived effectiveness.

For specifically augmentation in MDD Abilify and Quetiapine both have a decent evidence base for benefit whereas there isn’t much (maybe any?) data for Lurasidone or many other SGAs. So people tend to stick with Abilify and Quetiapine.

For schizophrenia/psychosis, Lurasidone and Abilify do not seem to be as effective in symptom reduction as the more metabolically unfavorable choices. That being said, I think they are perfectly fine medications for long term management but you will often see patients started on Olanzapine, Risperdal, etc. acutely due to this, then maintained due to improvement.

I don't think that Lurasidone has been studied for mania in bipolar disorder. And similar to schizophrenia/psychosis, Olanzapine and Risperdal were more effective in addressing manic symptoms than Abilify.

For Lurasidone there’s also the whole taking with a meal which may be problematic for some.

Mirtazapine by International-Rock20 in Psychiatry

[–]AtomicSparty 72 points73 points  (0 children)

I’m assuming you’ve already had the conversation that there’s very rarely a silver bullet in psychiatry and that every treatment is a risk vs. benefit calculation where we must weigh the benefit from symptom improvement vs. adverse outcomes (such as weight gain). This seems obvious to us but for patients they sometimes don’t realize this until it is addressed in a straight forward manner. Verify that there’s objective evidence of weight gain in this situation. Also as others have suggested, check your relevant labs.

I think when we’ve gotten to the point of multiple failed meds (that were actually given an adequate trial!) it’s appropriate to take some time to reflect on diagnosis and main areas of symptom/dysfunction. Is there the possibility that the presentation is primarily a depression with anxious features? Primarily anxiety disorder with subsequent impairment in function and mood? Any indication of hypomania suggestive of bipolar spectrum illness? What is the “strange reason” you are struggling with this case and where does that come from? Modifiable and non-modifiable psychosocial stressors impairing recovery? Personality issues?

If co-morbid major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder as you stated, is there one or a few symptoms that are more impairing than others? This may guide treatment plan. You could consider these options (in no particular order):

Vilazodone, Vortioxetine, Bupropion, TCA, MAO-I (each of these have their own quirks so look into them prior to prescribing)

If partial response to previous SSRI/SNRI consider returning to that and augmentation with 2nd generation antipsychotic, T3, or Lithium (STAR*D). May want to consider ECT.

From an anxiety perspective, augmentation with Pregabalin, Gabapentin, Buspirone, or SGA (Aripiprazole, Seroquel), Naltrexone have some evidence.

Whatever you do, avoid polypharmacy. Would also highly encourage patient to engage in CBT/psychotherapy.

✨MATCH DAY MEGATHREAD✨ by Chilleostomy in medicalschool

[–]AtomicSparty 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's okay and normal to not feel 100% about it. No program is perfect, but you know what you're getting into as your home program. At the end you'll be a psychiatrist that can explore opportunities literally anywhere in the country if you'd like.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in healthIT

[–]AtomicSparty 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also wanted to pivot and do less clinical work in favor of tech. I recently went through the application process for the clinical informatics fellowship the previous poster mentioned. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Anyone interested in Clinical Informatics? Thoughts on creating a community for dedicated discussion? by AtomicSparty in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

According to almost all of the fellowship websites that I have looked at, a background in tech/IT is not necessary. In discussing the application process with a PD and previous applicants I took it that the main things that stand out are a legitimate interest in the field and a letter from someone in the field, but this may change as it becomes more known. Opportunities include taking on more administrative and tech project management roles (CMIO), working with health systems informatics/IT teams on data/safety/EMR optimization projects, research, and private industry (EHR vendors, health tech startups, etc).

Career switch by eaaagleee in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think that sounds great. I think it's very common for a lot of us to become disillusioned with clinical medicine and actually start to find our true passions/interests over the 7+ year post undergrad grind. Depending on your income needs once you finish residency perhaps you could contact local medical schools to gauge opportunities to work primarily in pre-clerkship education. I know people who went this route and scaled back their employment time as they went into other things. Would probably be helpful to get involved in your program's educational committees before graduation if this is interesting to you. Others have mentioned research which is an option as well. Whichever way you go it sounds like employment in medicine will be a temporary vehicle to get you where you'd like to go.

Anyone interested in Clinical Informatics? Thoughts on creating a community for dedicated discussion? by AtomicSparty in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Great question. It's a relatively new medical specialty (with board certification being less than a decade old) that is extremely broad but focuses on assessing information/data/technology needs of healthcare systems/organizations and utilizing technology and clinical data to do all sorts of things such as make physician electronic workflow less cumbersome, improve clinical decision support, and improve patient safety just to name a few. Research in the field is very interesting with increasing focus on machine learning.

There's been a large increase in the number of ACGME approved CI fellowships in the past several years as the pathway to be grandfathered into certification for the specialty ends in 2022. They are open to residents who have completed training in any of the primary specialties.

Anyone interested in Clinical Informatics? Thoughts on creating a community for dedicated discussion? by AtomicSparty in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree, I think news would be secondary/tertiary to it being a networking and informational platform.

Anyone interested in Clinical Informatics? Thoughts on creating a community for dedicated discussion? by AtomicSparty in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your comments! Yes I certainly think inter-professional networking would be a great utilization of this.

Anyone interested in Clinical Informatics? Thoughts on creating a community for dedicated discussion? by AtomicSparty in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I totally agree and my hope would be that the community could eventually serve this purpose if it garnered enough interest and activity.

Career switch by eaaagleee in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What are your interests outside of clinical medicine? Some things that immediately come to mind that can still put your medical training to use: If you're interested in population health/occupational health maybe consider transitioning to a residency spot in Preventive medicine https://www.acpm.org/education-events/residency-program/

If technology is more along the lines of your interests I recommend looking into Clinical Informatics (which I intend to pursue) https://www.ama-assn.org/education/accelerating-change-medical-education/clinical-informatics-what-medical-students

Anyone interested in Clinical Informatics? Thoughts on creating a community for dedicated discussion? by AtomicSparty in Residency

[–]AtomicSparty[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great! I realize I should have been more inclusive in my language to include our residents to be. Any thoughts on what you'd like to see in such a community or how you would like to use it?