Rx ads have some losing sleep

By JULIE DEARDORFF
Chicago Tribune

A day after commiserating with a colleague about insomnia, he handed me a white envelope. Inside I found two small pills. "It's my wife's Ambien," he said. "Just in case."

I put the sleeping pills in my nightstand, reserving them for a desperate moment. Six months later, they're still there and not just because of reports that some Ambien users are operating heavy machinery — their cars — while slumbering or unconsciously rummaging through the refrigerator and bingeing on raw eggs.
posted by Matthew Norman, M.D. at 4:29:00 PM

Botox studied as way to treat depression
By Susan Brink
Originally published May 26, 2006

"Wear a smile and you have friends; wear a scowl and you have wrinkles." - George Eliot

Inspired by age-old literary wisdom, countless song lyrics and the 1872 musings of Charles Darwin, a very 2006 theory to treat depression has emerged. Why not turn that frown upside down - with a shot of Botox?

By preventing the physical act of frowning, the muscle-paralyzing toxin just might ease depression.

A small-scale pilot trial, published in the May 15 journal Dermatologic Surgery, found that Botox injected into frown lines around the mouth or in forehead furrows of 10 women eliminated depression symptoms in nine of them and reduced symptoms in the 10th.
posted by Matthew Norman, M.D. at 4:23:00 PM

Depression-migraine link
Researchers might have found a link between migraine headaches and the risk of major depression and the two seem to exacerbate each other.

Many scientists believe that both disorders share some of the same biological factors. Past research has hinted at a two-way relationship between migraines and depression, and the latest study adds evidence to this idea.
posted by Matthew Norman, M.D. at 4:14:00 PM