Essential Reads: Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) and Pregnancy
Given limited data on the reproductive safety of oxcarbazepine, we would recommend using alternate medications during pregnancy, when possible.
Lithium and Anticonvulsant Mood Stabilizers: No Higher Risk for Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
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 [...]
Clinical Update (2019): Is Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) Safe to Use During Pregnancy?
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 [...]
Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Reproductive Age Women: Valproic Acid and Topiramate Commonly Used
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 [...]
Valproic Acid: Highlighting Risk and Modifying Prescribing Patterns in Reproductive Age Women
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 [...]
United Kingdom Limits the Use of Valproate in Reproductive Age Women
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 [...]
Antiepileptic Drugs and Pregnancy: The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly
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. [...]
Prenatal Valproic Acid Exposure and Poor School Performance in Older Children
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 [...]
Higher Doses of Topiramate (Topamax) During Pregnancy, Increased Risk of Oral Clefts
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 [...]
Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) and Pregnancy: Do We Have Enough Information?
Last week in clinical rounds we discussed a case of a woman with bipolar disorder who was planning a pregnancy. She had a long history of illness, experiencing primarily depressive episodes since her early [...]