Essential Reads: Toward a Better Understanding of the Long-Term Course of Postpartum Psychosis
Women with postpartum psychosis are at risk for recurrent illness, but we have limited data regarding risk factors for recurrence.
More Data on Second Generation Antipsychotic Medications and Gestational Diabetes
Second-generation antipsychotic medications associated with high metabolic risk (quetiapine, olanzapine, and clozapine) were associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes; other antipsychotics were not.
Relapse of Bipolar Disorder During Pregnancy Increases Risk of Postpartum Illness
More that half of women with bipolar disorder relapsed during pregnancy.
Reassuring News: Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Two-Year Olds with Prenatal Exposure to Lamotrigine (Lamictal)
These findings are encouraging and suggest that the newer AEDs, specifically lamotrigine and levetiracetam, are not associated with worse neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Essential Reads – What’s the Difference Between PME and PMDD? How Should We Treat PME?
About 60% of women with mood disorders experience premenstrual exacerbation or PME of their mood during the premenstrual phase of their cycle.
Essential Reads: Lamotrigine (Lamictal) and Breastfeeding (2021)
Lamotrigine is detected in the breast milk and in the serum of the nursing infant; however, the risk of adverse events is very low.
Essential Reads: Topiramate and Pregnancy (2021)
Multiple studies have associated first trimester exposure to topiramate with increased risk of oral clefts.
Does Stress Increase Vulnerability to Postpartum Psychosis in High-Risk Women?
In studies of psychosis unrelated to childbirth, there is evidence linking stress to the onset of psychosis.
Essential Reads: Recognizing Postpartum Psychosis
Because postpartum psychosis is relatively uncommon, we do not have as much information on this illness as we have on postpartum depression. In addition, most of the literature we have on postpartum psychosis is not [...]
Essential Reads: Atypical Antipsychotics and Breastfeeding
Despite the increasing use of the newer “atypical” or second-generation antipsychotic agents to treat a spectrum of psychiatric disorders, we have relatively little data on the use of these newer atypical agents in breastfeeding women.