Antidepressant Use and Risk of Manic Episodes in Children and Adolescents With Unipolar Depression
Suvi Virtanen, PhD; et al in JAMA Psychiatry. September 27, 2023. report a low risk of switching in youngsters with unipolar depression. However, the odds ratio for a switch were significantly elevated when there was concomitant use of anticonvulsants and antipsychotics, and there was a four fold increased risk if a parent had bipolar disorder. Thus one should be particularly careful about treating depression with antidepressants (AD) when there is a positive parental history of bipolar disorder and one should think of other options, such as lamotrigine, an atypical with good AD effects, or lithium.
Smoking Pot While Pregnant is a No-No
Mom, Don’t Think Smoking Pot When Pregnant is Harmless for your Child
In a new article in Science, Jasmine Hurd reports on a large sample of mothers who smoked pot while pregnant. Their offspring were more anxious, hyperactive, and aggressive and had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their hair at ages 3-6.
When Superstorm Sandy hit, mothers who were stressed and smoked pot while pregnant had children 31 times more like to have oppositional defiant disorder and 7 times more likely to have an anxiety disorder. Stress may interact negatively with the effects of pot.
In fetuses aborted after being exposed to pot while in utero had decreased dopamine receptors in the their amygdala and n. accumbens, a reward center in brain. In animal studies, pregnant mother rodents who were exposed to THC had offspring more likely to use heroin.
DADS’ BEHAVIOR COUNTS TOO. Dad’s exposure to THC as an adult also led to offspring who preferred opiates. This was based on epigenetic changes passed on in the sperm. To the extent that this also happens in humans, one could ask how much of the current opiate epidemic is based on parental use of marijuana. Mom’s and dad’s smoking pot could make their offspring more vulnerable to opiate addiction.
Vitamin B6 Plus Lithium Helps Ease Mania Symptoms in Patients With Bipolar Disorder
Daily vitamin B6 (40mg/day), but not B1 (100mg/day), as an adjunctive therapy to lithium was associated with the improvement of mood symptoms in hospitalized patients with bipolar disorder experiencing a manic episode, according to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders 2024; 345 103-111: Zandifar et al.
Cannabis and Cannabinoids Don’t Work for Pain or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Aaron S. Wolfgang, MD and Charles W. Hoge, MD reviewed data on cannabis in JAMA Psychiatry and found that there were big placebo effects and no evidence for effectiveness of cannabis in military personal.
This negative data, along will all the liability of cannabis potentially causing or triggering psychosis, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia (as well as possibly contributing to cognitive dysfunction, worsening anxiety and depression in patients with mood disorders) makes the use of pot for medical purposes an entirely foolhardy proposition, as well as a waste of money.
Legalization of pot has helped people avoid jail but precipitated a rash of use and over use.
So the bottom line from this editor is: Get Your Priorities Straight. Cannabis and Cannabinoids Don’t Work for Pain or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and they Worsen Most Everything Else. Save your Money and Do Something Nice for Yourself and Others Instead.
