Posted by SLS on February 1, 2007, at 7:00:50
In reply to Re: Lithium + Lamictal? » SLS, posted by Lonely on February 1, 2007, at 0:01:18
I don't believe lithium would be a problem.
It does sound like he is bipolar II. How much sleep does he get? Does he talk loud and rapidly?
Lithium is not the usual first choice for this subtype. Depakote is found be effective more often. However, the hepatitis compromises his liver function, which might be a contraindication to the use of Depakote as Depakote can be hard on the liver. I'm not absolutely sure, but this would be the main obstacle in the use of this drug. Tegretol or Trileptal, like Depakote, are anticonvulsant mood-stabilizers. They are known in particular to reduce impulsive and aggressive behaviours.
If the mood-stabilizer route does not produce a significant therapeutic effect, then you might then move on to the neuroleptics. These drugs are used for disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, particularly in the manic phase or mixed-states. He may be suffering from a mixed-state hypomania. These drugs are often called antipsychotics. The newer drugs have reduced risks of producing involuntary muscle movements and a remote risk of producing tardive-dyskinesia, a different kind of abnormal movement effect that develops after long-term treatment and is often irreversible. I take Abilify. It is a neuroleptic with a reduced risk of producing these these EPS side-effects. I have also used Zyprexa, which would probably work the quickest to treat a hypomania or mixed-state. It would be a great drug if it didn't produce so much weight gain and had the risk of producing diabetes. I doesn't seem that the EPS interacts with the MS.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:725224
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070201/msgs/728682.html