Folic Acid Supplementation is Recommended for All Women Taking Anticonvulsants and Planning Pregnancy
Given recent discussions within our group and with our colleague, Lewis Holmes, MD, chief of the Genetics and Teratology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and director of the North American AED (Antiepileptic Drug) Pregnancy Registry, I wanted to expand upon a previous blog post. In the initial post, I wrote that women who take certain medications, like mood stabilizers or antiepileptic drugs, are advised to take increased doses of folic acid before pregnancy and throughout pregnancy.
University of North Carolina Center for Mood Disorders Expands Services to Postpartum Women
Last Wednesday, the UNC Medical Center opened an outpatient clinic for women with postpartum depression, and on November 3rd opened an inpatient unit for women with postpartum depression. The inpatient unit is called "the first of its kind" in the United States, and is a progressive example of specialized health care initiatives for improved screening, diagnosis, and treatment of postpartum mood disorders in the US.
Depression during Pregnancy Increases the Risk of Preterm Delivery
A new study reported in Human Reproduction supports what many other studies have found, that untreated depression during pregnancy increases the likelihood of delivering before 37 weeks gestation.
Identifying Postpartum Depression: A Three Question Screening Tool
While postpartum depression is common among new mothers, our ability to reliably detect this illness remains poor. Recent studies have indicated that most obstetricians report that they screen for postpartum psychiatric problems at routine follow-up visits but typically do not use standardized instruments to assess for postpartum depression. Unfortunately, studies which have measured the success of routine screening suggest that without the use of standardized screening tools like the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, many women with postpartum depression are not identified.
Oral Contraceptives Reduce Lamotrigine (Lamictal) Blood Levels
Lamotrigine (Lamictal) has been effectively used for the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Many women suffering from bipolar disorder are of childbearing age; therefore an adequate contraception is a major concern that needs to be addressed in this population.
National Depression Screening Day – October 10, 2008
This Friday, October 10, is Screening for Mental Health's National Depression Screening Day, an effort to raise awareness for depression and its treatment.