Hmm an estrogenic compound for schizo treatment? Does this have something to do with the fact that male gender is linked to worse outcome in schizophrenia and targeting hormones may help? I suppose it's taken in combination with anti-psychotic treatment.
Yes, one of the inclusion criteria's was that one has to be at least 2 weeks on antipsychotics. But other than that, there was not really a limit (at least for men) to be excluded.
Another reason why they came with this hypothesis is because post-menopause women with low levels of Estrogen were more likely to get worse psychotic symptoms than healthy women and showed improvement when Raloxifene was added. The idea behind it came from doctor Cynthia Shannon Weickert whom's twin brother was schizophrenic and started to investigate the role of Estrogen and schizophrenia.
Raloxifene and cognition
Raloxifene on positive, negative, cognitive and depression, here. (This is I guess a part of the study which I'm a participant of or a study/summary that was before me..? idk..)
The one on which I decided to participate was a summary of study's (till 2017) and it's outcome's but.. weird.. Can't find it anymore. What I do remember was there were 4 large study's done to date, 2 of them showed significant changes, 2 didn't.
If I understand it correctly, abnormalities in both estrogenic and androgenic hormones have been observed in both genders with the disease, and the idea is that this drug - a SERM, will modulate activity more to the beneficial side - one can also not say that the drug should be considered to have the same effects as estrogen as well, since it actually seems to DECREASE some of the effects of estrogen on the body, instead causing some androgenic effects.
(I believe the drug is used by bodybuilders already, in order to combat gynoid side-effects and for post-cycle health)
I must admit that the whole part with the hormonal disturbances in Schizophrenia is completely new territory for me - could one say that Schizophrenia then appears to be more of a metabolic, whole-body-wide disease than previously assumed? A bit like its mirror opposite in some ways, Autism. (which is NOT just a neurological disorder - there are metabolic abnormalities that are a trade-mark of the disease as well, like disruptions in tryptophan-metabolism, which could underlie the sleeping-problems seen in Autism)
Yes, I've read, Raloxifene is also gaining attention in the bodybuilding community to combat gyno.
I already knew many years ago about Estrogen (and other hormones like Testosterone) might play a role but because it is a mainly female hormone I didn't investigate. I tried Pregnenolone (which is already well documented of having a positive effect on some symptoms) in the past when off antipsychotic and did notice positive changes on mind and body. I've also tried Testosterone gel for a couple months but didn't notice any changes.
In the past I was obsessed with the possible role of (high) Cortisol levels and symptom severity but I never could convince my docs to have a look at that. Besides I've read that Mirtazapine lowers Cortisol and Mirtazapine is one of the only drugs I react very positive to.
).
