Mood stabilizer-like drugs

The most common side-effects of topiramate are paresthesia (27%), headache (21%), fatigue (20%), dizziness (14%), somnolence (1 3%), anorexia (11%), and weight loss (11 %). Less common side-effects, but with important clinical implications, are depression (7%), difficulty with concentration (7%), and confusion (5%). As with other anhydrase inhibitors, topiramate has been associated with kidney-stone formation, and the incidence of nephrolithiasis is estimated to be 2-4 times higher than that expected in a similar untreated population. Many of the central nervous system effects of topiramate, including cognitive complaints, can be managed by gradual introduction and dose escalation.  

3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propanoic acid (AMPA) subtype of glutamatergic receptor, a known mechanism by which neuronal excitability can be decreased. 

Topiramate also antagonizes the effects of glutamate at non-N-methyl-o-aspartate (non-NMDA) receptors, and it also inhibits certain isoenzymes of carbonic anhydrase, although this effect may not be a major feature of its antiepileptic/mood-stabilizing activity. 

most of the knowledge about the mode of action of topiramate concerns its potential antimanic activities (e.g. by decreasing neuronal excitability), and very little is currently known about the mechanisms underlying its antidepressive effects.  

All in all, compared with the well-established group of mood stabilizers (lithium, carbamazepine, and valproate), topiramate is currently considered the least potent/efficacious in ameliorating both manic and/or depressive symptoms (see Section 2.22). 

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Guidelines agree that when antidepressants must be used, they should be combined with a mood-stabilizing drug to reduce the risk of mood switch to hypomania or mania.17,41 The question of which antidepressant drugs are less likely to cause a mood switch is not resolved. Anecdotal reports suggested bupropion may be less likely to cause this effect, but systematic reviews have not supported this conclusion. Prevailing evidence recommends that tricyclic antidepressants be avoided.41,43... 

From alcohol and methamphetamine to Prozac, Valium, lithium, and Zyprexa, psychoactive substances disguise their adverse mental effects for the user. A person grossly mentally impaired by stimulants, benzodiazepine tranquilizers, mood stabilizers, or neuroleptics is likely to have little idea about how dysfunctional he or she has become. When the individual does perceive a change in himself or herself, positive or negative, it is almost never attributed to the causative agent the drug. If the individual feels euphoric, it is attributed to good fortune and especially... 

Neuroleptic drugs are often used in mood stabilizer combinations. However, there have been few controlled studies of the use of such combinations, and interactions are potentially dangerous. The advantages and disadvantages of all currently used mood stabilizer combinations have been extensively reviewed (641). Some effects are well known neurotoxicity, hypotension, somnambulistic-like events, and cardiac and respiratory arrest associated with the combination of lithium and traditional neuroleptic drugs considered as a first-line treatment for classic euphoric mania with psychotic features. 

Like other drugs, psychotherapeutic drugs can be classified in different ways. The most common way is by therapeutic use, and the four major categories are antipsychotics, antidepressants, antianxiety agents, and mood-stabilizing drugs. 

The previously mentioned survey indicates that a vast majority of depressed adolescents never receive treatment for their illness, yet the number of antidepressant prescriptions written for teens increases every year. A pediatric survey conducted in the years 1995 and 1999 found the number of adolescents prescribed Prozac-like drugs increased 78 percent. In the 7-12 age group, prescriptions increased 151 percent for kids age 6 and under it rose to a surprising 580 percent. For children under 18, the use of mood stabilizers other than lithium has increased 40-fold, or 4,000 percent, and... 

Lithium" is often prescribed as a mood stabilizing drug. Do you think the "lithium" prescribed is in the elemental form What is the more likely form of lithium to be prescribed as a drug ... 

Metabolic and cardiovascular adverse events were further studied by the same authors in the same sample of children and adolescents [7 ]. Compared with the controls, the treated cohort had a higher prevalence of obesity (OR = 2.1), type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR = 3.2), cardiovascular conditions (OR = 2.7), and orthostatic hypotension (OR = 1.6). In the treated cohort, those who had been exposed to multiple antipsychotic drugs had a significantly higher risk of incident obesity/weight gain (OR = 2.3), type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.4), and dyslipidemia (OR = 5.3). Incident cardiovascular events were more likely with the use of conventional antipsychotic drugs (OR = 4.3) and mood stabilizers (OR = 1.3). Incident orthostatic hypotension h os more prevalent in those co-prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (OR = 1.8) and mood stabilizers (OR = 1.3). 

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