Posted by SLS on April 10, 2001, at 11:32:16
In reply to Re: Bipolar Dis. Seizures - Is there a connection?, posted by kate9999 on April 6, 2001, at 1:30:04
Dear Kate9999,
Nice post. It helped me better understand the difference between sensitization and kindling. Thanks.Although it wasn’t an exacting explanation, I thought Kingfish’s association was astute.
- Scott
> Actually I don't think kindling or sensitization are what you're talking about. That model just means (very roughly) that the more episodes you have, the more likely you are to have them in the future.
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> The idea is that early in the course, episodes (of either bipolar or epilepsy) need an external trigger to happen (say an emotional stressor in bipolar). As time goes by triggers can be smaller and smaller (called "sensitization"). At a certain point no external trigger at all is needed - and episodes happen spontaneously(called "kindling").
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> Because both sensitization and kindling seem to happen in both bp and epilepsy, some people think they're related disorders.
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> But that says nothing about whether bipolar is actually caused by small seizures. In fact, if it is, you'd think ECT would be the last thing you'd want to give in bp - if anything you'd think inducing seizures would worsen the course of the illness. Although, I dunno- has anyone ever tracked that?
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> There's also speculation that the reason anticonvulsants work is that they interfere with either sensitization or kindling processes in the brain. So that gives a little explanation why they might work in both bipolar and epilepsy without requiring that seizures or mood swings *themselves* be related.
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> But, that still doesn't explain at all why a seizure should relieve a depression or a mania.
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> Total speculation I've heard before, but which makes the most sense to me - is that in both mania and depression the brain is caught up in some sort of vicious neurochemical cycle that perpetuates itself. By inducing a seizure you're somehow interrupting it, like rebooting a computer. Or throwing a bump into an oscillating system.
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> > > Please tell me more. I have certainly heard of "kindling" but am quite new to all of this, and that's about as far as my knowledge goes. Any direction would be appreciated. :)
poster:SLS
thread:58836
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010403/msgs/59309.html