Exercise Helps Residual Depression
Many patients with depression require two or more treatments in order to achieve remission. In a 2011 study by Trivedi et al. published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, patients with major depressive disorder who had not responded adequately to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants improved when an exercise regimen was added to their regular treatment.
The patients, aged 18-70 years old, were all sedentary at the start of the trial. They were randomized to one of two exercise regimens: a high dose regimen (16 kcal/kg per week, equivalent to walking at about 4 mph for 210 minutes per week) or the low dose (4 kcal/kg per week, equivalent to walking at 3 mph for about 75 minutes per week). Both groups improved significantly by the end of the study. Remission rates (adjusted for differences between groups) were 28.3% for the high dose group and 15.5% for the low dose group.
The rates of improvement with exercise were similar or better to those commonly seen with other augmenting agents such as lithium, T3, buspirone, and atypical antipsychotics, but without side effects and other inconveniences such as blood monitoring.
Other studies have indicated that exercise by itself and in combination with other treatments has efficacy in depression. Exercise can change serotonin and norepinephrine function and can increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a, and neurogenesis in the hippocampus.
The researchers looked for moderating variables that may have affected the outcomes of various participants. Men, regardless of family history of mental illness, had better remission rates in the high dose group. Women without a family history of mental illness also improved more in the high dose group, while women with a family history of mental illness improved more in the low dose group, though this finding was statistically nonsignificant.
While the researchers observed that those in the high-dose group did exercise more than those in the low-dose group, participants in the high-dose group had more difficulty sticking to their exercise regimen. It may be that even though high doses of exercise offer slightly higher rates of remission, lower doses may be more effective clinically if patients can stick to the low-dose regimen better.
Good Weight Loss With Bupropion Plus Naltrexone
A 2013 article by Smith et al. in the journal Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism reports that obese patients treated with the combination of bupropion (Wellbutrin) and naltrexone (Revia) had excellent weight loss and reduction in body fat compared to those treated with either drug alone or with placebo. The combination resulted in about a 14% reduction in body fat, while placebo, bupropion alone, and naltrexone alone each brought about only a 3-4% reduction.
Editor’s Note: Researcher Roger McIntyre is an expert on the metabolic syndrome in patients with bipolar illness and has been using this combination with success in patients with mood disorders. He finds the combination of bupropion and naltrexone more helpful than the anticonvulsants topiramate (Topomax) or zonisamide (Zonegran) or the anti-diabetes drug metformin.
Since obesity and the metabolic syndrome occur in approximately 40 to 50% of bipolar patients and significantly increases cardiovascular risks such as heart attack and stroke, and since bupropion is widely used in the treatment of bipolar depression, this combination appears worthy of consideration for those with obesity. Its use should be accompanied by a good diet and an exercise regimen. Decreasing cardiovascular risk is a very important component of the treatment of bipolar disorder, and the combination of bupropion and naltrexone could have substantial benefits.
Intermittent SSRI Treatment Helps PMS
Research has shown that serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants can be useful for severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). According to a 2006 article by Steiner et al. in the Journal of Women’s Health, there are various ways that SSRIs can be used to treat PMS symptoms such as irritability, depressed mood, dysphoria, bloating, breast tenderness, appetite changes, and psychosocial function, including intermittent dosing just in the two weeks prior to PMS. Usually doses for PMS are lower than those used to treat depression.
For those with mood symptoms that continue throughout the month, continuous (daily) dosing may improve PMS symptoms. For those whose mood symptoms worsen during PMS, continuous dosing can be intermittently increased from around the time of ovulation to a few days after the period begins. For those women with mood symptoms only during PMS, intermittent dosing only during those weeks between ovulation and the period seems to be helpful and minimizes side effects of the SSRIs.
Editor’s Note: While SSRIs sometimes take weeks to reach maximum benefit for those with depression, intermittent dosing for women with severe PMS seems to be helpful. This may be because SSRIs acutely increase the neurosteroid allopregnanolone, which enhances GABA-A receptor activity, associated with improvement in mood and anxiety.
No Relationship Between SSRIs in Pregnancy and Stillbirths or Neonatal Mortality
Much has been written about the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy. In a review of 920,620 births in Denmark (1995 to 2008) that Jimenez-Solem published this year in the American Journal of Psychiatry, no link was found between any of the SSRIs used in any trimester and risk of stillbirth or neonatal mortality. The only exception was a possible association of three-trimester exposure to citalopram and neonatal mortality.
Editor’s Note: These new data may be of importance to women considering antidepressant continuation during pregnancy when there is a high risk for a depressive relapse. A maternal depressive episode (like other stressors such as anxiety or experiencing an earthquake) during pregnancy does convey adverse effects to the child, so appropriate evaluation of the risk/benefit ratio or staying on an antidepressant through a pregnancy is important.
Folic Acid Supplementation Not Linked To Cancer
Folic acid is often recommended for patients with difficult-to-treat depression and for pregnant women. A recent study suggested that when taken before and in the first weeks of pregnancy, the vitamin supplement can reduce the risk of autism in the child. However, some concern was raised after a 2007 study that suggested a possible link between folic acid and cancer risk. New research indicates that cancer is not a risk of folic acid supplementation.
In a meta-analysis that analyzed data from 13 different trials of folic acid that included a total of over 49,000 patients, no increased risk of cancer was found in patients taking folic acid. The meta-analysis was published this year in the Lancet.
Editor’s Note: In addition to folic acid’s beneficial effects during pregnancy, it can also enhance the effects of antidepressants and mood stabilizers. The dose typically recommended for depression is 1mg for women and 2mg for men.
Fifteen percent of the population has an inefficient form of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), which converts folate to methylfolate. For treatment of depression in these individuals, l-methylfolate should be used instead of regular folic acid.
Antiepileptic Drugs for Bipolar Disorder Do Not Increase Risk of Suicidal Behavior
A 30-year observational study published by Andrew Leon and colleagues in the American Journal of Psychiatry has found that anticonvulsants used in epilepsy and for bipolar depression (carbamazepine, lamotrigine, and valproate) do not increase suicidal behavior in bipolar patients.
Editor’s Note: The FDA gave a warning in 2009 that these anticonvulsants were associated with suicidal ideation. This was based on studies of a mixed group of psychiatry and neurological patients in acute placebo-controlled studies, where suicidal ideation is typically a reason for exclusion from the study. Leon et al. used more powerful longitudinal methods to compare the risk of suicidal ideation in individuals taking and not taking anticonvulsants and found no such increase in suicidal behavior.
This is like the FDA warning for antidepressants and suicide, which was based on data from placebo-controlled clinical trials in acute depression (where suicidal patients are excluded). When investigators used the same longitudinal methods as Leon et al. in the anticonvulsant study, they found that antidepressants actually reduced suicidal behavior by 30%.
The bottom line is that the use of anticonvulsants for bipolar disorder should not be discouraged based on the FDA warning about suicidal ideation in mixed neurological and psychiatric patients. In bipolar patients, anticonvulsants do not increase the risk of suicidal behaviors, i.e. suicidal acts or completed suicides.
Despite the FDA Warning to the Contrary: Antidepressants Do Not Increase Suicidality
In 2007, the FDA began labeling antidepressants with a warning that patients aged 18-24 were at risk for increased suicidality during the first weeks of treatment. New evidence shows antidepressants actually have beneficial effects on suicide risk in adults. A study of all published and unpublished data on the SSRI fluoxetine (Prozac) and the SNRI venlafaxine (Effexor) published in 2012 by Gibbons et al. in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed that these antidepressants substantially reduced suicidal thoughts and behavior in adults and produced no increase in suicidal thoughts or behavior in children and adolescents.
The protective effect on suicidality in adults was mediated by mood, i.e. the patients’ mood improved and they became less suicidal. Children’s mood also improved on the antidepressants, but their risk of suicidal ideation did not change.
Editor’s Note: These are important findings. When the FDA box warning on antidepressants and suicidal ideation appeared, antidepressant treatment of youth decreased without an accompanying increase in psychotherapy, and the actual suicide rate in youth increased.
We now know that childhood-onset depression carries a bigger risk for a poor outcome in adulthood than adult-onset illness. In parallel, greater numbers of depressions are associated with more impairment, disability, cognitive dysfunction, medical comorbidities, treatment resistances, and neurobiological abnormalities.
It is important to treat illness in young people in order to prevent these difficulties, and the suicide warning should not deter the use of antidepressants. Patients should be careful about suicidal ideation in the first several months after starting an antidepressant, as other data suggest that this is a time of slightly increased risk of suicidal thoughts in children and adolescents.
Vitamin D3 Is Low In Children And Adolescents With Mania, But Supplements Help
Vitamin D supplements
Vitamin D3 is low in children and adolescents with mania, but taking a supplement could help. Vitamin D3, which we absorb via food and sunlight, is converted by the liver to a form called 25-OH-D. In a small study, Elif Sikoglu et al. found that children and teens with mania had lower levels of 25-OH-D in their blood compared to typically developing youth of similar ages. This deficit was associated with lower brain GABA levels measured with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. GABA dysfunction has been implicated in the manic phase of bipolar disorder. An 8-week trial of Vitamin D3 supplements significantly reduced manic symptoms and tended to increase GABA levels.
Editor’s Note: Other data have suggested that children with psychosis have low Vitamin D3, and in a recent clinical trial in adults, Vitamin D3 supplementation improved antidepressant response more than placebo. Many children in the US are Vitamin D deficient. Test them and, if necessary, treat them, especially if they have bipolar disorder.
Vitamin D3 has Positive Effects in Depressed Patients on Prozac
A recent study of patients taking fluoxetine (Prozac) for major depression found that adding 1500 IU of vitamin D3 to their treatment regimen improved their response significantly. The article was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
According to the Mayo Clinic:
The term “vitamin D” refers to several different forms of this vitamin. Two forms are important in humans: ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). Vitamin D2 is synthesized by plants. Vitamin D3 is synthesized by humans in the skin when it is exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from sunlight. Foods may be fortified with vitamin D2 or D3.
Editors Note: Here is another augmenting agent that could be considered for the treatment of those with residual depression. While vitamin D has not been studied directly in bipolar depression, we could ask, “Why not try it?” Other nutritional supplements in this category might be folate and N-acetylcysteine.
Vitamin D supplements are definitely indicated for the large percentage of those in the US who are vitamin D deficient. Given the data from this randomized trial, vitamin D3 could be considered in those with normal levels of vitamin D as well.
Folic Acid During Pregnancy May Lower Autism Risk
A study of 85,000 children in Norway that was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that women who took folic acid during pregnancy were 40% less likely to have a child who developed autism.
A summary of the research by National Public Radio explained:
Folic acid is the synthetic version of a B vitamin called folate. It’s found naturally in foods such as spinach, black-eyed peas and rice. Public health officials recommend that women who may become pregnant take at least 400 micrograms of folic acid every day to reduce the chance of having a child with spina bifida.
The folic acid’s effect reduced the most severe cases of autism but did not seem to have an effect on the incidence of more mild forms, such as Asperger syndrome. The benefits were seen in those women who had been taking folic acid for 4 weeks before conception and continued to take the supplement during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy.
