By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Jan. 2 (HealthDay News) — A small study suggests that deep brain stimulation, which is currently being investigated as a treatment for general depression, may also help patients with bipolar disorder.
There are some caveats. The surgery necessary to allow deep brain stimulation is extremely expensive. And for now, the research is preliminary, so it’s too early to know for sure if the treatment is appropriate to be used for any kind of depression.
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) — People with a mental illness struggle with symptoms ranging from crushing depression and crippling anxiety to powerful delusions and hallucinations that force them to actively sort out the real from the imagined.
And if that weren’t enough, they also have to deal with the way the rest of the world perceives their inner struggle.
MONDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) — The first generic versions of Zyprexa (olanzapine) have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, the agency said Monday.
Olanzapine has a boxed label warning that the drug can cause death among elderly people who have psychosis due to confusion and memory loss, the FDA said in a news release. Other serious adverse reactions could include high blood sugar, high cholesterol or triglycerides, and weight gain.
THURSDAY, Sept. 22 (HealthDay News) — There is a genetic link between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, two common and often disabling brain disorders, a new study indicates.
Researchers identified 11 genetic regions, including six that had never been discovered before, which play a role in people’s risk for these mental illnesses. The findings, they say, provide new insight into the causes of both conditions.
By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDay News) — The manic episodes experienced by those with bipolar disorder are better controlled by antipsychotic drugs than mood stabilizers, a new, large study suggests.
Researchers from Italy and the United Kingdom also found that three antipsychotics — first-generation haloperidol (Haldol) along with later formulations of risperidone (Risperdal) and olanzapine (Zyprexa) — outperformed 11 other drugs. The scientists analyzed results from 68 randomized, controlled trials with more than 16,000 participants over a 30-year period.
TUESDAY, May 3, 2011 (Health.com) — The growing use of a popular drug in the long-term treatment of bipolar disorder is based largely on a single, flawed clinical trial that may be steering doctors and patients away from drugs with a more established track record, a new review published this week in the journal PLoS Medicine suggests.
The drug, Abilify (aripiprazole), was initially used to treat schizophrenia and acute episodes of mania, the better-than-good feeling that characterizes bipolar disorder. In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also approved it for long-term use in bipolar patients whose moods have stabilized (known as “maintenance” therapy). Read More
MONDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) — A new study suggests that it’s possible to predict future mood swings in bipolar people by monitoring their thoughts and behavior.
Bipolar people suffer from extreme mood swings that veer between moments of emotional highs and euphoria to deep depression. In the new study, researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Lancaster in the United Kingdom followed 50 bipolar patients for a month, studying how they think and act.
MONDAY, March 7, 2011 (Health.com) — About 2.4% of people around the world have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the first comprehensive international figures on the topic.
The United States has the highest lifetime rate of bipolar disorder at 4.4%, and India the lowest, with 0.1%. Read More
FRIDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) — Doctors must not forget about the physical health of people with serious mental health disorders who take antipsychotic drugs, experts warn.
The authors of an editorial in the Feb. 19 issue of The Lancet noted that patients with severe mental illness live an average of 16 years less than people in the general population. Heart disease, not suicide, is the major cause of death in these patients and antipsychotic drugs are a factor.
TUESDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) — In women with bipolar disorder, premenstrual mood changes are associated with more depressive episodes and more severe symptoms, researchers have found.
The findings from the study of nearly 300 women offer evidence that premenstrual flare-ups of mood symptoms may be a clinical marker predicting greater severity of bipolar disorder in reproductive-age women, said Dr. Rodrigo Dias and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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