Bipolar meds Flashcards
What drugs might exacerbate mania?
- drugs that increase catecholamine related activity
- drugs that reduce activity of dopamine or NE relieve mania
Pts presenting with acute mania should be assessed for what?
What drugs should be d/c’d?
- suicide risk
- aggressiveness
- risk of violence to others
- ability to adhere to tx program
- substance abuse eval and tx
- alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine intake
- antidepressants should be d/c
Do antipsychotic drugs cure bipolar disorder?
- no, they tx the sxs!
Classes of meds used in bipolar?
- lithium (mood stabilizer)
- anticonvulsants (mood stabilizer)
- FGAs
- SGAs (atypical antipsychotics)
Mood stabilizing agents? Choice of mood stabilizer often based upon what?
- lithium
- valproate
- carbamazepine
- choice of mood stabilizer often based upon:
previous hx
side effect profiles
co-existing medical illness
Common side effects of mood stabilizing meds?
- drowsiness
- dizziness
- HA
- diarrhea
- constipation
- heartburn
- mood swings
- stuffed or runny nose, or other cold like sxs
MOA and use of lithium?
- sig decreases frequency and severity of both manic and depressive episodes in about 70% of pts
- may decrease NE and dopamine turnover
- blocks development of dopamine receptor supersensitivity
- may augment synthesis of acetylcholine, by increasing cholamine uptake into nerve terminals
- use less first line with new atypical antipsychotics
- may work better in maintenance phase of therapy
Why is lithium use? What are things to monitor? SEs?
- has low therapeutic index - doesn’t take much for it to work
- required constant blood level measuring
- renal clearance of lithium erduced about 25% by diuretics
- tremor is common SE
- decreased thyroid fxn
- polydipsia, polyuria
- edema, wt gain
- labs:
BUN, creatinine
thyroid fxns
lithium levels
Use of valproate (depakote)? SEs, labs to order?
- becoming recognized as appropriate 1ST line tx for mania
- SE profile less than lithium
- quick onset
- may increase dose more rapidly to increase therapeutic range
- larger therapeutic window: 50-125
-SEs:
wt gain, N/V, hair loss, tremor (Not as sig as lithium) - labs:
liver fxn
platelets
valproate levels
Use of carbamazepine? SEs, labs?
- anticonvulsant comparable efficacy to lithium - therapeutic window: 3-14 - SEs: N/V, hyponatremia, rash (SJS and TENS), drowsiness, blurred vision, blood dyscrasias - labs: liver fxns CBC, serum NA carbamazepine levels
Use of lamictal? Drug class?
- anti-epileptic
- tx bipolar depression w/o triggering mania, hypomania, mixed states, or rapid cycling
- it hasn’t demonstrated efficacy in tx of acute mania
- ***can be used 1st line tx for acute depression in bipolar disorder as well as maintenance therapy!
1st line pharm therapy for pts with acute severe manic or mixed episodes?
- antipsychotic agent combined with either lithium or valproate
For less severe manic or mixed episodes - tx?
- monotherapy with either lithium, valproate, or antipsychotic med
When is lamotrigine first line?
- for acute depression in bipolar disorder as well as maintenanace therapy, but not recommended for tx of acute mania
FGAs used in tx of shizophrenia and acute mania? Shortcomings?
- dopamine antagonists
- (haldol)
- chlorpromazine (thorazine)
- effective in tx of schizophrenia esp positive sxs (hallucinations, delusions)
- shortcomings:
only small % of pts (25%) are helped enough to recover a reasonable amt of normal mental fxning - assoc with both annoying and serious adverse effects