Posted by SLS on December 30, 2000, at 10:08:54
In reply to depression and partial complex seizures, posted by andrew on December 13, 2000, at 14:29:54
> Does anyone no if there is a link between these?
>
> I have suffered from depression for the last five years. It would seem that at the same time it started, so did my "partial complex seizures". I was diagnosed with these when I saw a neurologist about strange intense deja-vu like experiences I was having in which A terrible smell accompanied, and sometimes vommiting.
> He says that there is no link whatsoever, but somehow, I think they are interconnected. My memory is terrible also. When I was seven I was deemed gifted with an I.Q. in the 99th percentile: I dropped out of school.
> I have never been quite able to get it together, and the same goes for my thoughts. My mind is a mess, it always has been.
>
> Anyways, I am on manerix 600mg and it seems to be working.
>
> thanks for any replies :-)Dear Andrew,
From what I have encountered in the literature, certain types of epilepsy, or perhaps more importantly, foci in specific structures of the brain, seem to be associated with both depression and anxiety states. I forget what's what, but certainly lesions to the left temporal lobe have demonstrated a causal relationship with depression, panic attacks, and even agoraphobia. I think lesions in frontal cortical areas result in anxiety also. If I have time, I'll go back and check things out. Of the anticonvulsants, Neurontin seems to be particularly effective when treating epilepsy-induced anxiety states. Also, foci located in limbic structures (hippocampus?) are associated with depression (hippocampus?) and anxiety (amygdala?) I don't remember the details. Both depression and anxiety can occur interictally.
Where are the foci of your epilepsy?
What medications are you taking?
Many people need to take between 900mg and 1200mg of Manerix (moclobemide) to achieve a sustained response. In real life, 600mg is the low-end of the therapeutic range when treating significant depressions. 600mg is a great dosage to target initially. I don't know if there are any contraindications of the use of Manerix with various AEDs or epilepsy in general. Off hand, I can't think of any, BUT, I am told I can't practice medicine without a licence. :-)
Good luck.
- Scott
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5: Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2000 Sep;24(7):691-704Long-term amygdala kindling in rats as a model for the study of interictal emotionality in temporal lobe epilepsy.
Kalynchuk LE
Department of Psychology, Life Science Center, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Halifax, Canada.
[Medline record in process]
Temporal lobe epileptics often experience profound interictal (i.e. between seizure) emotional disturbances, such as fear, anxiety, and depression. Although the presence of this interictal emotionality has been well documented, little progress has been made in identifying its precise nature and cause because it is not amenable to experimental analysis in clinical populations. Accordingly, there is much to gain by studying the fundamental nature and neural basis of interictal emotionality using animal models. Kindling is a widely studied animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy in which daily electrical stimulation of certain brain regions results in the gradual progression and intensification of limbic motor seizures. Several investigators have found that partial and short-term kindling produce robust changes in emotional behavior in both cats and rats. Recently, our laboratory has developed a new model to study interictal emotionality using long-term kindling in rats. These long-term kindled rats display profound changes in fearful and defensive behavior which last for at least two months after the final stimulation. We are now beginning to use this model to study the neural mechanisms underlying the development and expression of interictal emotionality.
PMID: 10974352, UI: 20432520
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31: Neurology 1999;53(5 Suppl 2):S26-32Depressive disorders in epilepsy.
Kanner AM, Nieto JC
Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush Medical College and Rush Epilepsy Center, Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.
Depression is a common occurrence among epileptic patients and constitutes, along with anxiety disorders, the most frequent psychiatric condition in these patients. The relationship between depression and epilepsy is two-directional, because patients with major depression also have a higher frequency of epilepsy. In epileptic patients, depressive disorders can present as unipolar, bipolar, or dysthymic disorders. More characteristically, however, they present as an atypical depression, which can often go unrecognized for long periods of time. In the diagnostic evaluation of these patients, clinicians must rule out the possibility that the depressive disorder resulted from the administration of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs; e.g., barbiturates) or from the discontinuation of an AED with mood-stabilizing properties that were masking an underlying affective disorder. Although antidepressant drugs have been used in epileptic patients for a long time, to date there has only been one controlled study. The antidepressants of the family of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) should be considered as initial therapy for depressive disorders in these patients.
Publication Types: Review Review, academic
PMID: 10496231, UI: 99424550
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poster:SLS
thread:50506
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001130/msgs/50571.html