Making things clear
Nov 14 2006 | Comments 3
Perhaps I’ve seemed indecisive about Seroquel, and I haven’t intended to. Seroquel is now being marketed for use in bipolar disorder as a monotherapy, and well, that’s just stoopid. There’s precious little evidence that atypical antipsychoticcs are effective as monotherapies in patients with bipolar disorder, and what evidence there is seems to be tainted by influence and corporate greed. If you’re looking for the new Lithium, my friends, here’s an important note: THERE IS NO NEW LITHIUM. Seroquel isn’t the answer.
My homey P. Dawdy has written scads about this, but what really piqued my anger was his post today:
This is looking more and more like a big pharma money-making stunt.
Liz | 4:48 PM | Uncategorized
A clarification: Seroquel is indicated for the treatment of bipolar mania and bipolar depression but is not (yet?) indicated for the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Lithioum and Depakote are still the mainstays of maintenance bipolar treatment. The big deal here is Seroquel getting the bipolar depression indication- all of the atypical antipsychotics (and traditional antipsychotics) have long been used for treating manic episodes- even those episodes without overt psychosis.The question is whether Seroquel may more effectively control depressive symptoms in bipolar patients compared to the more traditional use of antidepressant medication- and the concomitant risk of inducing mania with such antidepressants.
In response to HS,
As of today I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was recommended to choose Seroquel among medications such as lithium and Lamictal for bipolar maintenance. The psychiatrist said that Seroquel was recently FDA-approved to treat bipolar disorder - not only for mania - but also for maintenance. The mysterious “paper” that Furious Seasons spoke of (”She broke out a recent paper which claimed that there were no metabolic syndrome problems with Seroquel.The doctor told me that after reading the paper he was unconvinced by the research.”) was also handed to me to show there are very little differences between Seroquel and a placebo during a clinical trial of 18 months.
I don’t know much about bipolar medications but I know lithium is out of the question for me because its treatment level is too close to a toxic level for my comfort (and my blood needs to be monitored heavily on that). It’s down between Lamictal or Seroquel and I’ve been leaning toward Lamictal for one reason or another - probably because I’ve heard it worked for other people that I met in the psych hospital.
Not sure if this is the forum, but wanted to respond to MM’s response to me. Even Astra Zeneca- the makers of Seroquel with clear financial interest- are NOT recommending the medication for bipolar maintenance. They are in the process of developing clinical trials for such use and would clearly love to get such an indication from the FDA.
There is a general concept that controlling the “upward” swings of bipolar disorder helps to damp out the overall lability of the illness and this is currently the only basis that a claim can be made that Seroquel can be used to “maintain” stability.
MM mentioned Lithium which is a difficult medication for some people and Lamictal which is useful in a (lucky) minority. She does not mention Depakote -which has replaced Lithium as the most commonly prescribed mood stabilizer.Would recommend she get a second opinion if Seroquel is going to be the only medication she takes for a true diagnosis of bipolar discorder.
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