While data are limited regarding AEDs and breastfeeding, it appears that none of the AEDs are excreted at high levels into the breast milk, nor have they been associated with high rates of adverse events in the nursing infant.
Given limited data on the reproductive safety of oxcarbazepine, we would recommend using alternate medications during pregnancy, when possible.
For women with bipolar disorder, choosing whether to maintain or discontinue treatment with a mood stabilizer during pregnancy is challenging. This is a process which requires careful and thoughtful consideration, weighing the risk of adverse [...]
We don’t hear this clinical question so often but it does come up from time to time. While the anticonvulsant oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) was initially promoted as a mood stabilizer for patients with bipolar disorder, it [...]
There have long been concerns regarding the safety of the anticonvulsant valproic acid (Depakote) during pregnancy. Back in 2009, the American Academy of Neurology and American Epilepsy Society recommended against the use of valproic acid [...]
For clinicians who have not yet discovered the incredibly thoughtful and clinically practical monthly articles from Chittaranjan Andrade in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, it’s time to take a look. (Not only are these articles [...]
Last year France banned the use of the antiepileptic during valproate in certain populations of reproductive age women. Now the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has banned the use of [...]
EURAP is an international registry for antiepileptic drugs and pregnancy. At its inception in 1999, it included only European countries but EURAP has grown and now includes 42 countries from Europe, Australia, Asia, South America. [...]
There have long been concerns regarding the use of the anticonvulsant valproate (Depakote) during pregnancy. First trimester use of valproate has been associated with a 3-5% risk of neural tube defects, as well as [...]
Topiramate (TPM, marketed as Topamax) is an antiepileptic drug which is also used for migraine prophylaxis, weight loss, and, less commonly, as a mood stabilizer. Over the last few years we have seen several studies [...]
