Do mood stabilisers work for schiz too?

anon80629714 · April 15, 2016, 6:04am

I was wondering if it was psychosis and not mania

Sharp · April 15, 2016, 6:07am

I’ve found that stabilizers don’t stop my psychosis but they do stop the swings that can worsen and even trigger episodes.

anon80629714 · April 15, 2016, 6:08am

Do you have sza?

Sharp · April 15, 2016, 6:10am

They have kicked me around sz and sza for a while. I am technically sza, so yes. I like to say I just have psychosis with moods…idk why D:

anon80629714 · April 15, 2016, 6:11am

My mum tells me I’m much more relaxed but of course it’s not even been a week.

Sharp · April 15, 2016, 6:13am

Interesting, there is a possibility that it is working this soon. When I started taking my meds, my friend said that she noticed I was less sporadic and had fewer episodes in front of them. I think that was due to fewer mood bursts and crashes. However, I have had at least two crashes(basically extremely depressed and suicidal) since I started but not nearly as much as before.

anon79999497 · April 15, 2016, 7:28am

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Lithium for schizophrenia.

S Leucht, B Helfer, M Dold, W Kissling and JJ McGrath, The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, Oct 28 2015

Many people with schizophrenia do not achieve a satisfactory treatment response with ordinary anti-psychotic drug treatment. In these cases, various add-on medications are used, among them lithium.To assess whether:1. Lithium alone is an effective treatment for schizophrenia, schizophrenia-like psychoses and schizoaffective psychoses; and2. Lithium augmentation of antipsychotic medication is an effective treatment for the same illnesses.In July 2012, we searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Study-Based Register of Trials which is based on regular searches of CINAHL, BIOSIS, AMED, EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and registries of clinical trials. This search was updated on January 20, 2015. For the first version of the review, we also contacted pharmaceutical companies and authors of relevant studies to identify further trials and obtain original participant data.Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of lithium compared with antipsychotics or placebo (or no intervention), whether as sole treatment or as an adjunct to antipsychotic medication, in the treatment of schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like psychoses or both.We extracted data independently. For dichotomous data, we calculated random-effects meta-analyses, risk ratios (RRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) on an intention-to-treat basis. For continuous data, we calculated mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals. We used Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) to create 'Summary of findings' tables and assessed risk of bias for included studies.The update search in 2012 detected two further studies that met our inclusion criteria. We did not find any further studies that met our inclusion criteria in the 2015 search. This review now includes 22 studies, with a total of 763 participants (median mean age: 35 years, range: 26 to 72 years). Most studies were small, of short duration, and incompletely reported. As we detected a high risk of bias in many studies, the overall methodological quality of the included sample was rather low.Three small studies comparing lithium with placebo as the sole treatment showed no difference in any of the outcomes we analysed.In eight studies comparing lithium with antipsychotic drugs as the sole treatment, more participants in the lithium group left the studies early (eight RCTs; n = 270, RR 1.77, 95% CI 1.01 to 3.11, low quality evidence).Thirteen studies examined whether the augmentation of antipsychotic drugs with lithium salts is more effective than antipsychotic drugs alone. More participants who received lithium augmentation had a clinically significant response (10 RCTs; n = 396, RR 1.81, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.97, low quality evidence). However, this effect became non-significant when we excluded participants with schizoaffective disorders in a sensitivity analysis (seven RCTs; n = 272, RR 1.64, 95% CI 0.95 to 2.81), when we excluded non-double-blind studies (seven RCTs; n = 224, RR 1.82, 95% CI 0.84 to 3.96), or when we excluded studies with high attrition (nine RCTs; n = 355, RR 1.67, CI 0.93 to 3.00). The overall acceptability of treatment (measured by the number of participants leaving the studies early) was not significantly different between groups (11 RCTs; n = 320, RR 1.89, CI 0.93 to 3.84, very low quality evidence). Few studies reported on side effects. There were no significant differences, but the database is too limited to make any judgement in this regard. For example, there were no data on thyroid dysfunction and kidney problems - two major and well-known side effects of lithium.The evidence base for the use of lithium in schizophrenia is limited to 22 studies of overall low methodological quality. There is no randomised trial-based evidence that lithium on its own is an effective treatment for people with schizophrenia. There is some GRADE low quality evidence that augmentation of antipsychotics with lithium is effective, but the effects are not significant when more prone-to-bias open RCTs are excluded. Nevertheless, further large and well-designed trials are justified. These should concentrate on two target groups: (1) people with no affective symptoms, so that trialists can determine whether lithium has an effect on the core symptoms of schizophrenia, and (2) people with schizoaffective disorders for whom lithium is widely used in clinical practice, although there is no evidence to support this use.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

[Are mood stabilizers beneficial in the treatment of schizophrenia?].

JØ Berle and O Spigset, Tidsskrift for den Norske laegeforening : tidsskrift for praktisk medicin, ny raekke, Jun 30 2005

Antipsychotic agents are the drugs of choice in the treatment of schizophrenia. However, some patients profit only modestly from such therapy and thus represent a clinical challenge.This article is based upon a review of relevant literature on treatment with the mood stabilizers lithium, carbamazepine, valproate and lamotrigine in patients with schizophrenia.Few well-designed studies exist on the use of mood stabilizers in schizophrenia. In monotherapy, these drugs have no documented beneficial effect, but when used as adjunct therapies to antipsychotics, some positive effects are described. Best evidence for an anti-aggressive effect exists for lithium, but it is described also for carbamazepine. Lithium also has some effects on affective symptoms. Valproate has not shown a consistently positive effect. Lamotrigine has demonstrated a beneficial effect in a placebo-controlled study, but this finding should be verified by others before its place in the treatment of schizophrenia can be established.Mood stabilizers are not the drugs of choice in the treatment of schizophrenia but could be considered as potential adjuncts to antipsychotics in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, although the documentation is sparse.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mood+stabilisers+schizophrenia

anon9798425 · April 15, 2016, 7:37am

I’ve been on Lamictal, it didn’t help me even though I get mood swings. I have sz, not sza.

anon88813813 · April 15, 2016, 8:16am

I think lithium is sometimes added to ‘amplify’ the effects of APs.

Blizzard · April 15, 2016, 9:04am

I was on Lamictal until I had a rash. I seem to remember that it helped.

Csummers · April 15, 2016, 9:53am

Topomax worked for me as a mood stabilizer, and a bonus headache reducer too.
I didn’t notice a whole lot of difference that it was leveling me out- not as many high and low spikes.
Then I ran out of it and my pdoc was on a month vacation, so naturally I procrastinated refilling it until I ended back up in the hospital.

It’s one of only two meds out of the dozens prescribed to me that I actually begged to get more refills.
I’ve been Dx’d SZ, SZa and a few other unsavory titles, just depends on which pdoc I see at the time.

HQuinn · April 15, 2016, 1:05pm

I’m sza and they have me on both atypical antipsychotics and mood stabilizers (Lamictal)…etc…
I went for a few months stockpiling my antipsychotics and only taking the mood stabilizer, antidepressant, antiaxiety pills. It didn’t work by itself and I got all paranoid and stuff…went back on antipsychs after messing up a semester of school.

In conjunction with an antipsychotic, the mood stabilizer does wonders for my lethargy and depressive mood swings, though!

anon58900831 · April 15, 2016, 1:53pm

I started a mood stabilizer last month. It’s called EPIVAL. I take it with food morning and night.
I have delusional disorder with obsessive thinking disorder. I don’t notice much difference but a better focus.
I’m giving it more time now.

Anna10 · April 15, 2016, 2:54pm

I am paranoid schizophrenic and I take Depakote cause I have mood swings yes…

Vertigo · April 15, 2016, 3:02pm

Mood stabilizers work better for bipolar disorder than they do for schizophrenia.

Doctors are not sure of my diagnosis, but I am about to go back on Depakote because it works for me.

My moods are everywhere.

anon72351231 · April 15, 2016, 3:04pm

Mine too. I have spikes of euphoria laughing hysterically at almost anything, to bouts of depression and lethargy. I think I’m going to ask for a mood stabilizer

Vertigo · April 15, 2016, 3:05pm

That’s a good idea @Minnii - good luck with everything.

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Do mood stabilisers work for schiz too?

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