Mood Stabilizers ziprasidone

Choice of a Mood Stabilizer. With the advance of atypical antipsychotics and an ever-expanding list of anticonvulsants, the number of medications reported to treat acute mania and hypomania continues to grow. In fact, all of the atypical antipsychotics, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, ziprasidone, and aripiprazole have FDA approval for the treatment of acute mania. Long-term protection against future episodes of illness has also been demonstrated with several of these agents, which can influence the choice of initial therapy. 

Another group of mood-stabilizing drugs that are also anticonvulsant agents have become more widely used than lithium. These include carbamazepine and valproic acid for the treatment of acute mania and for prevention of its recurrence. Lamotrigine is approved for prevention of recurrence. Gabapentin, oxcarbazepine, and topiramate are sometimes used to treat bipolar disorder but are not approved by FDA for this indication. Aripiprazole, chlorpromazine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone are approved by FDA for the treatment of manic phase of bipolar disorder. Olanzapine plus fluoxetine in combination and quetiapine are approved for the treatment of bipolar depression. 

Drugs can not only be substrates for a cytochrome P450 enzyme or an inhibitor of a P450 enzyme, they can also be inducers of a cytochrome P450 enzyme and thereby increase the activity of that enzyme. This was discussed in Chapter 6 for CYP450 3A4, and the induction of 3A4 activity by the anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer carbamazepine was given as an example (Fig. 6—19). Since mood stabilizers may be frequently mixed with atypical antipsychotics, it is possible that carbamazepine may be added to the regimen of a patient previously stabilized on clozapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, or sertindole. If so, the doses of these atypical antipsychotics may need to be increased over time to compensate for the induction of 3A4 by carbamazepine. 

FIGURE 11—51. The enzyme CYP450 3A4 can be induced by the anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer carbamazepine. If this agent is stopped in a patient who is receiving an atypical antipsychotic that is a substrate for this same enzyme (i.e., clozapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, or sertindole), the doses of these antipsychotics may need to be reduced because the autoinduction of 3A4 by carbamazepine will reverse over time once it is discontinued. 

Ziprasidone may be preferable to anticonvulsant mood stabilizers if treatment is required during pregnancy... 

Antidepressants mirtazapine, nefazodone, sertraline Neuroleptics thioridazine, haloperidol, clozapine, quetiapine, risperidone, sertindole, ziprasidone Mood stabilizers carbamazepine, gabapentin, lamotrigine... 

Bowden CL, Vieta E, Ice KS, Schwartz JH, Wang PP, Versavel M. Ziprasidone plus a mood stabilizer in subjects with bipolar I disorder. A 6-month, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. J Clin Psychiatry 2010 71(2) 130-7. 

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